The rise and fall of Satan is described in Isaiah, “How art thou fallen from heaven; O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12).
God did not cast him into the lake of fire at that time. It is John in Revelation 20, who tells of his final end.
But with Lucifer’s fall, as recorded by Isaiah, came the beginning of all spiritual warfare in this realm. When God created man in His own likeness and image, the devil, in the form of a serpent, came to deceive Eve. What God had commanded them not to eat, Eve ate. Their fall affected the entire human race. The devil thought he had won the battle, but God in His grace and mercy had His glorious plan of salvation for man. He said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15).
Satan’s conflict with God is shown in Revelation 12:1. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered; and there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” This glorious child was our Lord Jesus Christ. When the time arrived, God sent His own Son into this world to be the Savior of the world. To accomplish salvation, sin had to be punished. He went to the cross of Calvary and He made propitiation for the human race that God might be just and the Justifier of anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. During this period, man who is born in sin and shapen in iniquity, has to be convicted by the Holy Spirit by the preaching of the gospel. This is so that man will turn to God in repentance, exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved for time and eternity.
God says, “I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death; and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53:12).
God is always victorious in a just and orderly way. First, sin had to be taken away. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Happy is any person who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Substitute and Sin bearer, and is saved for time and for eternity. Satan who attacked God and Christ now attacks believers, and a spiritual warfare goes on. But God has given us the whole armor of God (Eph 6). We are to put on the armor to enable us to stand against the powers of darkness and the wiles of the devil. The life of every child of God is a battleground, but the indwelling Holy Spirit gives power to help us overcome.
The spiritual life of Job was a battleground between God and Satan. Our Lord is always victorious. Every child of God is involved in this battle. God has given us comfort and consolation. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them, who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:14).” Therefore, a true child of God should not be afraid of dying or of living. Our God has clearly said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” We have this great consolation. No matter what befalls us, it comes from the good hand of our God, and we know that He does the best for us. Our wisdom is to take our circumstances from the Lord and take our difficulties to the Lord. Then, in dependance upon the Lord, we can say that the battle is not ours, but God’s. Therefore why fight? True faith will cease from struggling and rest upon His might. Each conflict into which you come was won at Calvary. It’s ours to claim what Christ has done and to hold the victory.