Day 2526 – Theology Thursday – I Saw Satan Fall Like Lighting – When? – I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible

Welcome to Day 2526 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom – Theology Thursday – I Saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning - When? – I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible. Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2526 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2526 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.   Today is the thirty-fifth lesson in our segment, Theology Thursday. Utilizing excerpts from a book titled: I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible written by Hebrew Bible scholar and professor the late Dr. Michael S Heiser, we will invest a couple of years going through the entire Bible, exploring short Biblical lessons that you may not have received in Bible classes or Church. The Bible is a wonderful book. Its pages reveal the epic story of God’s redemption of humankind and the long, bitter conflict against evil. Yet it’s also a book that seems strange to us. While God’s Word was written for us, it wasn’t written to us. Today’s lesson is: “I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightning.”: When? In one of the more puzzling verses in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells His disciples, “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! (Luke 10:18). The question isn’t about what Jesus’ statement is about. It’s clear that Satan is under judgment. Instead, the confusion is over the when of the statement. It might sound like a reference to when Satan became Satan, before or in the Garden of Eden —abandoning his status among God’s heavenly host—but that conclusion would be too hasty. We essentially have three options when it comes to figuring out the timing of Satan’s fall: before, during, or after Jesus’ own time. Many people have offered opinions. Perhaps the most common interpretation is that Jesus is seeing or remembering the original fall of Satan. This option makes little sense in context. Before the statement, Jesus had sent out the disciples to heal and preach that the kingdom of God had drawn near them (Luke 10:1-9). They return amazed and excited by the fact that demons were subject to them in the name of Jesus (10:17). Jesus then says, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!” There is a connection between the kingdom, the defeat of demons, and Satan. But if Satan’s fall in Luke 10:18 speaks of an event in the remote past, why wasn’t the kingdom established then? Why was Satan still powerful when Jesus showed up on the scene? Even with the kingdom of Israel under David and the presence of God in the temple, the power and influence of Satan are evident on nearly every page of Old Testament history. The view that Jesus was referring to Satan’s fall during his own ministry is better, but it is not without problem. We don’t read anywhere in the Bible of anyone casting out demons prior to Jesus’ ministry. That display of power —as well as the announcements of the kingdom and the ruling authority of God on earth—is unmistakable. This is consistent with Luke’s writing in the next chapter (11:14-23), where he identifies Jesus as the “strong man” who binds Satan. With Jesus having bound the strong man (Satan), He and His disciples can plunder Satan’s realm. This seems to tie in with what Jesus says after His...