satan

The Bible has said a lot about Satan, also known as the Devil. But not much is revealed about his origin. Not much is also revealed about the time he was hurled out of heaven alongside his minions called demons, if indeed he has been thrown out of the heavenly realm. This has led to a number of speculative teachings on the subject. The most widely held belief is that Satan was the entity called Lucifer (“light bringer” or “light bearer”) in Isaiah 14:12 (KJV). But the truth is that Prophet Isaiah neither used the word Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12 nor did he refer to the Devil in the passage. My article on it is captioned “Is the Devil the one called Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12?”

It is a common teaching that Satan was thrown out of heaven sometimes before the creation of the earth as recorded in Genesis 1 (Job 38:4-7), and therefore before the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3).

Some other scholars teach that the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 10:18 revealed that Satan fell out of heaven during the ministry of Jesus Christ while he was on the earth. The verse reads, “And he said unto them [the 72 disciples who had gone out preaching, healing and casting out demons with the power in Jesus’ name], I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 10:18 KJV). Christ’s words in this place has been misunderstood. Our Lord didn’t say Satan literally fell from heaven. What he meant was that he saw Satan losing his power so quickly and rapidly the way lightning falls from heaven. He used the rapid speed at which lightning falls from heaven or the clouds to describe the dramatic speed at which Satan and his demons were departing from their hosts at the command of the 72 disciples in the name of Jesus. The phrase “from heaven” is to be referred rightly to lightning, not to Satan. We do not see Jesus talk of Satan’s literal fall from heaven in this verse.

The God’s Kingdom Society (GKS) teach that Satan was cast out of heaven in 1914. They teach that it was his wrath, mentioned in Rev. 12:12, that made him plunge the world into World War I of 1914-1918. The problem with this timing is that it is purely conjectural; it is totally lacking in contextual evidence.

Has Satan been thrown out of Heaven?

The Bible passage which explicitly state that Satan was hurled out of heaven is Rev. 12:7-10. But the time this happened remains unclear. What is certain is that it did not take place before the creation as erroneously espoused by many Bible scholars. The Bible clearly faults this timing. First, after the creation Satan still had access to God in heaven in the days of Job (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6). Job is believed to live at the same time as Abraham who was born around 1947 BCE, about 2,938 years after the creation. If Satan was still able to access God in heaven at the time of Job, he couldn’t have been exiled from heaven before the creation. Secondly, Rev. 12:10 calls him “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night.” Satan could not be accusing the brethren at a time when they have not been created or born. Thirdly, Satan was said to be cast out heaven after “a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre” (Jesus Christ) has been “snatched up to God and to his throne” (his ascension and glorification in heaven) and after “the woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days” (Rev. 12:5-6 NIVUK). Her flight to the wilderness will be at the beginning of the tribulation of the “last day” ( Rev. 12:5-7; Dan. 7:25; 12:7-9).

We can see from the context that the war in heaven will break out immediately after the woman, symbolising Israel, takes her flight to the wilderness where she’ll be protected and cared for by God for  1,260 days. (These 1,260 days divided by 30 days which make up the  Jewish month equals 42 months or three and a half years. Consider Rev. 11:2 and 13:5. In Rev. 12:14, the period the woman will be cared for in the wilderness is given as “a time, times, and half a time” which in verse 6 is given as “1260 days.” See also Rev. 11:3. This means that “a time, times, and half a time” (Dan. 7:25; 12:7; Rev, 12:14) means three and a half years, the same as 42 months or 1,260 days.) Daniel was told that the matters this period of “a time, times, and half a time” (Dan. 12:7) “are closed and sealed until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9). This means they will take place at the time of the end of this age.

The word “then” (Greek: “kai”) which starts verse 7 suggests that the war in heaven will take place after the woman has taken her flight into the wilderness to be protected by God for 1,260 days. It also means that Satan will be cast out of heaven immediately after the commencement of the 1,260 days. The 1,260 days has been set by God to be the span of the great tribulation. It is clear from verse 7 that Satan will be hurled out of heaven at the beginning of the great tribulation.

If the great tribulation is still in the future, the only logical and tenable conclusion we have is that Satan is yet to be exiled from heaven. He will be kicked out of heaven at the start of the great tribulation.

Right now he is still prowling the earth like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour (Job 1:7; 2:2; 1 Pet. 5:8) and still having access to God and accusing the believers before God day and night (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Zech. 3:1-4; Rev. 12:10).