The three avenues of learning involve 1) learning new things which we have never known before, 2) relearning familiar things we may have forgotten or have failed to put into practice, and 3) unlearning things we have picked up along the way that do not stand under further scrutiny.
All three of those are part and parcel of the subject matter of Satan and the forces of evil. Some popular misconceptions related to the devil and his ilk are that demons are the same thing as fallen angels, that 1/3 of the angels followed Satan at the beginning and were cast out of heaven then, that Lucifer is another name for Satan, that Satan and the souls of unbelievers are in hell right now, that Christians can be possessed by demons, and that prayer is the means by which we engage the enemy and win the victory in our spiritual warfare. There are more, but that will do for now.
To unlearn some things is not an admission of failure on our part; it is the road we must all take to get to the place where we will learn some new things we may not have known before. The biggest challenge to tackle is which one of those listed above we should look at first.
Only in Revelation 12 are we confronted with the teaching that 1/3 of the angels along with Satan were cast out of heaven. Nowhere else is that mentioned in all of Scripture. Therefore, what that chapter says should determine when that event actually occurred. As one reads that chapter, it becomes very obvious that the point in history when the rebels were given the heave-ho was not at the beginning, i.e. before the serpent's temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was rather at the time of Christ and the cross.
Speaking of the near future, Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." (Luke 10:18) The week of His death Jesus would say, "NOW is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be CAST OUT." (John 12:31) It is in Revelation 12 we are given the added information that Satan was not cast out alone when Jesus triumphed over the devil and his subordinates at the cross. (Hebrews 2:14-15, Colossians 2:14-15) Not only did Jesus' death secure the salvation of the people who would come to believe in Him, but it also spelled the ultimate defeat of Satan. Christ's death had an effect on earth in regards to people, and it had an effect in heaven in regards to angelic beings.
In the Old Testament period, Satan and his followers are seen in the courts of heaven as Satan converses with God, as he brings up accusations against God's people, and as the rebellious angels are dispensed to do God's bidding on occasion. (Job 1-2, Zechariah 3:1-2, 1 Samuel 16:14, 1 Kings 22) The cross event changed much of that. Even though Satan still does his share of trouble in the world and in the lives of people, including believers, his career of being the accuser of God's people has come to a screeching halt. (Revelation 12:10) We overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. (Revelation 12:11) Greater is He that is IN us than he that is in the world. The wicked one can not even touch us now in regards to any sense of condemnation or accusation, because the blood of Christ is the justifying cleanser of our hearts. There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1, 1 John 5:18). Unbelievers still lie under Satan's grasp, and they must endure the accusations of Satan until they come to faith in Christ and are forgiven of their sin.
Satan is not a happy camper when he walks into court and sees one of God's children standing next to Jesus, who is his advocate, a defense attorney who has never lost a case (better than Perry Mason!), and on top of that, this defense attorney is calling the Judge "Daddy." Satan knows he is licked. His days of being the accuser are over.
Satan is not in heaven any longer, but he is not in hell either, at least not yet. Nor are the souls of unbelievers in hell yet. Hades is the place where disembodied spirits of unbelievers go at death. It is a place of torment, as Luke 16:22-24 clearly bring out. Hades is the Greek word equivalent of the Hebrew word Sheol. Hell is the future eternal depository of Satan and all souls who are in Hades. Whereas Hades is the place specially made for the souls of unbelievers, Gehenna (hell) or the lake of fire, or eternal death, or the second death, is the place specially made for bodies and souls. (Matthew 10:28) At the end of this world, according to Revelation 20, Satan and those souls in Hades and Death (resurrected bodies of the souls in Hades) will be cast into hell. That is still yet to come.
In the meantime, Satan walks about on the earth, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8). He is the prince of the power of the air, but He no longer has access to God's throne in the third heaven or Paradise. (2 Corinthians 12) Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." The souls of believers go now to be with our Lord and Savior in Paradise. As good as that is, it only is going to get better (2 Corinthians 5:1-10) because there is coming a day when resurrected, glorified bodies will unite with souls in Paradise, and all God's children will dwell with God in a new heaven and a new earth. (Revelation 21 & 22)
So the counterpart of Paradise or Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22) is Hades. The counterpart of a new heaven and a new earth is hell or the lake of fire. Satan was in God's presence at one time, and at a future time he will be in Gehenna (hell). The souls of unbelievers are in Hades now, and they will be in hell later with their resurrected bodies. The souls of believers are in Paradise now (or we can call it heaven as in the third heaven; the atmosphere is the first heaven, outer space is the second heaven, and God's throne is the third heaven), but they will be in a new heaven and a new earth with their resurrected bodies.
No matter how good it is in this life for unrepentant unbelievers, the worst is yet to come. No matter how bad it may get in this life for repentant believers, the worst is always behind them and the best is yet to come.
The 1/3 angels were cast out with Satan at the cross. We are doing battle against this army of evil, called authorities, principalities, powers, spiritual forces of wickedness, etc. Misconceptions abound about the topic of spiritual warfare, and how we actually do battle against Satan today. We will save that for another day.
There is Hades. There is Hell. But there is something else called Tartarus or the bottomless pit or the abyss. Satan is not there either, but somebody or I should say many spirits are there. Who are they, and where did they come from, and why are they there? Even if you didn't ask those questions, I'm glad I did, because now I have something to write about next time.
