How is Satan defeated? I want to tell a story. It’s filled with assumptions and places where I’ve read between the lines in scriptures to try to discover this narrative, but none the less, it generally seems to make sense of the clues we are given. How do we time Satan’s binding, release, fall from heaven, and defeat in the lake of fire? How do we know what order these events take place in?
Satan is known as the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). His most famous accusation is found in the book of Job.
Job 1:5-12 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed[a] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Satan made the claim that Job only loved and feared God because he was blessing his life. He claimed that if God didn’t provide his benefits, Job would curse God in his heart.
The story of Job isn’t meant just for his time, it is a lesson for the last days. Woven throughout the New Testament is evidence that God is in a legal battle with Satan. Don’t you think it’s odd that Satan is first thrown into the Abyss for 1,000 years only to be released for a short time and then be thrown into the lake of fire? If he did something wrong, why shouldn’t he go directly to the lake of fire? I used to assume Satan was cast into the Abyss as a warning sign for bad behavior and was given one last chance to reform his ways, but when he proved he wasn’t interested in doing that, God threw him in the lake of fire. But now I see Satan wasn’t bound as a warning, he was in a court battle and going through due process. Satan falsely accuses the brethren and God proves him false, in fact you’ll begin to see evidence of this as we continue, but for now assume there is a lawsuit between Satan and God.
Revelation 12:1-5 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule[a] all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne
The red dragon is Satan (Revelation 12:9). Satan takes his accusations too far when he tells God that even his son Jesus will not fear him or prove faithful if he is made to suffer. God grants Satan to test his son and Jesus is taken out to the wilderness to be tested for 40 days and allowed to be tempted by Satan. To Satan’s surprise Jesus proves faithful, but Satan has not given up.
Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Satan asks God for permission to do something unprecedented, no longer restrict him from making his life uncomfortable, but allow himself to take Jesus’s life. At the cross, Satan hopes the sheer amount of pain and suffering will cause Jesus to curse God in his heart and forsake God. Jesus again obeys the Lord despite the fact that every curse is laid upon him and he is allowed to be slain. Jesus passes every test and ascends into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God for his faithfulness.
Hebrews 2:6-8 “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,[a] 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
At this point Satan has committed a crime, he has falsely accused the Son of God of being unfaithful. So he is arrested and placed in the Abyss and forbidden from putting the saints to death while he awaits his trial.
Revelation 20:1-4 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
1 Corinthians 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
Because of this binding Satan is not permitted access into Heaven and thus cannot pursue the Child the woman gave birth to (Revelation 12:4) into Heaven. For 40 years, God and Satan collect their evidence for the lawsuit while the saintly judges monitor the process and although Satan is allowed to persecute the saints, he is not allowed to kill them.
2 Thessalonians 1:4-5 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Hebrews 12:7-8 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
The saints are allowed to suffer persecutions, trials, testings, and the discipline of the Lord in order to provide evidence for God in his court case against Satan to prove that the saints are worthy of the kingdom of God. If their blessings are taken away, will they curse God in their hearts?
1 Peter 1:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:3-5 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
At the end of the Millennium, they have collected their evidence and are prepared to begin the trial in God’s throne room. Satan is released from the Abyss and allowed to come before God.
Revelation 20:3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
God shows how during these 40 years, the saints have remained faithful despite their persecutions. Satan argues their persecutions are not painful enough, if he is permitted to shed their blood, they will surely curse God in their hearts.
Hebrews 12:3-4 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
God allows Satan to increase their tribulation in order to gather evidence.
Luke 21:16-19 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
Just like the serpent in the garden uses a woman to convince Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, Satan uses a Jewish woman to convince Nero to blame the fire of Rome on the Christians resulting in an empire wide persecution of Christians who are hunted down and brutally tortured. Christians endure unbearable sufferings and are put to death (Mid 64AD – May 66AD). Yet despite this, they do not curse God in their hearts or abandon their faith.
Matthew 24:22,24 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short… 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Satan’s legal case completely fails, God is ready to make a judgement. He condemns Satan for his false accusations and orders him to be thrown in the lake of fire. But Satan is filled with anger (Revelation 12:12), and instead of submitting to his fate he gathers the angels loyal to him and wages war against Heaven. But Michael and his angels fight back and throw Satan and his demons to earth (May 66AD).
Revelation 12:7-12 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
Satan knows it is only a matter of time before the angels catch him and throw him into the lake of fire so he and his demons gather together the armies of the earth to wage war against the saints.
Revelation 12:13-17 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 16:14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
Revelation 20:7-9 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,
Satan gathers together the armies of the earth and pursues the Christians who flee into the mountains, the Christians who Jesus instructed to flee when they saw the armies surround Jerusalem. But the earth (a symbol of Israel) swallows the water (a symbol for Roman armies) and redirects the wrath of the Romans against the Jews. Unable to catch those who fled, Satan redirects his wrath against the saints who did not flee but remained in Jerusalem. Perhaps if he torments them so greatly they will curse God and even if not, at least he will be killing the bride of Christ (67AD – Mid 70AD).
But fire comes down and destroys Satan’s armies. The 10 Jewish generals who unintentionally help the Romans destroy Jerusalem are devoured by the fire of the Roman siege (70AD). And a few years later the Roman armies are devoured by fire from heaven when the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupts and destroys two whole Roman cities on the coastlines and removes all their temples (79AD). The Giants or Titans are seen in the smoke walking on the land and flying through the air and at this time those who worship false gods begin to believe that they no longer exist. Satan has been thrown into the lake of fire where he will never accuse the saints before God again.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
So God wins the lawsuit against Satan. Satan accuses God’s son and his people of not genuinely fearing him but only serving him because of his many benefits. Christ suffers discomfort for 40 days but remains faithful even when he is later tested with death. The saints suffer discomfort for 40 years during the Millennium and remain faithful even when tested with death during the tribulation. Through this, God gathered evidence that the saints love him. With this evidence, Satan is chased down and thrown into the lake of fire where he remains to this day.
If this is true, we are no longer under the same period of testing. Satan no longer accuses us before God. Christianity has already been proven faithful. God no longer sends trials and tribulations on us, but the full measure of his blessings. We do face persecution in this world, but it is not the Lord’s doing and he often delivers us from these persecutions.