Does Satan Know His Fate?

Do you think that Satan knows what his fate will be?

Satan’s First Clue

Satan’s first clue in knowing that his fate was sealed may have been in the Garden of Eden where after the fall, God said “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). This is the very introduction to the gospel that will yet be a mystery for thousands of years but Satan must have understood that he could bruise Christ’s heel, like at Calvary, but it’s far worse to have your head bruised. Satan is also the head in the sense that he is ruler of the princes or demons of darkness, who like he, rebelled against the authority of God and were cast out of heaven but that will have to wait. For now, we know that Satan was present in the Garden; Satan must have heard the verdict of Adam and Eve, thereby he also heard God’s verdict on him or specifically, his head!

Ezekiel’s Message

Ezekiel actually wrote a message to Satan and it wasn’t very flattering, as you can imagine, as he wrote of the rebelling Satan, the “anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked” (Ezk 28:14) and at one time, Ezekiel says “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you” (Ezk 28:15), proving that at one time, Satan was holy, without blame, and had never sinned but then, “unrighteousness was found in” him when his pride caused him to try and overthrow heaven” (Isaiah 14:12-14). Here is why Satan was cast down to the earth, God says, “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you” (Ezk 28:17). Surely Satan and his demons know what this meant; their expulsion from heaven means they can’t be restored into a right relationship with God anymore.

Isaiah’s Message

Isaiah had a similar message about Satan and no doubt, Satan is aware of it. Isaiah writes about Satan, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground. You who laid the nations low” (Isaiah 14:12) because “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit” (Isaiah 14:13-15). Once more we see pride as the cause of Satan’s trying to overtake the throne of God. He wanted to sit on the heavenly assembly but more than that, he wanted to sit over that assembly and all creation. Once again, we hear of a fall from grace and being brought down from the lofty position of pride.

The First Witnesses

James, the half-brother of Jesus wrote that believing in God is not enough as he wrote, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder’ (James 2:19)! In other words, you say you believe in God. So what! You’ve just qualified to be a demon. The point James was making was “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds” (James 2:18). It takes more than professing faith; there must be a possessing of faith. Can you think of anyone besides John the Baptist who was the first to proclaim Jesus as God? It might surprise you to know that the demons were the first to profess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and as such, He is Lord and Master over even the demons. In fact, He is to judge them someday (Rev 20:10) and when they see Jesus during His earthly ministry, they are quick to acknowledge Him as God of very God and are terrified that Jesus has “come for their time” to cast them into the outer darkness. Once such example is when “two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time” (Matt 8:28-29). In fact, Jesus shows His sovereignty over them when “he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him” (Mark 1:34) so the demons were almost the first evangelists and the first to profess that Jesus is God as other “demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ” (Luke 4:31).

Conclusion

The Book of Revelation writes the final chapter in Satan and his demon’s lives in Revelation 20:10 where it says “the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Now think about this; when Satan tried unsuccessfully to tempt Jesus to sin, Satan was quoting all kinds of Scriptures, and although he took them out of context (intentionally), he still showed a good, working knowledge of the Word of God. The point is, he knows Scripture and probably better than any of us and in fact, Satan’s got his own ministers behind some pulpits and this shouldn’t surprise us as Paul writes, “it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor 11:15). Does Satan know his fate? Most certainly he does, since if even the demons knew what was coming (Matt 8:28-29), surely Satan does and he knows it ends badly for him.

Read more about Satan here: Does God Love Satan?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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