STAND FIRM:Biblical Foundation of the Unseen World - Satan and His Angels

Biblical Foundation of the Unseen World: Satan and His Angel

      I’ve written in the last two articles, that a few years ago, I found that my view of the spirit world didn’t match the view of the original audience of the Bible. When it comes to interpreting the Bible, we must realize that we’re nearly 2,000 years removed from its completion, so it is important that we work to know the author’s intent and the understanding of the first audience. This requires us to focus on the context for sure, but it also calls us to go back to the original language and historical context.

      The first audience of the New Testament was Old-Testament-and-Second-Temple-writing-informed first-century Jews or newly converted Gentiles trying to catch up on the foundation their Jewish counterparts had. Therefore, the foundation of the unseen world we need to reclaim is that of the Old-Testament-and-Second-Temple-informed mindset.

      My view on the spirit world was that before Genesis’ creation account, there had been a rebellion in Heaven in the ranks of the preexisting angels. Satan encouraged a third of the angels to join him, and they rebelled against God, leading to them being kicked out and thrown to earth. Those angels thrown out with Satan then became the evil fallen angels and/or demons. I saw the names fallen angel and demon as the same. As I shared in the previous article, those beings aren’t the same.

      Continuing with my previous view, I saw the casting out of Satan allowed him to be in the Garden of Eden to deceive Adam and Eve. Then, from that point, the battlelines were drawn — there was an evil force made up of Satan and his angels or demons versus God’s army of angels. That was my view.

      Though there is biblical truth weaved in and out of the angelic summary I just gave, Scripture presents a more complex reality. The first audience and early followers of Jesus had a strong handle on this complexity. Their view of the “evil side” of the angelic world was informed by three angelic rebellions in Scripture rather than only Satan’s in the Garden of Eden. These additional rebellions are in our Bibles, though our English translations have sanitized them and our preconceived ideas often cause us to gloss over them. I will cover those other two rebellions, but let’s return to my view of a third of the angels following Satan in a pre-creation account rebellion.

      I’ve heard leading experts on this subject say that our contemporary view of Satan and his angels is more informed by Dante’s Inferno or Paradise Lost than the Bible. I’ve not read them, so I can’t verify, but I do know that the one-third of the angels rebelling with Satan before the fall of man narrative isn’t clear in the Bible. Only one passage tells that account, and it isn’t the easiest to interpret.

      In Revelation 12, we’re given only one verse that says anything about a one-third angel rebellion. “And a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in Heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of Heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it… Now war arose in Heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him... But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev. 12:1-4; 7-12 ESV).

      Though this passage declares that there will be a war in Heaven and a third of the angels will rebel, the timing is an issue. In the first few verses, the angels with Satan are called stars, a common name given to angels in the Old Testament. The second part states the stars are angels, the dragon is Satan and Satan is the serpent in the Garden. So, as you see, the Bible does tell of this rebellion of Satan, but it is the timing that is in question. The context of this passage is the last days. Twice in the passage, it refers to three and half years with the 1,260 days and the phrase (time, time and half time). This is the last three and half years of the age. The timing language and what is said of the prince angel Michael rising parallels Daniel 12, which is also speaking of the final years of this age.

      This war in Heaven appears to be a last-day event. Dr. Michael Heiser, who I’ve leaned heavily on in my studies on this subject, places the timing of Revelation 12 with the birth of Christ.

      The possibility of this being before Adam and Eve becomes even more difficult when we find Satan at the throne of God in The Book of Job. However, Jesus makes it even more confusing by telling how He saw Satan fall. Jesus’ words on this are recorded in Luke 10. A progression of the casting out is possible as well.

      I don’t know the answer to this. It is very perplexing to me, but I start here to poke holes in our contemporary framework. The holes will grow larger after my next article, which looks at Satan not being in a rebellious location when he tempted Eve but being exactly where he was supposed to be. I poke these holes because though I don’t believe the Bible provides all the answers we want to know about Satan and his rebellion, the two other angelic rebellions are much clearer in Scripture.

         — Jake is a state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)