How Will Satan Be Bound?
1 Nephi 22:26
26 And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“What does it mean to bind Satan? How is he bound? Our revelation says: ‘And in that day Satan shall not have power to tempt any man’ (D&C 101:28). Does this mean that power is withdrawn from Satan so that he can no longer entice men to do evil? Or does it mean that men no longer succumb to his enticements because their hearts are so set on righteousness that they refuse to forsake that which is good to follow him who is evil? Clearly it means the latter. Satan was not bound in heaven, in the very presence of God, in the sense that he was denied the right and power to preach false doctrine and to invite men to walk away from that God whose children they were; nay, in this sense, he could not have been bound in heaven, for even he must have his agency. ‘How, then, will Satan be bound during the Millennium? It will be by the righteousness of the people.’”
(The Millennial Messiah [1982], 668.)
