You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you (Ezekiel 28:15).
From eternity past God ruled the universe with the law that emanates from the very essence of His being: the law of agape love. Holy angels and other created beings lived by this law without even thinking that they were doing so, for they had never known anything contrary to the joyous, happy and harmonious state- of-being they enjoyed under God’s law of agape love. Their relationship with God was one of loving devotion, in which there was absolutely no fear.
The word “Lucifer” means “the daystar.” Lucifer was also called “the son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12). The Biblical record of this being indicates that before iniquity was found in him, he was filled with light. The description of Lucifer depicts a creature of astounding intellect, beauty and power. Ezekiel says of him:
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardis, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you (Ezekiel 28:13-15)
The Cherubim
As an anointed cherub who covers, Lucifer held the closest position to God, a position shared by only one other, the prince and archangel Michael. In the earthly sanctuary, the covering cherubs were placed in the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. They covered the ark of the testament, which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, God’s law of agape love. As a shadow of things to come (Hebrews 10:1), and as representations of heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5), the earthly sanctuary was a symbol of the heavenly throne room of God, of His character and of His governing principles which are embodied in the law of agape love.
Lucifer was put in the holy height of God by God Himself: I established you. God Himself had placed Lucifer into His own bosom, giving him the most privileged position in the heavenly throne room along with only One other, and in His presence Lucifer was intimately acquainted with His law of unconditional love. As a covering cherub he was in fact a guardian of the law of God.
Lucifer Used To Live By God’s Law Of Love
Love is God’s very essence, His perfect character. Love is God’s benchmark, His singular principle for the governance of every aspect of life. agape love is the governing law that God utilizes even in the most infinitesimal events in the universe. It was with this perfect rule of love that Lucifer was created and this was the governing principle that initially ruled his character: You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created. This perfection that the Bible attributes to Lucifer means that he was in total harmony with God’s supreme law of love from the beginning of his life. Thus from the day he was created, he fully believed, supported and promoted this eternal principle of love that God used for the running of the universe. What happened next is found in Ezekiel 28:15-17:
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour.
When Iniquity Was Found In Lucifer
Ezekiel tells us that sin originated with Lucifer when iniquity was found in him. It is imperative that we comprehend this statement from Ezekiel 28: 15: You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.
This verse clearly informs us that whatever iniquity was, it was found in Lucifer. It was first ‘within’ him. The genesis of iniquity in God’s universe originated in the mind of Lucifer first as a thought. Initially, iniquity did not demonstrate itself in any external empirical acts, thus revealing its depravity. All the actions that followed Lucifer’s thoughts were sinful evil acts, but the iniquity that was found in him was first of all in his mind. The subsequent evil acts that took place were reactions to what had first begun in his thought processes and were the physical manifestation of those thoughts.
The principle that one’s thoughts precede and predict one’s actions is laid out in Proverbs 23:7: For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Jesus also confirmed this fact when He said that even lusting in one’s heart was considered adultery:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28).
First and foremost, Lucifer cognitively deviated from the mind of God. Any concept that is contrary to agape love is in opposition to God and is irreconcilable to Him. Any deviation in the least particular from the eternal principle of God’s agape love as the rule of law for the universe is utterly iniquitous. Therefore, it was not some benign thought that Lucifer was harboring as he turned away from God’s agape love. On the contrary, what he was contemplating was malignant and malevolent because the law he began to devise and which was later represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was radically antithetical to God’s agape love. The cross of Jesus reveals the height and depth of the evil that originated in the mind of Lucifer. His rule of law created havoc on planet earth and in the universe, and the cross is the ultimate confirmation of this fact.
Lucifer Rejected God’s Very Essence, And Violence Was Introduced
The iniquity that was found in Lucifer was in effect the rejection of the very essence of God, and the law which God used for the governance of the universe. The essence of God is His nature which is His agape love. God’s law is love. Lucifer sinned by rejecting God’s love as the rule of law for the universe and by introducing a principle of arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment which we shall refer to often as the principle of good and evil. This principle or law is responsible for all the death and destruction that planet earth has experienced. The law Lucifer devised, and which came to be represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, will be fully discussed in the next chapter.
The Difference Between Satan’s Principle And God’s Principle
The difference between God’s principle of agape and Satan’s principle of good and evil can be best understood through a comparison between Jesus’ directive that we love our enemies, and the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth law of the Old Testament. Lucifer’s law was arbitrary in that it proposed that all evil must be punished and all good must be rewarded. He clearly saw his new rule of law as a superior and more functional alternative to God’s method for governance. Lucifer could not fathom how God’s apparently permissive law of agape love could be successful in eradicating evil. To his new twisted mindset, God’s law of agape love was ineffectual, dysfunctional, and utterly foolish.
The Bible tells us that God’s law of love is nonsensical to us who live under the destructive power of the principle of good and evil. Take the following passage from 1 Corinthians, for instance:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:18-21).
For the message of the cross—Jesus’ demonstration of God’s law of love in giving His own life for the world—is foolishness to those who are perishing.
Who are those who are perishing? They are those who think and operate by Lucifer’s arbitrary law of death and destruction. We must understand that it is not God who is making them perish; they are perishing because they adhere to the self-destructive principle of arbitrary reward and punishment. But to us who are being saved—to us who are letting go of Lucifer’s law of arbitrary reward and punishment—it is the power of God—the power of God’s agape love in our inner hearts. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’
The ultimate spiritual supremacy of God’s principle of love will destroy the so-called wisdom of the wise, because the wisdom of the wise is nothing but the principle of good and evil, which is a devilish wisdom. The wisdom of God will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Paul is saying that what appears to make sense to us is not necessarily the wisdom of God, and if we do not take heed, we, the so called prudent, may find ourselves believing and living by Satan’s principle of good and evil.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God—in the wisdom of His law of love—the world through wisdom—that is, through Lucifer’s wisdom, a wisdom according to his law of good and evil—did not know God—it is impossible to know God if one believes and lives by the principle of good and evil—it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached, that is, the unconditional grace and agape love of God as shown by the cross—to save those who believe—to save those who believe in God’s law of love. In other words, to save them from the condemnation and destruction that is inherent in Satan’s law of good and evil.
Lucifer’s Law Is Based On Merit, And God’s Law Is Unconditional
In Satan’s law of good and evil the worth of an individual is based solely on merit and focuses on outward behaviour. By contrast, in God’s law of agape love a person is accepted and loved unconditionally in spite of whatever utterly depraved condition he or she may be in. In addition, it focuses on a heart relationship rather than on mere external conduct. To God, our intrinsic value lies in the fact that we are His children. Thus He unconditionally accepts us regardless of our performance. His unconditional acceptance is also the grace that uplifts us. Lucifer lost sight of his own worth in God’s eyes due to his own law of good and evil, and thus he became self-condemned.
Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own mercy (Jonah 2:8).
The King James Version states:
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Lying vanities are the falsehoods taught by Satan through false doctrines. His lies steer the human soul away from the salvation that is inherent in God’s principle of unconditional love, and it is thus that they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. In Jeremiah 8:19, the word ‘vanities’ is clearly tied in with falsehood as well, again, in the KJV:
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities (Jeremiah 8:19)?
The basic problem with the worship of graven images is that they teach strange vanities in regard to the character of God. More specifically, the god taught by graven images is a god who does not have a character of love, but rather, a character of good and evil. These gods require sacrifice, bestow punishment, and have no regard for humanity.
When we are admonished not to take the Lord’s name in vain in the third commandment, we are also told that the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain (Exodus 20:7). Anyone who believes in lying vanities regarding God cannot have their guilt removed, for they are condemned by the inherent condemnation present in the principle of good and evil. Once we believe Jesus’ message from the Father, our guilt is removed by the knowledge of our unconditional acceptance by God because of His agape love.
God’s Law Of Unconditional Love
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explained the differences between God’s law of agape love and the law of good and evil. He did so in no uncertain terms and in the most simple and lucid way, which only One who had the ultimate authority could do:
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ ‘But I say to you, love your enemies’ (Matthew 5:43).
Please note how the apostle Paul confirms Jesus’ law of love. As a lawyer of the Torah, he does it in a more legal way, but in essence he is saying the same thing that Jesus said:
Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (Romans 4:4, 5).
Justifying the ungodly and loving one’s enemies amount to the same thing. God, in His agape love, justifies the ungodly. Satan, through the principle of good and evil, condemns and punishes the ungodly.
Satan’s Law Brought Violence And Death Into The Universe
Because Lucifer’s principle uses arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment as behavioural motivators, violence and death came into the universe through this law. In agape love there is no violence or death. Violence and death, in its wider, all-encompassing application, is iniquity; therefore Lucifer’s rule of law was iniquitous. In its broad application, sin, the antithetical principle to God’s agape love, when fully accepted and executed, incorporates violence that leads to death. To put it simply, iniquity equals good and evil, causes violence and death, and is contrary to God’s agape love. This was the iniquity that was found in Lucifer and his rule of law.
Lucifer Rejected God’s Law Of agape Love And Introduced The Law Of Good And Evil
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13-14).
When Lucifer said in his heart that he would ascend above all and be like the Most High, it was the first time ever in the universe that a sinless being rebelled against God’s indivisible law of love. Lucifer devised a method of governance which he hoped would not only rival but surpass God’s law of agape love, and he went about promoting his law to the rest of the intelligent beings in the universe. His highest ambition was to sit on the mount of the congregation (Isaiah 14:13) and be worshipped. What in effect that meant was that he wanted to eventually rule the universe, the congregation, by his own rule of law. This was the foundational reason for his rebellion, and the law he devised was a divisible, hybrid law, the law of good and evil.
God Gave Lucifer The Freedom To Develop His New Law
As we have already seen, Lucifer’s law germinated in his mind and in his mind only, and in its embryonic stage his turning away from God began in the form of a questioning thought, which in the course of time developed into full-blown rebellion. In order for him to be able to translate his thoughts into practical actions, he needed freedom, which he amply had under God’s law of agape love. The law he was beginning to devise was antithetical to God’s unitary, unmixed, indivisible law of unconditional love, which had governed the universe from eternity past.
The consequences of Lucifer’s rebellion against God’s rule of law were of a character that had until then been unknown in the universe, and were in fact unknown to Lucifer himself. God warned him of these consequences and tried to dissuade him from proceeding in his dangerous, disastrous path. The immediate result of introducing this hybrid rule of law of good and evil was that Lucifer himself acquired and developed a character that was a hybrid. With a hybrid law and a hybrid character, which was a reflection of his own law, he became solely responsible for the introduction of the death principle into the universe, thus founding the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of the shadow of death. It was to save us from the consequences of the principles of this kingdom that Jesus, the great light, came to earth:
“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16).
Lucifer Lied About God’s Character And Law
Prior to the introduction of Lucifer’s principle in the transcendent sphere, all intelligent beings lived by God’s supreme rule of law. In reality, God’s law was nothing but a reflection of His character of love. As Lucifer presented his own law to the heavenly beings, he concurrently taught them lies about God’s character and about His supreme law for the governance of the universe.
Now the universe was confronted with a law that was antithetical to God’s law. After being exposed to Lucifer’s new law, one third of the angels accepted him as their leader, and so he became their teacher. It is sobering to ponder that what Lucifer presented to the angels was so overwhelmingly convincing that one third of the angels accepted his rule of law and considered it superior to God’s law of love:
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth (Revelation 12:3, 4a).
As he severed all dependence upon God and His law, Lucifer independently established his own law for the administration of the universe, thus positioning himself, so he claimed, as an autonomous being, and superior to God:
For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest side of the north (Isaiah 14: 13, 14).
Satan’s Law Of Good And Evil Is A Hybrid
The law Lucifer devised was intrinsically antithetical to God’s unitary, unmixed, indivisible law of unconditional agape love, which had governed the universe from eternity past. The hybrid rule of law he introduced resulted in his (and subsequently the angels that followed him, as well as the human race) acquiring and developing a dual character. Acquiring a dual character of good and evil was the foundational and inevitable consequence of Lucifer’s rebellion against God’s rule of law. With his hybrid law and consequent hybrid character reflecting his hybrid law, he is solely responsible for introducing the death principle in the universe, the results of which are all of the works of darkness.
Lucifer Becomes Satan
After his rebellion, as his character came to reflect his own law, Lucifer became the devil, Satan, which means the adversary and accuser of God. He then became the first false god in the universe, and the Bible refers to him by many different names besides ‘Satan’ and ‘the Devil.’ According to Jesus, he is the prince of this world and he holds the power of darkness:
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out (John 12:31; emphasis added).
When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53; emphasis added).
The apostle Paul also calls him the power of darkness as well as the god of this age:
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:13; emphasis added).
… whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them (2 Corinthians 4:4; emphasis added).
In the book of Revelation chapter 12:9, the serpent, also known as the dragon, is identified as that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan. In the Greek language the words for dragon, serpent, Devil, and Satan, are respectively, “drakon [a fabulous kind of serpent, (perhaps as supposed to fascinate)],” “ophis [related to optonomai optomai (to gaze, that is, with eyes wide open as at something remarkable) (thorough the idea of sharpness of vision) a snake, figuratively (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan- serpent],” “diabolos [a traducer, specifically Satan, false accuser, slanderer], and satanas [the accuser],” (Strong’s Concordance).
The War In Heaven
The results of the schism between God and Lucifer are reported in the book of Revelation 12:7-9 in the following way:
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
This passage relates that a war broke out in heaven. What kind of war broke out in heaven, and when did this specific war break out? In order for us to get a correct understanding of the issues at hand, it is imperative that we understand what kind of war broke out in heaven. Was this some militaristic type of war with extremely advanced weapons which our limited, puny minds have as of yet not imagined?
The Greek Word For War Is Polemos
A quick study of the original Greek in the above passage reveals that the word used to represent the war in heaven is the word polemos, from which the English word ‘polemic’ evolved. The Cambridge Dictionary describes the word polemic as “a piece of writing or a speech in which a person strongly attacks or defends a particular opinion, idea or sets of beliefs.”
With this understanding it becomes clear that the passage in Revelation 12 is not referring to a literal war but is figuratively describing an intense debate of ideas and sets of principles. This polemic occurred between God and Lucifer, while the angels were at first bystanders who eventually had to make a choice over which side they would stand. This passionate and powerful debate occurred in the transcendent realm between God, the protagonist, and Satan, the antagonist. We are told that eventually Satan and the angels that chose to side with him did not prevail.
War In Heaven Was Spiritual Warfare
This was not, as mentioned above, by any means a militaristic, literal war but an intense, passionate, powerful debate. This polemic occurred between God and His angels, and Satan and his angels. But the devil, Satan, who deceives the whole world, would like us to believe that it was a war in which violence was involved and used by both sides. Not so. God’s methods in the war in question are quite different from Satan’s methods. We may get a glimpse of His methods from the following passage in Isaiah 63, in which God’s fury and anger is manifested through the only and ultimate weapon He had: Jesus Christ on the cross, the ultimate revelation of God’s law of agape love.
Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This one who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come” (Isaiah 63:1-4; emphasis added).
Notice that the above passage is referring to the cross, the winepress of God’s wrath. It is not a wrath that manifests itself in punishment toward anyone, but a wrath which takes the punishment upon itself, shouldering the consequences of all our sins. God’s vengeance, a human word, is to speak in righteousness, to save mightily, to redeem. These are the only weapons at His disposal, for they only are in harmony with His character.
Satan deceives the whole world into believing that God uses military power that involves violence in His warfare against evil. Thus it is that the whole world, and especially those in the world who are under the banner of religious belief, is using violence in its deceived thinking against those who are perceived as enemies. The foundational reason for such violence is based on the belief system that proposes that God condones violence when circumstances necessitate it. It is Satan who has caused such deception to abound in people’s concept of God, and it is for that reason that the consequent reigning carnage abounds in the world.
Earth’s Inhabitants Adopted Satan’s Law
In one of His parables Jesus said that there were one hundred sheep, but only one went astray. In the cosmic scale of things, the one sheep that went astray represents the earth. The rest of the universe, except for one third of the angels, did not believe or accept Lucifer’s new law. Through Adam and Eve’s partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the earth was the only planet in the universe to adopt Satan’s law.
Not surprisingly then, we, Adam and Eve’s descendants, have fallen prey to Satan’s rule of law and use it as the guiding principle in our lives. Every institution on planet earth is governed by Lucifer’s principle from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From our human perspective, the law of good and evil represents a workable system of administration. We have accepted his law as an ethical and moral philosophy for existence. That is precisely what Lucifer originally advocated when he introduced his system of governance in the universe. In fact, we have not only accepted Lucifer’s rule of law, but we have also gone even a step further, in that we also, like Lucifer, believe that his law is better than God’s. In one way or another all of us promote and live by the arbitrary reward and arbitrary punishment concept of life. Even as we look at other people, we judge and weigh each person in the balance of this system, and from its set of principles we decide whether to reward or punish them. Jesus warned us that judging and finding fault in others is in itself a greater sin than the actual faults we may find in them:
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye (Matthew 7:1-3)?
By using the principle of Lucifer to judge others we judge our own selves and show that his law is our operating principle. By weighing others on Satan’s balance of merit and worth, we disregard God’s law of unconditional agape love and again demonstrate that we are following Satan’s law. The plank in our eye is our usage of the system of arbitrary reward and punishment found in the system of good and evil which we use instead of God’s unconditional law of love. Jesus characterizes this as a grosser flaw, a beam that is much bigger than the splinter in our brother’s eye.
Our acceptance and promotion of this satanic system of administration also proves the erudite nature of Satan’s rule of law, because intellectually, like one third of the angels, we have believed in his principle. His law is so profound that he has made us believe the unbelievable.
Lucifer Accuses God Of Using The Law Of Good And Evil
It cannot be overemphasized that the genesis of Lucifer’s rule of law in the universe was in direct opposition to God’s rule of law, which was represented by the tree of life in the Garden of Eden.
Lucifer had proposed his law to God claiming that it was superior to God’s own law. As God rejected his proposal to implement his law of good and evil, Lucifer began to use a different strategy in his opposition to Him. He attributed to God his own rule of law and caused all to believe that God operated from the principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil under which, if you do good, God supposedly arbitrarily rewards you, and if you do evil, He arbitrarily punishes you.
To begin with, it is astonishing that we have accepted Satan’s system of administration on planet earth. But by believing the lie that it was God who instituted this law, we have truly fallen deep into a pit from which even God may not be able to rescue us. Judas is a good example of this: no matter how much grace Jesus Christ showed him, he could not believe and accept that he was forgiven and consequently took his own life.
As inconceivable as it may seem, it is nevertheless a reality that we now believe that Satan’s law of good and evil is God’s law of governance. Satan’s peddling of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth was so masterfully and convincingly done that intellectually it was easy to accept a God who used retribution as part of his justice. This has become the accepted belief system of Satan, a third of the angels, and of all humanity.
The Abundance Of Satan’s Merchandise Contained Violence
The Star Wars scenario, the fight of good against evil, is the ultimate deception, and is not at all what took place in heaven. George Lucas’ Luke Skywalker, the good guy, uses the same violent methods as his nemesis, Darth Vader. That was not the case in the polemic that took place in heaven. As we read earlier in Isaiah, violence came into the universe by the abundance of Lucifer’s merchandise. What was his merchandise?
By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned (Ezekiel 28:16; emphasis added).
Lucifer’s trading was a law which operated on a principle of violence. Through this law he introduced violence and removed the freedom of choice of God’s creatures. Violence did not exist in the universe prior to his introducing it. The war in heaven was a spiritual war over which method of government was to prevail as the governing law for the universe, and the law Lucifer was proposing was filled with violence. God found Himself involved in a war that indeed involves violence, but He Himself uses only unconditional love in His dealings within that war. God never did, and never will use violence of any form.
Satan Used To Present Himself Before The Lord In Heaven
The book of Job tells us that Satan used to have access in the heavenly sphere even after sin entered the earth:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan,
“From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth in it” (Job 1:6-8).
The sons of God were sinless intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere, representatives of other worlds. They are not angels, for angels are referred to as stars in the Scriptures. From this verse we see that they periodically would attend meetings at which God presided, for they came to present themselves before the Lord. Satan came to these meetings as the representative of the earth, a position he usurped from Adam. If the reader recalls, Adam had been given dominion over the earth, but now we see Satan in command in Adam’s stead. As the representative of the earth, he and his angels, who roamed the earthly sphere, also had access to the heavenly domain.
How And When Lucifer Was Cast Down
Satan’s access to heaven came to a halt at a certain time, for in the book of Revelation we learn that he was cast out from heaven to the earth:
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9).
At this point the reader may ask: ‘Does this text not imply that violence was used against Satan in order to cast him out of heaven?’ We must look to Jesus for the answer, because only He is the final word, the final wisdom. In fact He gives us the wisdom of God Himself:
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31; emphasis added).
Jesus tells us exactly when it was that Lucifer was cast out of heaven and by what means. The answer is found in John 12:31 as Jesus speaks about the upcoming event of the cross:
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
The question we must ask ourselves is, what does Jesus mean by the word now? We must look at the context surrounding this revelation and find out what event the word now is tied to, so that we may understand not only when he was cast out, but also why and how:
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour. ‘Father, glorify Your name.’” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die (John 12:27-33).
Putting together this passage from John with the previous passage from Revelation, we may first of all safely affirm that Satan, the ruler of this world, was cast out from heaven to the earth. He was not cast out from the earth, for he is still ruling here in this world. A time is coming when he will also be cast out from the earth, but that time is still in the future.
It was as the representative of this world that the ruler of the earth was cast out from the heavenly councils at the time referred to as now. It is clear that the now that Jesus is talking about is the event of the cross, and it coincides with the casting out of Revelation 12:9. Jesus is pointing to the cross, that event when and where He would be glorified, and when and where Satan and God will both be seen for who they really are.
The scenario and issues surrounding Lucifer’s expulsion can then be summarized like this: prior to the cross Lucifer had been able to convince a third of the angels that his rule of law was better and more desirable than God’s. The other two thirds had not joined him in the rebellion and remained loyal to God. Because Lucifer worked through deception and lies, he created confusion and uncertainty, and the angels that remained loyal to God did not yet understand all the issues involved in this war of principles. It could be said that prior to the cross they had accepted God’s warnings by faith. But at the cross they finally saw through Satan’s lies and deception with their own eyes. They understood that God would rather die for His children than destroy them, and that Lucifer was indeed a murderer who, if possible, would destroy even the Son of God. They came to see for themselves that Satan’s accusations that God uses the principle of good and evil were a blatant lie. Hence, from here onward they would not move their allegiance from God, regardless of any further manipulations on Satan’s part.
The intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere sealed their faith in God and in His rule of law because of the infinite love that was demonstrated on the cross. Also at the cross, Satan’s iniquitous rule of law was fully exposed for the evil it truly is.
The War In Heaven Ceases
Thus the war in the transcendent sphere was eternally won, settled, and sealed, and Satan became a defeated foe in that realm. There is a passage in Romans that says that Satan will be crushed under our feet, and even though that verse applies to us, we could say that the God of peace did crush Satan under the heavenly beings’ feet as well (Romans 16:20). They crushed him when they rejected him. The crushing was done under their feet because it was their rejection of Satan’s law that crushed him. When the truth shone forth, the polemic reached an end, all minds made their decision, and Satan was cast out. As his lies and deceptions could no longer persuade the heavenly beings to accept his rule of law or false claims about God, he is portrayed as being cast out. In other words, his attempts to influence them would be forever unfruitful and his arguments ever rejected.
Satan had no further grounds or reasons to justify his presence in the transcendent sphere to which he previously had unhindered access.
We have seen that the Book of Job confirms the accessibility he had to the heavenly sphere prior to the cross event. After the cross, there was nothing more he could say negatively about God that would be believed, for the truth about his rule of law was fully exposed. The utter chaos and violence in his rule of law had been unveiled, and any further appeals to try and justify his system were in vain.
God’s essence, His character of agape love, His supreme rule of law of the universe, was fully vindicated in the transcendent sphere by what happened on the cross, and it was literally impossible for Satan to sway any of the heavenly beings back into his way of thinking about God after the cross event. They did not even want to hear from him anymore, and it was chiefly in this sense he was cast out of heaven as stated in Revelation chapter twelve. Satan and his angels were cast out of heaven not by an arbitrary violent act of God but as the consequence of the light of the truth that had shined from the cross.
The Cross Was The Turning Point In The Polemic
Until the cross event Satan and his angels resolutely believed they still could try to convince the intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere to see the folly in God’s law of agape love. Revelation 12:10 also reveals that they unceasingly, day and night, kept in contact with the heavenly domain until their defeat by the event of the cross:
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, is cast down (Revelation 12:10, emphasis added).
The words now, the salvation, power, kingdom of our God and authority of His Christ in the above text all refer to the event that took place on the cross and to the time period that followed it. Satan and his angels now knew for certain, given what had transpired on the cross, that there was absolutely no possibility whatsoever for them to convince their former colleagues to ever turn around to their point of view. Because of the event on the cross they were completely defeated and they knew that nothing they could say or do would ever change the minds of their erstwhile associates. Therefore, in complete defeat they permanently stopped all form of communication with them. As the principle of good and evil was unmasked on the cross, and as God’s agape love was also fully revealed there, Satan and his angels did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer:
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7-9).
Satan…was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him after the death of Jesus Christ on the cross revealed that God is love (1 John 4:16b). Thus the death of Jesus Christ was in fact the only weapon, so to speak, that God used in His war with Satan.
As Satan lost this war and was cast to the earth along with his angels, his defeat caused the following proclamation of triumph to be made in heaven:
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation [FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF GOOD AND EVIL], and strength, and the kingdom of our God [HIS LAW OF agape LOVE], and the power of His Christ [REVELATION OF THE LOVE OF GOD] have come [TO THE EARTH, ON THE CROSS], for the accuser [SATAN] of our brethren [HUMANITY], who accused them before our God day and night [BY THE PRINCIPLE OF GOOD AND EVIL], has been cast down.” And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb [SHED ON THE CROSS] and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death [RESPONSE TO GOD’S LOVE] (Revelation 12:10; emphasis added).
Thus the Lord and His perfect law of love have prevailed in the heavenly domain and we are given a picture of rejoicing among the heavenly beings:
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them (Revelation 12:12)!
The Other Worlds Watched The Cross In Amazement
All the other intelligent beings, those who had not accepted Lucifer’s rule of law in the transcendent sphere, had also remained faithful to God and to His rule of law even though they too did not fully understand all the issues involved. God informed them that agape love and arbitrary punishment can never coexist, that arbitrary punishment, in principle, is anti-God. He had warned them that arbitrary punishment would be an alien, evil entity, an invasion, an intrusion in His system of ruling the universe. The un-fallen beings of the universe trusted God and accepted His explanation without completely comprehending the depth of the evil resulting from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had told them that He would take personally upon Himself whatever punishment was engendered by evil. They were left in reverent wonderment as to how God was going to take care of evil and its punishment personally. They were oblivious as to what God meant by saying that He would take care of that punishment personally until, in absolute amazement, they watched the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
Heavenly Beings Unanimously And With Finality Choose God Over Satan
When Jesus died on Calvary, all of Lucifer’s accusation against God and His rule of law of agape love were exposed as lies to all of the heavenly intelligent beings that had remained faithful to God. Now their acceptance of God’s love as a rule of government for the universe was authenticated. What they observed, in amazement, on the cross, confirmed their faith in all that God had told them. It was settled for them that Lucifer’s principle of arbitrary punishment was the embodiment of evil.
Satan and his angelic minions no longer bothered to approach the intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere in the effort to convince them to defect because they had now chosen God and His rule of law of agape love over him and his law. God’s character and rule of law remained inviolable and vindicated. For these beings, the event of the cross permanently disproved all the lies Satan had propagated against God’s character and method of governing. Satan’s head was crushed throughout the un-fallen populated universe in this respect. He knew he could not convince them anymore to renounce God’s rule of law and accept his. They now clearly saw God’s agape love for sinful humanity being demonstrated by Jesus Christ as He died on the cross.
The Pivotal Importance Of The Cross Of Christ
In Ephesians 3:8-11, Paul tells us that it is by events that transpire on earth that the heavenly beings are learning the wisdom of God, things that were not before known:
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord (emphasis added).
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross unequivocally confirmed for the intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere what they had firmly believed about God by faith. Now the demonstration on the cross was validated not only by faith but also by sight. They observed God’s agape love as Jesus Christ took upon Himself the entirety of humanity’s sins and all its fall-out, dying the death for every human being. Here was revealed God’s personal experience as He took all the punishment for all of humanity’s sins, a punishment due to them from Satan’s law. The character of God and His law of love, which had been saturated with the malicious lies and accusations of Satan, were cleansed and restored to their rightful place in the minds of all the intelligent beings in the transcendent sphere. It was at the cross that Satan and his system were fully exposed for all of its evil.
The Cross Defeated Satan In Heaven; Now He Is Concentrating On Planet Earth
The Great War between God and Satan over the minds of all intelligent beings as to whose rule of law was to prevail in the universe had with certainty been settled in the transcendent sphere, but that is not yet the case on the earth:
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time (Revelation 12:12; emphasis added).
Satan and his angels did not prevail in the transcendent sphere, and that was wholly due to the events that had transpired in the earthly domain, and more specifically, on the cross. Here the visible, the cross, reveals the invisible, that is, what happened in heaven. But on earth the war is still raging in the minds of all living beings. Each one of us is still deciding whether God is a God of violence or not, and this will go on until the sealing takes place, that is, until we become settled in our minds, one way or another. As this happens, Satan will realize that his kingdom is coming to an end:
…Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time (emphasis added).
How does Satan know that he has a short time? And why does he have only a short time? The answer lies in the next words of the above text:
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (Revelation 12: 11).
Looking into the future, the prophetic word of God predicted that the human race will also overcome the dragon, who accuses them before God day and night. As Satan sees that the true character of God is being understood on the earth, and that humanity realizes that violence is not of God, he will see that his time is short. As we turn from using violence in our lives and begin living by unconditional love, our actions will be a sign to him that his time is short. And as he sees that he is losing this war here on earth, his fury will increase and we will see more and more violence abounding around us by those who side with him.
The rule of law, the principle, the method that defeated Satan and his angels in the heavenly domain will be the same rule of law, the same principle, the same method that will cause Satan and his angels not to prevail in the earthly sphere. When God’s law of agape love, as it was revealed on the cross, is accepted and lived out in our lives, then the verse Christ in you, the hope of glory will be fulfilled (Colossians 1:27). We will overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb was shed on the cross, revealing a love for the human race that words cannot describe. We will also overcome by the word of our testimony.
Our response to this love will be shown in that we will not love our lives to the death (Revelation 12:11).
The devil was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. They have come to the earth with great fury and are now the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night.
But what do the true followers of God do, those who know and demonstrate God’s character of righteousness, those who are accused before our God day and night? They overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the unconditional agape love principle that Jesus demonstrated by His death. They have also ceased to be accusers themselves, because they now have unconditional love and acceptance as the operating principle of their lives.
Agape love was the spiritual weapon of war that defeated Satan and his angels in the transcendent sphere, and that defeat took place when, on the cross, Jesus said it is finished (John 19:30). Even though Satan was defeated at the cross, the application of this defeat in the earthly sphere is still to be completed. But he will be defeated by the same spiritual weapon when we grasp and live out God’s agape love in our lives.
Satan Lost The War At The Cross By Using The Principle Of Good And Evil
Satan maximized all his resources under the principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in order to execute the Son of God. The epitome of evil was perpetrated and unleashed on the innocent incarnate Son of God on the cross. Satan believed that once he had achieved his goal of killing the Son of God, he would be the victor over God in his war. He thought that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross would uproot and abolish God’s rule of law, and he would have won the debate with God as to whose system of governance was superior. But this event unequivocally confirmed and demonstrated the opposite. Satan was cast out from the transcendent sphere and those who, in the earthly sphere, will gain victory over Satan’s principles will exclaim:
“Great and marvellous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested (Revelation 15:3, 4).
The word fear in this context means ‘to be in awe of, i.e. revere’ (Strong’s Concordance). God was in Christ at the cross, reconciling the world to Himself. Was it God who inflicted the punishment that Jesus experienced on the cross for the sins of the world? Do we believe that God mandated that Jesus Christ must die for the sins of the world in order to deflect His wrath from us, evil, ungodly humanity? Did Jesus Christ choose to die the death of the cross in order to appease God’s absolute abhorrence toward ungodly humans?
The apostle Paul states that the opposite is the case: that God was in Christ on the cross – with Jesus Christ:
…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 19-21).
God allowed Jesus Christ, on the cross and in unison with Himself, to go into Satan’s domain and experience the full effects of sin. It was this unity that revealed the Father’s and the Son’s agape love for sinful humanity. Furthermore, this event has unequivocally demonstrated the superiority of God’s law in contrast to Satan’s rule of law. Under no circumstances must it ever be thought that Jesus Christ and God are at odds with each other in regards to the sinful human race. This fact is pivotal in understanding the truth about God’s character.
Unfortunately, many Christians believe that Jesus died to appease an angry God. The apostle Paul refuted this error with this ringing conclusion:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He, who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).
The Father Himself Loves You
As Jesus Christ approached the threshold of His death on the cross, He further expounded this truth. In the most simple and endearing term known to the entire human race, He imparts this information about God. By addressing God as the Father, Abba, Daddy, Jesus has removed all misunderstanding about God’s character:
And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God (John 16: 23-27; emphasis added).
The words plainly about the Father and in that day, and but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, all refer to the upcoming cross event that would reveal the character of God. The reality contained in the words I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you would also be shortly revealed by the cross event.
The apostle Paul tells us with certainty that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself at the cross. That being the case, then why would He need Jesus as an intercessor to appease His wrath?
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; emphasis added).
God was in Christ when Jesus experienced the complete effects of sin on the cross. Through this united act with Jesus Christ, God was not imputing their trespasses to them. Jesus Christ was the sinner’s intercessor but not in a negative sense. We believe and promote, from the Bible, that God indeed had a need for an intercessor, but in the sense that He needed Jesus to reveal to the world that He was not an angry God. Jesus came to reveal the opposite of the prevailing negative view regarding His work of intercession: I shall not pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you.
It could not be made any clearer that God is not ascribing humanity’s sins to them, and this revelation is made possible because of what transpired on the cross. By this revelation of His agape love it is expected that we will know He is not the one responsible for the death of His creatures and the destruction of His creation.
Destruction is not a punishment from God because of sin, but the result of another power acting behind all this evil.
Rather Than Punish Us, God Took The Punishment Upon Himself
It must be noted that God’s agape love becomes non- existent in humanity’s thinking if it is adulterated in the least particular by the principles represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently, it cannot be claimed that God is agape love if in any way this love is tainted by anything that is out of harmony with the principle of the cross. The only possible way this agape love can be comprehended at all in the human dimension is when one understands what God, in Jesus Christ, did on the cross at Calvary for the human race two thousand years ago. God, through Jesus Christ and in His moral justice, did not punish sinners for their sins but took the punishment upon Himself on the cross because of His agape love:
Because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:25, 26).
God Had Warned And Implored Satan Not To Follow The Path Of Good and Evil
God had informed Lucifer that his rule of law would eventually implode, destroying himself and all his followers. God knew the full extent of the fall-out from Satan’s principle represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Satan had been informed accordingly. God had given him more than ample warning, even pleading with him not to pursue this rule of law he had formulated for him and all of his followers; but he would not accept God’s counsel.
The sadness in God’s heart caused by the loss of this archetypical prodigal son can be heard as a painful lament in the words of the prophet Isaiah and can evoke the same sentiment that was expressed by Jesus as He mourned and moaned over the fate of Jerusalem:
How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations (Isaiah 14:12)!
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Matthew 23:37)!
Satan believed he knew more and better than God, because from his perspective God’s rule of law was unworkable when confronted with evil. Satan claimed that his rule of law would succeed in the presence of evil because of the arbitrary reward and punishment mechanism built into it. He was adamant that God’s rule of law of agape love would definitely and definitively fail in the presence of evil because it lacked the arbitrary reward/punishment methodology for governance.
Even though when Satan introduced his system of governance he could not foresee the full extent of the chaos and carnage that would result from it, he is still held responsible for it. God had made him aware that his system of governance would create chaos that would be virtually non-stoppable. It would escalate to such a level that the carnage would become irreversible until it would finally implode. God told him that his rule of law would destroy him and all of his followers. The King James Version portrays that destructive scenario in Isaiah 14:6:
He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, He who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders.
The extent of the end result of Satan’s principle is seen in Jesus’ depiction of that future time when God’s spirit will finally be rejected by those who remain faithful to Satan’s principles. At that time, even familial love, the strongest of human ties, will be replaced by the principle of good and evil:
Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child: and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death (Matthew 10:21).
Satan and his followers will turn against each other and obliterate each other from the face of the earth through violence. Those who do not receive the gift of God’s full acceptance and absolution through the true knowledge of His character will see only darkness ahead:
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries (Hebrews 10:26, 27).
Self-Destruction Is The Inevitable Result Of The Principle Of Good And Evil
The beginning and the end for all the fall-out for sin are found within Satan’s system itself. Ruin is intrinsic to his method of governance. Therefore it is only through a correct view of God that the following verse can be truly understood. By the same token, it is only through correctly understanding this verse can we have a true understanding of God:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
There is no question that sinners will die and be annihilated. But that is the case only because of the principle they live by. It is the principle itself that destroys them. Satan’s system contains its own mechanism for implosion. Once it is initiated, Satan’s principle will be propelled forward in the fashion of a snowball effect. It is as a fruit, which, once ripened, will fall to the ground and disintegrate. His violent principle’s demise was certain from the time it was germinated, and it will continue to develop to its full- blown destructive force. Satan’s principle will evolve into a massive, mega mountain of seething magma with burning fury from within. This evil system of governance will reach such a crescendo of violence that it will implode and explode like a volcano, destroying everything within its sphere of influence.
The destruction of Satan and his followers will be similar to the demolition of a skyscraper tower that collapses and is destroyed from within: his principle will do its destructive work from within, from its own rule of law. It has its own built-in mechanism for destruction, and this destruction is not done by any arbitrary act of God.
God Cannot Stop Satan’s Eventual Destruction
Satan’s system is so destructive that even God cannot stop it. Some argue that God has to allow it to burn itself out as a lesson for eternity; or that if God were to stop it mid-stream it would never reveal the depth of ignominy and evil within the system, therefore God must allow it to play itself out to the uttermost height of its destructive potentiality so that the whole universe may see it.
But the real reason why this evil system of governance will be allowed to consume all of its own contaminated evil and reach the pinnacle of its own annihilation, is because to the very end God remains true to His own principles and gives all His creatures their inalienable freedom of choice. God cannot stop the demise of Satan’s principle because if He did, He would be infringing upon Satan’s and his followers’ freedom of choice.
Good and Evil Will Be The Reason For Lucifer’s And His Follower’s Death
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:16-17; emphasis added).
Satan is using the principle from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to govern the world. The basic nature, the sum and substance of his principle culminates in death because at its essence, it is the principle of death. There is no doubt that the principle of good and evil will eventually cause the death of Lucifer and his followers. If for no other reason, we may know this as a certainty for the simple fact that God predicted it would when He said “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”