It is a basic rule for all communication that obscure words or sentences are to be heard or read or interpreted in light of clear words (and never the other way around). Inasmuch as the Bible is all authored by God, it is necessary to read a more obscure passage as Revelation 20:1–15 in light of what the Holy Spirit has said elsewhere. Jesus once asked the question, “Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds that strong man?” (Matthew 12:29). His point was clear: Jesus himself was the strong man who had come to bind Satan (see the context of that passage). Elsewhere Jesus said it plainly, “Now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31; John 16:11; Luke 10:17). Paul says that this is what Jesus accomplished on the cross (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8). In fact, this is also what John had earlier described in Revelation 12:7–12: Satan “was defeated.” This bondage is the reality characterizing the new dispensation.
2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,