Although it is not among the top seven, it is
important because false belief about Satan often
leads to fear, superstition , and a focus on
misguided behaviors in believers.
Let me say that I don’t know for sure whether a
being called Satan even exists, and I think it very
unlikely.

The Myth of the Fall of Satan
However, if Satan does exist we know almost
nothing about him because the things we
traditionally understand about Satan are myths
not supported by the Bible, and perhaps the
biggest myth of all is the story of Satan leading
a group of angels in a rebellion against God only
to be defeated and cast down from heaven.
The Bible does not support the fall of Satan
myth—even if one considers the Bible inerrant! It
is simply a story compiled from a patch-work of
unrelated passages separated from their biblical
contexts.

The Myth Defined
The fall of Satan is a popular view and has been
around for a very long time. But we must ask
whether it is supported by any educated
Christian leaders—it is. We find an example of
this support in The Moody Handbook of
Theology (Moody, 1989). This is not a marginal
work, but represents the perspective of a
significant body of believers.
Here is a section about Satan from page 294:
Satan’s original state. Ezekiel 28:12-15 describes
Satan prior to his fall. He enjoyed an exalted
position in the presence of God; the brilliance
of heaven was his surrounding (28:13). He was
called the “anointed…covering cherub” who enjoyed
the position of highest honor before God (28:14,
16). Isaiah refers to this supreme angel as “star of
the morning (KJV Lucifer; NIV morning star), son of
the dawn” (14:12). After he became God’s chief
adversary (Heb. Satan) he is never again called by
any of these honorable titles. But in his
prefall splendor he was filled with wisdom and
beauty, and he was blameless (Ezek. 28:12, 15).
Satan’s fall. Satan’s fall is described in both
Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. Because of his sin Satan
was cast down from the presence of God (Ezek.
28:16). The reason for Satan’s downfall was his
pride; his heart was lifted up because of his
beauty, and his wisdom became corrupt (28:17).
The statement indicates Satan must have had
extraordinarily high rank that led to his pride.
Isaiah 14:12-14 further describes the sin that led
to his downfall. Five “I will’s” emphasize his sin
(14:13-14). He desired to enter the very presence
of God and establish his throne on God’s throne
above the other angels. He wanted to be like the
“Most High.” For that reason God thrust him down
out of heaven.
Satan fell from his original exalted position. As the
anointed cherub, Satan led a host of angels,
possibly one-third of all the angels, from heaven in
his fall (Ezek. 28:16-17; Rev. 12:4).

The Four Biblical Fragments Used to Support the
Myth
This is precisely what I was taught to believe
and, in fact, did believe for many years. But it is
all a fabrication pieced together from unrelated
scraps of text from the Bible to form a history
that never occurred.
Note that this view of the casting out of Satan is
supported almost exclusively by three Bible
passages: Ezekiel 28:12-17, Isaiah 14:12-15 and
Revelation 12:3-9. We will add to them the words
of Jesus from Luke 10:18:
I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
They seem quite convincing, don’t they?
Together, these four passages seem to tell a
powerful, cosmic story. This story is assumed by
many believers, taught in Sunday schools and
popular writings, and preached from many
pulpits.
However, I will demonstrate in the next few
posts that none of these passages have anything
to do with a failed angelic rebellion. Each is
about something else entirely.

(disclaimer-this story is what I find interesting, and wants to share, all are not my writings)

At first glance, this passage seems filled with
references to the fall of Satan:
How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of
the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth…
You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the
heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of
God…I will make myself like the Most High.”
The Background of Isaiah 14
Let us look more closely at the context of these
words. Isaiah was written during the Assyrian-
Babylonian crisis. Assyria, and later Babylon,
conquered all the kingdoms of the mid-east.
Isaiah wrote a series of prophecies against
various countries, and chapters 13 and 14 are a
judgment against Babylon, which absorbed
Assyria’s conquered lands, defeated the southern
kingdom of Judah, and carried the Jews away
into the Babylonian captivity.
The prophecy begins with notice that God will
take action against Babylon; it builds in intensity
and ends with descriptions of Babylon’s utter
destruction. In chapter 13, Isaiah gives an idea
of the issue he thinks God has against Babylon, ‘I
will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.’
The Taunt Against the King of Babylon
Chapter 14 begins a taunt against the king of
Babylon that includes the Lucifer passage. As
you read it, consider whether the language is
consistent with a jeer by oppressed peoples
against a fallen, earthly political power, as Isaiah
himself purports, or rather a reflection on the fall
of an archangel at the beginning of the world?
You will take up this taunt against the king of
Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end! How his
fury has ended! The Lord has broken the rod of
the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, which in
anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations with relentless
aggression.
As the taunt describes the destruction and pitiful
state of the king, is the language consistent with
the idea of a human king, as the Bible says, or
of a fallen angel?
The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet
you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the
departed to greet you—all those who were leaders
in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones
—all those who were kings over the nations.
They will all respond, they will say to you, “You
also have become weak, as we are; you have
become like us.” All your pomp has been
brought down to the grave, along with the noise of
your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you
and worms cover you.
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare
at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who
shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the
man who made the world a wilderness, who
overthrew its cities and would not let his captives
go home?”
The ‘Satan’ Passage Considered
Finally, let us reconsider the middle of the taunt
that seems to ring with reference to Satan’s
prehistoric fall.
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star
[Lucifer in some translations] , son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth, you who
once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the
heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of
God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will
ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make
myself like the Most High.”
This is from within the same continuous taunt. Is
the language of this section consistent with a
reflection on the primordial fall of a rebellious
angel? One word seems to stand out as a
reference to Satan virtually impossible to get
around—Lucifer. However Lucifer is not a proper
name but only transliterates the Latin word for
light-bringer. The NIV translates it ‘morning star’.
After this passage was understood to refer to
Satan, the KJV word ‘Lucifer’ was then
understood as another name for Satan and
entered common English usage. Had it been the
equivalent Greek word, rather than the Latin, we
might now associate Satan with the name
‘Phosphorus’.
We have no other use for the word ‘lucifer’
because it occurs nowhere else in common
literature except as a reference to this very
passage. Therefore, we assume Satan is Lucifer
in this passage only because we earlier assumed
that in this passage Lucifer is Satan.
Interestingly, elsewhere in the Bible (Revelation
22), another person is called the ‘morning star’,
which could easily have been translated ‘lucifer’,
so that with a slight change in coincidence we
might today assume that ‘Lucifer’ was not a
name of Satan, but of Jesus.
Once this little issue is settled, there is nothing
here to suggest that this passage is anything
other than a taunt against a human king as the
Bible indicates—one who experienced great
power but is brought low.

Last time we saw that Isaiah has nothing to say
about the fall of Satan . But how can we deny
these explicit words?
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom
and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the
garden of God…You were anointed as a guardian
cherub…You were on the holy mount of God…you
were blameless in your ways from the day you
were created till wickedness was found in you…
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of
God, and I expelled you…Your heart became
proud on account of your beauty…So I threw you
to the earth.
The Phoenicians
Ezekiel, like Isaiah, wrote prophecies against
various countries, and this one is against the
king of Tyre. Tyre was the most prominent of
several cities of Phoenicia; today we call the
area Lebanon.
The Phoenicians were known for two things.
First, they were a sea-faring people who traveled
extraordinary distances from Palestine and
created colonies all over the Mediterranean.
They had important settlements along the coast
of North Africa and down the western coast, in
Spain, and on many islands that would become
part of Italy.
Their most famous colony was Carthage, which
became the ruling power of the Mediterranean.
In fact, it was the Punic (Phoenician) wars
between Rome and Carthage that made Rome
into a world power. You may remember Hannibal,
who led his army (with elephants) over the Alps
to fight the Romans. Throughout more than
fifteen years of war, Hannibal won every battle
until the battle of the fall of Carthage.
Secondly, the Phoenicians were known as great
traders who controlled the Mediterranean trade
routes for hundreds of years. Both David and
Solomon were buddies with Tyre’s King Hiram,
and when Solomon built ships to sail the Gulf of
Aqaba Hiram sent experienced sailors to help
him in this new venture.
The Phoenician King of Tyre
Ezekiel tells the king of Tyre where he has gone
wrong.
In the pride of your heart you say, ‘I am a god; I
sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.’
But you are a mere mortal and not a god… By your
great skill in trading you have increased your
wealth , and because of your wealth your heart has
grown proud.
Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god,
I am going to bring foreigners against you, the
most ruthless of all nations…and you will die a
violent death in the heart of the seas. Will you
then say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those
who kill you? You will be but a mortal, not a god.
Ezekiel continues continues by pointing out the
king’s advantage:
Your were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom
and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the
garden of God; every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald, topaz, onyx and
jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl…You were
anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained
you.
Before now, the passage clearly described a
man; and a man remains in view. The passage
does not suddenly and mysteriously begin to
address the fallen Satan instead of the king of
Tyre; it addresses the king of Tyre throughout.
The reference to Eden is a metaphor that simply
underscores the king’s advantage. His kingdom
was like a perfect garden—like Eden. Ezekiel
refers to the King of Tyre metaphorically as a
guardian cherub, which is another allusion to
Genesis.
Satan is no Guardian Cherub!
However, those who think this passage refers to
Satan in Eden encounter a difficulty in identifying
Satan as a ‘guardian cherub’. The cherub of
Genesis was not Satan, but another being posted
to guard against trespassers. It could not have
been Satan.
The king of Tyre should have been a guardian of
his privileged empire, but he was not. Ezekiel
describes the king’s misuse of his advantaged
position:
You were on the holy mount of God; you walked
among the fiery stones. You were blameless in
your ways from the day you were created till
wickedness was found in you. Through your
widespread trade you were filled with violence, and
you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the
mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian
cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud on account of your
beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of
your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made
a spectacle of you before kings. By your many
sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your
sanctuaries …I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching. All the
nations who knew you are appalled at you.
This chapter has nothing to do with an angelic
rebellion and its leader. Rather, it describes
wickedness related to violence, dishonest trade,
and unnamed sins. The king had all the
advantages, but his very success led to the
haughtiness to say in his heart, ‘I am a god.’ This
is the story of a king living in history, not of an
angel acting in prehistory.
Why are the passages from Isaiah and Ezekiel so
similar if they refer to different people? The
tendency toward pride and self-exaltation is a
common failing of kings. Neither Isaiah nor
Ezekiel has anything to say about the fall of
Satan.

Apocalyptic
The first problem with seeing the fall of Satan in
this chapter is that Revelation is an apocalyptic
work filled with visions, symbolism, and fantastic
imagery to convey a message of comfort in
severe crisis; it is not historical description. This
genre was popular around the time of Jesus and
cannot be pressed to serve as information about
the fall of Satan.
Christians were severely persecuted by Rome
and desperately needed hope that the Church
would survive. Assurance of victory is the
message of the Revelation, and the writer uses
themes and allusions from a range of sources to
make his point.
There is no better summary of this message than
John chapter 16:
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!
I have overcome the world.
The Persecuted Woman and the Dragon
However, there is an even greater difficulty—the
text itself. Symbolic or not, Revelation 12
attempts to tell us something. What is it?
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a
crown of twelve stars on her head. She was
pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to
give birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an
enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten
horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail
swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung
them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the
woman who was about to give birth, so that it
might devour her child the moment he was born.
The story tells of a persecuted woman, an
endangered child, and a hostile dragon so
powerful that his huge, thrashing tail wipes stars
from the sky. What do these characters
represent?
The woman is the people of God.
The dragon is a force hostile to the Church—the
Romans(Note that the Rome you see today was built on seven hills, ruled time by time, by 10 Emperors as an empire). The Church endured tremendous
persecution under Emperor Domitian in the late
first century, and this is most likely the backdrop
to the apocalyptic encouragement.
She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will
rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her
child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
The woman fled into the wilderness to a place
prepared for her by God, where she might be taken
care of for 1,260 days.
The son seems to be a reference to Jesus who
was crucified by Rome but was resurrected and
ascended to God.
Rome Identified as Satan
The dragon was Rome; the Babylonians and
other eastern peoples often identified oppressors
with the mythical chaos dragon. Jews and
Christians knew this power as Satan, so in the
next paragraph Satan symbolizes Rome.
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
and his angels fought back. But he was not strong
enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The
great dragon was hurled down—that ancient
serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the
whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth,
and his angels with him.
The resurrection of Jesus has great
consequences for the dragon-Satan-Rome, and
God prevents the dragon from destroying his
people. The remainder of the chapter shows the
dragon continuing its efforts against the people
of God, but it does not prevail.
Is the Devil in the Details?
Let us look at details that might relate to Satan.
Some see the imagery of the stars swept out of
the sky as an historical detail—Satan in his
rebellion persuaded a third of God’s angels to
abandon God and join him. There is nothing here
to suggest that, and there is nothing elsewhere
in the Bible to suggest it. All the image tells us
is that the dragon was huge, powerful, and
overwhelming just as Rome was huge, powerful
and overwhelming.
What about the war in heaven resulting in the
hurling of Satan to the earth? Clearly, timing is a
problem in applying this to a prehistoric rebellion.
This fall is a result of Jesus’ death, resurrection
and ascension—the dragon’s power was broken
and God’s people were able to overcome it by
the blood of the lamb (Jesus).
Chronologically, this relates to the time of the
resurrected Jesus and not to some prehistoric
era. But since the writer of Revelation borrows
from many sources, might we discover one to
clarify this theme for us?
Yes!
I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightning!
Luke chapter 10 tells about the fall of Satan, and
many in the persecuted Church likely were
familiar with it.
During Jesus’ ministry, he sent out seventy-two
followers to spread the good news to the
villages of Israel. They were told to heal people
and announce the kingdom of God. They
returned from the mission very excited and told
Jesus, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in
your name!’
Jesus was no less excited than they were; he
exclaimed:
I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Was Jesus referring to an event he witnessed in
the mists of time past? No, he was responding to
the results of his work in his own lifetime.
Revelation 12 is a story about persecution and
victory. It has nothing to do with the fall of
Satan.