MAJOR ELEMENTS
OF BIBLE COVENANTS


GOD'S COVENANT WITH SATAN
AND FALLEN ANGELS


        This also is NOT a covenant of redemption, NOR a covenant that brings any favor or good to Satan in any way; rather, this covenant is increasing his eternal punishment because his sins are constantly increasing. This covenant is a righteous covenant which is revealing the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the righteous judgments and glorious attributes of God in a multitude of ways.

AN OBVIOUS CONTEXT OR WAR BETWEEN
GOD AND SATAN

        As strange and as incorrect as this may seem, it is nevertheless true. Please observe:

  1. There Is a Very Evident Contest, actually a very serious “life and death” on-going WAR between God and Satan. Satan’s argument, of course, is openly contradictory at every turn. His way is the way of sin, and our way, by nature, is the same way of sin. Therefore, from what the Scriptures say about Satan’s sinful ways and from what the Scriptures say about our own sinful ways, we do not have that much difficulty discerning Satan’s argument in his rebellion against God. Observe further:
    1. Satan Argues that He Is Right and God Is Wrong. This is the basic premise from which Satan draws his conclusions and justifies his reasoning and conduct. Therefore:
    2. Satan Argues that He Has the Right to Judge What Is Right and What is Wrong. Satan’s argument is that there are no absolutes; every individual can judge what is right in their own eyes, Deu 12:8; Jud 17:6--21:25; Pro 12:15; 21:5. Satan has put this into the minds of men all down though the ages, and we hear this wherever we go -- there are no absolutes; everyone has a right to judge what is right or wrong, and no one has a right to judge what is right or wrong for others.
    3. Satan Argues that He Has a Right to Deny God, Rebel Against God, Make War with God, and Seek to Dethrone God in every major and minor detail of life. This is the essence of sin, and sin is everything contrary to “good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God,” Rom 12:1-2.
    4. Satan Argues that He Has a Right to Sin, Deceive, Lie, Cheat, Rob, Kill, etc., in order to benefit himself and his cause. He is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning, Joh 8;44. All his ways are right in his own eyes, (Pro 16:2; 30:12) -- this is the essence of sin, whether it be Satan’s sin or man’s sin.
    5. Satan Argues that He Has a Right to Do His Own Thing. That is, to feel as he feels, to think as he thinks, to speak as he speaks, and to do as he does. God says we are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, Deu 6:5; 11:13; 13:4; 30:6; Jos 22:5; Mat 22:37; Mar 12:30; Luk 10:27; Mat 10:37-39; 12:36; Luk 9:23-26; 14:25-33; Rom 12:1-2; 14:23; 1Co 6:19-20; 10:31; 2Co 10:4-5. These are a few of the many passages which teach that every emotion, thought, word, or deed that is not for the glory of God according to His Word is SIN. God has not given us one moment of time to spend in pleasing ourselves -- doing our own thing.
  2. God Chose to Have a Contest.
            The word “contest” is too weak to express the seriousness of the matter. We may use the word “debate,” but debate also does not express the seriousness of the matter. Again, we may use the word “demonstration,” although this word likewise has its weakness in that it does not express the seriousness nor yet the contrasting and conflicting nature of a contest or a debate. Once more, we could use the word “war,” and it is a war, but the word “war” does not inherently emphasize the purpose of demonstrating the contrasting features between “good” and “evil,” between “obedience” and “rebellion,” and between “love” and “hate,” all of which results in “life” or “death” respectively.
            God chose to set up a court in heaven (Dan 7:9-10, 13-14, 22, 26-27) with the following structure, ministries, and appointments to execute the counsel of His will Eph 1:11:
    1. God appointed Himself as the supreme Judge over all court functions, which include all activities in the universe, Luk 22:29-30; Act 2:23; Eph 1:11; 3:11; 1Pe 1:20. God made all covenants and is working all things after the counsel of His own will, Eph 1:11. God further appointed:
    2. His Son, Jesus Christ, as the defense Lawyer and as kinsman Redeemer with a very large contingent of attending angels as aids both in heaven and on earth, Rom 8:34; Heb 5:5-6; 7:25-28; 2Th 1:7.
    3. The Holy Spirit to be the overall Administrator of all the covenants, as stipulated in the master covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Gen 1:2; 6:3; Zec 4:6; 2Co 3; Joh 14:16-17,26; 16:7-15.
    4. Satan to be the prosecution lawyer, also with a very large contingent of fallen angels to aid his evil cause to the extent permited by the covenant stipulations, 1Ch 21:1; 2Ch 18:18-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Dan 7:9-10,13-14,18,22,26-27; 10:12-21; Luk 22:31-32; Rev 4 & 5; 12:7-11; and throughout the book of Revelation.
    5. Certiain chief angels to be court guardians and witnesses of God’s personal power, holiness, righteousness, and justice through His righteous covenant laws, Rev 4 & 5; And throughout the book of Revelation.
    6. Other of the chief angels as court officials for presiding over the establishing, maintaining, and verifying court records, and also as witnesses of God’s personal power, holiness, righteousness, and justice through His righteous covenant laws, Dan 7:9-10,13-14; Rev 4 & 5; And throughout the book of Revelation.
    7. A large contingent of angels with Michael as archangel for personal and constant guardians and ministers of the covenant people, Dan 12:1; 2Th 1:7-9; Rev 12:7-9.
    8. Another large contingent of angels with Gabriel as archangel for instructing the covenant people in various ways. These are the obvious court appointments, Dan 8:16; 9:21; 10:13-21; Lk 1:19,26. There are probably others.
        God chose to demonstrate the effects or results of the two eternally opposing and irreconcilable sides -- of sin on the one hand and of righteousness on the other. In this way God will demonstrate the moral soundness, incorruptibility, and integrity of His personal holiness and righteousness with all His divine attributes and covenant laws. Without this righteous demonstration of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, we would never know “the width, the length, the depth, the heighth” of the love of God and Christ “which passes full understanding,” Eph 3:18-19. The same is true of God’s compassion, mercy, patience, forgiveness, and grace, including God’s justice and the severity of His righteous judgments.
        On the other hand God is demonstrating and proving the exceeding sinfulness and deceitfulness of sin before all creation -- righteous angels, demons, and mankind.
        Therefore, He prepared a CONTRACT (an agreement, or covenant) and meticulously put into it detailed stipulations covering every emotion, thought, word, and deed that would ever take place during the life of the contract and the effects thereafter. Then He made the contract “offer” to Satan.

I. GOD'S COVENANT OFFER TO SATAN
AND FALLEN ANGELS

        The covenant offer was tendered by giving Satan and his angels instructions concerning the covenant contents, which included what they would be permitted to do in tempting Adam and Eve before their sin, and then continue tempting them and their descendants after the fall into sin. This includes Satan and his angels appearing before God's throne (the court of heaven) to accuse fallen man and to gain permission to further tempt them to sin and disobey God. Satan had to get permission to tempt Adam and Eve, as in later cases, 2Ch 18:18-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Luk 22:31-32; Et al.

A. Covenant Work Description.

        Again, these early covenant work statements are not found in the covenants written out in an orderly step by step manner, but are gleaned often as an incidental or a consequence of something else here and there throughout the Scriptures. When once we are fully aware that the Bible is a covenant Book and have become knowledgeable of the major element of contracts and covenants, it is not difficult to see them with obvious covenant intent.

  1. God's Part of the Covenant Work.
    1. God will serve as God and Judge of all covenant work performance. Nothing can be done by Satan and his angels without God's permission, 1Ch 21:1; 2Ch 18:18-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Dan 7:9-10,13-14,18,22,26-27; 10:12-21; Luk 22:31-32; Rev 4 & 5; 12:7-11; and throughout the book of Revelation.
    2. God will hear and give permission or reject Satan's requests to tempt the covenant people and all other such matters with regard to the nations, 1Ch 21:1; 2Ch 18:18-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Dan 7:9-10,13-14,18,22,26-27; 10:12-21; Luk 22:31-32; Rev 4 & 5; 12:7-11; and throughout the book of Revelation.
    3. God will hear Satan's accusations against the covenant people, and respond according to the intercessions of Christ, Rev 12:10; Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25. But if the covenant people persist in carelessness,God will give Satan permission to move against them, 1Ch 21; Mat 16:21-23; Luk 22:31-32; Mat 6:13.
    4. God will also hear the intercessions of Christ and of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26-27,34; Heb 7:25), direct the court to open the books and read the covenant stipulations and other related records, make decisions, command actions to be taken, and require the court of heaven to record all actions according to covenant stipulations, Psa 56:8; 139:16; Ecc 12:13-14; Dan 7:9-10; Mal 3:16; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 1:4,11; Rev 11:18; 13:8; 20:11-15.
    5. God will insure that all covenant stipulations are precisely fulfilled. This means that His counsel, purpose, and pleasure are precisely fulfilled, all of which is included in the everlasting covenant before creation, Isa 46:9-11. God needs no record books for He is infinitely and knows all things -- past, present, and future Isa 46:9-11.
    6. God will monitor all the emotions, thought processes, words, and actions of Satan and every fallen angel for judgment verification and justice, and will insure precise covenant obedience on the part of Satan and evil spirits. God has already stipulated in the covenant with Satan every minute thing Satan and his angels will be permitted to do, Heb 4:13; Isa 46:8-11.
  2. Satan and His Angels' Part of the Covenant Work.
    1. Satan (and his angels) will constantly be appearing before God in the court of heaven and requesting permission to tempt and sift the covenant people, 1Ch 21:1; Job 1:6; 2:1; Luk 22:31-32; Rev 12:10; Dan 10:12-21.
    2. As Satan is requesting permission to tempt and sift the covenant people, he is also requesting permission to use every wicked scheme conceivable to deceive, stir up every evil emotion, and work every kind of wickedness to destroy the covenant people and all of mankind, 1Pe 5:8.
    3. Satan may not have enough forces to be constantly tempting every person on the face of the earth. Such would take five or six billion fallen angels; however, we must not think such to be impossible.
    4. In the model prayer we are to pray "Lead us not into temptation," Mat 6:13. However, every sinful desire we follow, every idle word we speak, every careless step we take contrary to our covenant (contrary to the will of God), requires, according to the covenants, that God let our eyes be blinded a little more and that God let Satan take a little bigger bite into us. We think we have not been caught, but Satan knows his covenant work description and that of all others quite well -- he knows the Bible many times better than we do.

B. God's Command (or Permission) to Satan to Begin
the Covenant Work Performance.

        God gave Satan permission to begin his destructive covenant work, first evidently against different orders of angels created perhaps at different times. And Satan will continue to appear before the throne of God in the court of heaven until he is thrown out in the middle of Daniel's seventh week of years, Dan 9:24-27; Rev 12. Satan will likely try to go beyond the limits of the covenant but God will not permit him to do so. Satan will still be able to do ONLY what God has already prescribed in the covenant that he can do.

II. COVENANT ACCEPTANCE

        Satan and his angels accepted God's offer and have been hard at their destructive activities recorded in the covenants. Sad to say, but the covenant people are only too little aware that their own priestly intercessions can make a world of difference in our spiritual welfare, in the moral and even the spiritual state of our country (and the world), and in the progress of our efforts as ambassadors of the kingdom. The kingdom is in heaven, the embassy of the kingdom is the church on earth, and as members of the church we are the official ambassadors of the kingdom. A major part of our kingdom business is winning souls FROM Satan's kingdom of darkness INTO Christ's kingdom of light, Act 26:18; Col 1:12-13; 1Co 5:5.

III. COVENANT LEGALITY

        God is perfect in righteousness, Mat 5:48. All His ways, His works, and indeed His Word (in Its entirety) express His covenants and are all righteous and perfect altogether. "...God is light and in Him is no darkness at all," 1Jo 1:5; Psa 18:30,32; 19:7.

IV. COVENANT CAPACITY

        Obviously, Satan and his angels possess the ability in every way along with their extremely sinister and deceitful disposition to bring about an innumerable and constant flow of horrifying conditions permitted in the covenants that angels, demons, and men may observe the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

V. COVENANT CONSIDERATION

        The reward or payment to Satan and his angels is twofold: 1) they were not immediately put into hell or Tartarus, but they certainly will be when Christ returns, and 2) unquestionably their eternal punishment will be immeasurably increased by the astronomical amount of atrocities they have piled up against themselves and have caused through others in an endless chain reaction of wickedness.
        Another matter of inconceivable impact is the question of why God chose to permit Satan and his angels to inflict the almost limitless ruin and destruction that they have caused on earth and will continue to generate in hell and the lake of fire. Christ did not die for Satan and fallen angels. There is no redemption for them, Heb 2:14-16. "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still...," Rev 22:11.
        A part of the above question is that God is showing the rightness of obedience to His will and the wrongness of disobedience to His will. To the righteous angels, to the fallen angels, and to fallen mankind, God is showing the exceeding rightness of obedience to God and the exceeding sinfulness of disobedience to God.
        Also, God is revealing His power and wrath upon those who disobey righteousness, while revealing His longsuffering and mercy upon those who obey His righteous will.
         "What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory," Rom 9:22-23.
        Therefore, in part, God's eternal purpose in permitting sin to enter and run its destructive course is:

        1. Provide Angels and Men the opportunity to choose righteousness with its rich fruits and reject sin with its inevitable and deadly results.

        2. Demonstrate the exceeding sinfulness of sin before the eyes of all creation -- righteous angels, fallen angels, and all of mankind, saved and lost, in heaven, in hell, and on the earth.

        3. Demonstrate also before all creation past, present, and future, His compassion, mercy, forbearance, patience, and longsuffering, about which no one would otherwise have the slightest knowledge.

        4. Demonstrate His within-grace righteousness, justice, and equity in all His laws, judgments, punishments, and wrath, also about which no one would otherwise have the slightest knowledge. In all of this God is righteous and good, and we will forever increasingly understand how all this is true.

VI. COVENANT RATIFICATION

        Satan and fallen angels ratified the covenant by beginning performance of the covenant. They broke the first covenant God made with the angels and thereafter their sinful nature irresistibly and eternally moves them on in sin’s forever deceitful and destructive path.
        As stated, Christ did not die for fallen angels, hence there was no redemption provided for them. Obviously there was a great difference between the sin of angels and the sin of mankind. There is no progeny with angels. They had all seen the Son of God face to face before they sinned and knew precisely who He was. Clearly, God gave the angels considerably more information and understanding of the person and power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit than He gave to mankind. Demons immediately recognized Jesus through His human flesh and immediately confessed Him to be the Son of the most high God when they saw Him. Demons appear to be among the lowest of fallen angels, yet consider what they said when they saw Jesus in human flesh, Mat 8:29; Mar 1:23-24,34; 5:7; Luk 4:33-34, 40-41.