Sure Facts Concerning the Fall of Satan in Brief

Please, let me point out that by “the fall of Satan”, I am referring to the casting out of Satan and his angels from heaven to earth taught in the Scriptures and not his moral corruption.

The popular belief about Satan’s fall is that before creation, Satan with a third of the angels of heaven, waged war on heaven, trying to dethrone God. They were, however, defeated and cast down to the earth, and some would say, down to Hell (or, Hades). Though quite entrenched among many Christians, and even preached from the pulpit as true, this doctrine as I try to lay out below is completely false. Please, carefully consider the following facts.

Once He is Cast Out of Heaven, Satan Will Never Be Allowed Back In

In all the Bible accounts used to teach about the fall of Satan— be it Rev 12 that is definitely about Satan’s fall or Isa 14:12-16ff and Eze 28:11-15ff—Satan is never allowed back into heaven once he his cast out of it. We read for example in Revelation, “…neither was their place found ANY MORE in heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out… into the earth, and his an[1]gels were cast out with him [Rev 12:7-9]

No place was found anymore for Satan and his angels means that once they are cast out, never again will anyone of them ever enter heaven by any means. In Revelation and in the other passages, his case goes from bad to worse till he is completely destroyed.

 Since this is so, it means that whenever we find Satan in heaven, we can be certain he has not yet fallen.

Once He is Cast Out of Heaven, Satan Will Not be Able to Accuse the Saints

In Job [Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6] and in Zechariah [Zec 3:1-2] where we have accounts of Satan accusing people, he is in God’s presence and not outside. According to Rev 12:10, Satan’s access to heaven is what makes it possible for him to accuse the saints before God. Therefore, casting him out of heaven means that he will no longer be able to accuse anyone to God.

In fact, one of the reasons why there was joy in heaven in Rev 12 when Satan was cast out was because he would no longer be able to accuse the saints, or anyone for the matter, before God.

…the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down… Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! [Rev 12:10,12].

Now, access to heaven is needed not only to speak against the saints but also to intercede and speak for them. This is one of the reasons why Jesus had to go to heaven, he has to be in God’s presence in heaven to intercede for his people.

So then, wherever we find Satan accusing anyone before God, we can be certain that he has not been cast out of heaven and still has access to it.

2,000 Years After Creation, In the days of Job, Satan Still Had Access to Heaven

Now, Job was a man who lived about 2,000 years after creation, yet we find that in his days, Satan had access to heaven as other angels did [Job 1:6; 2:1]. Therefore, except he was pardoned and allowed back into heaven, which, as we have first pointed out is not possible, we can be certain that Satan had up to this point not yet been cast out of heaven.

So, when was he, or will he be cast out of heaven?

4,000 Years After Creation, In the days of Jesus on Earth, Satan Still Had Access to Heaven and Was Accusing the Saints

Jesus, speaking about his death and what things would follow, said, “…now the prince of this world will be driven out.” [Joh 12:31]. This plainly means that Satan, whom Jesus referred to as “the prince of this world”, had access to heaven and if so, had not been driven out at the time Jesus was speaking. These words also tell us that Satan’s exit from heaven can only be after the death of Jesus and not before it; up till Jesus’ death, Satan had not been cast out of heaven.

That Satan still had access to heaven can also be seen from the fact that he requested to sift Peter, and in fact that other disciples as well, as wheat [Luk 22:31]. This, as we have briefly pointed out, would not be possible if he had been cast out of heaven at the time.

Clearly, about 4,000 years after creation, in the days of Jesus’ life on earth, Satan still had access to heaven.

Satan Will Be Cast Out of Heaven About 3½ Years Before the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ

The book of Revelation gives us the clearest, most certain and detailed account of the fall of Satan from heaven. In this account it is clear enough that Satan’s fall has not yet happened but is to happen about 3½ years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Below are some facts from Revelation 12 that demonstrate and establish this.

Who Started the War in Heaven?

“There was war in heaven”, but it wasn’t started by Satan, rather, it was Michael and his angels who “fought against” him and we read that Satan and his angels “fought back” [Rev 12:7]. Fighting back, means that Satan and his angels did not start the fight (they were driven out because their time of punishment had come).

What were Satan and His Angels Fighting For?

Satan and his angels were fighting to keep their place in heaven, but they lost it [Rev 12:8].

This means that

1. Before this war, they had not been driven out of heaven, but had their place in heaven.
2. They were not trying to overthrow God.

What Determined When He Was Cast Out?

From Rev 12:11, we can see that Satan’s banishment from heaven to earth actually depended on

1. “…the blood of the Lamb…”. This is a reference to the atonement of Jesus Christ,
2. “the word of their testimony” of the Saints/martyrs. This is the preaching of the gospel by the saints
3. Those who “did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” [Rev 12:11]. These are Christians who are faithful even to the very point of death; these are Christians who kept their faith even in the face of death.

In summary, the casting out of Satan from heaven depends on the fulfilment of the purpose of the atonement of Jesus and the preaching of the gospel which is to make disciples—true disciples—for the Lord from every tribe and language and people and nation [Mat 24:14; 28:19-20; Joh 12:32; Rev 5:9-10]. In other words, Satan and his angels will continue to have their place in heaven and access to it until true disciples have been made for the Lord from every tribe and language and people and nation. True disciples are believers in the Lord who hold on to his and his apostles’ teachings in truth [Joh 8:31; 1Jo 4:6] and who do “not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” [Mat 16:24-25; Rev 12:11]

So then, and quite clearly so, Satan could not have been cast out of heaven before the death of Jesus and the preaching of the gospel to all nations.

After He Is Cast Out of Heaven, How Short is the Time Satan Has?

According to the account in the Rev 12, after he is cast out of heaven, Satan will have a short time before the Lord comes and he is captured and thrown into the Abyss [Rev 12:12; 20:1-2]. A short time, however, is definitely not thousands of years as we have had since the creation of the world. The time is so short it is not even up to 100 years but is not much more than 3½  years.

After he is cast out of heaven to earth, Satan will empower the beast, also called the Antichrist, to reign [Rev 13:1-2]. This reign, the reign of the beast, will last for 42 months or 3½ years [Rev 13:5] and will be brought to an end with by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ shortly after the 42 months have elapsed [Rev 17:13-14; 2Th 2:8]. At this time, when the Lord Jesus comes, Satan will be captured and imprisoned in the abyss for 1,000 years [Rev 19:11; 20:3] shortly after which he will be thrown into the lake of fire [Rev 20:7-10].

Therefore, since Satan will be captured [Rev 12:12; 20:1-2] shortly after the end of the 42 months, which is when the Lord will come, we can see that the time between his casting out of heaven to earth and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when Satan is captured and thrown in the Abyss, is not much more than 3½  years.

So, in conclusion, Satan will be cast out of heaven a little over 42 months before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Conclusion

We can see that the doctrine that Satan was cast out of heaven before creation or shortly after it is totally false. The truth is that Satan will be cast out of heaven, not much more than 42 months, i.e., 3½ years, before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Below, again, are the basic facts about the banishment (or fall) of Satan from heaven to earth.

1. Satan was not cast out of heaven before, during or shortly after creation.
2. Satan did not wage a war against heaven to dethrone God.
3. Satan and his angels will be cast out of heaven as a result of the making of disciples from all nations which will be the result of the preaching of the Gospel.
4. Satan and his angels will be cast out of heaven by Michael and his angels not much more than 3½ years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why Bother?

If you are a serious Christian, a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you really should be bothered, not just about the correctness of this doctrine but of every other one you believe in. Would the Lord Jesus Christ or the Spirit of God teach a lie, however small or, seemingly, insignificant? Certainly, “No!”

Lies don’t come from the Lord, rather, they are all from the devil who is “a liar and the father of lies” [Joh 8:44]. As a matter of fact, the scriptures plainly tell us that “...no lie comes from the truth” [1Jo 2:21].

You should really be bothered because every time you feed on a lie, you are sitting at the table of demons, being fed by them and having fellowship with them [1Ti 4:1; 1Co 10:21-22]. So disgusting! The Lord is holy and will have nothing to do with demons.

Some people will tag this doctrine “non-essential” and ignore it like it doesn’t really matter whether what one believes about it is the truth or not. Essential or not, however, you can be certain that the Lord Jesus will never tell a lie. But apart from all this, you must understand that there is no false doctrine that is harmless for they all distort the truth of God’s word, producing more errors and hindering revelation.

Finally, we should be careful to teach the truth only for God is not going to commend any lie or liar, even if they are good intentioned [Job 13:7-10; 42:7-8; Pro 30:5-6].

Appendix

Origin of the False Doctrine Regarding the Fall of Satan

As to the source of this popular but false doctrine about the fall of Satan, it owes greatly to John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, published about 1667 and not to scriptures. In this work of fiction, Satan, with a third of the angels of heaven, tried to overthrow God but they were defeated and cast down to hell after a three-day war. This is all false, yet it continues to be perpetuated.

Unfortunately, as with many false doctrines, though they don’t even know the source, many are quite familiar with this false story and naturally read it into the scriptures. For some, it is all they know about Satan. This all makes it rather hard, even for the diligent, to read and study the scriptures clearly, obscuring even the most obvious facts and truths.

Furthermore, this problem is compounded for some by the fact that the scriptures that speak of the fall of Satan, plainly or by inference, are written in past tense, which seems to confirm that Satan indeed fell from heaven a great long time ago. However, the fact is that, for different reasons, many prophecies of scriptures are written in past tense but had/have not yet happened.

Hopefully, if you hadn’t before, you can now see the truth about the fall of Satan from heaven.