M-G: 9.1.15 // Angels & Demons: Creation and Fall (a sidebar to the Heaven-Bent series), Part 2

Moses informs us that everything pertaining to creation (Cf. Ex 20:11; note: “the LORD made...and all that is in them”) was an act of God (Cf. Gn 1:31, “God saw everything that He had made”) that took place in six 24-hour days, a literal interpretation of the Hebrew idiom, “the evening and the morning.” This is quite a contrast to secular evolutionists (God and 6 days vs. non-life and billions of years).

The Holy Spirit didn’t inspire Moses to say that the angels were present on Day 1 most likely because the angels weren’t germane to the Genesis narrative, for two reasons. First, creation week focused on matter and man, not incorporeal creatures who work “behind” the scenes to carry out God’s will (cf. Col 1:16). Second, we saw in part one that they existed prior to Day 1 (Job 38:4,7b) instead of being created during creation week.

It is agreeable to me that all of the angels were in an unfallen state on Day 1 at earth’s founding through the culmination of God’s greatest creation, man in His own image, on Day 6. On that day, did such a Divine decree of giving dominion to Adam (Gn 1:26) evoke something inside of Lucifer? It is the timing of it all. We saw in Job 38:7 how all the angels witnessed the foundation of the earth being established and shouted for joy, leading us to surmise there were no unfallen angels on Day 1 of creation week.

God declared creation week a huge success by assessing it to be “very good” (Gn 1:31); there is no indication of any angelic rebellion before Gn 3:1. This period between Day 7 and Gn 3:1 is an undetermined amount of time. It is during this interval that the angelic rebellion had probably taken place because we have the serpent (Satan, cf. Rev 12:9) approaching Eve with evil intent (Gen 3:1); everything went south immediately at the moment of disobedience (cf. Gen 2:17; Gal 6:7).

Some would argue the command to fill the earth (Gen 1:28) would suggest a much shorter duration of time actually spent in the Garden of Eden, and thus days, weeks, or months may have been the span of time, not years. The news out of the Triune Godhead about “dominion” (Gn 1:26) may have tipped Lucifer over the edge to reveal his sinful desires between Day 7 and Gen 3:1.

His grandiose desire to be “like the Most High” may have been discovered the moment the angels learned that man was to have dominion over all living creatures, air, sea, and land on earth, revealing Lucifer to be unrighteous (Ezek 28:15)? Keep in mind, God already knew because of His omniscience Lucifer’s thought of being like Him. The dominion thing may have played his hand before the angelic host, exposing the angels who were for and against the Most High witnessed by two-thirds of the good angels, including Michael and Gabriel.

Perhaps from Lucifer's delusions of grandeur, he may have thought that God insulted him (Actually, Lucifer’s ungratefulness and arrogance of being “the anointed cherub” and “covering cherub” (Ezek 28:14, 16) affronted the Majesty of God Almighty!) by giving the puny man made of clay (Gn 2:7) such a prize of dominion over all living things of the sea, on the land, and in the air, trumping the exalted position of  Lucifer (Ezek 28:12-18) and wounding his pride before all the multitudinous angelic host?

“I will be like the Most High” (Isa 14:14; along with Isa 14:13 there are 5 “I will” statements. Plainly, in view is the “I will versus “God's will.” These are clear declarations of rebellion.) aspirations took a nosedive, and in the process like any sin, as we know, there is the ripple effect from disobedience; Lucifer dragged a third of that countless number of angels to foolishly follow him in a folly that would and will most certainly lead to inevitable ruin in the fiery lake (Mt 25:41) outside of eternity for eternity within the realm of outer darkness in the future!

This apparently happened very quickly between Day 7 and Gn 3:1 in days, weeks, or months, but unlikely years. Similarly, it didn’t take long for Adam and Eve to hit the disobedience button in their lives (Gn 3:6). Maybe, the glimpse of the desirable dominion and the appeal of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil shared something in common – that which was out of God’s will for their lives.

Let me interject something that may rattle the branches just a little of what I have been saying about the time of the angelic rebellion. You know I mentioned that since the angels were present on Day 1, suggesting they were created before Day 1, then their creation would not have impacted the truthfulness of God declaring His creation as “very good” (Gn 1:31) should the angels had gone off the reservation any time during creation week. Now, if they were present on Day 1 because the billions of angels were created on the same day the foundations of the earth were laid, I would have to say there could be no way the angels could have fallen during creation week regardless of the day of the week they were created because of Gn 1:31. Very good ain’t good if something very bad happened?

To be clear, if the angels existed before Day 1 (outside of creation week), God’s declaration of “very good” doesn’t really apply to the angels because “very good” (Gn 1:31) only applies to Days 1-6. Technically then, they could have fallen sometime parallel to creation week, and Days 1-6 would still remain “very good.” But, if the angels were created actually during that 24-hour period of Day 1 or some other day of the week, then they could not have fallen before or on Day 6 of creation week. It would have seemed very strange for God to characterize creation week not just “good,” but “very good” (Gn 1:31) if the demons left the reservation in the process!

I still think it is still possible that the “dominion” announcement in Gen 1:26 could have triggered Lucifer to make his move with the fall actually occurring between Day 7 and Gn 3:1. With that said again, another question has to do with a tree. Was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil among the fruit trees on Day 3 in anticipation of evil due to God’s omniscience or did God plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as he dressed out the garden and placed man in the garden eastward in Eden on Day 6 (Gn 2:8) in anticipation of evil? These are fascinating questions with varied opinions.

At this juncture in my life, I believe God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gn 2:9) on Day 6 before the fall in anticipation of the lunacy of Lucifer after Day 7 but before Gn 3:1, and we know the rest of the story following Gn 3:1; I feel it, and that’s no mystery! The bottom line is a third of the angels rebelled, following Lucifer’s lead; Adam and Eve fell; and right now, the entire universe is still feeling the ripple effect of disobedience: sin and spiritual warfare (cf. Rom 5:12; 6:23; 8:20-21, 22-23; Eph 6:12)? Do you believe this business with the devil and his angels are real or just a figment of man’s imagination? We will talk about it in Part 3 of Angels & Demons. <><  

To Part 3