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Summary
- The Bible gives Satan no fixed home, and it says he is on the earth now, not yet in hell.
- Hell is the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and Revelation 20:10 places him there only at the end.
- In Job and Zechariah Satan comes before God as an accuser, but Luke 10:18 and Revelation 12 say he was cast out of heaven.
- Christians read Revelation 20 in two ways: Augustine saw Satan bound now, while Seventh-day Adventists place the binding after Christ returns.
- The Catholic Catechism calls Satan “only a creature”, the Orthodox Church in America teaches that Christ has destroyed his power, and the Reformed Westminster Larger Catechism says God limits his sins.
- Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Satan is now confined to the vicinity of the earth, cast out of heaven soon after 1914.
- Scripture’s comfort is that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (public domain), via BibleGateway: Job 1:6–7; Zechariah 3:1–2; Matthew 4:1; 12:29; 25:41; Luke 10:18; John 12:31; 14:23; 14:30; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8–9; 2 Peter 2:4; 1 John 4:4; 5:19; Jude 6; Revelation 2:13; 12:8–12; 20:1–3, 10.
- Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book XX, chapter 7, trans. Marcus Dods, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2 (1887), New Advent.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 391–395, Holy See.
- EWTN, “Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel”.
- Orthodox Church in America, “The Devil”, The Orthodox Faith, vol. IV.
- Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Larger Catechism (1647), question 19, Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
- Origen, On First Principles, Book I, chapter 5, trans. Frederick Crombie, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 4 (1885), New Advent.
- Seventh-day Adventist Church, Fundamental Belief 27, “The Millennium and the End of Sin”, as published by the Ellen G. White Estate.
- Jehovah’s Witnesses, “Where Does the Devil Live?”, Bible Questions Answered, jw.org.
- The Watchtower (Study Edition), 15 May 2009, “Questions From Readers: When was Satan cast out of heaven?”, Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, on Revelation 2:13, Bible Hub.
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Revelation 2:13, Bible Hub.
- John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667), Book I, Project Gutenberg eBook #26.
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto XXXIV, trans. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867), Project Gutenberg eBook #1001.
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