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Berean spirit, 'search and see', for you may never 'see' if you avoid the
'search'.
No.
4
The
Little
Season
After the thousand years during which the overcomers reign with Christ,
Satan will be let loose from the abyss, and go out to 'deceive' once more.
We already know that much that is found in Genesis finds its sequel in the
Revelation. Here, maybe, is just another of those illuminating
correspondencies. We may often have wondered at the sudden entry of the
'serpent' into Genesis 3, with his great deception. If, as we have already
seen, 'the deep' of Genesis 1:2 which is translated 'the abyss' or
'bottomless pit' by the Septuagint, if that 'deep' had been his prison, could
he not have been loosed at the close of some definite period (and see the
minute exactness of the time in Revelation 9:15) to test and try the newly
created Adam? However, this is not our theme. What are we to understand by
the 'little season'? The word that should be translated 'season' is the
Greek word kairos, whereas in Revelation 20:3 the word is chronos, 'time'.
Kairos in Revelation
Rev.
1:3
'The time is
at hand'.
11:18
'The time of
the dead'.
12:12
'He hath but
a short time'.
12:14
'A time, and
times, and half a time'.
22:10
'The time is
at hand'.
Two references stand out for consideration here:
'Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath
but a Short Time' (Rev. 12:12).
In this chapter Satan is given his full title:
'The great dragon ... that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth' (Rev.
12:9).
'The dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan' shall be
loosed out of prison when the thousand years are finished, and shall 'go out
to deceive the nations' 'for a little season'. He knew that he had 'a short
time', he is let loose for 'a little season'. The word used in Revelation
20:3 is chronos:
Rev.
2:21
'I gave her Space to repent'.
6:11
'They should rest yet for a Little Season'.
10:6
'There should be Time no longer'.
20:3
'He must be loosed a Little Season'.
These occurrences seem to explain one another. Thus, the word of the
mighty angel, immediately preceding the voice of the seventh angel when the
mystery of God should be finished, and the kingdom set up (Rev. 10:7; 11:15)
instead of declaring that 'time' should cease, which is contradicted by the
references to time, days, nights, months and years that are found later in