“Our first parents, begin seduced by the subtilty and temptations of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory” (VI. 1).
It has already been shown from Scripture that God does not have any permissive decrees. By comparing Acts 14:16 with other Scriptures, it is evident that the true and full sense is that the language found in said verse is clearly figurative. It has also been demonstrated that God caused the fall of Satan and then Adam for His own glory. Previously, it was stated that one of the purposes God had for the fall of Adam was to impute sin to and thus condemn all whom he represented (Romans 5:18). This was done in order that just as all whom Adam represented died, so all whom Christ represented shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
And what of the purpose of God to cause Satan to fall from his former position? It must be clearly stated that there is no mystery about how a once holy angel fell and rebelled against God. There is absolutely no mystery as to the origin of evil in the angelic realm. People want to make it mysterious and complicated because they don’t want the God of the Bible to be their God.
As was said before, this is all part of God’s predetermined plan. His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:11). He desires to pour out mercy on some (Titus 3:3-7) and to harden others (John 12:37-41). He desires to show wrath against some by eternally appointing them to stumble at the Stone of stumbling (1 Peter 2:7-8) and to show mercy towards others by eternally ordaining that Christ would be the Lamb slain for His people (1 Peter 1:20). And so, God desiring to show His wrath and to make His power known, not only ordained and caused the fall, but also ordained and caused the fall of Satan. Why cause Satan’s fall? In order that Jesus Christ might be glorified in crushing the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15); glorified in destroying the devil’s work (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8); glorified in plundering the strong-man’s goods (Matthew 12:29); glorified in turning those for whom He died from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18); glorified in turning them from darkness to light (1 Peter 2:9).
Agrammatos 