Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #9 of Revelation, chapter 16, and we are going to read Revelation 16:10:

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

This is a verse that helps us to understand the target of the wrath of God as these vials full of the wrath of God are poured out. When we read, “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast,” we can understand that this is speaking of Judgment Day and it is not speaking of the judgment on the churches. God assigned Satan the name of “the beast” for the short little season of the Great Tribulation, from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011. The name “the beast” was given to especially identify with the period of rule Satan would enjoy for those 23 years. The judgment upon the churches was not that the vial of God’s wrath was poured out upon the seat of the beast, but the judgment on the churches was that the beast was allowed to take his seat in the temple. What is described in our verse in Revelation 16:10 is a step beyond that and it came after the Great Tribulation. The judgment upon the churches was the ascension of the beast out of the bottomless pit and his entering into the congregations, where the Spirit of God had been, but God had abandoned the churches and turned them over to Satan for destruction; this was the judgment upon the churches. It was when Satan, as the beast, took his seat to rule within the congregations.

It says in Revelation 13:1-2:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Then it says, Revelation 13:5-8:

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

We see the beast with his seven heads and ten horns and he has been given rule: “And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” The 42 months represents the complete period of the Great Tribulation, which was an actual 23 years. It also says, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” He enjoyed great and unprecedented rule in all the churches of the world. Prior to this, he could infiltrate some churches and rule over a particular congregation or even an entire denomination, but never the entire corporate church world. It was not until God ended the church age and turned the corporate body over to Satan that Satan was able to have dominion, not only in all the churches, but over all the world and “over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

Satan had won dominion over mankind when he deceived Eve and Adam into disobeying God by eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree, but God still kept restraints on men to a large degree all through history. Remember, we read of the “mystery of iniquity” that doth work in 2Thessalonians, chapter 2. The “mystery of iniquity” is that men are desperately wicked sinners and, yet, all through history there was tremendous restraint of certain sins by mankind. They respected the institution of marriage to a large degree; the Sunday Sabbath was respected in the nations where Christian churches had a presence, and so forth. The hearts of men were “stone” and desperately wicked, as long as they were unsaved, but the Spirit of God worked in the world to hold back the sinful nature of man to a large degree. We know that because at the time of the end God lifted His hand of restraint more and more during the Great Tribulation and we can see the evidence of this all around us. The desperately wicked nature of man is more evident and iniquity is everywhere in the world – it has multiplied. The hearts of men have grown cold and iniquity abounds because God loosed Satan and Satan increased his rule over sinful mankind and God allowed the sinners to multiply sin and that paid homage to Satan who ruled over unsaved mankind.

Satan had enjoyed this tremendous increase in his power over the churches and over the nations for the 23-year period of the Great Tribulation. We also read in 2Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Here, Satan (the man of sin and the son of perdition) sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This is the “seat of the beast.” He had the entire world of the unsaved under his dominion, but we can imagine that to have dominion in the churches was the crowing glory of his wickedness because he had always wanted to be like God. That was the whole point of his original rebellion. It was to get man (the creature created in the very image of God) to bow down and worship Satan, a fallen angel. Then he could be like God and that has always been his desire. In his fall he exhibited tremendous pride, arrogance and a pompous nature. He wanted the glory and the power and the authority and dominion of God. He wanted to be the Creator and He did not want the Creator to rule over him, but he wanted to usurp that position and be like God. What an awful and ugly sin. He should have been content and satisfied to be the wonderful, angelic being that God had made him to be and to be satisfied in the role that God had created for angels to perform, to be ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. God created the angels for this purpose, but this was not sufficient for Satan and a good number of the other angels that fell with him. They became these terrible demons and we look at the awful situation they have made on the earth; there is no goodness in Satan or in his kingdom. It is a kingdom of darkness and evil and, yet, he legitimately ruled over man throughout the history of this world, after the fall.

Satan’s rule increased tremendously for the “little season,” the 23 years of the Great Tribulation period, but then came Judgment Day, May 21, 2011, and there was a big change in the rule of Satan. God put him down. God deposed him and removed him from the throne.

By the way, the Greek word translated as “seat,” in Revelation 16:10, is the Greek word “thronos.” It is translated most often as “throne” rather than “seat.” It is the word associated with a king and his “throne.” It is the word used in Hebrews 1:8 that says, “Thy throne, O God,” and it is a word that is often found in the Book of Revelation. It says in Revelation 4:2:

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and and sat on the throne.

This is the “throne” of God. It is the same word as “seat” found in our verse, so we understand that God is saying, “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat (throne) of the beast.” It was the “throne” of Satan. God did not touch Satan. He let him be throughout the duration of the Great Tribulation period. Why would God harm him or impede the destruction of the churches? Why would God fight against him when God was the one that loosed him and commissioned him to destroy the churches? That is something Satan is excellent at doing. He is very good at destruction. He is like a zealous Jehu when given the task of slaying the kings of Israel and of Judah, he could do that very well, but when given the task of obeying God, Jehu could not do that. That is like Satan. He can do God’s bidding when it comes to destroying the churches, so God loosed him knowing the evil intent and nature of Satan, knowing that Satan would immediately head for the churches and try to accomplish his great desire of ruling like God. So God allowed it and God used that as the judgment on the congregations of the world because of their disobedience and their unfaithfulness. In disobeying God’s commandments, the churches were already obeying the enemy and serving a lie rather than the truth, so God permitted Satan to rule them officially. So the judgment of God upon them was very fitting and appropriate, due to their disobedience over the course of many centuries.

Satan was allowed to rule and Satan relished the opportunity because he could finally be like God. His pride must have gone “through the roof,” and, yet, his time came to an end, just as it did with King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians. God had commissioned this king to bring judgment upon Judah and for seventy years the Babylonians were victorious and the Jews were captives in Babylon. Yet, God had foretold that at the end of seventy years, He would then “punish the King of Babylon and that nation” for the things they had done to His people.

On May 21, 2011, at the end of the Great Tribulation period and the end of God’s judgment on the churches, Satan had now accomplished the task he had been given and he served no other purpose. Immediately God turned His attention to Satan and all his kingdom of the unsaved of the world and brought judgment upon them. Satan’s judgment began with God’s dictate: “Get off that throne. You are no longer the ruler of the congregations and you are no longer the ruler of the nations and peoples of the world. You have been defeated. I have saved all of my elect. I have won the war and now it is time for you to be punished and suffer my wrath.”

We see this is God’s plan, for instance, in the Book of Daniel. It says in Daniel 7:9-14:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

In this passage we find some fascinating tie-ins with what is happening today in the present time of Judgment Day. We can see that Daniel 7:10 speaks of Judgment Day, where it says, “the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and this relates to Revelation, chapter 20, where God speaks of opening the Books at the judgment throne. Then it refers to Satan and it says, “the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” This reveals to us that on May 21, 2011, God judged Satan. Some might say, “Oh, that is wonderful news. Does that mean that Satan no longer exists?” The answer is that it does not mean that. God removed him from all official rule in the churches and in the world and Christ took over the rule and the dominion the beast had been given and He began to rule. Elsewhere we learned that Christ rules with a “rod of iron” in the Day of Judgment. It is not a beneficial rule for the unsaved; He is ruling in wrath.

In this passage Satan is said to have been destroyed at the beginning of the judgment on the world, May 21, 2011, but notice that verse 12 speaks of the “rest of the beasts,” and it says, “As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” Let us try to understand this. God is saying that the beast is slain and his body destroyed, but “the rest of the beasts” continue on for some period of time, but without dominion. How is that possible? How can we understand this? We can now understand it due to our vantage point of living after the Tribulation and we can see how it fits perfectly. Satan was officially removed from all rule. He is such a prideful creature and this was his every desire and for God to give him his desire and then take it away is a crushing blow to Satan’s pride. This would have been a terrible blow to such a prideful creature, to be put down from that official position of honor and rule. Just think of Haman (in the Book of Esther) and how prideful he was and, Lord willing, we will look at Haman in our next study.

But, for now, it was May 21, 2011 when Satan was defeated and, yet, he continues to exist and that is why God speaks of “the rests of the beasts” continuing to live, but without dominion. So Satan still exists and he can still go about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He can still go into a church and do damage, as he always did, but it is officially over for him. Officially, the Lord Jesus Christ is triumphant and victorious. Christ has put down Satan, so we are actually living in a glorious time insofar as the kingdom of God is concerned. The victory has been won and all the elect have been found and brought into the fold. Satan’s evil reign is over, officially.