The devil, called the Prince of Darkness, cannot be as stupid as people seem to think he is. It should be undeniable that Satan cannot battle or even defy God. Satan destroys humans to grieve God, because this is something Satan can do without committing a sin himself.
The devil is cast out of Heaven, but as far as the timing of the devil being cast out, the only clues are found in Revelation 12:12 and Isaiah 27. Both passages point to the end times.
This means the Prince of Darkness is still in Heaven, evil but not stupid.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is at the Right Hand of God. Surely this has greater significance than Jesus simply sitting beside God. The Messiah dwells in the secret place of the most High (Psalm 91). This is because the Right Hand of God is a transcending level of Heaven which has been kept secret even from the inhabitants of Heaven. This explains the Trinity.
God the Father is outside of time. There is also the presence of God moving in time in two different levels of reality. The Holy Spirit is in Heaven. The Son of God is at the Right Hand of God which transcends Heaven.
The Lord Destroys the Prince of Darkness
The Son of God came to the earth and lived as a human.
On the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God why have you abandoned me?”, because God had looked away from the crucifixion. When God looked away, the devil openly cursed God, not knowing that Jesus is the Lord who transcends Heaven. Even now, Satan is still in Heaven. It has not been revealed that Jesus is a witness against him.
The early church would occasionally use words like “substitute”, but mostly the church believed what is called Christus Victor. This means Christ redeems us by destroying sin, death and/or the devil.
There was never a satisfactory explanation for Christus Victor, so over a thousand years after Christ, the church would turn to vicarious atonement. Today those who reject vicarious atonement are often called heretics. It is vicarious atonement that is the heresy. Vicarious atonement was developed over a thousand years after Christ.
Christus Victor can now be explained. It had to be kept secret, but Christ destroys the devil as a witness. The devil will be cast out when this is revealed in Heaven.
The devil will not take this seriously. The great and powerful Prince of Darkness has no regard for the theories of the little microbes on earth. The devil will not take seriously the idea that a little human who died on a cross is greater than him. Not until the devil is confronted in Heaven by someone his own size (like Michael).
Revelation 12:7–8 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
