The Battle between Good and Evil
The Battle between Good and Evil
The battle between Good and Evil is not an eternal battle!
There was a time when there was no Evil in the Universe; and there will be a time when Evil will be overthrown and imprisoned.
But, for now, yes, we are living in the time of battle.
In this blog we will look at:
1) The time before Evil existed.
2) How Evil came into the universe.
3) Who is the effective agent of Evil.
4) Against whom is this agent fighting.
5) How it will end for this agent of Evil.
6) The time after Evil is overthrown.
7) Why is this important at all?
Yes, we are talking about Lucifer, who is Satan, the Devil, the one who is fighting against God!
He is called "the Evil One:" Mat 13:19, Mat 13:38, 1Jn 2:13,14, 1Jn 3:12, 1Jn 5:18.
1) The time before Evil existed.
There was a time when only God existed; God in his Tri-une, Three-In-One nature, meaning: Father-Son-Spirit. The words Tri-une and Trinity (Tri-Unity) do not appear in the bible, they are our way of expressing God being one being, yet three persons. Tri-Unity: 3 yet 1.
The Christian Church dealt with this issue in the first few centuries after Christ's death, and firmly and with a unified voice said the bible taught God is 1 Being yet 3 Person. The Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creeds were written to affirm that position.
Since God created ALL things, meaning matter and energy also, there was a time when only God existed, and God being Good, at that time there was no Evil in the universe; technically there was no universe, since God had not created anything yet.
Universe in Latin and means: whole, everything.
Its Greek equivalent is cosmos, and in the New Testament cosmos is translated into several English words, which you can check using a Lexicon or Concordance.
Hebrew, the Old Testament, has no single equivalent word, but uses the phrase: the heavens and the earth, ie everything!
So God creates, in a sequential and logical order, for God is the most organized and logical Being. I do not have scripture to prove the following order, it just seems the way it must have been, and yes, I know that does not sound the best!
He first creates the place heaven: the crystal sea, his Throne, etc, and then he creates the beings who live in heaven: the 4 Living Creatures and the 24 Elders and the Seraphim and the Cherubim and the angels. The Seraphim and Cherubim might be 2 classes or types of angels, but since they are mentioned separately, I have listed them separately.
It is during this time, prior to the actual creation, that the Supra-lapsariansim verses Infra-lapsarianism question applies: Did God in his mind, first elect people, and then ordain the Fall (Supra-lapsariansim)? OR Did God first ordain the Fall, and then elect people (Infra-lapsariansim)? I mention that as an aside.
2) How Evil came into the universe.
So we have heaven, the place, and all of the being who live in heaven. One of those beings is Lucifer, who appears to be the chief angel. He sees the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, high and lifted up, and covets that place of honor:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars (angels) of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Isa 14:12-14
And because of that rebellious though, God cast him out of heaven, and all those angels who followed him in his rebellion.
That is how Evil came into the world!
3) Who is the effective agent of Evil.
Lucifer is the effective agent of Evil! Lucifer means: son of light, morning star, or shining one. Lucifer is an Anglicized word for the Latin word for light, which is luce.
He is called Satan, which is Hebrew and means: enemy or opponent in Hebrew; the Greek equivalent is translated accuser.
He is called the devil, which is Greek and means: false accuser.
He is called the evil one.
He is called the disobedient one in Eph 2:2
Jesus called him "the father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning," because he used lies to murder Adam and Eve, telling Eve, "you will not die," when God had clearly said, "you will die," and he lied to her telling her God had withheld the best from them: their eyes would be opened; yes their eyes were opened TO EVIL! And he is still propagating lies, that is all he knows how to do, and they all boil down to ONE: there are many roads to heaven, even though Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Joh 14:6
4) Against whom is this agent fighting.
Obviously he is our enemy, as Peter says: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" 1Pe 5:8
But he is ultimately God's enemy. He coveted Jesus high place, and then when he saw Adam and Eve in personal, daily fellowship with God, in the garden paradise God created just for them, he attacked them to destroy what God had made; his attack was on God, by way of Adam and Eve.
He is a spiteful, jealous, revengeful, mean, evil to the core being, who only wants people to suffer forever with him in hell; he does not want you to believe in Christ and go to heaven, he wants you to be eternally with him in hell, suffering, and so he lies to you about how to get to heaven, saying there are many ways, and then drugs you with the things of this world, so you will not think about the world to come.
But again, he is ultimately trying to ruin any and all good which God has made and prepared; he cannot enjoy it, and so he does not want us to enjoy it, and so he tries to destroy it.
5) How it will end for this agent of Evil.
It ends very badly for him! and for all those who are following him!
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Rev 19:11-21
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." Rev 20:1-3
"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Rev 20:7-10
Do not make the book of Revelation harder than it is! The message is clear, the Lord Jesus defeats the devil and his followers, and casts them into hell, to suffer forever! We may wonder about the 1000 years, but the defeat of Satan is CRYSTAL CLEAR.
And then the judgment of men:
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev 20:11-15
When judging Mankind, the Lord Jesus says to those who believed and followed the devil:
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" Mat 25:41
These scriptures are exactly to the point, and clear as the nose on your face, the Lord Jesus will utterly defeat his enemy the devil!
6) The time after Evil is overthrown.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Rev 21:1-2
After Satan is cast into the lake of fire, and after the judgment, when those who followed him are also cast into that same lake of fire, then the new heavens and new earth, the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem comes down from heaven.
Read Rev 21 and 22, and you will see that physically it is a place of beauty: the multi-colored foundation and the gates of pearl; and it is symmetrical (symmetry in design, is a God reflecting thing !); and it radiates light.
C.S. Lewis said that in heaven the colors will "pop," having an almost tangible nature to them; the sounds, the smells, the air, all vibrant, all LIFE!
And not just physical beauty, it will be a place of holiness, where there will be no lie, nor any one who loved the lies of the devil.
And where the Curse, the Gen 3 Curse that God himself imposed upon his creation, will be no more.
And where we will see God, in his Triune nature, FACE-TO-FACE!, to live forever with him in sinless, blissful beauty, which he prepared for we who love him.
7) Why is this important at all?
Because the lying, usurping devil is propagating the lie that what we see now, this is all that there is; but that is NOT true, the real world in the world which we currently do not see:
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2Co 4:18
The devil as "the prince of this world," cosmos, referring to geography (Jon 12:31, 14:30, 16:11); as "the god of this world," aion, referring to time (2Co 4:4); he "in whom the whole world/cosmos lieth" (1Jn 5:19), is working to deceive people to ignore the bible and not think about eternity. He does this with the things of the world: pleasure, material possesssion, and pride.
But this battle is not a Ying-Yang eternal battle between 2 equally opposing forces, one Good and one Evil, that exist in tension, and will forever swing back and forth. No, there is a day, a day which God has fixed on HIS calendar, on which, at an exact moment in time, the Lord Jesus will return and re-claim his creation, remove the Evil One, and usher in eternity, sending to hell for those who love the lie and follow the devil, and bringing heaven those who love truth and follow him.
THERE IS NO GREATER OR MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR YOU PERSONALLY THAN THIS!
9 October 2025