Why did God (according to the Bible) cast Satan out of heaven?

Question

I'm trying to understand why God would cast Satan down to earth and then create mankind to inhabit earth, putting his precious new creations in the presence of a being that has tried to undermine His authority? Did Satan arrive after mankind, or before? For what purpose did God have to allow mankind and Satan to co-habitate? Was He testing us?

If you can't find a Bible verse to support your idea, it's o.k.! I'm just looking for theories here. It doesn't have to be supported by the Bible. I'm interested in any philosophical answers here...for the sake of discussion or debate?

Sweet Pea: why would God send Satan here? Why restrict him to here? Why not someplace else in the vast cosmos? Why not do away with him altogether? Why would God allow Satan to spread hate, misery and sadness on earth? Is it a punishment for being misled by Satan in the first place? Isn't death punishment enough? We have to live our lives with Satan in our midst as well? Why would a loving God do that to us?

Why would God send such a rebellious being down to an up-until-then peaceful place? I'm wondering what we did to deserve that.....was He testing our strength?

Why would a loving God pitch an evil and powerful Satan down to earth ("there- you have him")- and then punish humanity for being misled by him? Couldn't God have casted him somewhere else? Why would he want to take the chance that Satan would turn humanity against God? It makes no sense to me.

Shingoshidao: wow...that really is deep and definitely food for thought...thanks!

19jay63: very interesting perspective!

Answer 1

This is a "big" question, that leads to an even "bigger" question.

The standard answer is that Satan wanted to be God, and as Satan was not born cannot die, so the next best thing was to cast him out of paradise and denying him the opportunity of being God's presence.

The hard answer is that God is omnipotent, and everything that has happened, and is to happen, is according to God's plan. If God knew Satan would cause trouble why did he create him in the first place? This can lead to an awfully complex circular argument, about the mind of God.

Answer 2

It's not so much a test but a choice, You choose either God's heaven >To Life or Satan's sinful Heaven >to Death.
He as well as "US "were given a work week (6 Days) to make up our minds (choice)

If God were to immediately blot out Lucifer and Sin he would have been a Tyrant.
Which would have taken away our "God given right to choose." God does not want slaves but people who chose to be with him. So we were given a week to choose. A 6 day work week, 7th day The Sabbath.
For those who choose God the Sabbath is spent in heaven with God for a 1000 Years. For Those who choose Satan remain dead on a devastated earth and only Satan is alive and "Chained" to the earth ALONE for a 1000 years "The Sabbath" to wonder the earth and to ponder his Sin and with no one to tempt and seduce.

Revelation 20
The Thousand Years

20 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Thus the earth we know is only a little under 6000 years old. the Seventh Day (Sabbath) is the next 1000 years.
After this 7000 years is when God Moves his Government and His people (Humans) Back to a renewed earth.

2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.

Answer 3

This may be very unpleasant for some, but I will pose it anyway. I understand your question, as I have asked it myself over many years of speculation. So here it goes.

After the rebellion had started, there needed to be a way to combat the accusations that had been made against God by Satan. But for reasons of security, it was best that this conflict be contained. Personally, I see the earth project as a petri dish environment, in which the bacteria of the rebellion could be examined by all sentient beings throughout the universe, without directly subjecting them to further contamination. That may seem harsh, but it is nonetheless very logical. Having a new species without prior experience with the nature of God, provides the perfect opportunity for the character of God to be evaluated regarding righteousness and the charges made against it. God could demonstrate in a conclusive manner exactly what the character of Satan is, and how flawed the argument against God actually is. We are essentially the proving ground for the exoneration of the governance of God.

I hope that helps.
Shingoshi Dao

Answer 4

I know this is not the proper religious view but
suppose
suppose god made many versions of man
until finally one disobeyed
and God exclaimed "AH I finally have created a being that can Think! This is the one that I want to be with for eternity" And for that thinking being god created a garden and placed the thinking being in it and the rest is her story

or an even better supposing
suppose some jealous God created a man being
to tend his garden
serve his meals
keep care of his wardrobe
etc

and that Jealous God's brother (Satan) came to the garden and tampered with the man being allowing him to be reproductive with his woman and bring forth children and know real Love such that he looked upon his former servitude with distaste and set out on the long journey of becoming what we are today

Answer 5

Satan was in the Garden of Eden, the serpent who tempted Eve. It stands to reason Satan was not able to temped Adam directly but was able to thru Eve... Adam had no reason not to trust Eve. After all, God made her from Adam for Adam as a helpmate, if Adam couldn't trust his wife who (God gave in marriage as a covenant and thru Eve the family (the home) became to be the foundation for Christ's church). It's no stretch of the imagination why people can't find God in a church building... Even after the flood evil still managed to survive! Why? Can God destroy an alter-ego? No! He works around it! (In my opinion the Bible is like the forbidden fruit in written form, the knowledge of good and evil). Satan uses the Bible today on unsuspecting souls "commands us to keep the law of God", that we're not saved by Grace thru Faith alone! (Romans 7:7-25), but Christ set us free from the law (Romans 8:1-4), (Galatians 5) & (Colossians 2:20-23). You decide!

Answer 6

 The Apostle John tells us: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9) So as a dramatic development in bringing the sacred secret of God to a finish, Satan is ejected, pitched out of heaven, and his demons are cast down to the earth with him. The one who has misled the entire inhabited earth to the extent of becoming its god is finally restricted to the vicinity of this planet, where his rebellion first began.—2 Corinthians 4:3, 4.

We can see from this that mankind was on the earth before Satan made his appearance on the earth.

He first of all deceived Eve and then Adam. But he was still allowed access to the heavens. It was only later (1914) that he was cast out of heaven and is not allowed back there.

Answer 7

'Paradise Lost'
by John Milton (1608-1674)

"what time his pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
If he opposed, and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire..."

Sounds like Satan REALLY disliked like taking orders...

"The protagonist of this epic is the fallen angel, Satan. Seen from a modern perspective, it may appear to some that Milton presents Satan sympathetically, as an ambitious and proud being who defies his creator, omnipotent God, and wages war on Heaven, only to be defeated and cast down. Indeed, William Blake, a great admirer of Milton and illustrator of the epic poem, said of Milton that "he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it."[1] Some critics [citation needed] regard the character of Lucifer as a precursor of the Byronic hero.[2]"

Answer 8

Satan was an angel (originally known as Lucifer, the bringer of light) who got too big for his/her boots and staged an attempted coup against God who was his/her creator.

God 'cast down' Satan to earth to attempt to subvert humankind and told him/her to 'do his/her worst' for a thousand years after which time Satan and earthly followers would all be forever extinguished.

Yes, it was a test, a test of humankind and a demonstration to Satan and co-conspirators of God's ultimate power.

Answer 9

Because of his conceit.The presence of Satan among us does not mean necessarily he can mislead us. God gave mankind the free will whether to follow Satan (extreme or "infantile" freedom with temporarily pleasure ), or to follow God (moderate freedom adopted by us because we are aware that we're responsibe for all our actions).

Evil always bring some kind of pleasure, this is the essence of Satan seduction to humankind. If we give in to it, we are no more good. Sometimes goodness is difficult and unattractive compared to wickedness which is so easy and desirable. This is how we prove ourselves good or bad. Or else how God would gives us the proof?

Evil people think of the day, like when someone rapes a girl, he only thinks of this momentary pleasure and does not bother himself with the consequences. Or when someone steals, he thinks of the money; not of wrong act. Or when people smoke, they're just happy with the moment but they try not to think of their future..

Satan gives us temporarily pleasure, but horrible consequences later. And we follow him, we only think of this pleasure, almost blinded by it or by the power. The only law of evil is: As long it pleases me, I don't care. As long as I am somehow safe, for now, I don't care. But someday, whether on earth or in hell, we will care.

Answer 10

Satan was a majestic being prior to his fall from heaven. According to Isaiah and Exekial, Satan, previously called Lucifer was one of the head angels next to the throne of God. Unfortunately, Lucifer became jealous of Christ and wanted to replace Christ in the government of God. He started a rebellion in heaven accusing God of injustice toward him and the other angels who rebelled with him. God could have blotted him out of existence or not created him in the first place, but sin was bound to arise sooner or later and have to be dealt with.

Instead, God chose to clear His name by allowing Satan to showcase his form of government on this planet for all the universe to witness. Our planet is a lessonbook for the universe about the malignant effects of sin and the torment and destruction it causes. By believing and trusting in God despite Satan's malicious attacks, we are helping to clear God's name before the surrounding universe much like Job did in the OT. The good angels and the rest of the worlds like ours got a good understanding of the nasty nature of Satan when he had Christ slain on the cross, but it will not be until Satan's final attack on God's church just prior to the second coming of Christ that all the questions about the true nature of sin will be answered. Remember, we know what sin is. God is teaching a lesson that will never have to be repeated to those who have never sinned, not knowing good from evil. Sin's true nature must be fully revealed. Satan must be completely unmasked and his accusation against God prove absolutely false and groundless.