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The Way it Was

 What About Satan?

 When did Satan fall? Some teach that the fall of Satan caused the earth to become empty and vain, to become evil, and that chaos resulted. Is this true? Suppose Satan did fall between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 and evil was present on the earth. How then does God say in Genesis 1:31 that He saw everything that was made, His beautiful heavens and earth, the garden of Eden, man and all was very good if evil and sin were present? This is inconsistent.

In order to determine something about Satan and when he fell it is necessary to ask who Satan is. He is the Prince of the power of the air, the anointed cherub that covereth, he is evidently a very high and powerful angel. As an angel, he was a created being, created by God. We are told in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 that not only was he the anointed cherub that covereth but he was perfect in the day he was created until iniquity was found in him. His sin was the sin of desiring to be as God, as the most high. But he was a created being and as such was subordinate to the Creator. When was Satan created? Notice chapter 2, verse 1, "Thus the heavens and the earth we finished, and all the host of them." Throughout the Bible the expression "Host of heaven" refers to angels: "the host of heaven worshippeth thee." (Neh. 9:6) The heavenly host sang at Christ’s birth. When were angels created? During the first six days. Psalm 104 when taken as a literal song of creation places angels in the context of day 2. Exodus 20:11 says, "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is..." Where does Satan abide? In heaven, on earth, or in the sea. He has to be in one of those three spheres because those are the only three there are. Since in six days the Lord made heaven, the earth and sea and everything in them sometime in those six days He made Satan. God says in Genesis 1:31 that He "...saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." If God saw everything He had made, He saw Satan. And He says this creation was very good and this would include Satan. So Satan could not have fallen before Genesis 1:31.

As God created all things in six days by His power, He has demonstrated His right to rule and control that which He has made. As He created, He has the right to step in and judge that which He made in the beginning.

As Satan tempted man in Genesis 3 and as man yielded to that temptation plunging the entire human race into sin, we again see the necessity of the Creator stepping in to solve the new problem caused by Adam’s disobedience. As God created, he could and did send His Son to shed His blood as a provision or substitute for man’s sin. Because God created man, He has the right and the power to save man. Those who accept the sacrificial death of Christ and believe in His glorious resurrection will be spared judgment; those who reject that precious sacrifice made freely by the Son of God will be condemned.

As Satan defied God and tempted man in the beginning, he continues to defy God and tempt man even now. As he deceived Eve, causing her to partake of the forbidden fruit, he is and will continue to deceive mankind until the world ends.

God in the beginning created all things and we can see and know His power. God in the beginning created Satan, the angel that fell and we can expect that one day Satan will account for his deceitful dealings with man and his open rebellion against God. We expect God to ultimately judge His created beings and hold responsible for their deeds.

When that judgment day comes, "the heavens and the earth will pass away and all the works that are contained therein will be dissolved." (II Peter 3:10-12) All present things will come to an end and every creature, both man and angel who has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, will be judged. That’s the way it was and that’s the way it will be.

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