Editor’s Note: We are receiving interesting questions from new people in response to our advertisement campaigns. We recently answered one question regarding the biblical teaching that Lucifer and his angels occupied the earth prior to man. We are sharing our response with you:
When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, the serpent was already there, in order to deceive Eve. The serpent is later identified as Satan the devil (Rev. 12:9). But Satan was not always Satan.
We understand from the bible that Satan was originally the archangel and cherub Lucifer (which name means light-bringer), but that he became Satan when he sinned against God (Is. 14:12-15; Ez. 28:11-17). Lucifer wanted to “ascend to heaven” to dethrone God (Is. 14:13) – he wanted to “ascend above the heights of the clouds” (Is. 14:14). This shows, then, that he was here on this earth, as he wanted to ascend above the clouds to go to heaven. When he sinned, and was thrown back to this earth (Is. 14:12), he became Satan, which means enemy or adversary. Lucifer or Satan was already here on earth, when Adam and Eve were created. Since he appeared to them as the deceiver, he must have lived here on earth prior to man as Lucifer, when he was not yet the deceiver – before he began to “ascend to heaven.”
Actually, Lucifer had been trained in heaven, before the very throne of God, before he was sent to earth, with his angels under his command. We read in Ez. 28:14 that he was the anointed cherub who covers (With their wings, the cherubs covered the throne of God, when God appeared to Moses in the Tabernacle). We also read in Ez. 28:14 that he was on the holy mountain of God (in heaven, cp. Hebrews 12:22). But, when he sinned, by trying to ascend from this earth to heaven to replace God, he was cast out of the mountain of God (same verse) – Christ later said that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18).
Lucifer was not alone, when he rebelled against God. His angels accompanied him and became demons in the process. A reference to that rebellion is made in Rev. 12:4 – one third of the angels followed Satan and became demons – which means that the other two third of the angels stayed loyal to God. Another attempt by Satan and his angels to fight against God – just prior to the return of Christ – is described in Rev. 12:7-9. This is not the same event as described in Rev. 12:4 – but it shows the pattern – in both cases, Satan and his angels are thrown back to earth.
Also, we read in Jude 6 about angels who did not keep their own domain (the earth), but left their own abode (to go to heaven to dethrone God). They are now reserved in everlasting chains under darkness – that is, they are the angels of darkness, still ruling on this earth, who are “chained” or held captive by their own spiritual perversion – as Satan, the prince of darkness, is still ruling on this earth (Rev. 2:13; compare Luke 4:6), holding the people of this world captive to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26).
