“OF ALL TEACHINGS THAT HAVE COME FORTH CONCERNING THE REALITY OF SATAN AND HIS WORK, THE LEAST KNOWN IS WHERE THIS EVIL SPIRIT DWELLS.”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about six real places Satan can be found in time and eternity…

…Do you know that today’s busy American has come to believe that there is no such person as Satan or the Devil as he is addressed in the Bible? Yes indeed, even some of those who claim to be Christians have doubts of his real existence and now believe he is at best just a symbol of the evil man can produce in the world today. A recent 2005 poll by George Barna [1] tells us the reality for this by showing that,

·        In 2005, six out of ten adults (60%) say that the devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.

·        In 2005, 46% of born again Christians deny Satan's existence.

·        In 2005, 73% of Catholics say the devil is non-existent and only a symbol of evil.

·        In 2005, 61% of men believe that Satan is just a symbol of evil versus 57% of women.

How shocking to say the least how belief in a real person known as Satan or the devil has dwindled especially among “born again” Christians. However my friend, don’t believe a word of his demise or non-existence. Satan is alive and well and has been before man was ever created. So today after our second musical pause, I tell you about this evil and nefarious being and particularly reveal to you SATAN’S DWELLING PLACES…

…If one wants to know anything about the supernatural world, there is only one reliable place to find answers – it is the Christian Bible of the Old and New Testaments. This book given to us by God is the infallible, inerrant, verbally inspired revelations from God, telling us of everything from the creation of all things to the end of time and beginning of eternity. Now in this book, the Bible, one also can find out about the supernatural world of angels, especially the fallen ones led by an evil, wicked spirit being known as Satan. This being, once the highest created being in the angelic world, fell into sin and disobedience to the Creator God, and sealed his downfall and corruption. Sadly, in his wicked evil state, he was able to convince a third of the innumerable angelic population to join him in his rebellion and fight against God. As a result, these fallen angels became ‘demons’ along with the prince of demons, the Devil or Satan himself.

Since the beginning of human creation, the Devil has worked to destroy the human race by corrupting it and begging us to join him in raising our fists to God and His holy sovereign rule. 

Sadly, Satan was victorious in getting the first human being created, to sin again God and to desire an independent rebellious spirit like Him, which God permitted when they chose to become like Satan, and exercise their own will as opposed to God’s. Since that time, these two beginning human beings, Adam and Eve, who by the way were real persons, brought forth the human race that exists today in the same state of rebellion and evil.

Having generated a ‘sin nature’ by their sins, and passing it along to every child generated from them, which is the entire human race, we are now under God’s judgment that one day will cast every living soul into an eternal Hell called the Lake of Fire to suffer for our sins. But thank God for Christmas! For this is the story of God’s redemption plan to save the human race, by substituting Himself, in human form, to pay the penalty of our sins which is eternal death.

Yes, Jesus Christ, the Son of God or God the Son came that day we celebrate as Christmas, and at the cross, offered up His life as full and forever payment for the sins of the world. Thanks be to God the Father accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as full payment and approved it by raising Christ from the dead. Now God offers full pardon and forgiveness to us all who will come to His Son Jesus Christ, surrendering our lives and will to His control and care. This my friend, is the simple gospel of Christianity. It is summed up in the words of the apostles John and Paul who said,

John 20:31 (NIV)  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Acts 16:31 (NIV)  "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."

Now that is the real and marvelous Christmas story, God became a man to save us from our sins and the eternal penalty coming. But as to the matter of other creatures that have sinned, the fallen angels, God has provided no redemption. The demons who rebelled against God in the beginning by following Satan, are forever set for eternal incarceration in the prison of eternity called the Lake of Fire . Yet today, the Bible tells us many of these fallen angels or demons roam freely in the creation and our world. In that light, I want to share with you the six dwelling places Satan can and will be found in time and eternity. This will help you better understand God’s grace and mercy and His holiness and wrath that must punish all sin. So let’s begin.

Satan like all created beings had a beginning. He never existed before he was created by the eternal Creator of all things. We discover in the Bible that Satan’s first to places of dwelling are told to us in the Book of Ezekiel where we read,

Ezek 28:11-15 (NLT)  “… You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. 13 You were in Eden , the garden of God . Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone--red carnelian, chrysolite, white moonstone, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald--all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. 14 I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. 15 "You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you.

This is pretty descriptive of an unearthly creature that was created and given the role to be the highest angelic being. And, it is here we are told where this angelic being resided first of all.

1. SATAN RESIDED IN HEAVEN AT THE THRONE OF GOD

Ezek 28:14 tells us Satan’s first dwelling place was in the very presence of God at His throne. He was made to be the guardian of that Throne and controlled all the lesser angelic beings under him. We are told that when he resided here, outside the universe in heaven itself, that he was a perfect, sinless being (Ezek. 28:15), that is an untried, because God also gave the angelic world a “free will,” to love and follow God or choose not to. God did this for angels and mankind because He did not want “robots” to follow Him, but real live beings like Himself who would genuinely choose to love and serve Him from their hearts. However, Satan was the first to choose not to follow God’s will and to exercise his own over God’s. This was the first sin in the universe and this sin then fashioned the new and ruined creation of his being, now corrupted by sin and forever sealed in that state of rebellion and evil. 

Now before God temporally judged Satan for his sins, he was going to use him to test another creation of beings called mankind. Like the angels, God gave man a ‘free will’ to chose to love and serve Him from the heart, or to choose to say no! Satan was permitted to be the “temper” in this situation. So following Satan’s sin in heaven, he was cast forth from the throne of God and we find his second dwelling place,

2. SATAN RESIDED ON EARTH, IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

In Ezek 28:13, we are told of Satan’s second dwelling place, following his expulsion from God’s heaven and His throne,

Ezek 28:13 (NLT)  You were in Eden, the garden of God .

Here where God created Adam and Eve, who were to become His highest and most intimate creation, Satan lurked and waited for an opportunity to “tempt” these new as untried beings. One day Satan saw an opportunity to get at Adam, who was granted head of the human race, and ruler and king of all the earth. Satan took possession of a creature we today call a snake. In the Garden of Eden, the animal world was different from today. There were no “tooth and nail” carnivorous creatures. All were docile plant eaters. So when God created for Adam, the woman Eve, she was to follow Adam and be His helper. Adam was King and together they were to rule the earth. One day Satan appeared to Eve and tempted her to disobey God, as he did, by exercising her own will as opposed to God’s. God had forbidden man to eat of the tree in the center of the Garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan lied to her and rather than her asking Adam about it, she followed her own leading to disobey God and she took and ate the forbidden fruit.

Once she did, her own being changed and she now tempted Adam, who succumbed to join her in her sin and rebellion. At this point, the human race was fused with a new ‘sin nature’ which was born in them. By obeying Satan, Adam and Eve turned Adam’s kingship over to the Devil, and to this day, Satan is the “god of the world,” (2 Cor. 4:4). So Satan’s second dwelling place was and still is the very earth we live on. However the Bible tells us Satan has access to yet another realm.

3. SATAN’S HABITAT IS THE EARTH & ITS ATMOSPHERE (Eph 2:2) 

Eph 2:2 (NLT)  You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.

Satan and his fallen angels (demons) inhabit not only this world but the atmosphere that surrounds it too. All around us to this day Satan has access to everything in this world which he temporarily rules. He will remain here until God takes back the rulership of the earth, when Christ returns in glory. Meanwhile, Satan and his fallen angels work to permanently destroy mankind and every individual who has not been saved by Jesus Christ. Now the fourth dwelling place we find in the Bible is,

4. SATAN’S HABITAT IS IN THE CELESTIAL HEAVENS (Job 1:6-7)

Job 1:6-7 (NIV)  One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

Passages like these at first, lead us to believe the demons and Satan meet with God in His holy Heaven. Not so, for this place of meeting is but the celestial heavens or universe. This is often misconstrued to be God’s heaven, but it is not. Satan has been banished from God’s throne and the angelic heaven where God permits no sin or evil to dwell. Satan and his fallen angels (demons) now freely roam the created universe until God reins them in prior to their full incarceration (Rev. 12:9). Meanwhile, I believe that much of the so-called UFO phenomena many see and some experience these days, is the clever deception of demons that appear to the seeking eyes of those who reject God’s creative work, for the phony demon-inspired teaching of evolution, and further desire to explore their sinful paths and nature. The celestial heavens are their abode for now and will be, until God begins the process of judgment for all creatures. Now the fifth abode follows Satan’s judgment at the end of the Tribulation period. Here we see,

5. SATAN WILL TEMPORARILY RESIDE IN THE ABYSS  -  (Rev. 20:1-3)

Rev 20:1-3 (NIV)  And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

  Again we must be careful here, for many think Satan is either in Hell or going there. That is simply not true. Satan will never go to Hell.  Yes, Satan never resides in Hell where the unsaved human dead go, but rather the “angelic pit” called “the Abyss,” “Tartarus,” or the “Bottomless Pit” which is the severest portion of God’s places of suffering even worse than ‘Hell’ itself (2 Pet 2:4; Jude 1:6-7).  When Christ returns as the glorified God-man, to take back the earth, He receives His kingship from the Father in Heaven and for 1000 years, Jesus Christ rules the earth with no interference from Satan or any fallen angels or demons (they are chained and shut up in the Abyss). However at the end of the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ on the earth as King, God has planned to release Satan for a short time, allowing him to tempt the human beings born in the millennium, who are yet unsaved. They too having free will, are permitted to choose life with Christ or death with Satan. Sadly a goodly number follow Satan due to their sin nature, until God quickly judges them all at what is called the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT. Here at the end of the Millennium, God raises all the unsaved dead to stand before His holy throne which comes to the earth. All who were not saved from their sins, who had not crowned Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives, were cast into the “ LAKE OF FIRE ,” and along with them all the fallen angels, and Satan himself. Thus we see Satan’s final dwelling place.

6. SATAN IS CAST FOREVER INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE (Rev.20:7-10)

Rev 20:7-10 (NLT)  When the thousand years end, Satan will be let out of his prison. 8 He will go out to deceive the nations from every corner of the earth, which are called Gog and Magog. He will gather them together for battle--a mighty host, as numberless as sand along the shore. 9 And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God's people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. 10 Then the Devil, who betrayed them, was thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Thus we have a picture of the SIX DWELLING PLACES OF SATAN. The last being the worst and the final and forever place, where beings like him and his fallen angels, along with all mankind that followed him in the rebellion, will have to reside for eternity.

Now you might ask, why is God so cruel to do this and make them suffer forever and ever? The answer is God is not. It was their choice, for God gave the angelic world the power to say no to sin, for more than two-thirds of the innumerable angels of Heaven, at creation, did so no to sin, as they chose to obey God rather than follow Satan. Once they made that positive and holy decision, they were sealed forever in that perfect state, as the fallen ones were sealed forever in their own chosen, wicked sinful state.

However here is the ‘Good News’ of Christmas! God chose to redeem the human race, because we were not the originators of sin, but fell under its temptation and persuasiveness. So God decided to render His mercy, love and grace and to fulfill His holy justice by becoming a human being Himself, but not a sinful one, and to live a perfect sinless life and offer up His life as a substitute payment for our sins, thus satisfying God’s own holy and just demands. Now all who come to Christ acknowledging His free gift and offer of forever forgiveness by believing in Him and turning their lives over to His control and will – are saved and cleansed. This enables all who experience this, to receive a new nature that will live on past physical death, in the presence of God for all eternity. There, God will create what is called the NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. O glory to God! Thanks be to Him this season of Christ as we reflect on His goodness and grace. Say friend have you received Jesus Christ into your heart and life? Good works, religiosity, or indifference will save none – only Jesus saves and saves alone. May God add you to His kingdom today for Jesus sake. Amen.

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[1]  Copyright © 2005 The Barna Group, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. “Beliefs: Satan” www.barna.org

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·         Radio talk #4905

·         Broadcast date: December 4, 2005

·         Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator

·         Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast

·         Address: P.O. Box 60033 Grand Junction, CO 81506

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The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 25 years, and serves as General Director.

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