When were the angels created? And when did Satan fall?

“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11). This verse in the Bible tells us that God made everything in six days, this would included the angles. So now that we know that God created the angels we just have to narrow down when. Another verse says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (Genesis 2:1). The “host of heaven” mentioned here in Genesis 2:1 are probably referring to the stars (Deuteronomy 4:19; Nehemiah 9:6; Jeremiah 33:22; etc.), however the “host” of Genesis 2:1 could also be referring to the angels (I Kings 22:19; Luke 2:13; II Chronicles 18:18; etc.). Although Scripture does not say the exact day that angles were created, we can take what the Bible does say to limit when they were created. Since angels were created in the six day creation period the only other place that seems to talk about them that might narrow down what day angles were created is Job 38:4-7. In Job 38:4-7 the Bible basically says the angles rejoiced when the foundations of the earth were laid. Which this verse is probably referring to Genesis 1:9, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.” So based of the evidence from the Bible I believe the angels were probably created on day 1 or 2, though we can't know for sure.

The topic of when Satan fell from heaven is very controversial even today. I believe the Bible in the Genesis account is to be taken literally just as it is written. Basically the Bible tells us that everything was created in six literal 24 hour days; with no gap between verse one and two of Genesis. Even Jesus says in Matthew 19:4, “... Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,” I think the beginning was probably the beginning and not 20,000,000,000 years after the beginning. The paragraph above shows when angels were probably created, which would have included Lucifer. The first verse I want to point this reader to is Genesis 1:31 which reads, “And God saw every things that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” This verse tells us that God saw everything he had made and it was not just good, but very good. I have a hard time believing that God would say that Satan, who God made, was very good after he had fallen from heaven. It does not make sense to say that Satan fell before day six just based of this verse, but I will continue.

If we look at different passages of scripture about Lucifer we will find out many things. For example these verses read, 

“... 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 the pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou was upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wastperfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:12b-15).

The passage goes on to talk about why Satan was cast out of heaven (also refer to Isaiah 14). We find out many things from these verses. First we see that Lucifer was “full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty” in “Eden the garden of God,” since the garden of Eden was created on day six one could conclude that Satan was still perfect in the garden on day six. The passage calls this person the anointed cherub, this tells me it must be referring to Satan. Also in this passage we see “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created,” the Bible tells us that Satan was created on a day. Since “the first day” was Genesis 1:5 and Satan was created on a day, he could not have fallen between versus 1 and 2 of Genesis chapter one because the first day is Genesis 1:5. How could Satan fall before the first day if he was created on a day?

This leaves us with two choices for when Satan fell. The earliest according to the Bible Satan could of fallen was day seven because Satan was perfect in the Garden of Eden on day six (Ezekiel 28:12b-13; Genesis 1:31), and the other option is Satan fell some time after day seven and before Adam and Eve begot Cain and Able. You might be asking yourself why would he say Satan fell after day seven and before Adam and Eve had Cain and Able. First reason why I say after day seven is that even though Satan could have fallen on day seven God writes on a stone in Exodus 20:11 that the seventh day is the sabbath day and God blessed it. I also find it hard to believe God blessed the day Satan rebelled and was cast down to hell. Now since Adam and Eve begot Cain and Able after they sinned and the Bible does not tells us how old Adam and Eve were when they had Cain and Able, the only way to narrow the time is to look at the first time frame giving after the creation account which is when Seth was born. Adam was 130 when he begot Seth. By reasoning I believe Cain and Able were at least teenagers when Cain killed Able. The latest estimated time frame for Cain and Able being born would be about 100 years after creation, but Cain and Able were probably born sooner. This is our time frame. When did Satan fall? I believe based of what I have read in the Bible that Satan probably fell after day seven and before 100 years after creation. 

Jonathan Lombardi
December 9, 2007