Bible Study Why didn't God destroy Satan at the beginning?

[reddogs]

Satan always wanted to be God and will do everything he can to pretend he is Christ when he's here to deceive the world. It’s important to remember that Lucifer which is another name for Satan, had challenged the fairness and justice of God. He had started with his lies in heaven, and the very idea of telling a lie had never entered the minds of the angels. So the angels didn’t grasp all that lay behind Lucifer’s deceptions. So we see what Satan wanted from the start and what had come into his heart.
Isaiah 14:12-13
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:’

But Christ is the true morning star as we see in Revelation:
Revelation 22:16
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Now the place that Lucifer wants it to be at 'the mount of the congregation' in the 'north' which is God's throne..
We find the same in Psalm 48:1-2:
Psalm 48:1-2
1 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

If God had destroyed Satan immediately, the angels would have begun to serve Him from fear rather than from love. This would have defeated the very purpose He had in creating beings with the power of choice in the first place. God gave Satan a chance to demonstrate his system which he wanted to bring in to replace that of God. That’s why Satan was given an opportunity to show it to the worlds, and to Adam and Eve who allowed the deception here. So our world become the testing ground where Satan and his character and the nature of the kingdom he wants, are contrasted with the character of God and the nature of His kingdom. So who we choose is important and Satan will throw a curveball at us at the end.

We know that Satan can transform himself to a 'angel of light' and will show himself at the end claiming worship that belongs to God and wanting to be God. He did it in heaven and deceived a third of the angels and they followed him.
Revelation 12:3-4
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And Satan will do it again at the end. But we know how it ends.

 

[Josef]

Hey All,

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Satan is part of the all things. He serves a purpose for now in God's redemptive plan of mankind. One day he will no longer. Amen.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

 

[hawkman]

It’s important to remember that Lucifer which is another name for Satan, had challenged the fairness and justice of God.

There is no Lucifer . There is a Satan . "Lucifer" in the KJV is a transliteration of the Latin .

Here is short explanation . https://hermeneutics.stackexchange....proper-name-of-satan-according-to-isaiah-1412

Much longer and deeper explanation . https://franknelte.net/article.php?article_id=218

The Later Human tradition is what caused "Lucifer" to become a proper noun referring to the Devil before his fall, which the Hebrew does not do.

 

[for_his_glory]

God is a Spirit without form and the Lord made his angels spirits without form also. From these two scriptures below in John and Psalms we see that the inhabitants of heaven are not flesh and blood, but spirits created by God that cannot be destroyed by physical death, thus the term spiritual death that separates us from God. This is why Satan could never be physically destroyed.

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Psalms 104:4 who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

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[Gary K]

Why didn't God destroy the devil when he first sinned? That's an interesting question. We know how deceitful he is as he was able to talk 1/3 of the angels into following him. So how many angels had doubts about his charges against God but didn't follow him because they saw the folly of rebelling against God.

If God had immediately destroyed the devil He would have encouraged those doubts in the rest of the angels. His ultimate Goal is to destroy sin so He took the only route available. He allowed the devil to fully reveal himself and demonstrate fully who he is. I believe when the devil inspired the Jews to murder Jesus he effectively ended any chance of deceiving any more angels as it's been exceedingly obvious he is a liar and a murderer since then. But God's goal is to makr sure sin never happens in His universe again.

Take a look at society then and now. See how much more the devil has exposed his malignancy since then? World wars, the holocaust, almost continual warfare since WW2. Now homosexuality is out in the open and supported by our government, plus we have transgenderism. How many of us expected that to come along 20 or 30 years ago? Now it is actively pushed by our government.

So the devil has been busy deceiving and harming people on a greater and greater scale and evil all the time. That has exposed a lot more of his malignancy and hatred.

I think we are close, very close, to the end of time and Jesus is coming very soon. But this is why God didn't destroy the devil immediately. He wanted a sin free universe again.