Does God Hate Satan?

I am in a weekly Bible study going over the book of Revelation. It has been a good study so far. The other day we were discussing chapter 12, the woman, the child, the dragon section, and the workbook we have asked us this: “Describe Satan’s relationship with God and his power in comparison to God’s power”.

I talked about how Satan is a created being of God and therefore can’t have as much power as God. Satan wants to have as much power as God and therefore has struggled to achieve power over time. Satan has tried to convince the world about how he has power and how his power is so great. But in the long run it isn’t as great as God’s power. Clearly Satan hates God and what He stands for. He is constantly trying to out do God and to replace himself in human lives where God wants and needs to be. Satan does this in very destructive ways at times, but also in what appears to be pleasant ways at times as well. He does like to lead with honey at times, but it will lead to destruction at the end.

Someone in our group talked about how there are places in Scriputre where it talks about Satan being in heaven. We talked briefly about how that means God allows Satan back into heaven at times, but in the later part of chapter 12 and later in Revelation it is clear that God banishes Satan from heaven altogether.

That got me to thinking about God’s relationship to Satan. Does God hate Satan?

I want to say, “No”. I know that God can’t be in the presence of sin, and Satan is the embodiment of sin. (Well, He can, but He has chosen to separate Himself from all that is sin. He allows sin to occur on this world due to allowing humans to have free will.) But God created Satan. Satan is someone that God has cared greatly about, and so did He stop loving Satan when He had to cast Satan out of heaven for rebelling against Him? Again I want to say, “No”. I believe that God is greatly sadden by the choice Satan, and his allies, made. There is no way for them to redeem themselves for the rebellion they chose, like we can as humans, but it doesn’t mean God hates Satan, does it?

As humans we can rebel against those that love us. And yes, there are many cases where the person that was rebelled against starts to hate that person that rebelled against them. But we are humans and we are flawed, we all have that rebellious nature in use and as a result we can turn to hate. At the same time there are people out there that won’t stop loving that person that rebelled against them. They will not like them as much maybe. They may not want to be around that person. They may not want to interact in any way with that person. But if you were to ask them if they hated the other person the answer would be, “No”. They may know there is no chance for reconciliation with that other person, but they still don’t hate them. And if we, as flawed people, can do that then God certainly can be that way as well.

I believe in the fact that God is the source of Love, and therefore not the source of hate. That leads me back to my current thought of, “Well then, God must not hate Satan.”

That is weird to me. I always assumed God hated Satan for what he did in heaven and what he has done on earth since. But I think that is my human nature what I would feel if that happened to me leaking into how I think God would react, and thankfully God isn’t me.

So, what do you think – Does God HATE Satan?