And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

The question is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

Jesus made a statement to His excited disciples, here in Luke 10:18. They had just discovered that the very speaking of the name Jesus would cause demons to cower and flee. He let them know of greater joys, but in the process of his instructions He informed them of an even greater victory in regards to the Enemy. Namely that He had seen Satan fall from Heaven, like a lightning bolt.

Other questions come right away: Is this the “prophetic” past tense? That is, has the event really happened yet, or did Jesus see it in the Spirit? Or indeed is He now recalling His memory from the foundation of the World? Certainly He lived as one of us, limited in so many ways, but occasionally, as at the Transfiguration, the glory He had with the Father, and some of that knowledge, came out. Was this such a moment?

Then, how far was the fall being indicated? I am not being facetious here. Scripture indicates two falls of Satan. The first is mentioned in Isaiah 14, and this passage may well have been on Jesus’ mind when He made His declaration. Consider the words of the prophet, who describes an event that most probably has not yet occurred even in our own day, and could be the very event of which Jesus spoke: (vs 12 ff, KJV)

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

“Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. they that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

“All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.”

In this passage, Lucifer indeed falls from heaven and comes to earth, as lightning falls to the planet so very suddenly. But he seems to have been in the heavens as we know them, the atmosphere above the Earth, with aspirations to regain his position in the Heaven of Heavens, which he had lost earlier.

Significant also here is that his place on earth is as, or inside of, a man. This is probably therefore, the Satan-filled antichrist. Much destruction, much power, much cruelty, but suddenly finished, and not even allowed to be buried, as he goes directly to the lake of fire, per John in Revelation.

Is this what Jesus sees, along with Isaiah?

Or was it that first fall, the one that brought Satan to Earth and the Garden of Eden in the first place? Ezekiel 28 is the reference for this episode:

“Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”

This passage, though speaking of a ruler on earth in Ezekiel’s day, speaks also of the driving force within that prince of Tyre, none other than the heavenly enemy of our Lord. A perfect creation of God, but lifted up to pride, cast to Earth, then brought to utter destruction. Tyre was just one of Satan’s many projects on the planet over the ages of earthly history. Here is he is told of his ultimate demise.

Perhaps as in other teachings of the Lord, it is necessary to step back and see the whole scene, one who starts in Heaven, and winds up in a Lake of Fire. And Jesus sees it all before any of it happens. The geography and history of this passage thus falls into insignificance, as Jesus speaks to His disciples an important truth:

First, don’t let your new power lift you to pride. You are seeing only a little bit of what has been happening and what will happen. I have seen it all. You have seen a few people delivered from demons. I have seen the total crushing of Satan’s Kingdom. It is an accomplished fact.