Biblical Prophecy by John H. Sailhamer

Author:John H. Sailhamer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310877509
Publisher: Zondervan

Paradise Lost: The Fall of Satan

Satan and demons play a central role in the prophetic view of the future. Evil exists in God’s good world, but it is not eternal. God will one day destroy Satan and remove his evil influence from his good creation. Evil came from a single rebellious act of a one-time great angel of God, Lucifer. In Jude 6 we are told that some angels “did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home.” From several passages we can reconstruct a general outline of what the Bible teaches about Satan and his demons.

Satan and his demons are clearly fallen angels. They were created good along with the rest of God’s creation, but they later rebelled and lost their standing with God and became God’s eternal enemies. The Bible calls them “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12). Through them sin and rebellion entered into the human race and the rest of creation (see Genesis 3). The serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden was Satan. The very word “Satan,” in fact, means “adversary.”

We learn more about the fall of Satan in the prophetic imagery Ezekiel uses to describe the forces of evil in his own day. Ezekiel accuses the king of Tyre of the same sin of pride and arrogance that the angel Lucifer (Satan) displayed in his defiant rebellion from God’s rule. Thus, by paying close attention to Ezekiel’s imagery (Ezek. 28:11-19), we can catch a glimpse of the events that led to Satan’s fall. Originally, Satan was “the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (28:12). He lived “in Eden, the garden of God” (28:13), surrounded by the beauty prepared for him when he was created (28:13). He was “blameless in [his] ways” (28:15). All this changed, however, when his “heart became proud on account of [his] beauty” (28:17) and his wisdom was corrupted (28:17).

Isaiah uses similar imagery as he describes the fall of Babylon (Isa. 14:3-23); through it we can add to our picture of the fall of Satan. Satan is the “morning star” (Lucifer), “fallen from heaven” (14:12). He said in his heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly…I will make myself like the Most High” (14:13-14). In other words, pride and power lay at the heart of his sin. It is thus no accident that Satan’s first temptation of Eve centered on her desire to “be like God” (Gen. 3:5).

The biblical writers take seriously the threat of Satan and his angels. They pose the central threat to God’s kingdom. Their end, however, is sealed (Rev. 20:7-10).

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