17. Lucifer's rebellion ignited war in heaven.
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. {Revelation 12:9}
You wouldn’t think war could break out in a perfect place where everyone is perfect and everything is at peace and God Himself is there, but that’s exactly what happened. As Lucifer nurtured the rebellion in his heart, he couldn’t keep it to himself. He began subtly circulating lies about God to the other angels and casting doubt upon God’s goodness, until the whole thing fomented into open revolt.
Lucifer managed to turn one-third of the angels against God. And when war broke out and maintaining the peace was no longer possible, Lucifer and his angels were cast out of heaven. That’s when Lucifer became known as Satan, God’s adversary, but just because he was no longer in heaven didn’t mean his rebellion was over.
After our world was created, Satan immediately began seeking to turn the human race against God as well. The opening pages of the Bible records how he appeared in the garden as a serpent, seeking to cast doubt on God’s own words and incite rebellion on our planet.
Even at the very end, Revelation chapter 20 says he’ll still be at it, working to deceive the nations. Only when he is thrown into an abyss for a short time of total isolation will his deceptive activity cease. But once he is released, his murderous, rebellious heart will pick right back up where it left off. Every last ounce of energy he has will be spent in seeking to destroy God. Until his dying breath, he will never give up. He will never give in. He will never surrender. That’s the nature of rebellion.
If you want to dig deeper—
Matthew 4:1-10
Luke 10:17-20
1 Peter 5:8
1 John 3:8
Revelation 12:7-9