To learn more about the strategies of Satan and how we are to resist, flee, and overcome them, consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Richard Caldwell:

Christ's Faithfulness & Our Neediness:    • Christ's Faithfulness & Our Neediness...  
Responding To Satanic Strategies:    • Responding To Satanic Strategies | 1 ...  
How Temptation Operates & Is Overcome:    • How Temptation Operates & Is Overcome...  
Resisting The Devil, A Neglected Responsibility:    • Resisting The Devil, A Neglected Resp...  
The Devil & Elder Qualifications:    • Devil & Elder Qualifications | 1 Timo...  

Is Satan allowed in heaven, into the very throne room of God? Doesn’t the Bible teach that Satan was cast from heaven, cast out from the presence of God? How can Satan be allowed in the presence of God if sin cannot be in God's presence?

There are a few passages in the Bible that seem to imply Satan has access to God and that he appears in His very presence. These passages appear to contradict the Christian understanding of the fall of Satan. Christians understand that Satan was cast out of heaven, seemingly unable no longer to appear in the presence of God. We believe this to be true from the Scriptures themselves, due to his sin of rebellion against God. We understand that sin cannot be in the presence of God. God's eyes are too pure to look upon evil. This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot, take up and discuss two of these passages from the Bible. The passages discussed are Job 1 and Luke 22, where it appears that Satan is in the very presence of God. The questions they seek to answer are: do these passages tell us that Satan is allowed into the presence of God, and where do these things take place?

Dr. Caldwell explains that sometimes in the Bible, God often communicates to us using terms that are easily received and able to be understood in human ways. There are times that a biblical passage uses figures of speech in what it states; this is referred to as an anthropomorphic statement. These statements use this kind of language so that human beings can relate. So when we say sin cannot be in the presence of God or that God cannot be in the presence of sin, we also need to remember that God is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere. God not only knows about sin because He's omniscient, but He also looks upon it. He sees it because He is always present in all places; there is nowhere that God is not. Because He is present everywhere, then he cannot but be in the presence of sin and the creatures who commit it. So to say that sin cannot be in God’s presence is a reminder for us that God does not accept sin. God is holy and righteous. He does not tolerate sin, wink at sin, nor look the other way when sin is committed. God hates sin, rejects sin, and He will punish and judge sin. Sinful human beings that are unforgiven, without reconciliation, and atonement, for their sins, will never be accepted by God. So this is what those particular statements are communicating to us.

Dr. Caldwell tells us that what we have going on in the book of Job, the first chapter, appears to be a scene in heaven. The scene reveals that those that are coming before God are coming to receive instruction and give reports. Here it is told us that included in those coming before God is the Adversary, Satan, himself. Therefore, even though Satan was cast out from heaven, it seems that he is still granted some kind of access before God. We can see that these sorts of conversations that we read about in Job appear to go on in this age as we consider Luke 22: 21-31. Here the Lord Jesus tells Peter that Satan has demanded to sift him like wheat. Neither Job nor Peter was aware that these conversations had taken place. In Peter's case, the Lord shared this truth with him otherwise, he would not have known it.

Dr. Caldwell believes that these kinds of conversations are going on even to this day. He shares that in the New Testament, Satan, our enemy, is referred to as the accuser of the brethren who accuses us day and night. Yet, in the book of Revelation, there seems to be some indication that his ability to come before God will come to an end. Dr. Caldwell reads Revelation 12:7,8 & 9. He says that some believe that this represents a new development where Satan will no longer have this access that he currently has. But, what can we can say for sure is that Satan does appear before God in the book of Job, and in some way, he was able to make a demand in the presence of God that the Lord Jesus referenced in the Gospel of Luke.

God is currently allowing and tolerating the presence of sin so that His purposes will be accomplished. But He will not always do so. He has given us His Word that we would live and not die. He has sent His Son, who lived and died, that we would believe in Him and receive forgiveness of our sins and walk in them no longer.