Hi! I’m addicted to your website…it’s fantastic! A couple of questions…
I was just reading about the origin of Satan and his fall…it says that he will be expelled from Heaven at the end of the Tribulation and bound in the Abyss until the 1000 years is up – does that mean that he is in Heaven (or some part of it) now? I thought he was expelled from the moment he rebelled against God and had to dwell on earth until he gets thrown into the lake of fire at the end.
Which brings me to my next question: Didn’t Jesus actually go into Hell when he died at the cross to get back the keys from Satan, leaving him with a fatal blow to the head? In which case, doesn’t that mean Satan would have to be in Hell now?
When he rebelled, Satan was deprived of his former positions and privileges, but still has access to heaven where he comes to accuse the saints. Job 1:6 and Rev 12:8-10 both confirm this. In the future he will be confined to Earth at the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 12:13-14) before being chained in the abyss for 1000 years.
The idea that Jesus contended with Satan in Hell and left him wounded can not be supported in Scripture. In the future, the anti-Christ will suffer a head wound (Rev. 13:3), and Satan will be given the key to abyss to release the demon locusts who will torment unbelievers (Rev. 9:1) but none of these things had happened when Jesus went to the cross. Satan won’t be permanently consigned to hell until the rebellion at the end of the Millennium.(Rev 20:10)