Hi Mike,

I was talking with some friends in my church about God’s plan for saving His entire creation, and a couple of them actually agreed with me, until I said that I believed that God’s salvation included even Satan and his angels, then they all went ballistic. I have searched your site, and I found many letters about Satan and his angels, but they all had to do with who they were and who they were not, as opposed to what becomes of them in the end. Could you please clarify this for me, or just tell me where to find a letter on your site that deals with this subject of whether Satan and His angels are saved?

Thanks in advance for your help.
M____

Hi M____,
Thank you for your question. You asked me to clarify for you what the scriptures teach about the fate of Satan and his angels.

Let me tell you up front that while there are many verses of scripture which plainly state that “all in Adam will be made alive… God… will have all men to be saved… specially those who believe; Christ came not to condemn the world but to save it… Christ is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world,” etc. etc. etc., there are far fewer verses that deal with the fate of the spiritual darkness and powers of evil against which we struggle. Nevertheless there are verses of scripture which do deal with this subject, and when it comes to either men or spirits, or any other subject in God’s Word, the Truth on that subject is never going to be found all together all wrapped up in a neat bundle that no one in the world could possibly miss.
While God’s word is crystal clear on what it teaches, it is still written in a way that requires spiritual eyes and spiritual ears to see and to grasp. What I am saying is that Christ has spoken to us in parables so that not just anyone and everyone can read God’s word like a book on basic math and grasp its principles in a way that leaves no room for discussion. Instead it is a parable from Genesis to Revelation for this very purpose:

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

When asked why He spoke in parables, Christ tells his disciples that the reason for doing so was “Because… it is not given to them [ the multitudes who come to Christ] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”
If Christ’s parables are designed to hide the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, how then will His disciples understand? Here is Christ’s answer to that question:

Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and [ their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [ their] eyes, and hear with [ their] ears, and should understand with [ their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed [ are] your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous [ men] have desired to see [ those things] which ye see, and have not seen [ them]; and to hear [ those things] which ye hear, and have not heard [ them].

I have said many times that God is performing a double miracle. On the one hand His is literally taking away the ability to see and hear His words from the multitudes of Christians who come to Him seeking a superficial relationship with Him. He tells us that they actually believe that they see, when in reality they do not perceive what His is saying ing His parables, and they actually think that they hear and understand, when in reality they cannot hear or understand His parables. On the other hand Christ’s chosen disciples, who were chosen out of his multitude of disciples, are miraculously given eyes that see and ears that hear Christ’s parables about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It truly is a double miracle of blinding the multitudes of orthodox Christianity while giving spiritual eyes and ears to a chosen few. Here is Paul, articulating this very principle:

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [ it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed [ them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Here is Christ, affirming this same truth:

Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Getting back to your question, whether it be mankind or the powers and principalities of the spirit world, God has purposely distributed his Truth in such a way that “no prophecy of scripture is ever to be taken as it own interpretation,” but is always to be taken within the context of the sum of God’s Word.

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever.
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private [ Greek, its own] interpretation.

So no subject of scripture is ever to be understood without considering this ‘line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little’, principle. In other words, we must have at least two scriptural witnesses to establish scriptural Truth. Christ Himself tells us this is so:

Mat 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

Now let’s simply look at what the scriptures, “line upon line, and precept upon precept” have to say about the fate of evil spirits. Let’s begin with who Satan is and where he came from. Here is who we are told Satan is in scripture:

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Satan then, is a great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil. And where did “that old serpent” come from?

Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Gen 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

That is right, “God made every beast of the earth” and he pronounced it as being “good” in this verse, and later He says everything He created was “very good.” But is the serpent a beast? Of course, a serpent is a beast of the earth:

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

So the serpent is God’s own creation, and he was created for the specific purpose of being an adversary and a destroyer of the rest of God’s creation.

Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

So the smith and his instruments for his work are all really God’s creation, and the waster with his minions to accomplish his work, are also in reality God’s creation. So all the speculations based on what we are clearly told are the kings of Babylon and the Prince of Tyre, in Isa 14 and Eze 28 are just that, speculation. Many ancient kings “said in their hearts, I will be like the most high.” In truth this is a condition which is common to all men who believe in the false doctrine of free moral agency. We have all been guilty of believing that we are the captains of our own fate, when in reality God is the captain of our fate. He is also the captain of Satan’s fate, and the fate of all of Satan minions.
Here now are but a few of the verses which demonstrate that God, as the captain of the fate of His entire creation, is set on bringing not only “all in Adam,” but “all things in heaven and in earth” to Himself, through Christ. Here, to the utter dismay of all orthodox Christianity, we find redeemed serpents around the very throne of God:

Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims [ Hebrew, fiery serpents]: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [ is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [ is] full of his glory.

That is right, ‘seraphims’ is the plural of ‘seraph’ which we are told in Num 21 is a serpent.

Num 21:8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent [ Hebrew, saraph, poisonous serpent], and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Num 21:9 And Moses made a serpent [ Hebrew, nachash, serpent] of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent [ anchash] had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent [ nachash] of brass, he lived.

When God told Moses to “Make a seraph,” Moses made “a serpent of brass. and put it on a pole.” Then we are told “If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” Christ later uses this event to symbolize His own death: and the life- giving results of looking upon Him as being made sin to become the sacrifice for our sins.

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

God could have told Moses to make a lamb to look upon, but He didn’t. Instead He told Moses the make an image of the very thing that was afflicting Israel. Then He tells them that if they look upon this image of this poisonous serpent, they will live. Why does God tell Moses to make a serpent  to look upon, instead of a lamb? The answer is that God wants us all to understand His sovereignty over all things good and evil. Christ, Himself tells us that we can do nothing, good or evil apart from Him. Paul even goes so far as to tell the Pagan Athenians that it is in Christ that they live and move and have their being though they had never even heard of Him.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

The reason God told Moses to make an image of a serpent instead of a lamb; the reason Christ Himself uses that serpent to typify Himself, is to demonstrate, for those who are given eyes to see and ears to hear, that sin is God’s own creation, and He has created us all in deadly poisonous sin, for the purpose of delivering us out of that sin. In other words, God wants us to know and to understand the extent of His total sovereignty.  

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

What God is telling us is that it was He who created the Waster to destroy, and through that serpent, through that Adversary, He is working all the evil that is done in our lives. But you and I, just like Joseph’s brothers, do not, at first believe that God is creating the wicked for the day of our evil. We, like Joseph’s brothers, actually believe that we are the ones who are creating all the darkness in our lives and are the captains of our own fate. We all, at first, believe that when we sin and do evil in the city, it is all of ourselves, when all along this is the actual Truth of the matter:

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Here is Christ Himself, telling us that it was He who had Joseph’s brothers to hate Joseph to the extent that they contemplated killing him and eventually sold Joseph as a slave into Egypt. He repeats Himself in the last chapter of Genesis:

Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

And that is the truth concerning any and all evil. The most comprehensive and most perverted of all evils that can be imagined cannot be outside the scope of the truth that “God meant it unto good.” Even the worst sin of all times was committed because God’s own hand and God’s own counsel predestined it to be so:

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

So Satan’s work in Judas was nothing more or less than what “God’s hand and God’s counsel determined before to be done.” All of this being so it is incumbent upon God that He provide a means to bring His banished to Him:

2Sa 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

God has “devised means that His banished be not expelled from Him.” He has “created the Waster to destroy,” and he has also devised means that even the Waster and Destroyer be not expelled from him. That means is called the “lake of fire.” Contrary to what we have all been taught “the lake of fire” is not eternal, but it is eonian, and will last as long as it is needed to do its fiery work of burning out all of the wood, hay and stubble, and burning up all the tares which are presently abiding and growing in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

The time of harvest and the time of the gathering together and burning up of the tares, in the day of judgment:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Joh 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

Fiery judgment must begin first at the house of God because Christ came to bring fire on our earth and to judge us first. Paul tells us the same thing:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

“The fire will try every man’s work of what sort it is.” All the wood, hay, stubble and all the tares which have been gathered at the time of harvest will then be burned up. But they are burned up by “the fire,” the one and only fire which is the exact same fire of the lake of fire. If it is any other fire it will not be trying “every man’s works.” What is this ‘fire’ that burns up any and every thing that will burn? Here is that fire:

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

“My words in your mouth are fire.” What then is God’s Word in the mouth of the few chosen who are faithful to the end? Who is it who dwells comfortably in this fire? Here is God’s own answer to that question:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

There is a legitimate question which deserves a Biblical answer, but you will never get that answer in any orthodox Christian church. Nevertheless God has seen fit to answer His own question in the very next verse:

Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Fire is right at home in fire. The reason the lake of fire is a lake which receives all the sinners from all the seas of mankind of all ages is because there are many called but few chosen:

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

The belief and the faith of God’s few chosen, is at the expense of God called but not chosen. It is at the expense of the unbelieving:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

But we judge not only our fellow men who have come from this world, but we also judge angels in that lake of fire. In fact Christ tells us that the lake of fire is actually “prepared for the devil and his angels and his messengers.”
Peter poses the question, “Where will the ungodly and sinners appear?” They will appear where all will appear who are not in that blessed and holy first resurrection; they will appear in the lake of fire:

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

What is this thing called “the second death?”

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

How does one avoid the second death? He dies daily and is crucified with Christ NOW. He falls into the ground and dies NOW. He loses his life so he can find it for Christ, NOW. That is how We avoid death, blindness, judgment and yes, even the wrath to come. We acknowledge our blindness now, we judge ourselves now, and we acknowledge that God’s wrath has been on us NOW, in this life, while yet in these vessels of clay.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The rich man may have enjoyed the pleasures of this life but he was merely “treasuring wrath against the day of wrath… because “the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

When we admit that we are the chief of sinners, have had hard and impenitent hearts and are guilty of the blood of all of the prophets, having kept all the things written in the sayings of the prophecy of this book, and have been in time past children of disobedience and children of wrath even as others, we have given account.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Deny and hide from these straightforward words and you will yet face them in “the wrath to come.” Simply confess and repent and confess that you and I are “chief of sinners” and you and I were children of wrath, and we will learn while yet in these “marred vessels of clay,” that we “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,”  and then perhaps our Lord will see fit for us to be counted worthy to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection. Of course our every day, and our every move, and whether we will obey God, is already written in God’s book.

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

Satan is the first father of us all as “we all… were children of disobedience… walking according to the prince of the power of the air,” doing the will of our spiritual father the devil. These are words for you and me and not for others:

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

But those whose names are in God’s book as being counted worthy of that blessed and holy first resurrection, will judge both the world and angels:

1Co 6:2  Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life?

What then will we do with “the devil and his angels?”  What we will do with them is the exact same thing we will do with all the wood, hay and stubble of this life. Satan and his angels will also be cast into the lake of fire which is prepared specifically for him and His messengers:

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

It is, of course, the eonian fire which is in our mouths, and it will devour the adversaries and will, through their destruction, work their salvation, just as it does with all of mankind. Here are but a few of the verses of God’s Word which teach plainly that God is bringing the gospel even to the powers and principalities of the rulers of darkness of this world. It is advised that you read What And Where Is Heaven? on iswasandwillbe. com. In that paper you will see that “there is war in heaven,” simply because that is where Satan and his angels reside. So when we see the heavens mentioned in the following verses, understand that the heavens must be purged of the Satanic influences that are in the heavens:

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven [ Greek, ouranos].
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [ Greek, epouranios, ‘heaven above.’ The word ‘places’ has been been added].

And when the word of God in the mouths of His elect have burned out all the wood, hay and stubble in Satan and in all of his angels and messengers, God will have all things brought to Him in and through Christ and the christ of Christ:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

God wants us to know just how central to His salvation is Christ and His christ and just how thorough is His salvation to all things in heaven and in earth.

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what [ is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us- ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [ him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [ places],
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

“All things” certainly includes Satan and his angels.” “All in all” also has to include spiritual wickedness in the heavens.” Finally, the verse that most plainly declares God’s intention to save all things in heaven and in the earth, is this verse in Colossians”

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in the earth, and things under the earth… to reconcile all things unto himself.” I cannot be any clearer for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Physical fire has no affect on the spirit world, but the Word of God as fire in our mouths will torment those who are cast into our charge, and we will be God’s channel for showing mercy even to the angels.

I hope this has answered your question about the fate of Satan and his angels, and above all I hope you can now see more clearly that God really is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike