For almost two thousand years, Christians have viewed the Trinity as a three in one God in eternity, and by eternity they usually mean an endless future on the present timeline. This view of the Trinity is believed to be supported by the Bible.
1 John 5:7-8 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
There are other passages of support for the Trinity, but this is the only occasion where the Trinity is presented as a three in one God in Heaven. The Trinity as a three in one God in Heaven is a view that has dominated Christianity largely because of this passage in the First Epistle of John.
But this passage is translated differently in many modern versions of the Bible.
1 John 5:7-8 (English Standard Version) For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
The part about a three in one God in Heaven has been eliminated because it is not found in the earlier manuscripts.
Could God have allowed the Bible to be altered? This is one of the very few occasions where there appears to have been a change in the Biblical text. In this case the alteration helped to conceal the true explanation for the Trinity, and the error was exposed centuries ago, so that the true word of God has been preserved. The inerrancy of the Bible does not require that every translation of the Bible be inerrant.
Many Christians still believe in the erroneous text that was not found in the earlier manuscripts. All Christians seem to believe in the idea of a three in one God in Heaven that was supported by this error.
There is no Biblical support for the idea that the Trinity is a three in one God in Heaven. There is an explanation for the Trinity that involves a completely different structure.
Today, with the confirmation of the Big Bang, we can understand God as the uncaused cause outside of time and space. This view seems more likely since it means that God transcends time and not the other way around, but it is improbable that such a timeless God would be divided into parts. A timeless God would almost certainly have the simplest structure possible which would be one supernatural Almighty I AM. This would be God the Father.
The God of the Bible is outside of time, but in some Biblical stories God seems to move in time. This is completely reasonable if both are true. God the Father can be outside of time, while God the Son exists in time. This is a better explanation for the Trinity since the uncaused cause would be outside of time, but we know Jesus exists in time. He came into the world and lived as a human.
Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Jesus said that only the Father knows the time of the end, but it makes no sense that God the Father would be keeping a secret from God the Son. Christians focus entirely on the end-time aspect of this statement which distracts them from what Jesus is saying. Only God the Father transcends time. God the Father knows, or is one with, all moments on the timeline while Jesus is God moving through time. This view of the relationship between the Father and the Son explains how Jesus can be God while there is only one God.
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
There is one God, the Father, outside of time.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.
Jesus was “begotten” of the Father, from the same substance, before all ages so there was never “a time” when Jesus did not exist. All of this is best explained by Christ being a consciousness of God that came into time and space the moment God the Father created time and space. Constructing the universe and the other levels of reality would be executed over time, so it would be the Son of God managing the creation of all things. The Son of God moves in time, but He has power over time by which He would almost certainly have knowledge of the day and hour of His return.
The mind or consciousness of God is far beyond our ability to comprehend, but there would have to be a significant degree of separation between God the Father, outside of time, and God the Son, inside time and space. Yet still, it is one God who exists outside of time, and He moves though the time He created.
God the Father outside of time and God the Son moving in time would be a good explanation for the Trinity, but there is a third member of the Trinity. Only God the Father is outside of time, so there must be a way and a reason for God to have more than one consciousness moving through time.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
The Son of God is begotten, but the Holy Spirit proceeds from God. Both words suggest coming from God. The Holy Spirit would have to exist in time like the Son of God but would be a different consciousness if the Holy Spirit exists at a different level of reality. Since the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, the Son exists at a higher level of reality than the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is in Heaven, while the Son of God is at a level of reality that transcends Heaven referred to as the Right Hand of God. This transcending level of Heaven has been kept secret even from the inhabitants of Heaven. The Son of God came down to a lower level of reality when He was born as a human, but He continued to exist at the Right Hand of God, and He returned fully to the Right Hand of God after His resurrection.
The Right Hand of God is a transcending level of Heaven. This is not to say that every time the Bible mentions the right hand of God it is talking about this transcending dimension. This does not deny that Jesus came from Heaven and returned to Heaven. Jesus is in a place that transcends the angels and all the inhabitants of Heaven. It has been kept secret. It is the highest level of Heaven. It transcends the rest of Heaven just as Heaven transcends the Earth.
As far as Heaven with angels and the throne of God, John described a vision of Heaven in the book of Revelation and there is no mention of a Lamb.
Revelation 4:4-5 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
In the fifth chapter we learn of a book sealed with seven seals that no man could open.
Revelation 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
Jesus ascended in His body, so He is still fully God and fully human. Jesus was not in this level of Heaven described by John because no man in Heaven could open the book. In the previous chapter when John described the throne and the elders, there was no mention of a Lamb.
After being told there was someone who could open the book, John looks again at the throne. Only this time, there is a Lamb.
Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
John looked at the throne and the elders, the same scene he described in the fourth chapter. In the fifth chapter a Lamb seems to suddenly appear. Previously no man in Heaven could open the book, because previously there was no Lamb. Christ came from a transcending level of Heaven. He came into this level of Heaven where there is the throne and the elders.
It is a bit confusing since the passage calls Christ a Lion, and later He is called a Lamb. This is a remarkably effective distraction as the text is clearly referring to Jesus who is fully God and fully human. As will be shown later, it is this monumental event when Christ comes into this level of Heaven that the devil is cast out of Heaven.
It is the revelation of the Son of God in Heaven that causes the devil to be cast out of Heaven.
Since He is the Lord, it should not be revolutionary to say that Jesus transcends Heaven. If Jesus has not yet revealed Himself in Heaven, the inhabitants of Heaven would only know Jesus as a human who died a long time ago.
The devil is still in Heaven because the devil is not at war with God, the devil is at war with us. For the devil to be at war with God would be like a character in a novel doing battle with the author. God has all power, and the only power Satan has is what God allows him to have. Perhaps the devil is stupid enough to be openly hostile to God, but it seems unlikely that the devil would be that stupid.
It is odd that so many people for so many centuries would believe without question that the devil is at war with God. God has all power, and the devil has no power. Somehow there is such a struggle that the devil is cast out of Heaven, and he still battles with God for possession of souls. This is not to question the Bible since this view is not supported by the Bible.
Other than some clues that he will be cast out of Heaven, the Old Testament does not present the devil as openly evil. The devil may have misled Eve to destroy her, but nothing he said was false.
God transcends time. God knew that all humans would sin, that they would be overcome by the devil and would experience death. What God told Adam and Eve was completely true.
Genesis 3:4-5 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Satan does not transcend time, so he is not a witness to the future. The devil did not bear false witness. The devil pointed out that it is entirely up to us to overcome his influence. Whether or not we sin is entirely up to us. Whether or not we die is entirely up to us.
The devil said that Adam and Eve would be like the “gods”; they would be like the spirits of Heaven as Adam and Eve would be able to “know” (be one with) good and evil spirits. The spirits of Heaven can know or share consciousness with each other in a way that physical humans cannot. After the disobedience of the humans, the good and evil spirits would be allowed to be one with or to influence the humans. Satan wanted to influence and thereby destroy the humans, so his statement was malicious and deceptive, but it was not actually false.
Satan is powerful and very intelligent. The devil tested Job with permission from God. The Satan of the Bible is never openly sinful or openly hostile to God.
There is no occasion in the Old Testament where the devil openly committed a sin. This is because the devil knows he is powerless next to God, and any hostility on his part would have to be kept under control. All the evil spirits must conceal their hatred of God. The absence of sin on the part of Satan shows that the devil is not in open conflict with God. Common sense tells us that Satan is not likely stupid enough to be in open conflict with God. This suggests that the devil has not yet been cast out of Heaven.
Genesis 6:1-2 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
In Genesis the “sons” of God came to the Earth, and this happened a long time ago, but this passage does not mention Satan. There is no reason to believe that Satan was cast out of Heaven at that time. Satan continued to refrain from sin or any open hostility towards God after this event.
In the New Testament it becomes clear that the devil is evil, but there is still nothing to suggest that Satan is openly evil or openly hostile to God. There is still, even in the New Testament, no occasion where the devil openly committed a sin. Satan is certainly hostile to humanity, but the devil seems to have the intelligence and the willpower to keep his hatred of God to himself.
Since the devil is ultimately cast out of Heaven, his hatred of God was or will be exposed at some point.
There are other passages in the Old Testament that seem to describe Satan being cast out of Heaven. They are almost never clear as to when Satan is cast out. As will be shown later, there is one passage in the book of Isaiah that does provide a clue as to the timing.
The following passage in Ezekiel seems to be talking about the devil being cast out of Heaven, but it is not clear concerning the timing.
Ezekiel 28:14-16 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
This passage says that the devil “was upon the holy mountain” which is past tense. It later says, “I will cast thee as profane out of the holy mountain” which is future tense. This passage sounds like a declaration that was or will be made by God at that most climactic moment when God casts Satan out of Heaven. There is no clear indication as to when that occurred or will occur.
Once God declares that He is going to cast Satan out of Heaven, the casting out would occur almost immediately. Satan would be openly hostile after being told that he is going to be cast out. There would be no reason to keep an openly hostile spirit in Heaven. Since the devil is not openly hostile, it seems as though he has not yet been cast out of Heaven.
The devil is not openly hostile because he believes he has everything under control. Satan is extremely arrogant. God never clearly revealed through the prophets how He will destroy the devil. This passage in Ezekiel about an “anointed cherub” being cast from the “mountain of God” is vague. There are many clues that must be pieced together. The devil is not concerned with this enigmatic statement made by the puny little human named Ezekiel. Satan has absolutely no respect for humans, and no idea what God is planning.
It is clear in this passage that Satan has not openly rebelled against God. The passage says that he was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. This means Satan did not openly sin. Satan was hiding iniquity, perhaps he was full of hatred, but not openly expressing any hostility. This passage confirms that there was iniquity hidden within Satan. At some point, the evil that Satan is hiding was or will be exposed.
Proverbs 26:24-26 He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.
Surely Satan exercises restraint since God has all power, but his iniquity will be exposed. The Biblical Satan does not battle God for possession of souls. The Biblical Satan condemns humanity. As the devil condemns humanity, he must do so without being caught violating the Law of God. Satan may be much bigger than the Earth, but he is subject to the Law of God. This is undeniable since the devil is ultimately condemned by the Law of God.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Psalms 82:1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
According to the Bible, Satan presents himself as an angel of righteousness.
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
The devil is like a prosecuting attorney demanding justice. Satan keeps his own hatred of God hidden within himself while he stands before God condemning humans for their sins.
There are only two passages in the Bible that indicate the timing of the devil being cast from Heaven. One passage, as will be shown later, is in the book of Isaiah. The other passage is in the book of Revelation. The devil is cast out near the time of the end when there is only a short time left.
Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
If one verse in the Bible says that X is true, and there are other verses indicating that X might be true or Y might be true, this would mean that X is true. People will believe that Y is true if that is what they have always been told. But if one verse says that X is true, and that verse is not actually contradicted by another verse then X must be true.
We would have to say that the devil appears to be cast out of Heaven near the time of the end. Two passages indicate that to be the case. No other passage gives a clear indication as to any other timing for Satan to be cast from Heaven.
Jesus did say that the devil was a liar and a murderer from the beginning.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Satan was a murderer, in that he was full of hatred, and he was also a liar who concealed his hatred, but the devil kept his iniquity hidden. His hatred and his lies had not yet been exposed. Satan may have been evil from the beginning, but he was not exposed as evil from the beginning, this is confirmed in many passages. Jesus did not say that the devil was exposed as a murderer from the beginning, but only that the devil was a murderer from the beginning. Jesus came into the world to expose Satan, but God the Father transcends time, so God already knew the outcome.
Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Jesus did not say that Satan has already been cast from Heaven. Jesus stated that He saw Satan fall from Heaven. This could have been a vision of a future event. This verse is not actually clear concerning the timing.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
We know Christ was describing a vision of a future event since He would later say that the prince of this world shall be cast out. Notice that the casting out “shall be” (in the future) because of something which occurs “now” (at the time of Christ). Satan keeps his hatred hidden within himself. At the time of Christ that evil was exposed so that Satan “shall be” cast out of Heaven sometime in the future.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
It is Christ who destroys the devil, and the devil is destroyed by the exposure of his hidden iniquity. Christ must be the one who witnessed the hatred of the devil. That occurred at the crucifixion since Christ destroys Satan through death.
In the book of Luke, it was foretold that Christ would reveal the thoughts of many hearts. If Christ revealed the thoughts of many hearts, then someone was hiding their thoughts. Satan and his angels hide their hatred of God.
Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Simeon was speaking to both Mary and Jesus. The heart of Mary was pierced, but it was the piercing of the soul of Jesus that revealed the thoughts of many hearts. The sword that pierced the soul of Christ was a spiritual or verbal attack on Christ. This attack revealed hatred that had been hidden. That hatred is what the devil poured out on Christ.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
When Christ was on the cross, He clearly stated that God had forsaken Him. He was quoting Scripture but by quoting Scripture, Jesus was quoting Himself. That He was repeating His own words should put more emphasis on this statement. This was the Messiah hanging on a cross between Heaven and Earth, the pivotal event of all creation.
The Lord and Savior was not merely expressing His feelings. With this question Jesus was making an incredibly profound statement concerning an event that had been foretold in the Scriptures. Jesus knew the answer to the question. He asked the question to emphasize that there was an answer. There was a reason for God to forsake Him.
Many demons have openly cursed God and been cast out of Heaven. The more powerful demons have managed to contain their hatred of God, so they remain in Heaven. There may have been times when God looked away as from a great evil, resulting in an area of time and space that is not in the view of God. The powerful demonic spirits would be attracted to these places where they can release some of their pent-up hatred of God.
Jesus was naked and bloodied. He was displayed on the cross like a mounted dead butterfly. There can be no better example of a puny little human the egocentric demons had no reason to fear.
When Christ was dying on the cross, God looked away, and the devil did not know that Jesus was more than a mere human. When God looked away, the powerful demonic spirits rushed to the crucifixion to curse God. God had looked away, but Jesus transcends Heaven.
Imagine looking at a world of only two dimensions. It would be a flat world with flat two-dimensional creatures. The flat creatures in this flat world would not be able to comprehend a third dimension. You could greatly affect their two dimensioned world without leaving your three dimensioned world. You could do great harm to them. As you stand looking at their flat world, they could not detect you, nor even comprehend your existence. This is because you transcend their two dimensioned world.
Likewise, Satan is a spirit who transcended and was looking down on this puny little human dying on a cross. At the same time, Christ also existed at a level of reality that transcends our world and the spirit world. The Son of God transcended and was watching the devil look down on the crucifixion. The devil did not know that Jesus was able to witness his hatred of God. To this day the devil still does not know that Jesus is the Lord because Jesus transcends Heaven.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
It must be true that the devil does some type of harm to Jesus. This harm would not be the crucifixion itself since that was done by the Romans. Satan bruises His heel, so the devil strikes Jesus in some way. A person’s only weakness is called their Achilles’ heel. There is no weakness or difficulty for the Lord other than His revulsion to evil.
We cannot begin to understand the immeasurable suffering of Christ. He was subjected to a supernatural level of hatred coming from all demonic spirits. It is believed Christ descended into hell, and this could be because Jesus descended into hell on the cross.
We also cannot know how long the spiritual attack against the Lord lasted. Some demons would be more cautious than others. One by one, they all exposed their hatred of God until they were all condemned.
Deuteronomy 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
The curse on anyone who hangs from a tree is pointing to the crucifixion, and it is pointing to the supernatural suffering of Christ. Being cursed does suggest a descent to hell.
There are the sorrowful mysteries of Christ, those being the agony in the garden, the scourging, crowning with thorns, carrying of the cross and the crucifixion. By far the greatest sorrowful mystery has been kept secret. The real sorrowful agony of Christ went far beyond any physical pain. It was a suffering so great as to make the rest of the Passion unnoticeable. When He was dying on the cross, Jesus experienced the curse of all the hatred of hell.
Since Jesus is fully human, His emotions are exposed in His flesh like when sorrow caused Him to weep. Jesus is the Lord with infinite willpower, but He was so distressed by the cross that He was sweating blood beforehand. Before the crucifixion, the Almighty God was sweeting blood. In His infinite willpower, He could endure anything, but He was also fully human. It was His human soul and body that responded to the pending torment in this way.
The pending torment was not the physical pain. The physical pain of the crucifixion would be nothing to the Lord. It would be something that the Lord could easily overcome. On the cross, Jesus was responding to the evil He was a witness to, but the crucifixion did conceal His ability to witness the hatred of the devil. He looked like a human responding to the pain of the cross.
We are redeemed by the crucifixion, and the crucifixion is another reason God created the world. On the cross, God put Himself in a position where He was forced to confront evil. God was forced to make an unbelievably incredible sacrifice to express His love and to save His children from death.
Christ witnessed the evil of Satan, and this is why He is called the faithful witness.
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
When Christ was dying on the cross, the devil exposed his hatred of God. As will be shown, this causes a lot of clues to fit together. This is the attack on Christ that revealed the thoughts of Satan and all the other demonic spirits. The devil hid his hatred, but “now” (at the time of Christ) the evil within Satan is exposed. The devil “shall be” cast out at some point in the future.
Satan has not yet been cast out of Heaven because it has been kept secret that the devil was caught in a violation of the Law of God. Satan unloaded his hatred on Christ and yet God has miraculously prevented billions of Christians from seeing it.
In this next verse there is a verbal attack on someone who is perfect. This attack comes from “workers of iniquity” who believe that no one is watching.
Psalm 64:3-5 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
An attack on someone who is perfect while no one is watching would be an attack on Christ when God turned His face from the crucifixion. The devil unloaded his hatred of God on a dying Christ. This is how the devil bruised the heel of Jesus, but this is also how Jesus defeated the devil.
Satan and his angels feared not. This is because God had looked away and the devil did not realize that Christ is God who transcends Heaven.
Psalms 22:16-18 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
This Psalm describes the crucifixion in remarkable detail. The dogs were the Roman soldiers, but in this same passage Jesus was also surrounded by much larger “bulls”. The bulls attacked Christ verbally (or spiritually). This would be Satan and his angels.
Psalms 22:12-13 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
Notice what Christ said about those who hate Him.
John 15:22-25 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
This passage was used in the past to justify the persecution of Jews. Today, Christians often avoid this passage because of the violence committed in the past by those who clearly misinterpreted what Christ was saying. It should be obvious that this passage is not talking about the Jews. Did Jews not have sin before Christ came into the world?
Yet Christians cannot disregard this passage. These are the words of Christ. There is someone who did not have sin before Christ came into the world, but they now have sin because of His coming into the world. The sin that they now have is hatred of God. “Their law” in this passage is reference to Satan and his angels using the Law of God to condemn humans. They used the sins of humanity to justify their hostility towards humanity, but they have no excuse for their hatred of God. They are condemned by the same Law they used to condemn humanity.
Psalms 109:3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
Satan can condemn humans for their sins, but the hatred directed at Christ by Satan was hatred without a cause. The devil exposed his hatred of God.
Psalms 110:1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Christ will be at the “right hand” of God until His enemies are made His footstool. The relationship of Christ at the Right Hand of God will come to an end and the enemies of God will be made His footstool. These are two different events, but they occur at the same time because one causes the other. Christ will no longer sit at the Right Hand of God because He will go into Heaven. Perhaps He will return to the Earth revealing Himself to be the Son of God. His appearance in Heaven, or maybe a revelation prior to His appearance, will cause His enemies to be His footstool.
Isaiah 66:1 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
The Earth is His footstool, and the devil is cast out into the Earth.
The following passage is believed to be about the antichrist as it is talking about a man.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
He is not literally the son of perdition; destruction is not literally his mother. The son of perdition is merely a title. Man of sin is also a title. A dedicated nurse may be called an angel of mercy, but she is not literally an angel. A demon like Satan may be called a “man of sin” even if he is not a man. This passage is another clue that what comes before the end is the revealing of the sin of Satan.
Satan is the Wicked that is revealed or exposed and consumed by the spirit of the Lord’s mouth, consumed by the testimony of Christ.
In the book of Job there is a lot of discussion about suffering, and why God allows the righteous Job to suffer. When God answered Job, God spoke of the leviathan. The leviathan is a sea monster, or a dragon and it represents Satan. In answering the question of evil and suffering, God is declaring that He will destroy evil. By asking Job if he can do these things to Satan, God is showing what He will do to Satan.
Job 41:1-2 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
God catches Satan with a “hook” meaning Satan does not openly rebel, but he is caught in a trap. This trap would be Christ on the cross who is the witness against Satan. It is the tongue of Satan that is caught, and this is because the demonic verbal attack against Christ by the devil is how Christ destroys the devil. The Messiah was “lettest down”, which is to say sent down to the Earth to trap the devil.
Job 41:3-4 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
These two verses are remarkable. Here we see the cunning Satan before the throne of God, not in open rebellion, but speaking softly and seeking a covenant with God. Satan secretly hates God, and he knows that his hatred of God will lead to his downfall. Satan wants God to agree to keep him as a servant forever.
Job 41:5-6 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
Here God binds Satan. The book of Revelation says that Satan will be bound for a thousand years.
Job 41:12-17 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
Here we see how Satan keeps his hatred hidden within himself. We see in this passage the great willpower of Satan. Satan keeps his heart powerfully sealed. Who is the one who discovers the face of Satan’s garment, who opens the doors of his face? That would be Christ, who exposes the evil of Satan.
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Isaiah also speaks of the leviathan and indicates a judgment for the devil that will take place in the future. Not only in the future, the wording in this chapter of Isaiah, and the previous chapter, suggests that this takes place at the time of the end. There is a great trumpet being blown, and a woman with child about to deliver her baby.
Isaiah 26:18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Isaiah 27:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Very subtle and enigmatic, but this passage is the only clue in the Old Testament concerning the timing of Satan being cast out of Heaven. It agrees with the only New Testament clue found in the book of Revelation. Satan is cast out of Heaven at the time of the end.
Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
When Satan is cast out of Heaven, he knows that he has but a short time meaning he now knows that he is doomed. Satan could not have known of his doom before that time. If Satan had previously known he was doomed, he would have previously had great wrath. There would have previously been conflict in Heaven. Once Satan knows that he is doomed there will be conflict in Heaven.
As a witness, Christ testifies against the devil, and that testimony is figuratively a sword coming out of His mouth.
Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
In this next verse the Messiah’s mouth is like a sword, and it also describes the Messiah as being hidden. Jesus is at the Right Hand of God, a transcending level of Heaven. He has been kept hidden from the inhabitants of Heaven. The Messiah is compared to a shaft hidden in a quiver that will be fired when the time comes.
Isaiah 49:2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
The secret place is the “Right Hand of God”, a place that transcends Heaven where the Son of God has been kept secret from the inhabitants of Heaven.
Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
The judgment of the Lord is far above and out of the sight of the devil, or unknown to the devil.
Psalm 10:4-6 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
It will be revealed in Heaven that Jesus is Lord, and this will lead to a war, or more of a debate, between the archangel Michael and the devil. The devil will be cast from Heaven.
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.
The revelation of the Messiah is when it is revealed in Heaven that Jesus is Lord. We cannot know when or how these events will unfold in Heaven, and the devil is extremely arrogant. Satan will not quickly entertain the notion that he has been brought down by a human. It would be like being told that a bug you once stepped on many years ago is still alive and is going to testify against you.
Luke 17:29-30 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
When it is revealed in Heaven that Jesus is the Lord, and He is at a transcending level of Heaven, then the devil will know he is doomed. A great disaster, like what happened to Sodom, will happen when the Son of man is revealed. The revelation of the Messiah in Heaven will cause the devil to be cast out of Heaven into the Earth.
This is the surprise party that God has in store for Satan. Satan does not know, nor has he considered, that the human Jesus is the Lord, still alive in a place that transcends Heaven. The devil saw Christ as an imperfect human like all the rest. The Christians came to believe that Christ is part of a three in one God in Heaven, an idea which Satan knows to be false. Once the devil realizes that Christ is the Lord, then the devil will know that he is doomed.
In his great arrogance, the devil will not take this seriously.
But when Satan does take this seriously, there will be a battle, a debate between him and the Archangel Michael. Shown to be guilty, the devil will be cast out of Heaven.
Numbers 10:35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.
Jesus is at the Right Hand of God, and Jesus is the Right Hand of God.
Psalms 21:8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
