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The Bottomless Pit
(Revelation 20:1-4)
Chapter 19

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years shall be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."                                  (Revelation 20:1-3).

"He sent and signified it..." Told by signs and symbols, revealed in a figure, and thus we have noted that we have horses, and beasts, and seals, and trumpets, vials, etc. and each has pointed to its own working, whether in bestial systems, or carnal natures, organizations, governmental orders, etc. .And there is that which can also be understood as A STATE OR CONDITION.  Here in the symbolism of "a bottomless pit," we have an excellent description of a state or condition wherein there is NO PLACE FOR A FOUNDATION upon which to build, to further a cause, to carry out a purpose.

When the Deceiver of the nations is cast into the bottomless pit, it means that he has be confined to a realm where he cannot further his devious work.  If there is no basis for his activity, no foundation upon which He can operate, obviously he cannot build a superstructure of his evil.

Jesus clearly taught that in building a house, one must have a solid foundation if it is to stand.  The wise man built his house upon a rock, but "the foolish man built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."  (Matthew 7:26-27).

Far too much of man's religious activity has been built upon man's own will, presuming it was also the will of the Lord; and then we ask God to bless and sustain it.  But God is not obligated to undergird the programs of man, only that which is founded upon His own direct Word. "So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it."  (Isaiah 55:11).

True faith means that we have a revelation from God upon which to base our belief, and action. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1).

So clear and simple are the words, "By FAITH Abraham when he was called to go out... obeyed."  (Hebrews 11:8).  But when we read the record in Genesis 12:1, it says, "Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country." There was a DEFINITE WORD FROM THE LORD upon which to base all future action.  The Word of the Lord abides! Stormy winds of doubt may blow, circumstantial evidence might seem to be quiet contrary, but with the solid FOUNDATION, one can weather the storm, and go on to the fulness of victory.

Faith is the SUBSTANCE-- the Greek word used here means: substratum, that undergirding rock, the foundation for all that is to be built thereon.  Even in spiritual progress, going from faith to faith, from glory to glory, we do not lose this substance for it remains as the solid undergirding of our believing.  And it is also to be noted that the Hebrew word for "glory" literally means: weighty, or heaviness, which is more than just effulgence, but also speaks of substance.  Faith and glory are abiding realities!

A foundation is essential.  "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  (Psalm 11:3).  We see the truth of this all around us, as the foundational structure of the morality of our society is being eroded.  One cannot repair corruption! Hence the need for the JUDGMENTS of god, bringing an end to the old order, and the establishment of a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.  Rather than just "patching up," or trying to infuse the old with new life, in time the call comes ringing loud and clear, "We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her..."  (Jeremiah 51:9).

Now, while it is true, that if the foundations be destroyed, there is nothing a righteous man can do, until a new foundation is brought forth upon which he can build, conversely, if the foundation upon which negation builds is destroyed, then what can evil do?

How progressive is the "revelation of Jesus Christ." Now we see Him in the victorious working of confining Satan to a state where he cannot operate.  When all the judgments of God have accomplished their purpose, and a cleansing has taken place, so that there is no corruption, no negativity, no basis upon which the adversary can word-- then he has been totally down-idled.

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:14).

Destroy-- here we have the Greek word "katargeo" which means: to make of none effect, disannul, make inactive, useless, from the root "to down-idle." What a marvellous victory, to down-idle Satan until he is thoroughly inactive and useless.

This is the TRIUMPH OF THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD! His purging and cleansing will remove all the roots of evil in us, all the foundation on which evil built its expression.  When all the self-will and rebellion are gone, there is nothing within upon which the negative can work.  Jesus said, "For the prince of this world cometh, and hath  nothing in Me."  (John 14:30).  And such will be said of all those whom He has thoroughly cleansed and brought into union with Himself.  There will be naught within that enables the adversary to gain a toe-hold.  No inside traitors to open the door for the negative to come in.  There will be no foundation for an evil work.  Thus, we could say, THESE REDEEMED ONES have become "a bottomless pit: to the enemy, for they have become a part of that POSITIVE LIFE FORCE that shall restrain all of Satan's activity.  In Christ these OVERCOMERS  will have total control over the enemy-- no more will he usurp dominion over them.

"Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all power of the enemy." (Luke 10:19). "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."  (Romans 16:20).

Jesus taught, "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils." (Luke 11:21-22).

What has been the armour of the adversary? Un belief, fear, darkness, the unknown, ignorance, and death, etc.  How the negative realms have used all of these, and preyed upon men to wound, to kill, to destroy.

Now, Jesus Christ hath "brought life and incorruption to light thought he gospel." (2 Timothy 1:10).  His impartation of FAITH dissipates the unbelief.  His love casts out all fear.  His wisdom and knowledge fills the unknown.  His revelation cancels the ignorance.  His LIFE conquers all death.  Thus He fully takes away all the armour wherein Satan trusted, and reduces him to a state of uselessness, thoroughly inactive.  He is not only destroying the works of the devil, but also making it impossible for the devil to corrupt creation again.

While it ramifications shall eventually become universal, yet there is this individual inworking of God, as He brings us into union with Himself, so that for us personally Satan is down-idled. And a vital part of this inworking is for God to correct our vision so that we no longer have a dual vision, to see both good and evil. 'The light of the body also is full of light."  (Luke 11:34).  We learn to see the hand of God in everything that touches our life, to know that HE is the First Cause of all causes. "And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."  (Galatians 2:20). Then the Devil is unable to build an evil work in us.  No more will we be devil-conscious, or filled with fear for what the enemy might do to us, for we become totally God-conscious, abiding in His life.

"For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?  And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).  One cannot be GOD-conscious and devil-conscious at the same time.  Nor does light and darkness co-exist in the same room.  The light swallows up the darkness, and thereafter there is only light.

God does not co-exist with evil.  Evil is not equal with Him it is subservient to Him.  He controls all of its interplay, and uses the negative realm for His purpose and plan.  When the desired results have been obtained, the means to the end cease to exist.

Religious theology has two opposite or contrasting realms, heaven and hell.  However, the Scriptures do not use this phraseology, though they often speak of heaven and earth. "The heavens are higher than the earth." (Isaiah 55:9).  And again, "The heaven for height, and the earth for depth."  (Proverbs 25:3). "And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."  (1 Corinthians 15:49).

Jesus did not come to lead us from hell to heaven, He came to lead us from all this earthy, carnal realm to the Father.  "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14:6).  Thus, rather than speaking of geographical locations, we can readily say of both heaven and hell, that they are "a state, or a condition of being."

Much of religious Babylon's theology provides a foundation for the enemy to build upon, to activate fear-- fear of hell, fear of an angry God, fear of His judgments, fear of loss and pain.  You name it, fear works in every realm that touches our daily life.  But, "perfect love casteth out all fear."  (1 John 4:18).  The more His is REVEALED TO US IN TRUTH, the more we understand that all of His actions are motivated by love, and in our best interest. Thus, while the testing, OVERCOMING PROCESSES, might be hard on the flesh, yet we need not fear then, but commit our way unto the Lord, and trust Him for the ultimate victory.

The fiery trial might be severe, and the enemy whisper doubts and fears, so we tremble and cry out for help.  Then the Spirit speaks, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."  (Isaiah 41:10), and immediately He has removed the foundation that the enemy tried to build upon.  He strips him of his cruel weapon of fear. How can we fear, when the Lord speaks "FEAR NOT"? His sweet presence casts out all fear, and the enemy is rendered powerless-- he is cast into a bottomless pit.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound (well-balanced) mind." (2 Timothy 1:7).

How the adversary has usurped control over man, ruling with fear.  Any teaching that rules through fear, and action that is motivate by fear, is of the negative realm.  Fear and condemnation go hand in hand, and how religious Babylon has used these negatives to establish its rule and control.

The key of death was also taken away from the enemy.  There are those "who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Hebrews 2:15).  With death as the final payment for their servitude, no wonder people were filled with fear.  Death was the enemy's final stroke.  Man was beguiled into sin, and "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."  (James 1:15).  Now we see in Christ a glorious turn of events.  He took control of the situation, and declares. "Fear not; I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; AND HAVE THE KEYS OF HELL AND OF DEATH." (Revelation 1:17-18).

Who NOW has the key to hell? Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Who NOW has the key of death? Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Who NOW has the key to the bottomless pit? Christ Does!

Death, hell, the devil-- all are fully in His control, to work out His sovereign purpose.  There might appear to be secondary causes, and one might feel like Jacob, when he said, "All these things are against me." (Genesis 42:36). But when our eye is single to Christ, we can say with Joseph, "As for you, yet thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good."  (Genesis 50:20).

How totally, in Himself, Jesus overcame the world, Satan, and even death-- because He could say of Satan, "he hath nothing in me."  (John 14:30).  He could lay down His life, enter into the throes of death, and conquer, because there was nothing in Him for death to build on-- there was no basis for corruption to set in.  Thus, "He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption."  (Acts 13:37).  He was sinless, without blemish, without spot, and therefore could conquer death-- for there was nothing within Him to which death could lay claim.  Where there is no sin, there can be no consequence of sin-- there can be no holding one in the land of the shadow of death.

Now, obviously, the enemy is not anxious to come into a state or condition of inactivity, yet anyone who is becoming fully purified within is no longer territory where he can work-- there is nothing to build on.  It is a vital threat to his kingdom when salvation, deliverance, cleansing comes to a man.

"And Jesus asked him, saying, What is they name? and he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.  And they (the devils) besought Him that He would not command them to go out INTO THE DEEP."  (Luke 8:30-31).

Deep-- the Greek word is "abussos" meaning, the abyss, and translated twice as "deep" and seven times as "bottomless pit." The devils did not want to be cast into the state where they could no longer work their deviltry.  so the Lord allowed them to enter into a heard of swine, where they continue their work of destruction, causing the swine to run violently down a steep place into the lake, and were chocked.  The Lord knew that it was not yet time for these devils to go into the abyss, so He allowed them to continue to kill and destroy, but not in the man He delivered.

So mighty is our God, so totally in control, that He can MAKE INACTIVE all negative forces as He wills.  Or, He can use them in His interplay of good and evil, to accomplish His purpose. THE KEY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT IS IN HIS HAND! He can open or close as He wills.  Even Paul came into this realm of victory, so that he could say, "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."  (1 Corinthians 5:5).

Satan is a controlled servant, doing no more than what the Lord allows.  This is vividly illustrated in the life of Job, when "The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in they power; only upon himself put not forth thy hand."  (Job 1:12).  And so the Destroyer went to work, wiping out all of Job's possessions, but he could not touch Job until God said so, and when permission given, still the restriction was there-- "but save his life." (Job 2:6). God sets the boundaries, controlling the interplay, and working all things together into good.  what a mighty God we serve!

Or, He can allow the beast to "ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition (destruction)." (Revelation 17:8). When there is a purpose to be wrought, using the negative in that working, this "beast" is allowed to come out of the pit, and do its thing. But eve so, in due time it must "go into perditions."  For ultimately all evil shall self-destruct!

Another look at the word abussos," literally, abyss.

There is a rule in the Greek that when the letter "a" is placed before a word, it usually changes its meaning to just the opposite.  For example, when the letter "a" is placed in front of the Greek word for FAITH, which is "pistos", you then have the word "apistos" which literally means: unbelieving, or, faithless.  It might also be added that unbelief is faith in the negative, rather than in the positive.  You doubt God, and place your faith in the negative.  While in the positive, you have no confidence in the evil. but you trust and believe in God.  There be many unbelievers in the world, but we are encouraged to "Have faith in God."  (Mark 11:22).

Now, it is very interesting that minus the letter a" you have the Greek word "bussos." this is an entirely different word, it is not the opposite of abyss; yet it blends perfectly with this truth we are sharing.  "Bussos" literally means: FINE LINEN.  How precious! For truly, the very opposite of the bottomless pit, i.e. having nothing positive to build on and thus rendered inactive, is this surest of all foundations. "Fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." (Revelation 19:8).

Here is a positive foundation for building, when all is RIGHTEOUS. "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face."  (Psalm 89:14, Amplified).

"Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness."  (Proverbs 25:5).  Purging out all wickedness, self's rebellion, the minding of the flesh, etc. and you find that His throne is established in righteousness within.  It becomes a solid foundation for the upbuilding of His life.  And, it becomes an arena wherein evil cannot operate-- this it can be said that righteousness becomes "a bottomless pit" to evil.  And they who are clothed with His righteousness likewise become untouchable by evil, and hence, a restraining force to all evil.

Satan tries to build on an illusion, a lie, a half-truth, and therefore it cannot stand.  He "abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."  (John 4:44).  But now it is written, "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place."  (Isaiah 28:17).

Truth needs no defense-- IT IS! And when truth comes on the scene, all the lies, illusions, etc. shall be revealed for what they are, and shall be wiped out, dissipated by the truth.  Judgment shall literally "pull out the rug from under evil." and there will be no place for it to stand.  this is the triumph of Calvary! This is the victory of our Redeemer!  He will bring all creation into the realm of His holiness-- cleansed, purged, clothed with His righteousness, and then Satan will be totally down-idled, made inactive, for the purpose of using evil will be finished, and holiness remains.

"If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of God." (1 John 2:29).  Fully born of God, becoming a new creation in Christ, these become part of the foundation upon which His kingdom is built, with Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone.  Furthermore, since there is nothing within them whereon the enemy can build, nothing corrupt that he can cause to spread and work its destruction, these PURE ONES actually become a RESTRAINING FORCE to the enemy.  When all evil is totally surrounded, fenced in by righteousness, all of its activity will cease to exist. 

"And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horsed, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." (Revelation 19:14).  Thus our Lord leads them forth to further the restoration, to completely overthrow all of Satan's kingdom, that His glory might fill all the earth.  One does not fight evil with evil-- but we shall "overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21).

May it truly be said of us, "The prince of this world cometh, and HATH NOTHING IN ME." Because from every avenue of our being we can say, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME, bless His holy name."  (Psalm 103:1).  When all that is WITHIN US can bless the Lord, magnify Him, be found in His holiness-- then eternal victory is ours!

Through there may be times in the outworking of His purpose that "Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations..."  (Revelation 20:7-8), yet even NOW Christ holds the KEY to the bottomless pit, and the restraints are on-- the adversary can do no more than allowed, and the end of all evil activity has been decreed. "The lake of fire and brimstone: shall effectually end all negation, and our Redeemer shall "make all things new."