Angels: Their Nature and Ministry

§12. THE DESTRUCTION OF SATAN

Will Satan be destroyed? This question may seem strange to some, for we are aware that there are some who regard the eternity of Satan as well settled in their minds as the eternity of God. In the popular opinion the devil and his angel will never cease to exist, but live to all eternity in hell, blaspheming God and tormenting the lost. But is this reasonable? Is it scriptural? For God to perpetuate the existence of the devil and all the wicked, would not benefit them; they are lost beyond recovery, and their punishment is not reformatory. Could a God of love and mercy take delight in such a scene of woe and suffering? Is it necessary to keep such an example eternally in view of the saints and angels to keep them in subjection? Shall such a foul blot eternally remain to mar the beauty and happiness of God’s fair universe? No; such a thought is as abhorrent to reason as it is opposed to the Bible. Truth and righteousness are alone enduring and eternal. Sin and sinners are both abnormal developments, at war with the Creator and Governor, and, in the very nature of things, must come to an end. God once had a clean universe, and he will have it again. ATNM 125.1

The Bible teaches that both wicked men and demons will be destroyed, and cease to pollute God’s kingdom and government. Speaking of the humiliation of Christ, Hebrews 2:14 says; “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Then, as surely as He died, so surely will He destroy the devil, for the object of His death will be accomplished. We have seen that the covering cherub of Ezekiel 28 is the devil. God says of him; “I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” ATNM 126.1

Here we see that Satan is to be brought to ashes upon the earth, and that he will then cease to exist, for he “never shall be any more.” He is the king of rebels. For him God will prepare the lake of fire. All who follow his ways will with him be cast into it. To the wicked the Lord will say, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41. Upon the same subject the prophet says: “For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” Isaiah 30:33. ATNM 127.1

The devil will be blotted out of existence, and all his works with him. Wicked men are the works of the devil. See Matthew 13:38, 39. “The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil.” Will they be destroyed? Let John answer; “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. Not only will the devil himself be destroyed, but those also who have followed his ways. Says David, “All the wicked will He destroy.” Psalm 145:20. ATNM 127.2

The Lord says by His prophet: “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1. Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” John 15:5. The followers of Christ are branches of the Heavenly Vine, because they bear heavenly fruit by strength drawn from Him. In Revelation 14:18 an angel cries to the reaper on the white cloud, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.” As Christ is the Heavenly Vine, of which the Father is the Husbandman, so Satan is the vine of the earth; his followers bear fruit that is “earthly, sensual, devilish.” They are confederated in clusters of all kinds; but they do not gather with Christ. Root and branch will be destroyed together. Said Jesus, “Every plant, which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” Matthew 15:13. Not a vestige of them shall be left to mar the creation of God. ATNM 127.3

In harmony with this, the book of Revelation speaks of a time when “every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Revelation 5:13. ATNM 128.1

The word of the Lord says; “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner.” Proverbs 11:31. When the earth is made new, the righteous will have it for an everlasting possession. But they will have a reign of a thousand years in the city of God in heaven. The wicked have their recompense in the earth, for it is here and here only that they suffer their punishment. In this sense they are recompensed in the earth “much more” than the righteous. Peter says; “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7. This present earth is reserved unto fire; for “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Verse 10. ATNM 128.2

This shows that not yet the devil and the wicked are suffering in the fire unto which they are appointed. Jesus says that their departure into fire is after He comes in His glory. Matthew 25:31-41. Peter says that this earth will melt with fervent heat in the day of perdition of ungodly men. ATNM 129.1

And so the book of Revelation. When Satan gathers the hosts of the wicked about the camp of the saints and the beloved city, fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. This is after the thousand years, after the resurrection of the wicked dead. This is the fire that melts the earth, and burns up everything that pertains to sin and the curse. This is the fire of gehenna, for the melted earth will be the lake of fire in which Satan and his angels, and all his followers, will be destroyed; when all that do wickedly shall be burned up and left neither root nor branch. ATNM 129.2

Here the controversy between righteousness and iniquity is ended. Now what has Satan gained by his rebellion?-Nothing but the miserable satisfaction of having done evil for a season. He has lost all the joys of heaven, the pleasure there is in doing right, and the consciousness of being pure and innocent, and the happiness of being the friend of God. But above all he has lost eternal life. Had he remained obedient to God, he would have lived to all eternity without pain, or sickness, or the fear of death. But now he has to die-to sink into the darkness of everlasting oblivion. Oh, what an awful thought it must be to Satan, who once occupied such an exalted position in heaven! Can we suppose that the devil has been happy for the last six thousand years, in the woe and misery that he has produced in the world?-No; it is impossible. And what shall be said of those of Adam’s race who have been his willing dupes and followers? They have been warned, they have been entreated, by the terrors of death, by the joys of eternal life, by the preciousness of the blood of Jesus shed for them, to turn and live; but against all they have turned away to ruin. Now they appreciate the question of the Saviour: “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” (or life)? When this is lost, all is lost. To them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 13. ATNM 130.1