LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Research Paper Submit ion for
The fall of Satan: A Historical Approach

Submitted to Cky John Carrigan, in partial fulfillment
Of the requirements for the completion of the course

Theo 525 D02 (Summer 2014)
Systematic Theology I

By
Matthew Dumler (26110162) August 15th, 2014

Contents
Introduction 1
Gap Theory 1:1 and 1:2 2
Gap Theory Chapters 2 and 3 5
Before Creation 8
Conclusion 10

Introduction Before Genesis 1:1 God created the heaven of heavens (Nehemiah 9:6) with angels so numerous no one could count (Revelation 5:11). One of God’s most cherished creations, Lucifer, was placed in charge of guarding his royal thrown (Ezekiel 28:12-16). One day Lucifer took pride in his own beauty and his heart was filled with pride (Ezekiel 28:17). He began to think highly of himself and began to think wrongly of God. He began to take what rightfully belonged to God and began to put himself in God’s place. For the first time in all creation, one of his own had sinned against him. God judged him accordingly and placed him in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41). The sacred scriptures tell us that after the fall, Lucifer was thereafter known as the Devil or the accuser. One question that remains to be answered is this: when did this event occur? Some theologians claim that Satan’s fall occurred before Genesis 1:1. Others contend that there was a gap that took place between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Yet others make the claim that Lucifer’s fall took place between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3. Little scriptural evidence exists to answer the question of when the fall happened. Some suggest the silence of scripture on this topic is done on purpose by Moses to protect the newly faithful Israelites. The purpose of this paper is to look at the evidence supporting each theory and the evidence against each theory. At the conclusion all of the evidence will be compared and one theory will be shown as stronger then the others. This paper will show that although little evidence exists, the fall of Lucifer most likely occurred between Genesis two and Genesis three.

Gap Theory- Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 The premise of the gap theory states that the fall of Satan fell in the gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Proponents of this theory state that God originally created the heavens and the earth. He created all that was in it including angels, animals and a prehistoric man. Holders of this belief claim that this period lasted a vast amount of time, possibly millions of years. They use this as an explanation for dinosaurs, prehistoric remains, and the fall of Satan. Genesis 1:1 describes original creation. Genesis 1:2 describes God’s judgment, and Genesis 1:3 describes the re-creation of the world. Genesis 1:1 states that God created the heavens and the earth. Next, Genesis 1:2 states that the earth became without forma and void. Proponents claim that the gap between 1:1 and 1:2 could be millions if not billions of years. During this time, a form of prehistoric man inhabited the earth. They were an evil race. Their actions caused God to bring judgment on the earth causing all of man to be destroyed. The spirits of these men live on today as evil spirits. God then created Adam on the sixth day to begin the human race as is known today. It is during this time that Satan fell from the heavens. Isaiah 14:12 describes Lucifer’s descent into hell. This event is referred to as Lucifer’s flood. This event is similar to Noah’s flood in that all living beings, plants and animals, were destroyed. All existing remains were covered in mud, thus creating fossils that are excavated today. Gap theorists believe that this is what is meant in Genesis 1:2 when it reads that the earth became void without form. Genesis 1:2 reads that darkness was upon the face of the earth. Scripture often describes evil as darkness. John 3:19-20 says that man loves the darkness of sin rather than the light. 1 Peter 2:9 describes God as calling man out of the darkness in order to show others the goodness of God. 1 John 1:5-7 describes God as light. Mankind claims fellowship with God but goes on living in spiritual darkness. The darkness in Genesis, according to gap theorists, is not actual darkness. Rather it is evil and sin. Mankind was living in evil and as a result God brought judgment upon the earth. One main proponent of the gap theory is Clarence Larkin. In his book “Dispositional Truth”, he states that believers are promised a new heaven and a new earth. He talks about how the old earth was submerged in water and all on it perished. While this seems to describe the flood of Noah, he states that it actually points to a flood that preceded Noah. This flood destroyed the primeval world that was made formless and vast. The main problem with the gap theory is the statement of days in Genesis 1. Moses writes in Genesis that creation took six days. Opponents to the gap theory claim that this leaves no room for a million or billion year gap between 1:1 and 1:2. Thus the argument of how long did each day last. Some scholars argue for literal days, while others argue that a day consisted of a vast amount of time. Different explanations have been given throughout the years. Among these theories are the flood theory, the ideal-time theory, the age-day theory, the pictorial-day theory, and the revelatory-day theory. An explanation of each of these theories is not appropriate for this paper. A second problem with the gap theory is that 1 Corinthians describes Adam as being the first man. If Adam is the first man, then no prehistoric human race could have existed. While Adam is mentioned throughout the scriptures as being the first man, there is no mention of a prehistoric human race. One of the main foundations of the Gap theory is the existence of the pre-historic human race. Without this form of man, the Gap theory begins to fall apart. This leads to the problem of Lucifer’s fall during the Gap. Theorists claim that Lucifer fell during the gap. However, Genesis 1:1 states that God created the heavens and the earth. The Hebrew word used has the plural ending IM. 2 Corinthians 12:2 indicates that there are three heavens. The first heaven is the visible heavens that Jesus talks about in Matthew 6:26. He says “Behold the birds of the heaven.” This heaven is the visible heaven or the sky. This heaven is also referred to in Psalms 8:8. The second heaven is the heaven that is seen at night, or the heaven where the starts reside. This is referenced in Psalms 8:3. The third heaven is the heaven of heaven. The first reference to this heaven is found in Nehemiah 9:6. This is God’s place of residence. The question is raised how these three heavens indicate when Lucifer fell from the heavens. The gap theory states that it was during the gap. However, if the heavens were created in Genesis 1:1, Lucifer’s fall could not have happened after 1:1. Job 38:4 and 7 describe the morning stars, heavens choir, singing and the sons of God shouting together while the foundations of the earth were laid. The angels had already been created before Genesis 1:1. One aspect of the Gap theory is that the angels were created during the gap. Lucifer is not considered to be an angel at this point. The third problem with the gap theory is that of Lucifer’s flood. Biblically speaking, there was only one flood – Noah’s. Noah’s flood is the only one that scripture discusses. Genesis has three chapters that deal specifically -in great detail – about Noah’s flood. However, there is nothing ever mentioned about Lucifer’s flood. The last issue dealing with the gap theory is that of the word darkness. Scriptures do use the word darkness to describe sin. However, they use it in context. Nowhere in the context of Genesis 1 does it talk about the world being in sin. When children are put to bed at night and they ask about the darkness does a parent begin to talk about being in sin. It is simply the absence of light. The context of Genesis 1 shows that there was an absent of light on the earth, it had not been created yet. It is not until Genesis 1:3 that God said let there be light and he said it was good. Augustine’s interpretation of the creation account has the fall occurring in the moments of creation. While he states that the argument is restricted due to lack of scripture. His argument is based on Genesis 1:4 when God separated the light and the dark. Augustine interprets the darkness as sin and the good as light. Again, the argument then would be, what did Moses mean in Genesis when he discussed light and dark. Did he use these terms to soften the story for the Israelites, or did he actually mean light and dark. While the gap theory seems to answer many questions, it also is based off of many assumptions with little evidence to support the gap of time between 1:1 and 1:2. Lucifer’s fall in this gap is dependent on the specifics of the time frame and this gap actually existing.
Gap Theory – Genesis 2 and 3 Many creationist and bible teachers hold to the theory that Lucifer’s fall took place between Genesis chapters two and three. Common thoughts among these scholars are the thought that the earth is around 6,000 years old and that creation took a literal six days. The premise of this thought is that the Lord made all creation, including Satan during the creation week. This idea is based off of Exodus 20:11. This states that the Lord made everything, heavens and earth, land and sea and everything in them in six days and on the seventh day he rested. He dedicated the seventh day the Sabbath day or the day of rest. They claim that since Angels, demons and Lucifer himself help compose that which is everything on the earth, they must have been created during the creation week. To help support their claim, they draw on Colossians 1:16 where it talks about angels as being part of the creation of God. They argue that in Genesis 1:31 God looked at everything and declared it to be very good. How could God look at everything, including Satan, and call it very good. Sin caused Lucifer to fall and God would not consider that very good. A second argument comes from Genesis 1:26 and 28. In these verses, God gives man dominion over all living creatures. If Satan had already fallen, the total dominion God gave man would have been compromised. Man does not have dominion over Satan. Rather he is in competition with Satan. This argument, however, fails to recognize Adam’s dominion while in the Garden. Adam had dominion in the Garden in Genesis three even though the Satan was present as a serpent. The argument that Satan was already present when God gave Adam dominion does not take into account that many theologians claim there is a time gap between Genesis two and Genesis three. It is during this gap that Satan experienced his fall. God had already given Adam dominion at the end of Chapter two. Lucifer then experienced his fall, and then Genesis three begins. The key to this argument is to understand when Lucifer was created. What is known is that Lucifer was one of God’s most high angels. Isaiah 14:12 tells us that Lucifer was the son of morning. He was a high ranking angel in God’s kingdom. The 28th chapter of Ezekiel talks about Lucifer as being anointed and an angelic guardian. He had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. He was blameless from the day he was created until the day he sinned. Now the question is when the angels were created. Holders of the belief that Lucifer fell between Genesis two and three claim that Angels were created during the creation week. However, Job 38:4-7 talks about God asking Job the question where he was during the creation. In this section, he states that his sons of the morning were present and sang together and the angels shouted for joy. This supports the idea that angels were present at the beginning of creation. This contradicts the argument that angels were created during the creation week. Determining when the angels were created helps place when the fall of Satan could have occurred. If one holds to the theory that angels were created during the creation week, then the fall could not have happened until the end of Genesis chapter two when Adam and Eve were alive. This makes the fall of Lucifer happening while Adam and Eve were already in the garden. The fall of man and the fall of Satan then would have only been days apart. If, however, one holds to the idea that Angels could have been present at the beginning of creation, then the fall could have happened before Genesis 1:1. In his work Vita Adae et Evae, R.H. Charles argues that Satan did not fall until after the creation of Adam. In his work, Charles claims that Adam asked Satan why he persecuted him. Satan replied that when Adam was formed, he was cast out of the face of god and sent forth from the company of Angels. Satan, at one point, had access to both the earth and to heaven. Job 1:6-7 describes a point at which Satan still had access to heaven. He presented himself to God. When God asked him where he had been, he replied that he had been roaming through the earth and had been going back and forth in it. This would show that Lucifer had not yet fallen when the earth was created. However, this passage does not give a detailed description of the physical make up of the earth at this point.
Fall before Creation The last position to be examined is that which says the fall of Lucifer happened before chapter one of Genesis. The first chapter of Genesis describes the creation of all things. It talks about creation of the heavens and the earth. It talks about light and darkness, plant and animal, and man and women. However, nothing is mentioned about the creation of the angels. Exodus 20:11 discusses the creation of the heavens. However, it can be assumed that it was only talking about the first and second heavens as discussed above. Does it also mean the third heaven though? While Exodus 20 discusses heavens, does it mean the Heaven of heavens as well? On the surface it appears to only discuss the first and second levels of heavens. Nehemiah 9:6 also discusses the creation of heaven. However, it clearly talks about the heavens of heavens. Comparing the Exodus 20 passage to Nehemiah 9:6 shows that two different situations are being discussed. Other examples using the heaven of heavens phrase are Deuteronomy 10; 14, 1 Kings 8:27, 2 Chronicles 2:6, Psalm 68:33 and Psalm 148:4. By comparing these passages to Exodus 20:11 helps clarify what is being created and when it is being created. Exodus seems to only discuss the creation of the first and second heaven, while the others mention all three levels. Comparing these passages would help come to the conclusion that Exodus 20:11 would simply be talking about the creation of the universe, or the earth and the first and second heaven with everything in them. The third heaven is outside this creation and thus not included with them. There is no mention in the Exodus scripture or in Genesis about the creation of the heaven of heaven. There is no mention about the creation of any of the parts of heaven that are presented in scripture. The Ezekiel story mentions nothing of the earth or of any of the creations that occupy it. This would suggest a heavenly scene for the story. This would suggest that the earth had yet to be created and the fall of Satan happened before creation. Job 38:7 helps solidify that Angels and heavens of heavens were in place before God created the earth. In that passage he talks about the angels shouting and singing when God laid the foundation of the world. This would suggest that not everything God created lay within the six day creation week. Opponents to this view point out that when God looked at creation on the sixth day he called it very good. They argue that he would not have made this statement if Satan were already in the world. However, God had already given Lucifer his stamp of approval before his fall. Ezekiel 28:15 says that the Lord called Lucifer blameless. He didn’t need to give his stamp of approval to Lucifer, he already had. Thus when he makes the statement very good in the Genesis account, he is talking about creation and not Satan. Creation did not fall because of Lucifer’s sin; it fell because of Adam’s sin. One problem with this theory is that death would have been introduced into the world before the fall of man. Paul writes in Romans that there was no death in the world until Adam sinned. This would imply that the world was perfect. There was nothing that was not good. This theory claims that Lucifer fell, because of sin, before the fall of Adam. This contradicts what is written in Romans. However, Romans talks about human sin, not supernatural sin. Origen believed that the creation of the spiritual realm occurred before the physical creation of heaven and earth. John Milton also held this view as was reflected in his Paradise Lost. Both men agreed that not only did the fall happen before creation, but rather that it had taken place quit sometime before God created this physical world. In his account, Milton says that when Lucifer and his angels rebelled and cast out of paradise, the places that they held were left empty. Thus God created the world and mankind.
Conclusion
This paper has examined the three theories concerning the fall of Lucifer. The first account states that a large gap existed between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. This time period could have been as many as a billion years. It was during this time that Lucifer rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. This was characterized by a great flood that preceded Noah. This flood covered the earth and destroyed all that was in it. It was all covered in mud and created the fossils that are discovered today. The second theory states that it was not until after creation that Lucifer rebelled. God looked at creation and called it very good. Satan had access to this world and moved back and forth between earth and heaven. The heaven of heavens was created before the first and second levels and the angels resided there during creation. Lucifer was then filled with pride and was cast out of paradise. The third theory is that Lucifer was cast out before creation. When the creation account says that God created the heavens, it means to all that is in the universe, and not the heaven of heavens. This had already been created and the fall had already taken place. God gave creation his stamp of approval; however it did not include Satan. So now the question is asked, which theory is stronger than the others? Based off of different passages of scripture, it is clear that some form of creation had occurred while Lucifer was still in heaven. The passages out of Job clearly indicate that the Angels were present as the Lord created this earth. It also states that Lucifer had access to both heaven and earth at the same time. He was able to move back and forth between the two and roam around the world. Scripture shows that God created everything, including the angels. When God looked at everything he created, he declared that it was very good. Does this very good include Lucifer? Yes, at one time this included his angel Lucifer. These conclusions leave only two of the three theories as plausible, both gap theories. Unfortunately there is little evidence to distinguish which theory is stronger than the other. One claims that the gap occurred between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. The other claims that the gap of time occurred between Genesis two and Genesis three. The gap theory that states the fall occurred between 1:1 and 1:2 is based on many assumptions. There is little biblical evidence that supports the ideas of this theory. There is no mention of a second great flood or the existence of a human race before Adam. The only theory that remains is the theory that the fall fell between Genesis two and three. This fits the little evidence about angels and the creation of heaven that we do have. The earth was already created and Lucifer was free to roam between the two. Sin had not yet entered the world when God called it very good. While this theory would support evil as being in the world before the fall of mankind, it does not direct the sin at mankind. Mankind would have been still declared good because they had not yet sinned. This paper has examined the little evidence that exists concerning the fall of Satan. While much of what can be discussed is all theory and different interpretations of scripture, one theory sticks out above the others. The fall of Satan most likely occurred between Genesis two and Genesis three.

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[ 1 ]. David F. Johnson, “The Fall of Lucifer in Genesis A and Two Anglo-Latin Royal Charters” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 97, no.4 (October 1998): 504
[ 2 ]. George Shedler. 1985. “Retributive Punishment and the Fall of Satan” American Journal Of Jurisprudence 30, no. 1 (April): 137
[ 3 ]. Ibid 137.
[ 4 ]. Clarence Larkin. Dispensational World. Glenside, PA. Rev Charles Larkin Est.1918, 169
[ 5 ]. Julian Hill. 1992. “Luke 10.18- Who Saw Satan Fall.” Journal of the Study of the New
Testament 46, no 4 (June): 25
[ 6 ]. Millard J. Erickson.2013 Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Backer Academic. 251
[ 7 ]. Berenbaum, Michael. 2007.Encyclopedia Judacia 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillian 89
[ 8 ]. Larkin 127.
[ 9 ]. Johnson, 504.
[ 10 ]. Ibid 500
[ 11 ]. Ibid 501
[ 12 ]. Joseph Kelly. 2008. “Satan: A Biography” Journal of Early Christian Studies 1, no.16
(March): 103
[ 13 ]. Kelly 104
[ 14 ]. Ibid 104
[ 15 ]. Ibid 104
[ 16 ]. Ibid, 104.
[ 17 ]. Timothy Vande Drake. 2004. “I see Satan Fall like Lightening.” Anglecin Theology Review 33, no.2 (February):458
[ 18 ]. Johnson 504.
[ 19 ]. Rosalind Hackett. 2003. “Beliefs about Satan in Ewe Christianity.” The Journal of African History. 1 no. 44 (January): 182
[ 20 ]. Ibid 183
[ 21 ]. Adam Stewart. 2007. “Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan’s Realm.” Women in Judaism 1, no. 5 (December): 1
[ 22 ]. Ibid 1
[ 23 ]. Johnson 501.
[ 24 ]. Ibid 501.
[ 25 ]. Ibid 502