In the description which Ezekiel gives of the happy results which were to follow the resurrection of the dry bones and the reunion of Israel, one of the particulars which tenderly touched every Jewish heart was, “David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd.” Whether the prophet was himself conscious of the full meaning of these words or not, it is nevertheless the fact that it was not in any merely earthly descendant of David that this prediction was to be realized, but in the Messiah, “great David’s greater Son.” So, doubtless, the apostle of the Apocalypse accepted it. And, inasmuch as the sovereignty of David’s house was, as has previously been said, just one thousand years, what more natural than that John should see in this number the signature and symbol of the reign of Christ? He does not mean that the duration of that reign shall be limited to a thousand years, but that, be it longer or shorter, this number is its symbol and emblem. Whatever he mentions as taking place during the thousand years is to be understood by us as occurring during the progress of the mediatorial kingdom of Christ from its commencement to its culmination. In the sight of the divine Being the period between the establishment of the kingdom and its complete and final triumph over all its foes, be it longer or shorter, is the day of Christ, and “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The moments or stages in the growth of the kingdom are now to be specified. 1. _Restraints upon the Power of Satan._――There is one item in the revelation made to John, and through him to us, which is peculiar to him. It is, indeed, implied in the book of Ezekiel, but is not explicitly communicated. This is the restraint which is put upon the power of Satan. An angel is seen to “come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [the same mentioned in chapter ix, 1‒11] and a great chain in his hand [see 2 Peter ii, 4; Jude 6]. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” “When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations;” but this loosing of him, it is said, will be for only “a little season” before his final destruction. As the thousand years are a synonym for the reign of Christ, the meaning is that during the existent mediatorial sovereignty of Christ Satan is debarred his full liberty. His judgment has not, indeed, come, and he still exists, but his activity is circumscribed, and his power to hurt is limited and curbed.