How do we know that Satan is still alive? Where is the evidence? There is so much unwarranted speculation?

Darius

God does something artificial, one could say, to allow Satan to continue to live. If God had left Satan to reap the full consequences of his sin, he would have died long ago.

Back to the question of human beings being burned alive by fire as punishment for their sins, how do you see this working? It seems to me, given the description of the earth as a lake of fire, and the knowledge that beneath the earth's crust, which is much thinner than an egg shell comparatively (as the flood waters were underneath the earth's crust before the flood), that the fire being spoken of is molten lava. Molten lava, being composed of different material than water, is around 1200 degrees centigrade (as opposed to water, which is, of course, 100 degrees) or over 2100 degrees fahrenheit. The wicked are resurrected with the same bodies they had when they went to the grave, bodies which might exist for about 5 seconds or so in such temperatures.

Does God do something more to keep satan alive than He does to keep anyone else alive? That including unfallen angels..

At the beginning of the great controversy, the angels did not understand this. Had Satan and his host then been left to reap the full result of their sin, they would have perished; but it would not have been apparent to heavenly beings that this was the inevitable result of sin.

The men of Noah's time, in their philosophy and worldly wisdom, thought God could not destroy the world with a flood, for the waters of the ocean could not be sufficient for this. But God made the philosophy and science of men foolishness when the time had fully come to execute his word. The inspired pen describes the earth as standing out of the water and in the water. God had his weapons concealed in the bowels of the earth to compass her destruction. (ST 1/3/78)

Regarding the flood waters being under the earth's crust, Scripture tells us that the waters burst forth from the great depths. The flood models I have seen designed by Creation scientists have the flood starting by waters erupting into the earth's atmosphere, and then descending as rain.

From EGW:



I seem to remember a statement somewhere, similar to this, that talks about how there were those who argued that there was not enough water in the atmosphere to do the damage Noah was prophesying, but that they did not know about the waters beneath the earth's surface.

The whole earth was covered with the Flood waters, and the world that then existed was destroyed by the very waters out of which the earth had originally emerged at God's command (Genesis 1:9; 2 Peter 3:5,6). But where did those waters go after the flood?

There are a number of Scripture passages that identify the flood waters with the present-day seas (Amos 9:6 and Job 38:8-11 note “waves”). If the waters are still here, why are the highest mountains not still covered with water, as they were in Noah's day? Psalm 104 suggests an answer. After the waters covered the mountains (verse 6), God rebuked them and they fled (verse 7); the mountains rose, the valleys sank down (verse 8) and God set a boundary so that they will never again cover the earth (verse 9)[1]. They are the same waters!

Isaiah gives this same statement that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth (Isaiah 54:9). Clearly, what the Bible is telling us is that God acted to alter the earth's topography. New continental landmasses bearing new mountain chains of folded rock strata were uplifted from below the globe-encircling waters that had eroded and leveled the pre-Flood topography, while large deep ocean basin were formed to receive and accommodate the Flood waters that then drained off the emerging continents.
Mountains & Water

That is why the oceans are so deep, and why there are folded mountain ranges. Indeed, if the entire earth's surface were leveled by smoothing out the topography of not only the land surface but also the rock surface on the ocean floor, the waters of the ocean would cover the earth's surface to a depth of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers). We need to remember that nearly 70 percent of the earth's surface is still covered by water. Quite clearly, then, the waters of Noah's Flood are in today's ocean basins.(http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-floodwater.html)

God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as His instruments. They are not self-acting....

It is not by inherent power that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God's power continually exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation. (MH 416)

The glory of God, which gives life to the righteous, slays the wicked. God's glory will be everywhere. As soon as God stops the intervention which allows Satan to continue living, he will die.

Back to the question of human beings being burned alive by fire as punishment for their sins, how do you see this working? It seems to me, given the description of the earth as a lake of fire, and the knowledge that beneath the earth's crust, which is much thinner than an egg shell comparatively (as the flood waters were underneath the earth's crust before the flood), that the fire being spoken of is molten lava. Molten lava, being composed of different material than water, is around 1200 degrees centigrade (as opposed to water, which is, of course, 100 degrees) or over 2100 degrees fahrenheit. The wicked are resurrected with the same bodies they had when they went to the grave, bodies which might exist for about 5 seconds or so in such temperatures.
So how do the wicked survive for 5 days? How does one here understand God's actions to be more like the actions of Jesus Christ then medieval torturers? If the wicked need to be punished to pay off some debt, then why not allow them to do so in a humane way? Like how Satan is tied to the earth for 1,000 years, with an opportunity to consider what he has done. That's humane. Why burn them alive for days upon end? How is this "justice"?

God could restrain His glory for ever, and could sustain Satan’s life for ever. The fact that He chooses not to do so shows that He takes the initiative to destroy sin. Sin will not destroy itself.

God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as His instruments. They are not self-acting....

It is not by inherent power that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God's power continually exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation....

The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood; it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. It is not as the result of a mechanism, which, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath. In God we live and move and have our being. The beating heart, the throbbing pulse, every nerve and muscle in the living organism, is kept in order and activity by the power of an ever-present God. (MH 416, 417)

But turning from all lesser representations, we behold God in Jesus. Looking unto Jesus we see that it is the glory of our God to give. "I do nothing of Myself," said Christ; "the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father." "I seek not Mine own glory," but the glory of Him that sent Me. John 8:28; 6:57; 8:50; 7:18. In these words is set forth the great principle which is the law of life for the universe. (DA 21)

We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. (GC 36)