Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Angelic Conflict – Part 25 Outline
The Angelic Conflict – Part 25 –
Point 7. – The Courtroom Trial of the Angelic Conflict –
The chief antagonist in the angelic conflict is called Satan or the devil.
Hebrew title = ha Satan = an attorney who slanders and gets away with it because of some legal loophole, an adversary.
Greek name = diabolos [devil] = an adversary, an attorney in opposition in law, or a slanderer.
An appeal is presumed from the lapse of time between the sentence of fallen angels (MAT 25:41) in eternity past and the execution of that sentence at the termination of human history (REV 20:10).
(MAT 25:41) – Human history – (REV 20:10)
Between the passing of the sentence in eternity past and the execution of that sentence at the end of the Millennium, an appeal trial is occurring in human history.
Human history is the actual courtroom for that trial, and mankind was created to be a part of that trial.
The formal presentation of the case: the prosecution presents its case, followed by the defense presenting its case.
The trial phase begins with the fall of man in the garden and continues until the beginning of the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
The fall of man in the garden of Eden actually duplicates the fall of Satan in the garden of God (perfect environment).
God created man as a rational creature lower than angels, duplicating at a reduced scale, the conditions of the prehistoric angelic conflict.
GEN 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
GEN 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it dying spiritually you will die physically.”
When Adam and the woman sinned, Satan became the ruler of planet earth, from which position Satan provides the defense in the historical appeal trial of all fallen angels, 2CO 4:4.
The courtroom is planet earth because planet earth was the same place the angelic conflict took place in before.
God entered His evidence by creating man just as the angels were created: innocent with the potential to love and worship God through right decisions and to become imperfect by wrong decisions.
Satan had been created in perfect innocence; Adam was created in perfect innocence. The angels have free will; man has free will.
Adam freely and deliberately chose to follow the pattern of arrogance which characterized Satan’s original revolution, ISA 14:12-14.
The rebellion of Satan in the garden of God resulted in the fall of angelic creatures. REV 12:4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven.
The rebellion of Adam in the garden of Eden resulted in the fall of mankind. ROM 5:12 Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned
In angelic history, God had provided a decision making process by which angels could express non-meritorious positive volition, so there are elect and fallen angels!
The Bible seems to reveal some sort of reconciliation for angels, COL 1:20, PHI 2:10, HEB 2:2.
God provided salvation for all so that man can express non-meritorious positive volition through faith in Christ (JOH 3:16).
Through the exercise of their free will, angels are divided into two categories: elect and fallen angels (Rev 12:7,1TI 5:21, MAT 25:41, MAR 8:38).
Through the exercise of their free will mankind is divided into two categories: believers and unbelievers (JOH 3:36).
The rebuttal phase: rebuttal arguments of the prosecution [God] followed by the rebuttal arguments of the defense [Satan].
The rebuttal phase of the prosecution is coterminous with the Christocentric dispensations = the hypostatic union and the Church-age.
There are only two dispensations in human history where Christ lives inside of man, the hypostatic union and the Church-age.
1TI 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Beheld by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.
These two dispensations are when God presents His case and reveals His justice and righteousness and love.
Our Lord and the invisible heroes of the Church-age are the main witnesses for the prosecution.
Legitimate evidence is based on two or three witnesses being interrogated independently and agreeing to their testimony.
Is God just or unjust? Has God been fair with His creatures? How can a loving God cast His creatures in the lake of fire?
In the Supreme court of heaven, the laws of evidence demand investigation of each accusation based on two or three witnesses interrogated independently and agreeing to their testimony.
DEU 19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.”
NUM 35:30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
DEU 17:6 On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
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Robert R. McLaughlin 2001