If God made everything in six, 24-hour days at the beginning of time, when did he make the angels? Were they already there, or did he make them when he made everything else?
Moreover, when did Satan fall? We know he was in the Garden with Adam and Eve not long after creation was complete, and he clearly was up to no good. So, he had to fall before then. But when?
The bad news is, the Bible doesn’t give us these answers directly. There is no verse that says, “Angels were created at such-and-such a time and fell at such-and-such a time later.”
To figure out these things, we need to look at several verses and piece together the answer. But don’t be discouraged. The Bible gives us all we need to do this. Let's take a look now!
When were angels created?
Whenever they were, it had to be before Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden. Why? Because for him (an angel) to show up in the Garden, angels must have already been created (I can’t show up at the grocery store if I have not yet been born).
Once we understand this, there are really only two options for when angels were created. They were either created 1) before time began or 2) somewhere between the first day of creation week and Satan’s appearance in the Garden.
Want the latest e-mail updates from Dr. Moore? Sign up here.
Before time or on a specific day?
Ezekiel 28:13 says Satan was created on a “day” in time. There the Lord says, “The workmanship of [Satan’s] timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.”
The Hebrew word used here for “day” is yom, the same word used for “day” in the Genesis creation account. This likely means that Satan was created sometime during creation week and not before time began.
Which day were they created?
Job 38:4-7 helps us understand which day or days this could have been. In this passage, the Lord asks Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. … When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
In these verses, the Lord is referring to the day in creation week when he “laid the foundations of the earth.” On whatever day this was, the sons of God (another name for angels) “shouted for joy.”
In other words, the angels were watching when God made the earth’s foundation, therefore, they had to have been created before this. So, when did God lay the earth’s foundation?
Depending on exactly what the Lord meant in this passage in Job, it was either on Day 1 (when he “created the heavens and the earth”) or on Day 3 (when he caused the dry land to come up out of the water, Genesis 1:9-10). The angels were created, then, either on Day 1 or by Day 3 of creation week.
When did Satan fall?
Again, there are two options. He could have fallen sometime between when he was created and when he appeared in the Garden, or he could have fallen after the end of creation week and his appearance in the Garden.
It is unlikely that he fell before the end of creation week. When God finished creating on Day 6, he said that everything he made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). He would not have said this if a third of the angels had already rebelled.
They probably didn’t fall on Day 7 either, because God “blessed it and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3). Again, it’s hard to see God doing this if a massive angelic rebellion had just taken place.
For these reasons, it is most likely that Satan fell sometime between Day 8 (just after creation week ended) and his appearance in the Garden of Eden. We are not sure exactly what day this was, but some say it could have been up to two weeks later (Day 21).
To Summarize...
So, there you have it. The angels were created either on Day 1 or by Day 3 of creation week, and Satan most likely fell sometime between Day 8 and his appearance in the Garden of Eden.