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If Satan and the demons have been cast into
the Lake of Fire, how do you explain all of the evil in the world today? Response by: Todd Dennis, William Bell, Samuel Frost, John Noē My application of that imagery is brought into every day life now using a Preterist Spiritual/Idealist hybrid approach. The Lake of Fire is still burning all works of unrighteousness, and proceeds straight from the throne of our God—who is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Those who are outside of the Covenant are within that lake day and night even now, and are under all of the chains of the sin, the death, and the devil (the definite article “the” is in the original Greek in many key passages, such as Rom 5:12, thus indicating the corporate sense of sin and death). Those influences can only be conquered in Christ. Call it “Temporal Conscious Punishment” if you wish, but the torment of that outer darkness is evident by their self-destructive behavior and wailing and gnashing. Just read some lyrics from the typical heavy metal band and you will hear testimony straight from the lake.
First, let us consider what evil is. There are two kinds of evil in the world—moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is that of “persons against persons.” Included in that would be war and crime. Natural evil is identified as “nature against persons” such as earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and floods. It is not always easy to distinguish between the two of them. Properly used medications taken by a parent have been known to cause birth defects. Recently I read in the newspaper that, of malpractice cases which are reported, doctors are the 3rd leading cause of death. The number could be higher. On the other hand, natural disasters are often compounded by people unwilling to help alleviate the sufferings, as witnessed in the horrors of Katrina. Moral evil results from freedom of choice. God could not create beings with freedom of choice and then limit their freedom to choose. The free actions of created beings cause more suffering than anything else in the world. So, in response to why evil still exists in the world, it exists because of man’s freedom to choose. Many times those choices are evil. Because the demise of Satan does not eliminate the freewill choice of man, evil is not eradicated from the world. Natural evil is far less important in the modern world theologically, but harder to explain. It is independent of man’s freewill, proceeding from God’s creation. Natural law is a necessary condition for the fulfillment of both divine and human objectives, being essential for free creatures to function in a normal manner. For example, the same sun that is needed for life on earth can also burn. Fire warms and consumes. Water is indispensable to existence but also can kill. Gravity holds things on the ground, but can also cause untold damage. Without the vast seas, it would not be possible to take oceanic cruises around the world, but that same sea can drown us and overflow the land during a storm. If it was within our power, would we opt for a natural world that is less flexible, with rigid laws where nothing can cause pain and suffering? That might also mean living in a world that can provide no challenge, beauty or growth. Which is the greater evil? It is not evil that God created a world, with both fixed laws and flexibility, which can create disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis and other natural calamities. But those same events also trigger both the best (and worst) in man through freedom of choice. The heroism, sacrifice and good-will actions of many who have risked life and limb to aid their fellow man, is only produced in such conditions. Likewise, horrible rapes, neglect, and wide-scale abuses occur as well. On the one hand, a greater good is produced even from these natural calamities, which then raises the question. Are they really evil? While many individual evil choices are made, which takes us back to the moral issues of man’s free will, it does not appear that having a world where the weather is mostly beautiful, the fishing is good, the wildlife and natural beauty flourishes and man can count on the sunrise day in and day out, is an intrinsic evil. Ultimately, in my opinion, the true evil in this world is that which is contrary to, and in rebellion to, the revealed will of God. Whether Satan was destroyed or not, man’s freedom of choice necessitates the existence of moral evil, for only man is a moral creature, free to choose, made in the image of God, who is the ultimate free and moral being. Thus, to rid the world of evil, requires the destruction of man’s freedom of choice, his likeness in God’s image, i.e., morality, and hence, the destruction of man as man. With this thought in mind, take any place in the world that is unpopulated by man and ask yourself, “what evil is really being done there?” If men did not exist on earth, would there truly be any evil?
The question assumes that “Satan and the demons” are the cause or explanation of “all the evil in the world.” The scriptural evidence, however, leads me to a different conclusion. 1. God created evil. Isaiah 45:7; Lamentations 3:38, etc. The clearest picture in Scripture of this fact is that God made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before the failure of Adam and Eve. Therefore, evil existed before God created man. Evil was known by the mind of God in its entirety from eternity. 2. “God is righteous in all of his dealings” (Dan 4:35) and therefore can do no wrong. Even though He causes evil events—that is, events that we view as evil, and events that men bring about on other men (and we hold those men accountable for their evil actions)—God Himself is not an agent. God is accountable to no man, and cannot be charged with committing evil. His motivations for bringing about the evil actions of men are qualitatively different and righteous, whereas evil men fail to have these motivations. They are accountable. God is accountable to no man. 3. “Man’s mind is on evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). The distinction between these men and Noah is that “Noah found grace” (Gen 6:8). This grace enabled Noah to obey God. Jeremiah concurs: “the heart of man is evil, who can know it?” Man is born with the knowledge of good and evil—the Second Coming of Christ did not alter this fact in the slightest. In order for man to be transformed into the image of Christ, he must also have eternal life. Having the knowledge of good and evil in our minds is the agency for evil to exist. 4. “Satan” was temporary. One would need powerful gifts of the Spirit to discern his activities in the world today. One would have to know if a sickness was from “demonic possession” or just a sickness. Only by the spiritual gifts enabled directly by the Spirit could one know this. If, as some today claim, the spiritual gifts have ceased, then how can one tell if the devil or demons are committing each specific act? 5. “Satan’s” role was to accuse according to the transgression of the law given to Adam, and this role increased in the giving of the law to Israel. Now that the law has been fulfilled for those in Christ Jesus, mankind can receive reconciliation with God through Christ. Those who have not received such reconciliation are still dead in their sins and their hearts still contain the “knowledge of the law” (good and evil) with which they were born. Prior to Christ, eternal life could not be given, but now in Christ it can. The effects and residue of the reign of the Death, the Sin and the Law by the justly appointed angel called “Satan” are still very much with us today, though decreasing as the gospel spreads over time. However, “Satan” himself, and the rule of the Death, the Sin and the Law are no longer powers or principalities that rule in the heavenlies. They have all been vanquished. God justly rules over all things, being all in all, having filled all things, having destroyed all of his enemies. This, however, does not alter the fact that, in spite of the destruction of these powers, man is born with a heart of only the knowledge of good and evil. It is through Christ, having faith in Christ, which is a gift of God, that he can come and eat of the Tree of Life in the restored Kingdom. Until he eats of the Tree of Life, he, like Adam, only has a knowledge of good and evil, and though he performs good occasionally, “even the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel” (Prov. 12.10) since it is not linked to faith and worship in Christ. In conclusion, Satan was appointed by God to carry out the judicial sentence against all men, including the righteous. All who were truly “of Israel” by faith in God were equally condemned “in Adam” and under the curse of “the Death and the Sin.” Because of the reconciling work of the Incarnate One, these, along with “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord” were and are given eternal access to the Tree of Life, which Adam and all men were originally cut off from. In order to be given access, “the Death, Satan, the Sin and the Law” had to be vanquished. Their time was served, and their defeat was sure. “Satan” is no longer necessary in the affairs of God, and thus his appointment was ended with the parousia, the consummation of all things that occurred in the generation upon which His Son descended.
Full Preterists agree that Satan has been cast into “the lake of fire and brimstone” (Rev. 20:10 KJV), sometime around AD 70 or so. What we disagree on is, “what does this mean?” Some Preterists contend that, by being cast into the lake of fire, Satan was annihilated or rendered inoperative in the lives and affairs of humankind. Therefore, they attribute the existence of all evil in the world today as solely coming out of human hearts. Jeremiah 17:9; 18:12; Matthew 15:19; Luke 6:45 are cited in support. To my knowledge, what happened to the demons is not revealed in the Bible. Renowned Preterist author, J. Stuart Russell, however, struggled with this understanding of post-AD 70 reality and “this restriction of satanic power.”1 His solution was to revert to an amillennial explanation.2 In so doing, Russell compromised his Preterist view by viewing the end of the thousand years, the loosing of Satan, and his being cast into the lake of fire, as “still future, and therefore unfulfilled.”3 Many Christians find it difficult to conceive of the world today as not having Satan and his demonic cohorts in it and operative, as some Preterists claim the past fulfillment of their being cast into the lake of fire actually means. I would like to propose another Preterist solution. Satan “was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone” (Rev. 20:10 KJV) after the end of his “little season” of loosing (AD 63-70). I suggest that this does not necessitate Satan’s demise, or his being all burned up, annihilated, terminated, or rendered totally inoperative and removed from any influence on the earth, as some Preterists have assumed. Here are three reasons to support my thesis. First, the “lake of fire” is a major sign and symbol in a book filled with signs and symbols. So, it should not be surprising that the “lake of fire” symbolically points to something literally real. Unfortunately, the book of Revelation does not decipher this imagery as it does some of its other signs and symbols (for example: Rev. 1:20; 17:15; 19:8). But by using the analogy of Scripture—letting Scripture interpret Scripture—we can gain some insight. The book of Revelation contains both this lake and a river (Rev. 22:1). Generally speaking, a lake is a large body of water—larger than a river. Hence, a lake of fire would be a lot of fire. From other Scriptures we know that Jesus is spoken of as the “living water” (John 4:10-12) and the Holy Spirit as “streams (or rivers – KJV) of living water” (John 7:38-39). In a similar manner, the writer of Hebrews wrote, “for our God is a consuming fire.” In the New Testament, “fire” is commonly used as a reference to God or his messengers (Rev. 1:14; 2:18; 10:1; 15:2; 19:12; Matt. 3:11; Luke 12:49; Acts 2:3; 7:30; 1 Cor. 3:13, 15; Heb. 1:7; also many such uses in the Old Testament). Therefore, the “lake of fire” is probably a symbol for God. Satan was thus thrown into God—i.e., into a binding. That should not be too surprising, since Satan has always been bound by God to one degree or another. Second, all during this time of binding Satan also has been active in the affairs of men. As far back as Job, Satan was bound by God (Job 2:6), yet operative. Jesus and his disciples demonstrated that Satan was bound by casting out demons from AD 26 through the early 60’s (Matt. 12:28-29; John 12:31; Rev. 12:10-12). Jesus further bound him at the cross (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14). Binding, therefore, does not mean the elimination of his person, power, or activity. It only means a limitation, a reduction, or a lessening. William Hendrikson referred to Satan’s being bound as “his influence on earth is partly paralysed [sic].”4 David Chilton commented “That Satan has been bound does not mean that all his activity has ceased. The New Testament tells us specifically that the demons have been disarmed and bound (Col. 2:15; 2 Pet. 2:4: Jude 6)—yet they are still active. It is just that their activity is restricted.”5 Even during the 3½ years of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the subsequent ministries of the Apostles, and while Satan resided in “the bottomless pit” and was bound with “a great chain” (Rev. 20:1-3), he was still active. But being thrown into the “lake of fire” in AD 70 (after the end of the 40-year millennial period – AD 26-66), was his permanent binding. We are not told, however, how extensive or how much greater this binding was (and still is) in comparison with some of his previous bindings. Third, Satan’s loosing (AD 63-70) does not necessitate a complete, unbound release, nor the giving of complete and absolute freedom. Neither does it demand a prior, non-operative status or no-involvement period. Loosing means the giving of more leash, more chain, or greater freedom. In regards to the 1,000-year period in Revelation 20, Satan was loosed specifically to “deceive the nations” and “to gather them for battle” (Rev. 20:3, 8). This was accomplished. For the reasons above, I maintain that Satan’s being cast into the “lake of fire and brimstone” does not necessitate his being annihilated or rendered inoperative in the lives and affairs of humankind. The Preterist position that Satan was annihilated, or rendered inoperative, after AD 70, is totally assumptive. If it were correct, it would render obsolete many other Scriptures, such as: Eph. 4:27; 6:10-12; Jas. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9; John 14:12; Matt. 28:20. I think not. The analogy of Scripture and the conditions of our world today argue against it. 1 Russell, The Parousia, p. 518 2 Ibid, pp. 518, 519, 522, 531 3 Ibid, pp. 522, 35 4 William Hendrikson, More That Conquerors, p. 190 5 David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, p. 503 |
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