Subject: Does Satan Really Exist? |
Bible Note: Mark, Again, thanks for the quick answer! Without going into it again, please see my longer answer regarding Ezekiel 28, posted today. I have addressed the points you mentioned here, and it is evident that the remarkable leap you have to make to put Satan in Ezekiel 28 does not hold up under scrutiny. As for Revelation 20, I would argue that the Book of Revelation is a book of symbolic prophecy - not literal prophecy. I have, amongst others, a book written by Sir Isaac Newton "The Prophecies of Daniel and The Apocalypse" that puts this case very well. Newton, who actually wrote more about Scripture than about science, identifies the dragon of Revelation 12 with pagan Rome, and not Satan at all. If we believe that Revelation should be taken literally then we are all in enormous trouble, because actual stars are going to fall out of the sky onto the Earth (Rev 8:10, Rev 9:1 and Rev 12:4). If one is Sol, then it could arrive anytime soon, but the next closest star, Proxima Centauri could be a while, as it would take over 4 years to get here even if it began travelling at the speed of light immediately. However if Sol does decide to plunge into our planet anytime soon we will not, strictly speaking, be all that bothered about when the next one gets here. It does not make sense to begin picking and choosing what you decide is literal or figurative in Revelation, especially when a huge tracts of it can be categorically proved to be figurative. Furthermore, you have now created a direct contradiction now between Ezekiel 28 and Revelation 20. How can Satan "die", become "ashes on the earth" and not "be any more" in Ezekiel whilst at the same time be eternally tormented alive in a lake of fire in Revelation? The only way I can see to resolve THAT problem is that Ezekiel must be the false prophet joining Satan in the lake of fire...!! And finally, under no circumstance at all could Revelation 20 teach the creation and fall of Satan, as Revelation 1:1 tells us that the things of The Revelation are to happen after the Revelation, not before. So that would date any creation and fall you mention sometime after AD 70. Okay, it's late and I have posted far too much today! Good luck with all that and take care, Dr. B. |