A Brief Study of Angels
What is Satan's destiny?
Although the Bible may be considered somewhat mysterious when it comes to revealing Satan’s beginning (that is, if the passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel are not thought to speak of him) it is quite clear with regard to his end. Though we have already covered the three-fold casting out of Satan in the section on demons, it may be helpful to review that material so that we may more clearly understand the destiny of the devil.
Dr. Stanley Outlaw describes the casting out of Satan and his angels as a three step process. First was the original casting out back in eternity, or at least prior to Eden, as a result of the initial rebellion (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:12-17; Luke 10:17). This marked Satan and his followers as fallen and evil. They lost the privilege of serving God and being what they were designed to be. The next stage is called the redemptive casting out in which Jesus’ death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection defeated Satan for all time (John 12:31-32). Because Satan failed to prevent the birth of the “Seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15) and failed in tempting Him to act in His own will against the Father to abandon the plan of salvation, his fate was sealed when Jesus rose again. The third and final casting out is yet to come. This third casting out is itself in three stages as follows: 1) During the Tribulation period, Satan and His angels are cast to the earth after the war in heaven won by Michael. At this point, he has no more access to the third heaven to accuse God’s saints (Job 1:6; 2:1; Rev. 12:7-12); 2) After the Tribulation and at the second coming of Christ, Satan is bound for one thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3). During this time (usually referred to as the Millennial Kingdom) Christ reigns unopposed from the throne of David and all the promises to Abraham and his descendants (Israel) are completely fulfilled. 3) After the millennium is over, the devil is loosed once more to “deceive the nations” (presumably to test the faith and loyalty of those who were born during the thousand year reign of Christ). After he is defeated again, Satan is finally cast into the lake of fire for eternity where he will suffer forever (Rev. 20:7-10). (Note: It is certainly possible to see the third casting out as three separate and distinct judgments, thus making it a five step process. I believe Dr. Outlaw and others see it this way because the last three are end-time events tightly woven together in the book of Revelation.)
Thus we see that though the devil has been given much leeway in orchestrating his schemes to oppose God and destroy mankind, the noose of God is around his neck and slowly, but surely, it will be tightened until there is no more slack. However, we must be aware that, in the meantime, Satan is able to roam and seek out victims to devour. It is certainly possible that this state of affairs will exist for the balance of our earthly lifetimes and beyond. We look forward to the time when Satan will be completely removed from his place of influence, but the question for now is: “How do we defend against him so that we do not fall prey to his attacks?”
We have already seen many answers to that question during the course of our study but it will be profitable to recap. Here, then, is a brief summary of what Christians need to do to resist the devil:
1. While He was on earth, Jesus prayed for His disciples that the Father would “keep them from the evil one.” We should realize that our Lord is now in heaven making intercession for us to the Father (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25) and no doubt He desires the same thing for all His disciples. We should therefore pray to the Lord for His protection from and preemption of Satan’s attacks against us.
2. We must be aware that God, in His wisdom, sometimes allows Satan to “buffet” us for the purpose of instructing and/or testing us (II Cor. 12:7-10). By knowing and submitting to this (James 4:7) we are able to learn and benefit from such occasions without becoming bitter or disillusioned toward God. We defang, as it were, the devil when we refuse to let his devices distance us from the Lord.
3. Since God has provided for our defense with spiritual “armor” (Eph. 6:10-18) our responsibility is to appropriate and apply each piece properly. Included in this is making a firm decision to take a stand against Satan (James 4:7) and also being alert and sensitive to his evil (I Pet. 5:8; I John 4:1-3). We must assume the position of watchful soldiers anticipating an attack from the enemy.
4. We must also have a balanced and proper attitude toward the devil. We must not attribute to him more power and influence than what is true. As we have seen, he is a defeated foe and our Lord is the victor over him. As children and servants of God, we are on the winning side (I John 4:4). However, that does not mean that we can become arrogant and contemptuous of Satan. The attitude of pride is one of his primary tools which can quickly bring us low. We must remember that the victory is the Lord’s. If Michael the archangel would not presume to rebuke Satan himself (Jude 9), should we become haughty and dismiss his ability to touch us? That would be foolish. We rest confidently in the Lord but we do not “dare the devil” to try to hurt us.