Blog

by Bill Seng

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony… But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” ~Revelation 12:10-12

When did Satan fall? Was it before creation, during creation, or was it sometime afterwards? Most people choose to believe that the fall of Satan happened really early on because that prompted him to tempt Adam and Eve to sin. Let me put a new spin on what is commonly misunderstood about Satan’s fall.

Satan did not fall toward the beginning of time. Now, I might have just ruffled some feathers with that statement and I may continue to do so. Before I get labeled a heretic, let me define what I mean by Satan’s fall. I do not define Satan’s fall by the corruption of his heart. He fell when he was cast out of heaven by God and his army of angels. Some people at this point might think that the two events go hand-in-hand. I, for one, would encourage you to keep on reading this post but also to read the above Scripture, Revelation 12:10-12, very closely. I would also ask that you lay aside many of your preconceived notions about the “mystery” of Satan’s fall. I do not think there is a mystery behind it because God clearly tells us when it happened in Revelation 12. Satan fell at a definite point in history.

Last week, we discussed how Satan is the accuser and how he rightly accused mankind of sins. Many people believe that the serpent in Eden was actually Satan in disguise. For people who believe that I would encourage you to pick up a copy of my book The World That Then Was, in which I give a fairly thorough explanation concerning why the serpent and Satan were not the same entities. The reason that is significant is because Satan received no punishment for tempting the serpent, Eve, and Adam to sin. At the same time Adam, Eve, and all of nature were placed under a curse for the sake of their sin. Indeed, Satan’s heart was corrupt, but he was merely the accuser after the sin had taken place.

If you pay close attention to what the Bible says, all of Satan’s accusations against mankind occur in the Old Testament or are Old Testament references. He accused Job of being overrated, he pointed out the filthiness of Joshua the High Priest, and he tried to lay claim to the body of Moses. Each one of these accusations occurred in the presence of God in his heavenly realm. Revelation tells us that the accuser, Satan, was later cast out of heaven.

What changed between the Old Testament and the New Testament? The question I just asked answers itself. The Old Testament is the Old Covenant and the New Testament is the New Covenant, and the New Covenant was sealed by the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross. Throughout all of history up to that point, Satan was rightfully accusing mankind of all sorts of wickedness. Granted, he was tempting them to sin, but who was Satan aside from being a ministering spirit who was to report mankind’s condition to God? God had to provide mankind a system of sacrifices in order to cover over the wickedness that Satan was accusing them of and thus take away their sins. Then, on that fateful day, Jesus Christ took sin upon himself and died to wipe out the world’s sin debt. Satan’s accusations were worse than meaningless after Jesus’ death, they were blasphemous. They were blasphemous because Adam and Eve’s sin became Jesus’ sin. Cain’s sin became Jesus’ sin. Abraham’s sin became Jesus’ sin. Moses’ sin became Jesus’ sin. David’s sin became Jesus’ sin. The one who knew no sin became sin for the world and died. From that point on if Satan were to accuse anyone of sin he was accusing the Son of God of sin.

War ensued in heaven. Satan and his forces attempted to overthrow God’s kingdom and establish his own reign. But he was cast out of heaven because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the testimony that would follow. Remember, in Eden he was able to avoid condemnation because he pointed out the sin of others. But at Calvary he attempted to point out the sin of Jesus and God’s Son was found blameless in the sight of his Father. Revelation 12 subtly points out the curse that was put upon Satan and it is not much different from the curse that was announced in Eden against creation: “He is filled with fury, because he knows his time is short” (12:12). Did you catch that? Before he was cast out of heaven Satan enjoyed immortality. After he was cast down to the earth, he became subject to the same fate of the rest of creation: death. He knew from that point on that his days were numbered, and he became furious.

Satan has been defeated but his meddling against God’s plans has not been eradicated quite yet. The fate that he fears has not yet come to pass, but that day is rapidly approaching. Let’s make that next week’s topic.