Problem of Evil - The Invisible realm Part 1

Revelation 12:3-4  ³And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.  ⁴And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

All the angels were created goodWhen God created the heavens and earth, He stated seven times that all He had made was good.  By the end of the creation week in Genesis 1 and 2, we see a completed creation.  When we add in Psalm 33 and Psalm 104, we observe that in the invisible realm, all was good.  We have also noted in this blog series that God is not the author of evil, however in His permissive will he did permit evil to come into the heart of Satan to achieve Satan's prideful lust for his own exaltation. 

Some of the Angels chose to rebel, following Lucifer
Was Satan alone in his rebellion?  Though scripture gives us a faint sketch of what took place in the heavenly realms following the creation week of Genesis 1-2, we do know that the Satanic rebellion took place very shortly thereafter.  In Genesis 3 we see Satan in the Garden of Eden, posturing himself to tempt the man and the woman.  In the passage above we are given the clearest summary of the scope and nature of this rebellion that took place between Genesis 2 and 3. 

As Lucifer turned into satan, 1/3 of the angelic host became the demonic realmThe Bible tells us that the angelic host is ultimately more numerous than we can count (Hebrews 12:22).  Around the throne of God alone is over 100 trillion angels (Revelation 4 and 5).  Yet we do know that the number of angels is not infinite, since Revelation 12:3-4 gives us the number of 1/3.  These angels were swayed by Lucifer.  According to the profile we read in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, Lucifer most likely was the choir leader of heaven, the chief over the Cherubim - the guardians of God's very presence.  When he rebelled, it was undoubtedly the last thing any angel would had expected.  As a result, 1/3 of the angelic hosts, of all different kinds and ranks, followed Lucifer, and were cast out of heaven. 

Different types and ranks of angels and demonsThe angelic realm is noted for the fact that it was created in orderly ranks.  There is Michael the archangel (Daniel 10, Revelation 12:3-4), there are angels that worship God, called "seraphim" (Isaiah 6) and there are four angels committed to the throne of God called "cherubim" (Revelation 4 and 5).  There are angels that will be assigned to execute God's judgment, as well as messenger angels and guardian angels (Matthew 18).  There are even angels assigned to cover children and illuminate their way prior to their reaching the age of accountability (Matthew 18).  The sheer number of angels could number way above the trillions.

In tomorrow's blog we will look more into the issue of the problem of evil as it relates to the invisible realm.