As mentioned in part 2, these spirit beings can enter our physical world, and from Genesis chapter 6 it can be noted that they are even capable of breeding with women. Many cultures have tales of ‘gods’ breeding with women. The Nephilim were the result of this breeding by the ‘sons of God’. These were ‘larger than life’ people that were known to be brutal, cunning and creative. Nearly all cultures have examples of these beings, often referred to as gods or demi-gods, such as Heracles of Greek mythology. Why would Satan and his followers do this? Obviously it fulfilled their lusts and increased humanity’s unbelief in the true God, but more importantly it was a course which could pollute the god-given DNA of humanity, and therefore increase Satan’s authority over God’s creation, especially if he could prevent our Redeemer from becoming a reality. It also allowed him to create his own humanity based on demonic spiritual input and not God’s. Yet even Satan’s supermen can be defeated, just consider David (1 Samuel 17) or the Israelites in the wilderness against Og and the Anakim (Deuteronomy 3:1-11).
Will this warring dispute continue for ever? The good news from the book of Revelation, particularly from chapter 20 onwards, and again from Isaiah 14:15, is that he will be dealt with. The pit of sheol awaits him for a season (1000 years). A time of reprieve will be given for him to repent, but he will abuse the opportunity and be cast into the ‘lake of fire and brimstone’ for his eternal punishment. Never again will he or his cohorts accuse, tempt or deceive humanity.
If this is the end of Satan, why didn’t God simply finish him off at the start and save us all so much torment? Deuteronomy 32:4 declares that God is ‘just’, and justice demands a fair trial. God could not judge Satan since that would be a ‘conflict of interest’. For if He had dealt with Satan immediately the accusation of God being a tyrant would appear to have been true, and the rebellion by the aggrieved angels would seem to have been justified. And so Adam was appointed as the arbitrator. On the evidence presented by Satan in the Garden, Adam found in favour of Satan and against God. This allowed Satan to regain access to heaven as we see in Job, and gave him leave to continue to execute his rebellion. However, another Adam -the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) – held a retrial at another ‘tree of judgement’, and reversed the judgement finding in favour of God, and thus releasing humanity from Satan’s claim.
An allegory of Satan’s rebellion and his end is found in Numbers chapter 16. We find that the Israelite elder Korah led a revolt against Moses and Aaron, claiming he and his ‘friends’ were entitled to the power and privileges as well. It was only after an unbiased trial that Korah was found guilty of attempted usurpation and was then cast into the depths of the earth. It is interesting to note that the judgement was made with a tree branch, and that the particular species was the almond tree, known as the awakening tree. This mirrors the Judgment Tree of Christ through which we are awakened to our true identity once again and re-empowered as God’s image within His creation.