SPECIAL TOPIC: FALL OF SATAN AND HIS ANGELS

SPECIAL TOPIC: FALL OF SATAN AND HIS ANGELS
(from Rev. 12:4)

Rev. 12:4 “his tail swept away a third of
the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” Because the term “the
stars of heaven” is used quite often in the OT to refer to the saints of God
(cf. Gen. 15:5; Jer. 33:22; Dan. 12:3), some have assumed that this refers to
saints, but the context probably refers to angels (cf. Dan. 8:10; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude
1:6). Falling angels (i.e., in the imagery of falling stars) are a common motif
in Jewish intertestimental apocalyptic literature (i.e., I Enoch).

Satan (see Special Topic: Satan) is depicted with the angels in heaven before God in Job 1-2 and
Zechariah 3. He was possibly a “covering cherub” (cf. Ezek. 28:12-18). This
description, using metaphors from the Garden of Eden, does not fit the King of
Tyre, but the king’s pride and arrogance mimicked Satan’s (I am becoming more
and more uncomfortable with this approach because in Ezekiel 31, where the king
of Egypt is described as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ezekiel
regularly uses Eden terms to describe kings). In the OT Satan is not an enemy of
God, but of mankind (cf. Rev. 12:10). Satan was not created evil but developed
into an arch enemy of all things good and holy (cf. A. B. Davidson’s An Old
Testament Theology, pp. 300-306). Several times he is said to have
been cast out of heaven (cf. Isa. 14:12; Ezek. 28:16; Luke 10:18; John 12:31; 2
Pet. 2:4; and Rev. 12:7-12). The problem is when. Is it:

1. during the OT period

a. before the creation of man (i.e., between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2, called “the
gap theory”; see Special Topic: Day)

b. some time after Job 2:1 but before Ezekiel 28:16

c. during the post-exilic period, but after Zechariah 3:1

2. during the NT period

a. after Jesus’ temptation (cf. Matt. 4:10)

b. during the mission trip of the seventy (cf. Luke 10:18)

c. at an end-time moment of rebellion (cf. Rev. 12:9)

One wonders if “the third of the stars” refers to angels who rebelled against
God and chose to follow Satan. If so, this may be the only scriptural basis for
the demonic of the NT related to fallen angels (cf. Rev. 12:9,12). The number,
“one-third,” may be related to the

1. limit of the destruction during the trumpet
judgments (cf. Rev. 8:7-12; 9:15,18) and not a specific number

2. it may represent Satan’s seduction of part of the
angels

3. it may be a mythoogical allusion to a Babylonian
creation account

At this point it may be helpful to remember that although this issue is
interesting, it was not the author’s intent in this context to discuss

1. the origin of the demonic

2. the fall of Satan

3. an angelic rebellion in heaven

In apocalyptic literature the central theme of the vision is crucial, but the
literalness of the presentation, the details and the images are dramatic,
symbolic, fictional (see Special Topic: Apocalyptic Literature). It is our
curiosity and western thinking that motivates our detailed, logical,
doctrinal formulations of these symbolic texts. Be careful of pushing the details; apocalyptic
literature is often true theology presented in an imaginative framework. It is
true, but symbolically presented!