The Battle at the Cross

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,” Jesus declared (Luke 10:18).

Interestingly enough, even though we commonly refer to the seduction of Adam and Eve as the Fall, it was Satan himself who fell first, when he and his angels were “cast out” at the beginning of their rebellion. But while the battle in the heavenly courts was over, the war was just beginning. It continued on earth, when the devil, “that serpent of old,” embroiled the human race in the Garden of Eden.

What would you have thought of the one “who deceives the whole world” at this point? The devil had masterfully painted himself as the victim, the rogue underdog fighting to gain back freedom for all from the tyrannical Creator. We see that even after he was evicted from heaven, the devil was still allowed to visit: In the time of Job, “there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6). Public opinion was still up in the air. Could the devil be right after all?

But at the cross, the tide turned. As the Bible says: After “Satan entered Judas” (Luke 22:3), Judas betrayed the innocent Son of God to be crucified. The jig was up. The devil had instigated the murder of the Son of God in cold blood at the cross, and the entire universe had seen it. Then was the dragon’s identity fully unmasked as “the Devil and Satan”—God isn’t the monster; the devil is. He showed himself to be nothing more than a murderer who wanted God’s throne for himself.

With this most heinous of crimes, the devil indicted himself. He set his own fate and lost the war; his destruction was certain. After the death of Jesus, those of God’s angels who had once lent a sympathetic ear to his tales were now wise to his schemes. The devil and his angels were “cast out” of heaven for good.

This was a turning point in the great controversy between God and Satan.

Lamb of God, while something or someone may look good, we trust in Your true love for us, which lasts forever.

For Further Study: Genesis 3:1–19; Isaiah 14:12; John 16:33

Key Bible Texts

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12:9 KJV)