The Gentiles that are not saved during your proposed millennium, is the reason they are not saved is because satan isn't deceiving them any more? Or is the reason they are not saved is because satan is deceiving them some more? Which one of those choices fully agree with this---that he should deceive the nations no more?
If we argue, the fact that the gospel spreads throughout the globe, that this is why Gentiles are no longer deceived since all they have to do is embrace the gospel in order to not be deceived, who or what then is preventing some of them from doing just that? How about this, for one.
This is basically a general statement that is repeating what the rest of Scripture is saying, telling us: through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Gentiles would no longer be deceived. It is a sweeping statement. It is a generality. Scripture does that often.
You need to see, the Greek word interpreted “nations” in Revelation 20 in the King James Version is the Greek
ethnos which is repeatedly translated
Gentiles throughout the whole of the New Testament. In essence it means the nations, the heathen, or the non-Jews. The word is rendered Gentiles in the following passages: Matthew 4:15, 6:32, 10:5, 18, 12:18, 21, 20:19, 25, 21:43, Mark 10:33, 42, Luke 2:32, 18:32, 21:24, 22:25, Acts 4:27, 7:45, 9:15, 10:45, 11:1, 18, 13:46, 47, 48, 14:2, 5, 27, 15:3, 7, 12, 14, 17, 19, 23, 18:6, 21:11, 19, 21, 25, 22:21, 26:17, 20, 23, Romans 1:13, 2:14, 24, 3:29, 9:24, 30, 11:11, 12, 13, 25, 15:9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18, 27, 16:4, 1 Corinthians 5:1, 12:2, Galatians 2:2, 8, 12, 14, 15, 3:14, Ephesians 2:11, 3:1, 6, 8, 4:17, Colossians 1:27, 1 Thessalonians 2:16, 4:5, 1 Timothy 2:7, 3:16, 2 Timothy 4:17, 1 Peter 2:12, 4:3, Revelation 11:2.
In fact, the most common rendering of the word in the New Testament is the word
Gentiles, with eighty-three references in total in the King James Version, many of them key passages that relate to the Gospel going out to the darkened Gentiles after the Cross. Such a consistent translation shows that the interpreters could have reasonably interpreted the Greek word
ethnos in Revelation 20:3 as Gentiles.
Notwithstanding, the term “the nations” (plural) is used repeatedly in Scripture to represent the Gentile nations and particularly to distinguish them from “the nation” (singular) of natural Israel where God chose to exclusively manifest His glory for thousands of years before the Cross. Incidentally, this differentiation is common in both the Old and the New Testament. The nation of natural Israel was the sole national carrier of the favor of God for most of history; therefore, all nations outside of that “nation” were rightly viewed as heathen, idolatrous and unregenerate. The prophets and disciples would have often of used varying terms like “the nations,” “the heathen,” “the whole world” and “the Gentiles” to describe the exact same once totally deluded non-Jewish people. Many Bible students totally ignore this fact and consequently force an interpretation upon Revelation 20 that can in no way be corroborated by other Scripture. In reality, the binding of Satan relates exclusively to the actual curtailing of Satan from specifically deceiving the Gentile nations as he once did before, prior to Calvary.
Throughout the Old Testament the prophets repeatedly spoke, and looked forward to, a period in time when the heathenish Gentile nations would eventually accept the glorious Gospel of truth and would therefore graciously receive salvation. Notwithstanding, before this marvelous change would happen, Messiah had to come and defeat Satan, that great deceiver of “the nations,” and consequently forcefully remove him from his previous haughty place of complete deception of the nations.
Matthew 12:17-21 explains how through the person of Christ, and by His
First Coming, the Gentile nations would finally believe. He said all this after the religious Jews had just threatened to kill Him. He asserts that it was
“spoken by Esaias the prophet (in Isaiah 42:1-3)
, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles [Gr.
ethnos].
He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles [Gr.
ethnos]
trust.”
Christ’s rejection by his own house (Israel) saw Him turn to the Gentiles and the formerly outcast. He was now going to invade the devil’s house and acquire a spoil. Immediately after the Jews turned on Him in this story He delivers one of Satan’s household – a demon possessed man – thus illustrating that there was a darkened people out there that would come to faith in Christ. He used this man who belonged to the devil’s own house (kingdom) to impress the direction of the Gospel from hereon. Now, my main point is this: this reading expressly declares
“in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” Using the Premil argument: all the Gentiles must trust, or this cannot apply today. What I am saying is, if you were to apply this argument namely that the fact that the vast bulk of Gentiles still remain deceived is evidence why we can’t be in the millennium now then we must (if we are consistent) apply the same rule to this statement to show that it can’t be relevant to today. It cannot relate to the here-and-now because the majority of Gentiles still don’t trust God. Of course, that would be preposterous. Such a statement is a general reference to the removal of the veil deceiving the Gentiles as a whole after the cross.
Even Caiaphas, the High Priest, speaking of the elect of God in the nation of Israel, prophesied in John 11:51-52,
“that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only (natural Israel)
, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad (the Gentiles).”
Calvary is seen to be the event that caused the spiritual merging of the believing Jew and Gentile, and that demolished forever the distinction that separated them. Scripture demolishes the notion that God has two distinct peoples (Jews and Gentiles), which will come to Him in two different ways and in two different time periods. Such is
not the case and will
not be the case in the future. Notwithstanding, there may undoubtedly be a greater ingathering of Jews in the days preceding the glorious Second Advent than there previously has been since the cross, however, it will be through the sole mechanism ordained of God of God – the Church of Jesus Christ.