Cast to Earth with All His Angels

Back to The Awesome Potential of Man

Revelation 12:1-17 tells of Satan and his demons being “cast to this earth” (Rev. 12:13). Actually, this chapter is an inset in the middle of the book of Revelation, and is a brief synopsis of the entirety of New Testament Church history, covering the high points of the last 2,000 years.

Rev 12:3 there describes Satan as a “dragon” who “drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth” (Rev. 12:3-4). Recall that these “stars” were the one-third of all angels under Lucifer before he rebelled.

Second Peter 2:4 offers another clue about this “casting down” of Satan and the angels that he “drew with” him. Notice: “God spared not the angels that sinned [Satan was not the only angel who sinned], but cast them down to hell” (2 Pet. 2:4). (The Greek word here is tartaros and it means either “prison” or “place of restraint”—this is the earth itself.) These demons with Satan have been “reserved unto judgment,” having been “delivered … into chains of darkness.” This reveals that many other fallen spirits are delivered to this dark prison by God to join the “prince of darkness.”

Peter recorded that the “angels … sinned.” What exactly does this mean? Recall God’s definition of sin: “For sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). They broke the Law of God in several ways.

Jude 6-7 describes their rebellion—their sin—this way: “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

After sinning, the angels’ nature changed. Their character was no longer perfect—righteous. They became spiritually corrupt, and filled with wrong thoughts and attitudes, and disqualified themselves for permanent rulership within the Plan of God. God likens them to the perverted cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which became so corrupt that He had no choice but to destroy them. The inhabitants of these cities became completely useless to God’s Plan—unqualified for and disqualified from all positions of leadership and authority, too vile to be allowed to continue living.

Revelation 12:7-9 describes, in more detail, when Satan and his demons are cast to the earth for the last time with no further access to heaven. Rev 12:12-14 show that the devil’s response is great wrath. This terrible time lies just ahead for the whole world! But this final casting down again is not to be confused with what we have already read.

Satan ignored the danger that when wrong attitudes enter, over time, they take root and grow. They eventually spread throughout the character of the one who permits such attitudes to enter. If enough time passes, this attitude will spread to other individuals, until their character is also corrupted. This has been called the “rotten apple” principle. If one rotten apple in a barrel is not removed, the rot will spread to other apples in the barrel, and in time will rot them.

Revelation identifies Satan as a “destroyer.” He systematically destroys, rots, ruins, and perverts everything that he touches. On the other hand, God is a CREATOR—a BUILDER! He develops, upgrades, restores, builds, and improves everything He touches. This is perhaps the most fundamental difference between the God of heaven and the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4).

One BUILDS—the other DESTROYS!

What God Saw

God realized that His supreme creation, Lucifer, had rebelled and disqualified himself as Earth’s ruler. Though disappointed, God was not surprised. He fully understood in advance the possibility of Lucifer’s rebellion. He had planned ahead, recognizing what this would mean.

God now realized that He and Christ were the only Beings who could not and would never sin. He purposed, through His Son, to expand His Family by creating perfect character in men.

But He knew that He could not initially make man of spirit—and immortal—like the angels. He had to ensure that there would be no more immortal beings who could turn, in rebellion, and become deceivers and destroyers.

His Plan for man would have to take into account that those offered the opportunity of building His character had to be given free moral agency. They could rebel and practice sin as their chosen way of life. God understood that this would always be a possibility with every free moral agent. But, if they rebelled, He had to preclude that they could live forever, like Satan and his demons, in continuing misery and unhappiness, spreading it to all those around them.

God had to take all of this into account in His Plan to expand His divine Family beyond Himself and the Word—Christ. He could not have one, as a member of His Family and possessing the very power of God, rebel and run amuck throughout the universe. So He made man of flesh—of the dust of the ground. He intended to work out a purpose so incredible—of such AWESOME POTENTIAL!—that it is beyond the comprehension of the most brilliant human intellects to discern on their own!

A Plan to Replace Satan

Satan demonstrated that he could not be governed by God. Therefore, a successor had to qualify to replace him, because Satan’s government was still in place on Earth. The devil was still in office—remaining the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2) and the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4).

Of course, God understood that Satan, as deceiver (Rev. 12:9), would do all in his power to defeat God’s master purpose by destroying His new physical creation—man.

Understanding that man would have free moral agency, God had to plan and decide, with “the Word,” that this only other Being in the Godhead must be “made flesh” (John 1:14) and come to Earth. This would be for the purpose of becoming Saviour for all who would sin (Rom. 3:23) and who would need to be redeemed from the penalty of eternal death (Rom. 6:23).

God understood that He could resurrect Christ from the tomb after He had paid the death penalty for all mankind. These were all important facets of a plan that God thought through in every detail. We will see that part of His Plan had to include imparting into mankind a tiny bit of His own nature, through the begettal of His Holy Spirit into the minds of all who would be converted to His way.

God’s Holy Spirit contains and reflects the perfect character that is His and Christ’s, and His marvellous Plan would allow God, who is composed of Spirit, to place a little amount of His own character into human beings, only made in His physical image and likeness. We will learn in Chapter Five exactly how God’s Spirit enters and works within the human mind.

Next Part What Christ Faced

Back to The Awesome Potential of Man

Back to By David C. Pack