When Was Satan Kicked Out Of Heaven?

I am going through your Genesis teaching series, and I have a few questions, so I’m going to try to break this down one at a time. You mentioned that you were not a believer in the Gap Theory. Could you help me with a brief timeline of when Satan was kicked out of heaven and sent down to earth in relation to the order of creation?

Some people believe that the beginning of God’s entire creative work happened when it says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” I don’t believe so. I believe that angelic beings were created and later fell, all before God created the heavens and the earth. I understand this is somewhat speculative, so it’s not like I can prove it, but I think what I believe is consistent with what the Bible says.

When the Bible describes the heavens and the earth, it’s describing creation as we know it: the starry sky, the blue sky, and the earth that we know. Maybe there were other galaxies or solar systems, or maybe Genesis describes the creation of our solar system. I don’t know exactly. But I don’t think that before Genesis 1:1, there was nothing that was created. I think that as part of that “pre-creation” period, angelic beings were created and had their fall. There is a lot to it that we don’t know, but I would just place that all before Genesis 1:1.

The Gap Theory postulates that there was a gap between the time God created the heavens and the earth, and when it fell into a position where all things were void and without form, after which God sort of recreated. He brought order out of the chaos that was created by Satan and the fall. I can’t say that’s impossible, but I just don’t think it’s a likely or necessary biblical understanding. I could be wrong on this. To my understanding, the Gap Theory was popular at one time because people thought it gave them a way to explain the age of the earth, the dinosaurs, and so on. I just don’t think that the Gap Theory is necessary to explain those things.

Because of my interest in geology, I did a lot of study on this. There was a time when I believed in the Gap Theory, and it seemed to make sense. It was also being taught by my pastor. The problem arose when I began to do my own study on Genesis. It says first, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” and next, “And the earth was without form and void.” Well, proponents of the Gap Theory change it to say, “The earth became formless and void,” as though there was a change of state. They’d say this happened, and as a result of it, rebellion happened. So, they’d say that God had to kind of recreate everything. The Gap Theory was presented as a way to explain the apparent age of the earth. That’s when I began to do my own study, and it’s clear that you just can’t stick “it became” in there. It’s not viable; it’s a very forced translation. It really helped me to look at what the text actually says.