Ezekiel 28:12-16 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God: "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (13) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. (14) "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. (15) You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. (16) "By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.”
As God’s anointed covering cherub, with one third of the angels under his domain, Lucifer was an extremely powerful being. Because of the abundance of wisdom and beauty given to him by God, Lucifer started to become prideful and he forgot that he was a created being. Eventually Lucifer’s pride led him to foolishly think that he could become like God, his creator (Isaiah 14:14). And so, the fateful day arrived when Lucifer entered the heaven of heavens for the last time and demanded that God give him a seat on the mountain of God. That was the last time that Lucifer ever saw God, for as the above passage of scripture reveals to us; God judged him and cast him as a profane thing out of the Paradise of God. Jesus, in relating this incident to us, tells us that Satan fell like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18). When God judged Lucifer, at the same time God also judged his kingdom. The reason God judged Satan’s angels at the same time was because they had conspired together with Satan, for of their own free will they had decided that they would prefer to serve Lucifer rather than God. In other words, all of Satan’s angels were complicit with him in his transgression against God (Revelation 12:4).
2 Corinthians 11:14 “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”
The impact of God’s judgement of Satan and his angels was twofold, i.e. there was an immediate consequence and there was a future consequence. The immediate consequence that only affected Satan was that he was no longer allowed into the heaven of heavens, and God changed his name from Lucifer to Satan. The immediate consequence that affected both Satan and all his angels is that they all incurred spiritual death, and thus transitioned from being angels of light to becoming angels of darkness. The above quoted passage of scripture describes how Satan is currently able to use his power to transform himself into an angel of light in order to deceive men. Nevertheless his true state today is an angel of darkness for he is no longer an angel of light, and that same truth is applicable of all his angels. And so, as angels of darkness, their natures have changed to become the exact opposite of their original state when God created them. Whereas they were once clean, righteous, good and angelic, they have since become unclean, wicked, evil and demonic.
Matthew 12:43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.”
Another immediate consequence of the judgement of God was that Satan’s realm, which included the second heaven and the spiritual earth, was transformed into a wasteland. And so, whereas before the rebellion, Lucifer’s realm was described as Eden the garden of God, after Satan’s rebellion his realm became a wasteland. The above quoted passage of scripture is a description of what the spiritual earth looks like currently. It is described as consisting of dry places where there is no rest available to its inhabitants. In that light, you can readily understand the motivation of demons for continually trying to attach themselves to the bodies of men, so that they can escape their own realm where they find no rest.
Matthew 25:40-41 “And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (41) “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
The future consequence of God’s judgement pronounced on Satan and his angels, is that there will be a final future judgement that they will incur. Our Lord Jesus described that judgement in the above quoted passage of scripture, when He revealed to us that Satan and his angels will be cast into the lake of everlasting fire at the end of the age. Satan and his angels are fully aware of their impending doom that God has pronounced upon them, which is why they asked Jesus when He first came to the earth, whether He had come to destroy them before the time (Matthew 8:29), which indicates that Satan and his angels know that their time has not yet come. In other words, there was a specific season that God originally gave to Lucifer and his angels to inhabit their domain, and until that time ends, they are entitled to remain where they are. This is the reason that Jesus never cast any demons into the abyss when He walked the earth, because their time has not yet come. The event in ages past of Lucifer’s rebellion along with his angels, brings us for the first time to a point where mankind can start to comprehend some form of timeline, i.e. for the first time we can begin to measure the passing of time, howbeit in billions of years.
Michael E.B. Maher
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