WHERE EXACTLY IS SATAN?

 

Bible critic Rayan Zehn poses the following contradiction in the Bible:

    “Where is the 'devil'? The bible’s (sic) not certain, II Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6 both clearly state that the devil and his angels have been thrown into darkness, where they shall remain in chains until judgment day. Job 1:7;2:2 and I Peter 5:8 show the devil loose from these chains, walking about on earth, tempting human beings. Indeed, in 1 Peter, he might actually take the form of a hungry lion, chasing down drunk people for snacks.”

First, a comment on the snarky statement that Zehn ends with: He appears to believe that Peter in I Peter 5:8 is being literal concerning Satan actually taking the form of a lion and eating people. Either that, or he is purposely making fun of the verse.

And as for Satan picking on drunks, even a superficial reading of that chapter makes it clear that drunks are not at all mentioned in that verse. Instead, it is actually addressed to those Gentile Christians who have already given up such vices and many more serious ones listed in I Peter 4:3-4.

But Zehn's major misrepresentation is to state the devil and his angels have been thrown into pits of darkness. Actually, the truth is that the devil is nowhere mentioned in either II Peter 2:4 or Jude 1:6. As any commentator will point out, the angels being referred to in these verses are those mentioned in Genesis 6:1-4 who left their appointed place in heaven to cohabit with the daughters of men. And the devil does not appear in that passage either.

The true biblical view of where the devil (i.e.Satan) is located shows him as an angelic personage in the heavenly court whose position is as a sort of prosecuting attorney. In that capacity, he moves freely from heaven to earth throughout Old Testament times at least up to the time of Zechariah 3 and possibly up to Jesus' temptation before He began His earthly ministry.

Next, there are indications that Satan and his angels were excluded from heaven and began to lose their unrestrained power over mankind sometime during Jesus' time on earth (see Matthew 12:22-29; Luke 10:17-18; Revelation 12:7-9). So at the present time, Satan still has limited power to do damage here on earth even though Christians have no reason to fear him (Romans 16:20). Jesus came on earth and died so that among other things, Satan's power of death would be broken (Hebrews 2:14-15) and his evil works destroyed (I John 3:8).

Satan's ultimate fate is already determined. He falls under God's judgment (John 12:31; 16:11). He and his angels are destined eventually for the eternal fire (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10) on the last day.

All of the above is pretty much agreed to by all biblical scholars. The only area of contention is in regard to the import of Revelation 20:1-10, the sole passage mentioning an intermediate time period during which time Satan will be “bound for a thousand years and thrown into the pit.” Premillenialists take the wording in a fairly literal manner to refer to a future realm of God's kingdom on earth for a certain time period while Amillenialists feel it is a figurative way of referring to the present epoch during which time the Gospel message is allowed to spread throughout the world. But even those two groups would agree that this should not be confused with the fallen angels being thrown into pits of darkness.