Question
Do you know of any Scriptural references as to why the LORD hasn’t destroyed Satan, or at least locked him up…or even any thoughts of your own on this subject?
Response
Simply put, it is my understanding that God’s main reason for dealing with Satan as He does has to do with the fact that His Perfect Justice is administered by Him in a way that is fully consistent with every other aspect of His character and essence. In other words, though God’s Perfect Justice could immediately respond to sin with its ultimate response of completely destroying both it and the one committing it on-the-spot, so to speak, (and this would be perfectly righteous and consistent with the single attribute of Perfect Justice) since God is more than Perfect Justice He responds to sin in a way that is fully consistent with every other aspect of His character and essence. And especially in view of the fact that God is also Perfect Love, Mercy, Goodness, and the like, His Perfect Justice responds consistent with these other aspects of His character and essence, and as such it executes ultimate Justice only after the other attributes have been satisfied. Hence in His Perfect Justice God is long-suffering and forbearing.
Now, though we naturally have the tendency to think of God’s long-suffering and forbearance when it comes to man. God also exercises it in connection with the angelic realm; including even with Lucifer when he sinned, and then also when he formulated his plan of evil and became Satan. In fact, God describes the reality of this in Eze 28:11-19 where He sets forth the description of what Satan originally was, and how he sinned, etc.
Briefly stated, after relating these issues, God goes on to relate the issue of His response to Lucifer’s sin and to the issue of him becoming a ‘satan’. And as Eze 28:16-19 describes, God’s response has three distinct phases to it which provide for Him to be perfectly consistent with every aspect of His character and essence. Verse 16 describes the issue of God’s response to Satan’s original sin; verse 17 describes God’s response to Satan’s formulation of his plan of evil (whereby he becomes a ‘satan’); and verses 18-19 describe God’s response to the implementation of Satan’s plan of evil and its results.
Each of these three phases to the response of God’s Perfect Justice (along with the time that it takes for them to fully come to pass) are in accordance with God’s Perfect Justice, consistent with all of the other aspects of God’s character. Once again, if all God was is Perfect Justice, then He not only could have, but would have, immediately responded to Lucifer’s sin with the issue of ultimate Justice. However, since God is more than Perfect Justice, His Justice responds in a way that provides for each aspect of His character and essence to ‘come into play’ and for ultimate Justice to be executed only after the other aspects of His character and essence have been satisfied.
So once again, the main reason God has for dealing with Satan the way He does, has to do with His Perfect Justice responding in a way that is fully consistent with all the other aspects of God’s character and essence.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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