“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18, NKJV)
Since the day Jesus arose from the dead, the “day of the Lord” has been happening, whence God will transmutate into fire. This was, after all, Jesus’ greatest desire: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). Since Jesus arose, His authority is zealously established by all those who, “in holy conduct and godliness”, look for and hasten the coming of the day of God (2 Pet 3:11-12). Selah. God’s appearance or transmutation on earth, when He becomes “visible” to those who are awaiting salvation, will destroy all false thought constructs, governments, powers, principalities, etc (Eph 6:12) with the consuming fire of his Being.
Luke 10:18 is often used to sketch the history of Satan, especially to explain how he was cast from heaven after he rebelled against God: “And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Various sources (for instance J Dwight Pentecost’s Your Adversary: The Devil, and Jessie Penn-Lewis’s War on the Saints) uses this reference from the gospel of Luke to explain this ancient history of what had happened to Satan, the once glorious angel of God.
If one however looks at the context in which Jesus makes this remark, it has NOTHING to do with the ancient history of either Lucifer, nor Satan: “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.’” (Luke 10:17-20).
This context has no bearing on Satan’s ancient history, but clearly on the spiritual authority the disciples had over demonic spirits. While the seventy disciples had “destroyed the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b) in the Name of Jesus Christ, Jesus saw (with his spiritual eyes) how Satan fell, like lightning, from heaven . Remember then that David Curtis pointed out that we should consider this within a specific framework of interpretation, where heavens refer to “governments and rulers”. Satan literally falls from his position of authority and is rendered the foot stool of Zion (Heb 10:13). Selah.
On a website dedicated to Satanic symbols (http://www.666blacksun.com/ Satanic_Symbols.html) the following is said about Satan’s characteristic nature, in terms of lightning: “The Satanic Lightning Bolt symbolizes Satan as our True Creator God.” But in the Scripture he is merely likened to lightning, and it also figures as more than just a symbol of Satan – it is clearly part of the Biblical symbolism of lightning as a demonstration of God’s absolute power (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery also establishes a very important association with fire: “What manifestation of light could be more awesome and frightening than that most potent, uncontrollable and blinding fire – lightning? Lightning is fire on supernatural scale with a supernatural purpose.” (p. 512).
The lightning does not necessarily refer to Satan, but on God’s fire consuming him whilst the disciplines destroy his (Satan’s) works. This is a very good demonstration of how “the heavens will be dissolved … and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Pet 3:12), and fire will be sent to earth (Luke 12:49). Remember, this is not a single occurrence, but takes place every time the authority which is vested in Jesus is exercised. Jesus stated it as follows in Matt 28:19 (Ampl): “All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” But this authority is actually given to believers (Rev 5:10; 11:15; Dan 7:18 – “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever”.)
The specific heavens which will be consumed by fire (of which Peter thus speaks) is – given the context of the time in which the letter was written – the religious authority and power of the Jewish religious system which God wanted to get rid of. Erwin McManus suggests that “Two thousand years ago God started a revolt against the religion He started … (H)e was willing to turn Judaism upside down (in) a divine revolt.”
The Jewish historian, Flavius Josefus, in his The War of the Jews (Book 6, Ch. 5, Sec. 3) writes about how this prophetic word of Peter’s had been fulfilled in 70 AD: “Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar], a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, ‘Let us remove hence.'”
Indeed: The heavens were destroyed with a great sound. I can’t state it any clearer than Elvin Roach does in his book The Apocalypse: “What was going on in the heavens was being manifested in Jerusalem’s earth. All her works, her pompous hierarchy, and her religious practices passed away. Her world, her heaven and earth, was burned up. The authority, power, and the works of Israel were destroyed that day in the heavens, and whatsoever came to pass in that realm of authority came to pass in their earth. As the heavenly host of chariots and troops destroyed the city and Temple in the heavenly realm, the city and Temple were destroyed in the earthly realm.”
At this time the temple was already the centrifugal shell of the external Jewish religious rituals – the temple of Solomon had been destroyed, the ark of the covenant was still gone and the Holy of Holies still empty (Merill C. Tenney: New Testament Survey).
But then we read these important words in Rev 11:19: “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.” The heavens are opened and show the location of the ark, but in the same breath there is a mention of lightning and an earthquake! In heaven?! 2 Pet 3:7 (LITV) makes it clear: “the heavens and the earth now, having been stored up by the same Word, are being kept for fire”. Notice: that Word is spelled in capitals (as is also found in MJKV & NJB), in other words heaven and earth are encapsulated IN THE LOGOS, JESUS, who, like his Father, is a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29; Dan 7:9), as HE is now the temple/tabernacle (John 1:14; Ezek 1:28). Please selah.
- Selah: Try to come to terms with the mystery discussed in the last paragraph.
- Read: Mal 2-4; Matt 1-3
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Take note of the synchronisation, that Mal 3:2-3 and Matt 3:11c
come to the fore at the same time!
