Humans have a conscience and it will be fully awakened in hell. This worm will gnaw and never die. But, can the same be said of Satan? Does he have a conscience? And if so, is he convicted of sin?
Why does this matter? Does it make a difference if Satan has a conscience or not? Yes it does. If he possesses a conscience then he may in turn feel conviction for his sin. I am not saying that he is convicted now but will upon being consigned to the lake of fire. If he is capable of being convicted of his evil and has a conscience that will gnaw as an undying worm for eternity, then it follows that man may be convicted and tormented by the law and his sin and not be converted. It may not be the workings of the Spirit, but only something common to all men and the devils themselves. Let me at length quote Jonathan Edwards and then unpack my argument.
it can be no certain sign of grace, that persons have had great convictions of sin. Suppose they have had their sins of life, with their aggravations, remarkably set before them, so as greatly to affect and terrify them; and withal, have had a great sight of the wickedness of their hearts, the greatness of the sin of unbelief, and of the unexcusableness and heinousness of their most secret spiritual iniquities. Perhaps they have been convinced of the utter insufficiency of their own righteousness, and they despair of being recommended to God by it; have been convinced that they are wholly without excuse before God, and deserve damnation; and that God would be just in executing the threatened punishment upon them, though it be so dreadful. All these things will be in the ungodly at the day of judgment, when they shall stand with devils, at the left hand, and shall be doomed as accursed to everlasting fire with them.
Indeed there will be no submission in them. Their conscience will be convinced that God is just in their condemnation; but yet their wills will not be bowed to God’s justice. There will be no acquiescence of mind in that divine attribute; no yielding of the soul to God’s sovereignty, but the highest degree of enmity and opposition. A true submission of the heart and will to the justice and sovereignty of God, is therefore allowed to be something peculiar to true converts, being something which the devils and damned souls are and ever will be far from; and to which a mere work of the law, and convictions of conscience, however great and clear, will never bring men (Works of Jonathan Edwards vol. 2:44 [sermon entitled True Grace Distinguished From the Experience of Devils]
Edwards is speaking of men and their consciences. But it can be applied to the devil and demons. They too will stand before the enthroned King and receive there just penalty for millennia of rebellion and evil.
What is the conscience? It is the ability and awareness to know right from wrong. There is something within us that makes known the law of God and when it has been broken and disobeyed. This is a common grace that God has bestowed upon mankind and civilization. It restrains sin, guides laws, and enforces justice. Because humanity has a conscience we can judge between what is lawful and what is not. We can then punish evildoers. We have a sense of justice; something within cries out when we or someone else is wronged. Our conscience is not perfect, however. It can be seared, numbed, ignored, silenced by years of sin, and taken away by God as judgment in order to procure a stricter punishment at a later time. This judicial hardening is a terrifying reality that makes plain some of the most horrific and dastardly deeds that history records.
Satan, it will be admitted, does not have a conscience now per say. But, having seen what he saw, and heard what he did in heaven, he is aware of his sin and the God he is offending. God’s common grace does not reach the fallen angels. Yet, as creations of God they would be endowed with an impression of his laws. They would be aware of his holiness and perfect standards and the judgment that would come upon any who rebelled and chose to disobey. The angels knew what was right and what was wrong; holy and unholy. They did not know by experience (yet), but knew nothing imperfect could dwell in the presence of the Divine.
The devil is totally depraved. Mankind, on the other hand, is radically depraved but not totally. Humanity is not as sinful or evil as it could be. This is due only to God and his grace. Remember, this grace does not extend to fallen angels. Since they are totally depraved, demons only act out from this debased nature. It is their nature to sin and to only sin. Their consciences, that awareness of right and wrong that God’s creatures share, lay dormant until the day of reckoning. While feeling no remorse or sorrow for iniquity, they only sin, and love sinning. Their passion is unholiness, unrighteousness, and wickedness. In a word, they hate God. They go about trying to un-god the One Supreme God.
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