Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars
Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected
Rick Holtsclaw | PentecostalTheology.com
# **Interesting and often asked question:** *“God vs. Satan – if God is all-powerful, why does He not just kill Satan?”*
# **Christian response…**
# God the Father did not eradicate Lucifer and the angels that followed Lucifer in his attempted coup de taut because God desired to maintain volitional love with the remaining faithful angels in the Kingdom that did not rebel…an untold and probably unfathomable number of angels. If God had simply destroyed Lucifer and the rebellious angels for their disobedience, the remaining faithful angels would no longer love our God out of volition but out of fear; true love cannot manifest in fear; therefore, God the Father commissioned the Son, Jesus Christ, to take elements from the Spiritual Realm and fashion those elements into matter that can be apprehended by life constrained by the Realm of Time and physics (Hebrews 11:3; John 1; Colossians 1:15-18; Genesis 1).
# Jesus Christ, at the behest of the Father (John 3:35), proceeded to create Time, this Universe, the Earth, human kind and then Lucifer was placed upon the Earth in Eden (Ezekiel 28:12-17; Luke 10:18) to be dealt with apart from the Kingdom; in fact, the primary reason Jesus Christ entered Time was to defeat the works/deception/death inspired by the Devil (1 John 3:8b). From the beginning in Eden, the struggle between Jesus v. Satan has been in play (Genesis 3:14-15) and ultimately Jesus Christ was victorious over Satan at the Crucifixion (Hebrews 2:14; John 16:11).
# The faithful angels are observing the horrors of sin and disobedience (1 Peter 1:12) and the unconscionable evil works of the former cherub guardian angel, Lucifer; at the end of the Millennial Reign of Messiah, the faithful angels will agree with God the Father that Satan and the fallen-angels/demons do deserve confinement and eternal punishment in Hell (Revelation 20:10) and God’s loving relationship with both His angelic creation and the redeemed of mankind will be maintained and strengthened by God having suffered and given Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of those He loves with an undying love (John 3:16; Matthew 26:28).
Lukas Dohnal
Why does He not just kill you ?? Or me, or everyone else ?? We are all worthy to be judged, condemned and killed for the crimes we daily committed against Him
Charles Norman
I don’t know of any scripture that shows angels can be killed.
Lonny Libera
Why would there be a coup de taut in heaven? Its baffling that a rebellion against god means there is sin there
Larry Koester
You will have to ask him when you see him. But Satan is good at making people who don’t. Believe in sin wonder what is going on. God wants us to question existent and purpose and Satan for all his spite is a good crowbar to pry people off their complacent Burt’s.
Greg Defleron
Darkness is the background on which the light paints its majesty, color and brilliance upon. You cannot see the stars in the daylight; however, their brilliance is unmistakable at night against the dark background. The darkness cannot hide their position nor their brilliance. One cannot exist without the other. God created evil for this purpose, Isa 45:7. The light is appearing in the darkness and the darkness grasped it not, Jn 1:5,(CLV).
Elijah Roberts
It seems like everyone makes Satan to be overrated. Christians give satan way too much acknowledgement
Grant Reedy
Serpent = mankind’s spirit in uprising rejection and rebellion against against God against themselves, in the very presence of God.
Devil = mankind’s spirit in uprising, rejection and rebellion against God against themselves, outside of the presence of God, being darkness.
Satan, demonic spirits, Spiritual realm of darkness, the adversary against the will and purpose of God, dark energy of influence.
Dragon = mankind’s spirit, Satan, demonic spirits, United in uprising, rejection and rebellion against God, in war against God and all things of God.
They all share the same common denominator of uprising rejection and rebellion against God, against themselves though in different applications and expressions.
Deborah Ferella
Lucifer tried to overthrow God and take over. That was his undoing.
Jeffrey Harper
Please give scripture to support the idea that God doesn’t destroy Satan because He wants the angels to love Him. I know there isn’t any by the way. God doesn’t kill Satan now because God’s will and purpose is being carried out even in Satan’s and man’s rebellion and when it comes time He will condemn Satan and every Christ rejecting non believer to an eternal punishment in hell. If God didn’t reveal it to us leave it to God don’t make assumptions on His part.
Ian Tan
Why kill when you can make him suffer in hell? Muahaha!
Brandon Gibson
This is a slightly long read, but God helped me develop it. So I believe it can help. Biblical references are at the bottom.
HOW CAN GOD BE GOOD YET ALLOW EVIL AND MISERY?
People lift their hands to rebel against God only to find that their rebellion is unwitting service in the wonderful designs of a massive God who sees a bigger picture than any of us.
The sheer fact that God is God implies that His purpose can’t be thwarted. If it could then that would mean there is a power greater than Him. There would be someone who could stay His hand when He designs to do a thing.
Even evil is only by the permission of God. Therefore many men in the Bible are not wrong to say so. It would be unbiblical and irreverent to attribute to Satan and men the ability to frustrate the designs of God.
God has the capacity to view things through two lenses. Through the narrow one He is grieved and angered by evil and pain. Through the wide one He sees evil in relation to its eternal purpose which is to redeem Creation to show His justice, love, power, beauty, and glory.
His purposes encompass all things, including evil. So the crucifixion of Christ was the will of God even though it was the greatest sin ever committed. It’s the clearest example that even evil fits into the designs of God. Who can deny that the betrayal of Jesus by Judas was an evil act? Who can say that Herod’s contempt, Pilate’s spinelessness, the Gentile soliders’ mockery of Christ, the selling of Joseph by his brothers and his accusations by Potiphar’s wife, the plots, adultery, and murders of King David, the hardening of the Pharoah in Exodus, and so many more events in the Bible were not evil? Yet they all led to good things.
So evil is horrid when seen from a narrow perspective, but in the big picture, when we are redeemed and this grand saga comes to a close, even evil served its purpose by showing how infinitely great and loving is God.
God’s will can’t be stopped – Psalm 33:10-11, 115:3, 135:5-7; Proverbs 16:33,21:1; Isaiah 46:9-10; Daniel 4:34-35; Acts 2:23,4:27-28; Revelation 17:17; Ezra 6:22; Genesis 50:20; Matthew 10:29
Even evil is allowed by God – Lamentations 3:37-38; Job 2:10; Acts 2:23,4:27-28; Luke 23:11,21,24,36; Revelation 17:17; Genesis 50:20; Romans 3:25-26,11:25-26,31; Matthew 10:29; Isaiah 53:4,10
The Crucifixion was meant for good – Hebrews 2:10; Revelation 5:9-13
Brandon Gibson
^^^ So in a nutshell God allows evil and Satan for now because
1) It balances Creation, keeping us from being mindless automata that serve God simply because there is no other option.
2) Paradoxically, it eventually brings glory to Him.
Ian Grant Spong
It’s on His list.
Mezza Api-Maka
Mezza Api-Maka
Lorna Aniwasal Kihel Borbon
….i just love imagining the “…God and man lived happily ever after”