THE ANGELIC CONFLICT OR WHY WE ARE HERE

                                                                
 The Angels Elect (or Saved) AngelsThese are the angels who rejected the revolutionary posture of Satan and the angels who followed him. They are called “elect angels” in I Tim 5:21 and “holy angels” in Mark 8:3 Fallen AngelsSatan was the highest ranking of angels prior to his negative volition and revolt against God. His sin was one of negative volition and he continued to foment revolution while he attracted other angels to join in his revolution against God. There are two general classifications of “fallen angel.” The operational and non-operational or incarcerated angels. God’s disposition of Satan and the fallen angels – The Trial in Eternity Past. The Angelic Conflict refers to the prehistoric creatures in opposition to and revolt against God. The revolt began with arrogance.The first creature to revolt against God, the most perfect creature God ever made, was called Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, or as he is known to us, Satan. He was the most attractive and personable of all angelic creation and in terms of rank and power, was the highest-ranking angel - a cherub. He became enamored with his attractiveness, his rank, his power and took himself too seriously. Then, in arrogance, he declared, “I will be like the Most High God. This declaration from his arrogance precipitated the revolt.Thereupon, Satan led a revolt, soliciting the loyalty of billions of angelic creatures, approximately one third of angelic creation, who followed Satan and are now known as the fallen angels Rev. 12:4.

 When all of the angels had made their decisions as to where their loyalty would reside, a trial was convened in heaven. God the Father, executing his perfect Righteousness and Justice, from the evidence produced in court and the resulting conviction, sentenced Satan and the fallen angels to the eternal Lake of Fire. This sentence, passed long before the creation of mankind, made the Lake of Fire the eternal abode of Satan and his following angels. When God passed this sentence, it was inevitable that Satan would appeal not only the sentence but impugn the character of God. The likely appeal, similar to the same nonsensical thoughts frequently heard expressed today, probably went like, “How can a loving God put his own creatures into the Lake of Fire.” The actual blasphemous appeal of Satan is unknown to us but the fact that an appeal was filed with God is deduced from the lapse of time between the sentence of fallen angels in eternity past (Mt. 25:41) and the execution of that sentence at the termination of human history (Rev. 20:10). The very fact that the sentence has not been carried out and that Rev. 20:10 reveals the sentence will be carried out at the end of human history, is the basis for my conclusion, a conclusion shared by most orthodox Christian Theologians. Between the passing of the sentence in eternity past and the execution of that sentence following the Gog revolution at the end of the Millennium, the appeal trial is taking place in human history. Therefore it is to be concluded that human history is not only coterminous with the appeal trial of Satan and the fallen angels but human history is the actual function of that trial and mankind was created to resolve that trial.

 The trial phase begins with the fall of man and continues until the beginning of the dispensation of the hypostatic union (the first incarnation of Christ). Mankind was created and human history began in order to duplicate the conditions of the prehistoric angelic conflict. This provided both evidence and precedence for Satan’s appeal trial during human history. The fall of man duplicates the fall of Satan. Both falls occurred during perfect environment. The trial phase in the court of appeals is essentially Old Testament history.The rebuttal phase of the Prosecution are coterminous with the Christocentric dispensations – the Hypostatic Union and the Church Age. Our Lord and the invisible heroes of the Church Age are the witnesses for the prosecution. Satan presents his rebuttal during the Tribulation. All of Satan’s rebuttal arguments come in the form of violence and anti-semitism. The closing arguments and summary of the Prosecution includes the Second Advent and the Millennial rule of Christ as benevolent dictator of the earth. This duplicates the conditions before the fall of Satan and the fall of man in the Garden. Satan’s closing argument is the Gog revolution at the end of the millennium.