Why wasn't Satan stopped completely?

[TangledWeb]

Why did God continue to allow Satan to exist after he turned against God?

 

[NewCreation435]

The passages that many use to claim that Satan was an archangel before he became prideful has always seemed doubtful to me at best. I think the answer is probably beyond our minds comprehension to be honest about why Satan was allowed to exist and tempt Eve.

 

[Lamb]

Why did God continue to allow Satan to exist after he turned against God?

I don't think scripture tells us the reason why.

 

[Pedrito]

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TangledWeb. Post #1:

Why did God continue to allow Satan to exist after he turned against God?

This is another example of apostolic teaching that was smothered by the influx of post-apostolic pagan philosophy.

May I simply draw attention to Ephesians 2:5-7:
5 Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; )
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

And then ask: To whom was God intending to show that? And why?

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To anyone who bothers to find out what the original apostolic Gospel was, by reading the Bible as it was written while laying aside the conventional doctrines they have been conditioned to believe, the answer to the original question will emerge in simple and clear fashion.

So will other matters which now seem perplexing and inconsistent within the belief systems that people have been taught to regard as truth.


It is wonderful when everything meshes and becomes clear.

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[Josiah]

I don't think scripture tells us the reason why.

You sound like a Lutheran.




.

 

[Pedrito]

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A possibly clarifying thought..

Job 8:3 says: Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?”

God has the power and authority and right to do anything He pleases. Yet He chooses to be just, and chooses to be seen to be just. Demonstrable justice is one of God’s hallmarks.

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1. God obviously knew that the wonderful angelic being, referred to as Lucifer, was planning to rebel. God could have stopped him then. God could have punished Lucifer before he visibly became Satan. Cessation of existence was one of the fates within God’s power to inflict. God did not take action.

2. God could also have come down on that great angelic being when he first showed himself as Satan, in the Garden. God did not do so.

3. Why did God choose not to act on those occasions? The reason is that God chose to be seen to be just.

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1. If God had chosen to deal with the apparently just and obedient being Lucifer before he revealed his rebellious inner nature, God would have been seen (by the angels) to be unjust.

2. If God had chosen to deal with the freshly revealed disobedient being immediately (in the Garden), but allowed rebellious humanity to live on, and even provide a visible way of escape for them, once again God would have been seen (by the angels) to be unjust.

3. But instead, God allowed Satan to live on, even allowing him to become “the God of this world”. The wisdom of God is thus revealed. When history as we now experience it ends, with the return of the Saviour, all the angels will see, as will all humanity alive at the time and resurrected mankind, just how continuously evil and continuously unrepentant Satan was. God’s ultimate dealing with Satan will be seen by all sentient beings, as nothing but undeniably just.

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Would that explain why Satan wasn’t "stopped completely"?

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[TangledWeb]

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A possibly clarifying thought..

Job 8:3 says: Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?”

God has the power and authority and right to do anything He pleases. Yet He chooses to be just, and chooses to be seen to be just. Demonstrable justice is one of God’s hallmarks.

==============================================================================================

1. God obviously knew that the wonderful angelic being, referred to as Lucifer, was planning to rebel. God could have stopped him then. God could have punished Lucifer before he visibly became Satan. Cessation of existence was one of the fates within God’s power to inflict. God did not take action.

2. God could also have come down on that great angelic being when he first showed himself as Satan, in the Garden. God did not do so.

3. Why did God choose not to act on those occasions? The reason is that God chose to be seen to be just.

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1. If God had chosen to deal with the apparently just and obedient being Lucifer before he revealed his rebellious inner nature, God would have been seen (by the angels) to be unjust.

2. If God had chosen to deal with the freshly revealed disobedient being immediately (in the Garden), but allowed rebellious humanity to live on, and even provide a visible way of escape for them, once again God would have been seen (by the angels) to be unjust.

3. But instead, God allowed Satan to live on, even allowing him to become “the God of this world”. The wisdom of God is thus revealed. When history as we now experience it ends, with the return of the Saviour, all the angels will see, as will all humanity alive at the time and resurrected mankind, just how continuously evil and continuously unrepentant Satan was. God’s ultimate dealing with Satan will be seen by all sentient beings, as nothing but undeniably just.

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Would that explain why Satan wasn’t "stopped completely"?

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Are these your theories or are they found to be in scripture?

 

[Pedrito]

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Post #7, in response to thoughts presented in Post #6:

Are these your theories or are they found to be in scripture?

Consider this. If God had stopped Satan immediately, or even before his evilness of heart had been revealed, the comparison below could never have been made:

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Philippians 2:5-11 (NASB):
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Isaiah 14:12-15 (NASB) – understood to be a window into the spiritual realm:
12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!
13 "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.
14 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
15 "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

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The comparison is clear and instructive.

The entity who, filled with pride, desired to grasp at equality with God, was humbled and will meet a sticky end.

The entity who, filled with humility, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped for, has been exalted by God to the highest place, and given the name that is above every name. To Him every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

Moreover, to rub Satan’s nose in it (as it were), some of the very beings that Satan corrupted in his quest for exaltation, will be exalted to the style of esteemed position that he himself so craved.

Ephesians 2:6 (NASB): and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
1 John 3:2 (NASB): Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

None of this would have happened if God had stopped Satan completely.

Isaiah 55:8-9:
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

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[MoreCoffee]

Why did God continue to allow Satan to exist after he turned against God?

There are several possible answers.

• Satan and God do not exist so the question is premised on bad data.
• God intends Satan to do some work for reasons that God has not disclosed very clearly.
• God does not want to harm Satan and will allow Satan a chance to prove his claims.
• It is a mystery not revealed to us.

Christians will be disinclined to accept the first possible answer.
For Christians answers 2 and 4 are similar but answer 2 allows for a possible yet unclear revelation that discloses the mystery.
Christians may wonder at answer 3.

I imagine that there are more possibilities.

 

[atpollard]

Why did God continue to allow Satan to exist after he turned against God?

Why did God allow Jacob’s sons to sell their brother Joseph into slavery?
... because the intended evil acts of men fit in with the greater plans of God to bring good to many people and glory to God.
Satan continues to exist for exactly as long as his evil continues to further the greater plans of God to bring good to many people and glory to God ... Then Satan is cast into the eternal lake of fire (with the rest of the trash).

 

[George]

I find this to be an interesting question, and I think it can be along the same lines of why does God allow Satan to lead people astray with his evil works. I would say to show people the Love and Mercy that comes from God, whereas the opposite is sin and hurt.

 

[TurtleHare]

It could all be God's timing cuz we know that Jesus didn't come until the time was right so Satan won't be stopped until the time is right because of God's will, make sense?

 

[JRT]

God didn't create Satan, man did. Satan (ha'shaitan) occurs by name in the Old Testament in the Book of Job, and here it's clear that the angel Satan is not the Devil! The Devil is supposedly banished from the presence of God, yet in Job, Satan is allowed to talk with and to come and go from God's presence and on a mission for God yet! What's going on? Satan here is not "the Devil" but sort of God's prosecuting attorney. There is a very common perception that the 'Lucifer' in Isaiah 14:12ff refers to Satan, the supernatural personification of evil. This misconception comes from two sources. The first is wishful thinking in the sense that it is nice to think that 'the Enemy' will get his come-uppance eventually. The second has to do with the old caution that scripture is to be read only 'in context'. This requires going back and reading all of Isaiah 13 and the earlier verses in Isaiah 14. When this is done we suddenly realize that scripture is not speaking of a supernatural Satan at all but of a Babylonian king with an immense ego. Read Isaiah 14: " 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:" What follows is a long rant against this oppressive king filled with numerous reference to his human nature like Isaiah 14: "16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17 the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?" This passage is in no way a reference to Satan or the devil. The Jews did not originally believe in devils but they picked up this concept during the Babylonian Exile from the Persians who followed Zoroastrianism. The Zoroastrians believed in both a god of good (Ahura-Mazda) and a god of evil (Ahrulman) engaged in a cosmic struggle. The Jews picked up and ran with this idea. It was easy to cast YHWH in the role of the God of good. They took also the angel ha'shaitan (Satan) in the book of Job and recast that character as Satan the near divine force of evil. Up to that time, their concept of God was of a being responsible for everything, both good and evil. Isaiah 45:”7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” is just one quote that demonstrates this. The Jews never connected Satan to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It was the second-century Christian martyr, Justin of Samaria, who was first to argue that Satan appeared as a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God.

I do not need Satan to explain or excuse the evil that I have done.