Revelation 12:4 “His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit reveals to us that one third of the angels were in Lucifer’s kingdom, for in this passage it is his tail that drew a third of the stars of heaven. The stars of heaven in this passage, refers to angels. It is obvious from this passage that all the angels in Lucifer’s kingdom decided to join and follow him in his attempt to become like God. And so in effect each one of them worshiped and served the creature i.e. Lucifer, rather than their Creator, God. Each one of those angels did that as an act of their free will. Satan and all of the angels that joined him have since been judged by God, and are destined for the lake of fire and brimstone that God has prepared for them at the end of the age (Matthew 25:41). Although this passage reveals to us that one third of the angels rebelled against God, it means that two thirds of the angels decided as an act of their free will to remain loyal to God as their creator, and so they continue to serve Him today. Scripture reveals to us that there will come a time in the future when the angels who have decided to remain loyal to God, will go to war against Satan and his angels and cast them out of heaven once and for all (Revelation 12:7-9). That event will bring Satan and his angels’ one step closer to the time pre-determined by our Father when they will be cast into the everlasting fire that He has prepared for them.
1 Timothy 5:21 “I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.”
Lucifer’s rebellion did not take God by surprise, for God had also predestined the rebellion of Satan and his angels as a part of His plan of salvation. That truth is confirmed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for in this passage the apostle Paul speaks about the “elect” angles of God. And so we see that just as God chooses which men will and will not be saved, so it is that He also chose which angels would serve Him for all eternity as His elect angels and which would suffer eternal torment in the lake of fire. Therefore we see that even among the angels, God works all things according to the counsel of His will, for He alone is God. Nevertheless the passages of scripture we have examined in this section show us very clearly that angels have a free will.
Michael E.B. Maher
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