SatanHis Infernal Majesty
WHO IS HE?
He has many aliases . . .
Liar
Angel of light
Imitator
The tempter
The evil one
Prince of demons
Satan = The accuser
The devil = The slanderer
Belial = The wicked one
Beelzebub = Lord of flies
Apollyon & Abaddon = Destroyer
The great dragon
That ancient serpent
Prince of the power of the air
Thief
Murderer
Roaring lion
The adversary
The father of lies
Prince of darkness
Prince of this world
The god of this age
The angel of the Abyss
The oppressor of the saints
The sower of discord
The enemy of all good
The spirit that works in the children of
disobedience
His biography . . .
Satan is an angel. God made him before the world began (Job 38:4-7). Satan was very powerful (Revelation 12:3: "ten horns") and very wise (Revelation 12:3: "seven heads"). But he became the first sinner (1 John 3:8). Apparently at one point in the past (or possibly future) he led a rebellion in heaven against God (Revelation 12:7). In Satans fall, he drew a vast number of angels with him(Revelation 12:4, 9). Some of the fallen angels are loose and some are bound in a place called the Abyss (Luke 8:31). The loose ones
we call "demons". Of the bound ones, there are two kinds, permanently bound (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6) and temporarily bound (Revelation 9:1-11). Satan and his demons now wage war against Gods kingdom (Revelation 12:17). At the Second Coming of Christ, he will be bound for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3). After the thousand years, he will be set free for a short time and will go out to deceive the nations (Revelation 20:7-9). The devils final end will be in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10), which was prepared
by God for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).
His limitations . . .
Satan is not self-existent. He is created.
He is not sovereign.
Satan rules a domain of demons, but he does not rule beyond the bound of that confinement of rule which God has given him.
Satan never has cast off the government of God, since the rebellion totally failed. He has been exiled to the earth and the domain around it (Ephesians 2:2).
Satans chain stretches just so far and God allows him to go that far and no farther. He operates completely within the sphere of Gods allowance (e.g. Job 1:12; 2:6).
God even uses Satan to His own ends (2 Corinthians 12:7).
Satan is not omnipotent (all-powerful). He is powerful, yes, but not all powerful (1 John 4:4).
Satan is not omniscient (all-knowing).
Satan is an angel and angels dont know everything (1 Peter 1:11-12).
There is no indication in Scripture that Satan can read our thoughts. But hes pretty good at predicting our behavior, because hes an expert on human nature.
Satan is not omnipresent (everywhere at the same time).
Hes fast, but not omnipresent.
But he is the head of a network of subordinate devils who make his influence practically worldwide (Matthew 12:24).
THE POWER OF SATAN OVER THOSE OUTSIDE OF CHRIST . . .
Satan has the whole world of unbelievers under his control (Matthew 4:8-10; John 14:30; 1 John 5:19).
Unbelievers belong to him (1 John 3:8,12) and are his children (1 John 3:10).
Satan has the power of influence and blinding. He blinds the minds of the unbelieving (2 Corinthians 4:4). He prevents the gospel from entering their hearts (Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:11). Satan speaks through fortunetellers (Acts 16:16), cult leaders (1 Timothy 4:1-2), and false preachers (2 Corinthians 11: 13-15). He seeks to deceive about his existence, his purposes, his activities, and his coming defeat. He is the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:8). His ultimate deception will be in the anti-christ (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
Satan can control a persons body. Demons can cause muteness (Luke 11:14), mental disorder (John 10:20), violent action (Luke 8:26-29), and crippling (Luke 13:11,16). In these examples Satan caused people to be handicapped although there was nothing physically wrong with them.
Satan influences governments and nations. Daniel 10:12-13,20-21 gives us a glimpse into the spiritual realm of angels and demons and how they affect nations. The "prince of the Persian kingdom" (v.13) is apparently a demon exercising influence over the Persian realm in the interests of Satan. The archangel of God named Michael finally overcame his resistance.
Likewise the "prince of Greece" in verse 20 is also a demon.
SATANS POWER OVER BELIEVERS . . .
Satan tempts believers to . . .
disobedience (1 Chronicles 21:1-7).
lose faith in God (Luke 22:31-32; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:16).
lie (Acts 5:3).
immorality (1 Corinthians 7:5).
be preoccupied by the world (1 John 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:10).
be proud (1 Timothy 3:6).
discouragement (1 Peter 5:6, 7, 10).
He also tries to create doubt (Genesis 3:1), persecutes the Church (Revelation 2:10), hinders our service (1Thessalonians 2:18), infiltrates our ranksand so confuses the world as to what a Christian really is (1 John 4:1-6; 2 Peter 2).
but . . .
Jesus cast out demons as evidence of His victory over the prince of demons.
The truth is that "his infernal majesty" is bound and is powerless before the Son of God (Mark 3:27).
Christ has defeated Satan (John 12:31). He defeated Satan and all spiritual forces of evil at the cross
(Colossians 2:14-15). Satan has fallen from the heavens (Luke 10:18). He is cast out of heaven and into the
earth and no longer has the ability to accuse us before the Father (Revelation 12:10, 12-17).
Christians do not need to fear Satan, because . . .
Satan can only do to believers what God permits him to do (Job 1:12; 2:6).
In Christ we have been delivered from Satans power (Colossians 1:13; Acts 26:18).
We have the promise that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our capacity (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Christ keeps us safe and Satan cannot lay hold of the believer to harm him (1 John 5:18).
Demonic powers cannot separate us from Gods love in Christ (Romans 8:37-39).
Those who are in Christ can overcome Satan (Revelation 12:11; Romans 16:20; 1 John 2:13-14).
Greater is the One who is in us than Satan who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
We can resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7).
The weapons that we have been given can pull down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
If we use the armor of God, we have Gods promise that we can take our stand against the devils schemes (Ephesians 6:11,13).
When Did Satan Fall from Heaven?
Q: Hi, I'm hoping you can help me here. I've been asked for scripture relating to Satan being cast out... a fallen angel. I responded with Revelation 12:7-13. It does relate the story. However, the person who I responded to said that would indicate the battle happens during the end-times, since this passage is found in the midst of end-time judgements. I re-read it and passages prior to it, and am thinking it is kind of a "flashback" of occurrences getting to that point. But, I'm not convinced of that. Any thoughts?
I don't want to leave the person hanging.
A: Well, you asked for it. I always end up giving you more than you probably want. I also think that I am
probably going to muddy the waters for you, rather than clear them. Here goes...
The "turning" of Satan happened prior to Adam & Eve eating the fruit, since Satan tempts them against God. The Bible calls him the first sinner (1 John 3:8), so in the sense of a "moral fall," Satan morally fell prior to the temptation of Eve.
Concerning a "geographical fall," the issue is much more complicated. After Adam & Eve's fall, Satan still
had access to God's throne in heaven. This is seen in his appearances before God with the other angels (see Job 1:6,12; 2:1,7). It is clear that Satan has no authority in heaven, but he can appear there and accuse the brethren (cf. Revelation 12:10). Although Satan doesn't have authority in heaven, he does have authority in the earth (Matthew 4:8-9; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; 1 John 5:19).
The term "falling from heaven" is a Near Eastern way of saying that someone is suffering defeat. The term is used in non-biblical literature to describe the fall of kings from power. It's like our term "falling from grace." We don't mean an actual change of geographic position, rather a change of relationship.
All of the passages that mention a fall of Satan are somewhat symbolic, so it is hard to know exactly
how to take them. The four passages are:
Revelation 12:7-13 -- the one you mentioned
Luke 10:17-24
Isaiah 14:12-17
Ezekiel 28:11-19
Let me take them one at a time.
Revelation 12:7-13
Concerning the Revelation passage, it would seem that the woman spoken of is "the people of God," i.e. true believing Israel. She gives birth to the Messiah. It is clear that the child is the Messiah, because only Jesus is the one who is said to "rule the nations with a rod of iron" (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27; 19:15).
If John intended this prophecy as chronological, then the war in heaven (vv. 7-8) happens sometime between the birth and ascension of Christ (vv. 5-6) and before the second coming (v. 12). So your friend could be right. Either the war in heaven happened because of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, or it happened sometime between AD 30 and now, or it will happen sometime between now and the Second Coming.
But taking any prophecy chronologically is always iffy, unless the prophecy clearly says so. George Ladd
in his commentary on Revelation says:
Here John employs apocalyptic mythological language to describe a spiritual fact. We misunderstand the character of John's thought if we try to place this heavenly battle somewhere in the stream of time. John is only concerned with the fact that Satan is defeated....The reference to Satan being 'hurled down' is only meant to describe Satan's actions against God's people losing their force. We are not to think of any actual change of domicile.
I guess my own tendency IS to take the passage as chronological, but to take the "losing their place in
heaven" (v. 8) as more symbolic of some sort of defeat, rather than an "actual change of domicile." So when did Satan suffer this defeat? This war in heaven appears to happen sometime after (or because of)
Jesus' ascension to the Father (v. 5). I don't think we can say anything more certain than that.
Luke 10:17-24
Now let's look at the Luke passage. Luke records Jesus' words: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Commentators have often tried to decide when in Jesus' thought this fall occurred. In this passage, the fall of Satan is connected with the return of his disciples from a short-term missions trip. The disciples were able to cast out demons. This is somewhat similar to the statement in Revelation: "They overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony" (Rev 12:11). The shed blood of Christ is the real means of victory over Satan. The secondary
means of victory is the actions of Jesus' people.
My own sense is that just as in Revelation the "fall of Satan" doesn't refer to any particular change of residence, but is a symbolic way of saying that he is being humbled and defeated by the actions of the apostles. This fits with Old Testament language regarding the fall of nations and kings.
Isaiah 14:12-17
Concerning the Isaiah passage, some people believe that Isaiah is giving a description of the fall of Satan
(vv. 12,15). But the passage clearly applies to the king of Babylon. I really don't see any legitimate reason to see Satan in the passage. It is the king of Babylon who suffers defeat and humiliation here.
Ezekiel 28:11-19
This a prophecy concerning the king of Tyre (see verses 2 & 12). But the prophecy seems to go beyond the king of Tyre, because of the symbolic language. Ezekiel calls the king "a guardian cherub" and refers to Eden. What does this mean? Is this a veiled reference to Satan behind the king of Tyre?
I honestly don't know. The imagery keeps shifting. Some of it could refer to Satan, I suppose, but some of it could also refer to Adam (in Eden, clothed only with precious stones around you, blameless until wickedness was found in you). And there are also symbols that seem to refer to the high priest of Israel(9 stones that are mentioned are among the 12 worn by the Jewish high priest, ordained to guard God's holy mountain, i.e. Jerusalem).
Whoever is being referred to here was "driven from the mount of God (Jerusalem), expelled from among
the fiery stones, and thrown to the earth." Is the language just meant symbolically of the king of Tyre or
is it a reference to some fall of Satan behind the king of Tyre?
Honestly, it's just not clear to me. I guess you could see Satan behind the king of Tyre, but all of the
imagery doesn't seem to fit Satan (e.g., "through your widespread trade, you sinned" -- v. 16).
Furthermore, you are still left with the question, when did this fall happen? Is this a third fall of Satan? If
it is a fall of Satan, then when was Satan driven from Jerusalem (v. 16)!?
So here's my opinion:
I don't think the Isaiah & Ezekiel passages have anything to do with Satan.
I think that the reference to Satan's fall is a symbolic way of describing some terrible humiliation
and defeat (the defeat must be defined and understood from the context).
Based on that I think that there have been a number of "falls" of Satan: the moral fall before Eve's
temptation, Jesus' disciples on their mission trip, the death of Christ on the cross, the testimony of
martyred saints.
Of course, that is just opinion. Now for things that are NOT just my opinion:
Jesus defeated Satan and all spiritual forces of evil at the cross (Colossians 2:14-15).
The testimony and work of Christians is helping to defeat Satan (Revelation 12:11).
Satan's ability to accuse us before God has been (or will be) limited (Revelation 12:10).
Satan will finally be defeated and his destiny is in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10; Matthew 25:41)!
For more regarding Satan see Satan--His Infernal Majesty.
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