If Most Go To Hell, Does Satan Get A Last Laugh?

AntiVillain

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?
 

Mark Quayle

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?
Satan will receive justice, precise and thorough. His very rebellion will reap what he receives in the end. He may try to get satisfaction from his efforts and "successes", but they result in further torment for him. He knows he has fit perfectly what God planned for him; I think even now he knows it, yet his hatred drives him to do whatever he does. No wonder he gnashes his teeth! No, he will gain no satisfaction from reflecting on his "successes". They are lost according to God's plan --not because it was Satan's plan, though that was also his plan, his efforts.
 
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ViaCrucis

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?

I think inherent to the problem is in assuming that Jesus' statement is a reference to who will and won't be saved; rather than speaking about the difficulty of following Him and His way.

Also intrinsically problematic is in imagining things as though there is a contest between God and the devil, and the contest is over the souls of mankind. That's a very Zoroastrian idea, and it's also prevalent in a lot of modern religiously-appropriated fiction, because establishing good and evil as two cosmic principles locked in a contest against one another often makes for a fun story.

But God and the devil are not in contest, because the devil is a mere creature. There never was a contest, and the devil is already defeated. The devil was defeated the day Christ rose from the dead. The devil has never been anything more than a rebellious creature, but God has always been the One in control of all things, who from beginning to end knows all things, and has purposed all things toward His glorious purposes which are in Christ our Lord. For all was made by Him and for Him.

The devil gains no victory. The devil has already lost, he already failed, he has already been defeated, and while his time is short he may prowl like a lion seeking to devour--he is still a chained dog.

It's why we Lutherans in our hymn A Mighty Fortress can sing, "One little word shall fell him." It is why St. James can say, "Resist the devil and he will flee". The devil is a defeated dog and a coward. Merely call him a liar and he has nothing left. Preach Christ and the devil runs with his tail tucked between his legs.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Aussie Pete

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?
The opposite. If just one person is saved, Satan loses. Satan is already defeated. Satan thought that he'd outsmarted God by corrupting Adam. All it did was allow the Son of God to come and save all who would receive Him. God 10 billion, Satan nil.

Satan has built the total world system - arts, education, sport, entertainment, commerce, money, science, religion and every human endeavour in competition with God. Satan loses the lot, that's why he clings so grimly to what he has achieved. God gets the last and loudest laugh (Psalm 2)
 
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ajcarey

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No, someone cannot have the last laugh when they are being tormented without ceasing for all of eternity:)

Consider these Scriptures:

"10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied..." (Isaiah 53:10-11a)

"25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27)

"10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2:10)

"9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (Revelation 21:9-11)

Jesus will get His pure and spotless bride who shares His glory with Him. No matter what percentage of mankind that is, He will have what He sought. He sought/seeks quality chiefly, not quantity chiefly. Jesus is also the Final Judge, not Satan. So if Satan should try to claim victory while he is roasting forever in the lake of fire, who cares? He still loses and his opinion means nothing. Likewise with Satan's servants if any of them (all who did not bow to, align with, and submit to Christ to be cleansed, purified, and fitted for His glory) should try to say Satan beat Him or that His goal was wrong.

The fact is He has already accomplished the hardest thing in His battle with the devil and sin; and that is His sinless life, His atoning death, and His glorious resurrection so that the way is paved for us to belong to Him. Satan will not beat Jesus, but if you don't repent and let the Jesus of the Bible reign over you, then Satan will have won by holding you captive on his side to get crushed and defeated with him. Give glory to the Lord, cease all contention with Him, and worship Him in spirit and truth so that the Lord will own you as His when He takes His great power to Himself and reigns. He would be unrighteous to save you otherwise; and He cannot deny Himself and set aside His own Truth for the sake of winning a popularity contest or to make himself more acceptable to man or anything like that.
 
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GaveMeJoy

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I think inherent to the problem is in assuming that Jesus' statement is a reference to who will and won't be saved; rather than speaking about the difficulty of following Him and His way.

Also intrinsically problematic is in imagining things as though there is a contest between God and the devil, and the contest is over the souls of mankind. That's a very Zoroastrian idea, and it's also prevalent in a lot of modern religiously-appropriated fiction, because establishing good and evil as two cosmic principles locked in a contest against one another often makes for a fun story.

But God and the devil are not in contest, because the devil is a mere creature. There never was a contest, and the devil is already defeated. The devil was defeated the day Christ rose from the dead. The devil has never been anything more than a rebellious creature, but God has always been the One in control of all things, who from beginning to end knows all things, and has purposed all things toward His glorious purposes which are in Christ our Lord. For all was made by Him and for Him.

The devil gains no victory. The devil has already lost, he already failed, he has already been defeated, and while his time is short he may prowl like a lion seeking to devour--he is still a chained dog.

It's why we Lutherans in our hymn A Mighty Fortress can sing, "One little word shall fell him." It is why St. James can say, "Resist the devil and he will flee". The devil is a defeated dog and a coward. Merely call him a liar and he has nothing left. Preach Christ and the devil runs with his tail tucked between his legs.

-CryptoLutheran
I feel like he was defeated when he was created honestly. God has always known he would create a rebellious angel who would fall and take most humans with him to hell. God allowed it and it is all part of his plan.

God is not the author of sin, but He is the author of the sinner, from whence the sin comes...
 
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Josheb

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?
It might until you remember three things:

1) satan is also a slave headed for destruction.
The wages of sin is death. Sin enslaves. It causes one's thinking to become futile and one's heart to become darkened. If the tradition of satan as a rebellious angel stripped of his glory and cast out of heaven is true then he too has suffered all the effects of sin and he is in bondage to the consequences of his own disobedience, unrighteousness, and lack of faith.​

2) the destruction of the fiery lake is so thorough that even death itself is destroyed.
Creatures in the midst of their own destruction don't laugh; they're too busy gnashing their teeth. Destroyed creatures don't laugh.​

3) satan is not a free agent. He does only that which he is either commanded to do or permitted to do.
He is a carrion eater. For some misguided reason people think satan roaming the world looking for those he might devour is a fearsome thing, but the truth of that condition is he was once the most noble of all creatures in the heavenly host and now he eats dead folks, earthly creatures dead in sin. He's not eating the adopted regenerate sons and daughters of the Most High God; he's eating dead folks; road kill. It's part of his curse to roam the earth looking for carrion he might devour.​

No, I don't think he's laughing about anything. It's not actually true misery loves company. Misery is a selfish beast that feeds on itself.

Jude 1:6-7
"And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire."
 
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1213

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?

I don’t think he has much reason to laugh, because he loses everything. But it is sadly true that it may console him that he knows that many are destroyed with him.
 
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"Lol, I got more than You!"


I don't expect Satan to do much gloating. He's a narcissistic alpha male; which is a personality that feels very strongly it's not good enough to win; everyone else must lose, viz: people like him will not settle for a market share, no, they will settle for nothing less than the whole market. In their thinking, anything less than 100% market share makes them feel inadequate and less than a success. Were you to ask them what number would satisfy them; they'd likely answer: More.

In Satan's mind "more than you" isn't enough to cheer him up for an LOL. Anything less than all is nothing to brag about because in his mind, there are no second place winners. Ergo, any souls taken by Christ, no matter how few in number, are painful for Satan because that massive ego of his can't, and won't, tolerate the reduction of even one soul in his inventory. In a mind like Satan's, Christ is a thief taking things for himself that rightfully don't belong to him.

According to Rev 12:12, the Devil's final hours characterize him in a very disagreeable mood.

You know; it's not easy to be a devil. The poor creature is stuck with a personality that allows him very little peace of mind, if any.
_
 
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Hazelelponi

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E.g., Matthew 7:13-14:But doesn't this mean he can still go, "Lol, I got more than You!" or something before God sends him to the Lake Of Fire - even though it's meant to be his full defeat?

Satan doesn't want just anyone, He specifically wants to pull God's people away from God.

People outside of Gods covanent follow Satan all the time, and always have.

What Satan would see as a victory would be to pull God's covenanted people away from God's hand - which, for the win, God says is impossible.
 
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