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Satan Feared for His Existence During the Flood

“Satan himself, who was compelled to remain in the midst of the warring elements, feared for his own existence.” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p99)


Why is this significant? – because, if we say God did not personally destroy the antediluvians by bringing on the flood, an obvious alternative is that Satan – the destroyer – did it. But if he brought on the flood why would he then fear for his own existence?

We don’t know to what extent angels are subject to physical forces that would kill us mere mortals. Perhaps the flood was violent enough that even he could have perished. We have no indication that any angel has ever died. There is nothing to suggest angels will rise in the resurrection. The war in heaven (Rev 12:7) was not fought with physical weapons. “War” there is from the Greek word “polemos” from which we get our word “polemics” and “fought” is the verb form of that word.

The question is “did Satan directly cause the flood himself?” which doesn’t seem logical in light of the quote above. There are at least three possible answers:

1. Perhaps Satan did not anticipate the consequences of his actions. Did he, in effect, bite off more than he could chew? Could the violence of the flood have been more than Satan expected; extreme enough to even cause death to angels?

2. Perhaps the flood was not Satan’s act. It could have been the consequence of other’s actions – even those of man. It seems it was related to the collapse of the canopy of water above the firmament. Was it somehow pierced or broken by pre-flood space-age technology? These verses seem to indicate a canopy of water above the atmosphere:

“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.” (Gen 1:7)

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (Gen 7:11)

Before God even commissioned Noah to build the ark, the end of mankind (indeed, all flesh) was already looking likely:

“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Gen 6:13)

This was 120 years before the flood:

“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Gen 6:3)

It says of God “I will destroy” but we have to let the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible explain themselves on the question of how God destroys.

The Spirit of Prophecy says many times that God does not personally destroy or use force and that Satan is the Destroyer. We either have an impossible contradiction in this statement or perhaps we just need to ask the question: “How does God destroy?” Is it by a direct, personal act or is He leaving sinners to the consequences of their actions?

“I will destroy them with the earth” suggests that whoever or whatever causes the destruction, that cause is applied to both the people and the earth itself -“them with the earth.” It makes sense that, in the future, when both sinners and the earth will again be destroyed, both would again be destroyed by the same causal agent. Yet scripture indicates that it is not God but the people who destroy the earth:

“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” (Rev 11:18)

It speaks of those who “destroy the earth” suggesting that, by whatever means, man will be capable, at least at the end, (if he isn’t already) of destroying the earth. Isn’t it possible that the antediluvians had the same or equivalent ability?

3. Perhaps Satan feared death from God. It says he was “in the midst of the warring elements” but perhaps what he feared was his death by the hand of God. This quote “Every sin must meet its punishment, urged Satan” (The Desire of Ages, p761) suggests that Satan (even if impervious to the direct effects of the warring elements) might have been expecting a death sentence as punishment for his direct or indirect role in the destruction of God’s earth.

“In the opening of the great controversy, Satan had declared that the law of God could not be obeyed, that justice was inconsistent with mercy, and that, should the law be broken, it would be impossible for the sinner to be pardoned. Every sin must meet its punishment, urged Satan; and if God should remit the punishment of sin, He would not be a God of truth and justice. When men broke the law of God, and defied His will, Satan exulted. It was proved, he declared, that the law could not be obeyed; man could not be forgiven. Because he, after his rebellion, had been banished from heaven, Satan claimed that the human race must be forever shut out from God’s favor. God could not be just, he urged, and yet show mercy to the sinner.” (The Desire of Ages, p761)

There are three possible explanations to how Satan could have feared for his own existence during the flood if it was not caused directly by God. We don’t know which explains what really happened. But the alternative – to believe it was caused directly by God raises serious issues:

Resolving those issues has to be balanced with God saying “I will destroy” but that can be done by understanding the principles and language of heaven.

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