Evil in Heaven?
Emails & Questions
Q: Who are the evil spirits in heavenly places in Ephesians? Does that mean in heaven with our Father?
(Eph 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. NIV
A: Evil in Heavenly Places? Ephesians 6:12 tells us that evil is present in the heavenly realms—or kingdoms. But, is that still true today?
The use of the word, heaven or heavenly does not necessarily mean the Heaven of our God and Savior. For example, when we look into the heavens, we see birds, clouds, and further out we see the stars, and on closer inspection, we see these beautiful stars are evidence of destruction -- a beautiful chaos. Those great lights in the heavens are a vision of a Universe in Chaos and the terror of absolute destruction. Certainly beautiful to behold, but only from a distance. Even the planets in the heavens of our immediate solar system are a disaster and unfit for life, as we know it -- but, there is another life that not only sees the beauty in the chaos but can actually walk through it, really see it, touch it, and live to tell about it -- a presence long before man, a presence of great Spiritual power, a created power, know as Lucifer. This being thought so much of himself as to think he could replace his creator, and once he allowed this thinking to take hold, this once perfect creature, in the image of God Himself, fractured. Like a cracked diamond, perfect to look at, but with one great flaw. No longer the called in the likeness of the beautiful Morning Star, but moving to a new title as that Old Dragon, the Devil and Satan -- the one that took a third of the angels with him in his failed rebellion. Make no mistake, the Devil and his angels are no longer in the Heaven of heavens, as you will see.
I believe that what we see in this Universe may be the result of that angelic first rebellion. Even the Earth appears to have gone through more than one worldwide devastation. Even the planets in our solar system, appear to have gone through some kind of overwhelming destruction, a war of the heavens. What modern man has been able to see, for example, is total devastation on every planet but ours. But wait, on closer inspection we too see the planet Earth was once like Mars, and that it is the flora and fauna, and massive amount of water that covers up its surface, that only recently, with the help of modern technology has man been able to see through this beneficial covering and identify multiple craters and evidence of past and total destruction of this planet we live on. In total view, we need to remember that when we read the creation account, found in the the book of Genesis, we need to remember that the account is presented to us from an earthly point of view -- our heavenly view, if we can call it that, has only come to use in these modern times with the advancement of telescopes, and satellites sent out into space with cameras and other sensing devices that we know this -- and still many on this earth believe that we are an accident. The account found in Genesis, from its very first verses, suggests a recreation of the planet, a planet being resurrected from a previous watery death -- we are told that this planet is completely covered in water -- the earth is totally covered in water, and this before man is created. A previous FLOOD? A worldwide flood, before the Great Flood of Noah's time? Apparently so. And no telling how many before that, but one thing is certain, before the Great Flood in Noah's time, there had been a previous flood -- this planet was completely covered in water. In later chapters of Genesis, after this first reveal at the very opening of the first chapter in Genesis, we are told that there would be another flood, one that would cover the earth and only Noah and his family are spared from among all of mankind. This begs the question -- How many times had the Earth been completely flooded? We are not told, but we are told that YaHWeH would never do it again -- a promise made. Who knows how many times this planet has been completely flooded? We know of at least two -- and to what purpose? Maybe the same purpose and reason we are given for the Great Flood in Noah's time? This building of mankind, followed by failures in proper growth, may have happened multiple times, until Noah --and perhaps new promises made?
The evil in the heavens is just that, not as if this evil is in the Heaven of our Heavenly Father. But, again, who says that we are going to judged the Angels? Why would this be the case if angels are perfect? Apparently they have free will but are of a different creation process. Satan was able to rebel and to convince other angels to take his side. And why would the angels of the Heaven of heavens, rejoice at the imprisonment of the Devil and his angels to this place we call, Planet Earth? Read all about it in Revelation, Chapter 12 "...and the angels of Heaven rejoiced ...". This rejoicing came at the casting down of a particular Mega Angel and his followers -- down to this place, we call home -- he and his demon angels are here -- And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Rev 12:9 *
The Translation that is questionable is the NIV -- a good translation but not perfect as no translation is perfect, they all convey the offer of the New Covenant and the Message is there, everything else is information only, fun to study and consider and to rightly divide what is right to use as our guide and learning more about our Savior and God the Father, but all have flaws. The KJV translates this verse differently -- "...spiritual wickedness in high places" -- This makes more sense, really, as there is evil or wickedness in high places, not just the low places. The Hebrew Roots Bible HRB translates this -- "...and with the evil spirits that are beneath heaven". We could say they are all right. We see evil in the Universe or the heavens of what we can see, exploding stars, and destruction everywhere. We know Satan rebelled and so did a third of the created Angels, so evil did break out a very Heavenly place as Satan and his accomplices attempted an invasion and take over of our Creator's Throne. And, lastly, we know that on this earth some of the most wickedness and evil is exposed from time to time in very high places -- leaders are exposed for their evil constantly, and historically we have Stalin, Hitler, and many, many more.
So, is evil in the Heaven of our Father and our Savior now? No, I do not believe evil, or wickedness is found in the Heaven of all Heavens -- it once was, but not now. In Revelation 12 we read the account about Satan's final defeat and how he and his angel/demons have been cast to this earth and are captive here -- earth is called earth because it is made of dirt. Let's not forget what our Creator told the Serpent in the Garden? That he would eat dirt the rest of his days -- this is a parody on Satan and for Satan, the one also known as the Devil, or that Great Dragon. Satan was cast to this earth along with his rebel angels -- cast down to Earth, to eat "dirt", no longer sharing in the glories of the Universe, or the great fires of beauty -- no, now they are in prison, that some call Hell and others call, EARTH. Wow, oh, wow to all mankind for Satan is trapped here, along with his demons, trapped on this Earth, awaiting their final judgement. Read about this in Revelation 12
This is not their final destination, however, as our Lord tells us that the Lake of Fire is prepared for them, but that fire is not made ready until our Lord returns. The Fire prepared for Satan and his angels is the same fire into which the Beast and the False Prophet are thrown. But, Satan will not be cast into that Fire until at the end of the 1,000 years. Hopefully, you and I will be in the first resurrection and get to witness this justice and fulfilment of His Prophetic words. Read about this in Revelation 20 -- it is all there -- the Lake of Fire, Hell Fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels (demons), read it -- in your own Bible -- Matthew 25:41
(Isa 26:13) O YaHWeH, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but Your Name alone do we honor.
(Isa 26:14) They are now dead (The Wicked), they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
(Rev 19:20) But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Evil in Heaven? Maybe, once upon a time, but it looks like that has been taken care of, and now it is all about getting rid of Evil, once and for all, finishing with this planet we call Earth.
Servant, Dan
Questions and comments to -- dan@servantsofyahshua.com