I am on my way to the airport to fly to P. R. China, but I will take a couple of minutes to comment on your question. It is a legitimate and thought provoking question.
This is how I see it. When Satan rebelled in heaven and took a third of the angels with him, what he was in fact doing was chalenging God for the rule of heaven. This is much similar to a pretender on earth attempting to unseat a king. God's reaction was to ban Satan from Heaven and exiled him on earth. You will recall that Genises says that the earth was without form and void. The true translation is that the earth was becoming without form and void. Satan and his angels were corrupting the earth. My feeling is that Satan had not violated God's word by rebelling and therefore, there probably was no way to punish him, only to exile him, and God exile him to earth. I think there is authority to conclude that God created man and placed man in the garden of eden as a means of passing judgement upon Satan. You will recall that God said that Satan was a murderer from the begining. Not only did he murder Adam and Eve, but he did in effect spiritually murder the angels who followed him. God directed Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth. When Satan caused Adam and Eve to sin, He murdered them spiritually and physically. By following Satan they abandaned God and made Satan their God. God by his right of election counted faith as allegence to God and thus, Abraham was counted as rightous. This set in motion God's plan to redeam man from his sin. To accomplish this, God, himself suffered the full punishment for that disobedience by man and suffered death as the supstitute for man. This is especially important when you consider that Jesus was in fact innocient of any sin. Under roman Law, it was proper for a convicted criminal to hire a substitute to serve his sentence. We did not hire Jesus. He voluntared. The bases for this is set in the Book of Ruth, the kindsman redeemer. A voluntary act. If I am correct, and satisfy your self, Satan and his angels were not included as part of God's redeemption plan. God's redemption plan is God's plan to punish Satan and his angels. Satan and his angels could therefore not be redeemed.
Consider this. When Satan and his angels rebelled against God, they in effect set up a rival kingdom. There can only be one kingdom and that is the kingdom of God. I Satan's kingdom is permitted to exist, there would be two kingdoms, and that would have the effect of diminishing God. Not with the murder of Adam and Eve, an act in direct violation of God's word, there is indeed legal authority for the punishment of Satan and his angels, including, of course all men who choose to follow Satan as their king.
My conclusion is, no, there is no was for Satan and his angels to be forgiven, but there is certainly a way given for fallen man to be redemed. Faith in Jesus as Lord and savior. There is much more, to the story, of course, but I don't have the time to develope it. Again study the scripture relating to these comments and I think you will begin to learn a lot about God and and his plan.
One more thought before I go. Don't want to confuse anyone, but consider this. Even for an earthly king, a deposed king, which God was, when man elected Satan as Their God, can take appropriate measures to regain his kingdom. Thanks and God bless you all. |
