In your last article on the binding of Satan, you mentioned that the “bottomless pit” (Rev 20:2–3) is to be taken symbolically. Does this mean that there is no such place as the “bottomless pit”? Would this also mean that hell is symbolic, and that there is really no such place?

No, when I say that the “bottomless pit” is symbolic, Ido not mean to say that there is no such place. In Luke 8:31, we read that whenthe Lord confronted the demoniac man, the demons in him “besought him that hewould not command them to go out into the deep.” The word rendered ‘deep’ isthe [Greek] word abussos from whichwe get the English word ‘abyss.’ This is the same word used in Revelation 20:1and 3, and elsewhere in Revelation, namely, Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8.The Lukan account shows that the demons themselves are aware that they wouldone day be confined in the bottomless pit. That is, they know that such a placeexists. My point in saying that it is symbolic is to show that we must notthink of it as a physical hole with material chains and material keys. If wethink of it as a literal hole with a material chain and seal, and we believethat Satan and his cohorts are thus bounded, it would be difficult to conceiveof how they could still be engaged in spiritual battle against the saints today(cf. Eph 6:10–20). But if we take the hole, the casting and the bindingsymbolically, we know that it is not impossible that they could still have alimited amount of freedom.

Let me illustrate what I mean with another passage,namely Jude 6: “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but lefttheir own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darknessunto the judgment of the great day.” Now, there were some early church fatherswho were influenced by some Jewish pseudepigraphic writings (such as 1 Enoch),who claim that the angels referred to in this verse were demons who had sexualrelations with women and so produced the nephilims(giants). This fantastic interpretation have been adopted by manyDispensationalists, some of whom recognising that spirit beings cannot possiblyhave carnal relations with human beings, have resorted to saying that thedemons must have indwelt some men in order to have the relations and to producethe giant offspring. I find such interpretations irrational, groundless andoffensive. But the Dispensationalists will generally have to hold to thisinterpretation in order to be consistent to their literalism.

The general Reformed view from the time of theReformation, however, is that Jude 6 refers to the original fall of Satan andthe reprobate angels who fell with him. In so interpreting, it must also beasserted that Jude does not mean to say that the fallen angels are tightlyincarcerated somewhere and can no longer have any influence on men whatsoever.Thus Calvin says that Jude “simply intended to teach us how miserable theircondition is, since the time they apostatised and lost their dignity. Forwherever they go, they drag with them their own chains, and remain involved indarkness. Their extreme punishment is in the meantime deferred unto the greatday comes” (Commentary in loc., cf. Comm. on 2 Peter 2:4). Thomas Manton likewise asserts that thechains are “spiritual chains, suitable to the spiritual nature of angels.”These are for example: “Guilt of conscience, which binds them over to judgment…Their obstinacy in sinning [in that] they are fallen so as they cannot riseagain.… God’s power and providence, by which the angelic strength is bridledand overmastered, so as they cannot do what they would.…” (see his commentaryon Jude, p. 202).

Our approach to Revelation 20:2–3 is similar.Satan’s final and extreme punishment is reserved for the future. But his powerand influenced is greatly clipped. The “bottomless pit” and the place referredto in Jude 6 are the same place. They both refer to hell, just like ‘Gehenna’ (Mt5:22, 29, etc.), ‘Hades’ (Mt 11:23, 16:18; Rev 6:8, etc.), “lake of fire” (Rev19:20; 20:10, etc.) all refer to hell and not to so many different places oftorment. Since the fall of Satan and his cohorts, their sentence was fixed.They were figuratively already confined in the pit of Jude 6. Since the deathand resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the chains were tightened. When theLord Jesus Christ returns as a triumphant Judge and King, the chains willactually be permanently and eternally secured, never to be loosed again.

The sanctified lives of Christians point to the fact that this world isnot their permanent home. They are pilgrims heading to their eternal rest inChrist. Similarly the description of Satan being bounded in the bottomless pitpoints to the fact that that is his sure eternal destination.