From that time forward every sorcery and every spell was dissolved. . . [T]he ancient kingdom was pulled down, when God appeared in the likeness of man . . .
– St. Ignatius to the Ephesians Ch. 19 (c. 107AD)
It was the confession of the earliest Fathers, as indicated by the Prince of the Bishops, St. Ignatius of Antioch cited here, that Satan’s kingdom is no more. It was pulled down when that last bastion of Satanic worship, the Temple of Jerusalem, was destroyed and the sacrificial system came to an end. Jesus Christ is King of kings who reigns from Heaven upon His Throne in an eternal priesthood perfected by His “once and only” sacrifice.
On Earth He reigns through His Viceroys: the Desposyni who follow His “law of the kingdom.”
Satan and his “angels” are in the “lake of fire.” The creation awaits the end of the Tribulation period (1,290 years) in which “the Beast” (the state) and the “False Prophet” (the church) will be cast into it to join them.
In an earlier Pesher, we tried to explain the theology and the metaphysics of this interpretation. It was a strange and difficult read for those still trapped to a “ghost and goblin” worldview. A shallow reading of C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien does not help. Our modern world interprets their works as they do the Bible: with a literal fascination for the imagery. Perhaps someday, I shall take the time to demythologize their idioms, but for now, we must understand that the symbols do not stand for external monsters of evil, but rather the evil from within.
It is difficult to imagine that this evil is all the projection of man’s “evil imagination.” Surely, it represents the work of a supernatural being. But it is not so. Mankind is working out its own internal “demonic constructs” until it comes to an epistemological awareness. That takes time.
Will it be reached before God’s Great Day slated for 2046?
We must hope so. Otherwise, another age of the “Lord of the Flies” (Beelzebub) will await us.
More of this point of view will be developed in the next installment in our Newton series scheduled for later this month. And then, for the “Pesher of the Star” for the Christmas season. But for now, try reading the Peshers and links offered here to catch up.
For the Day,
JWS, 11/1/24
Postscript: Detractors will smugly point out that in the biblical narrative, Satan is cast into the “lake of fire” after the Beast and the False Prophet. One must remember that the visionary episodes of the Book of Revelation are not chronological. I invite the skeptic to take the time to read the Peshers for other points of view. “Gog and Magog” arises at the end of the Millennium in John’s visions, but in the Prophet Ezekiel’s, it happens before. We may ask also, “Which Satan” or “Which Beast” or “Which False Prophet”? Jesus once called St. Peter, “Satan.” We argue that the “Satan” depicted in Revelation is a human actor, not a supernatural being.
