Satan

Chapter One – Satan

Who is Satan?

Satan was created as a good angel on the 1st day, along with all the other angels. Mankind was created on the 6th day, and the fall of mankind happened some time after the 7th day.

Satan was somehow the serpent who tempted and deceived Eve, beguiling her. I know Satan was the brains, the serpent was the brawn. I don’t know exactly how this worked. But that Satan was the serpent is confirmed in:

Rev 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Gen 3:1-5 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

After the serpent beguiled Eve, and she and Adam ate, then the serpent was physically cursed and the serpent(s) made enemies with Eve’s seed.

Gen 14-15 “The LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed;”

This speaks to the fact that humans and snakes have had enmity between them ever since. Spiritually, Satan and his seed are made enemies of God and  God’s people, and Satan’s eventual defeat by Jesus Christ was prophesied:

Gen 15-16 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The meaning of this ties into a couple other passages of scripture:

John 8:42-44 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

One meaning is that when human beings reject Jesus, they are not children of God, but children of Satan, spiritually.
As Jesus also said in Matt 12:30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” Another relevant verse is:

Rev 12:13, 17 “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child…So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Another way to look at this is that the church is made of the children of God. Eve, Sarah, the nation of Israel, Mary, and the church are all reflective of the woman, and her children are Christians, all Christians from the time of Jesus onwards to now, and Abraham’s true children of Old Testament times, who were declared righteous by their faith. These are all the spiritual seed of the woman. The seed of the serpent is anyone who is spiritually evil, whether they are fallen angels or sinful humans.  This prophecy deals with the spiritual battle between good and evil, and how eventually Jesus Christ would come to triumph over the spiritual leader of those who are evil, Satan.

Satan’s full story is summarized in these prophetic portions of scripture: Eze 28, Isa 14, and Rev 12 & 20. We are going to look at these portions trying to parallel their content, to get a general idea of who Satan is.

Eze 28:11-15 “Then this further message came to me from the LORD: “Son of man, weep for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone–red carnelian, chrysolite, white moonstone, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald–all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. 15Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” 

The King of Tyre here refers to the Spiritual ruler of Tyre at the time, who was Satan. On the first day Satan received special clothes made of precious stones, and later was in Eden. That means when God “created the heavens” on the first day, Satan was created and on that first day he received special clothes, laden with precious jewels and stones. Later, after God made Eden, on the 6th day, Satan was in Eden.

Satan was at that time the “perfection of wisdom”. What does this mean? Psalm 111:10 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” And so we can know that early on Satan feared God, because Satan had wisdom. This is probably why Satan somehow used a snake to work through in Eden, so that someone else would take much of the blame for the temptation. Satan is known for tempting others to sin. As we delve Satan’s history more this same pattern repeats, that Satan skirts around himself receiving total blame for anything done wrong, by tempting others to sin so that blame is placed on them. Satan is several times described as the “accuser” and this description fits into a pattern of tempting or influencing others to sin, then accusing them for making their own free will choice to sin.

Satan was ordained and anointed as the mighty angelic guardian. What does that mean? The explanation is that Satan was the cherubim mentioned in:

Gen 3:24, “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”

This is the only “mighty angelic guardian” ordained and anointed, that is mentioned in reference to the time of Eden. In general, keeping people from the Tree of Life and thus immortality resulted in a focus on death, as well as authority over those that will die. Satan is the angel of death, insomuch as he is the angel responsible for keeping people from life by keeping them from the tree of life. And what is death but the eventual result of not being able to sustain life?

This might seem rather odd, that after deceiving Adam and Eve to fall into sin, that God would anoint Satan to be the one to keep them from the Tree of Life. But it has to be kept in mind that Satan did not force Adam and Eve to sin, but rather he tempted them to and they sinned of their own free will. Additionally, the snake was somehow used by Satan in this temptation, and was punished by having to crawl on his belly, receiving some share of the punishment. Satan was prophesied against to be defeated by the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, but the snake seemed to be a scapegoat for the most immediate punishment. The reason it actually is not so odd that Satan was anointed to guard the Tree of Life, is because God has a pattern shown throughout the Bible of giving people over to their own sinful desires.

Rom 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient”

2 Thes 2:10-11 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Judg 10:13-14  Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

Another great example is in 1 Sam 8 where the people insisted upon a King over Israel, rejecting God, and though they were warned by God that a King would dominate them, when the people insisted, God let them have a King.

So as Satan seemed to have a goal of people dying, and an interest in God’s trees, God made it Satan’s job to make sure people did die, by keeping them away from the Tree of Life, letting Satan be free to pursue his goal. Kinda like, “Oh, so you want to be the tree-death guy? Ok, here, be the tree-death guy to your heart’s content.”

But here’s the clincher: if people had eaten of the Tree of Life while in a state of sin, these people would have become evil immortals spiritually. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil brought about a spiritual death that eventually resulted in a physical death. It seems like God was letting Satan work against humanity by keeping them from life, and perhaps it seemed that way to Satan at the time. But what happens when Jesus Christ saves a person? The person’s dead spirit is born again by the Holy Spirit, to new life. If people had eaten of the Tree of Life, making them spiritually immortal and in a sinful state eternally, that would not have been possible. As such, what really happened here is that Satan’s responsibility in keeping people from the Tree of Life, made sure that people would someday be able to be born again by Jesus Christ to eternal salvation! Satan’s job was essentially to make sure the way was paved for Jesus Christ to be able to give people eternal life and thus to triumph over Satan.
Oh! How God is not mocked.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Gal 6:7

[And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Col 2:15

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. Rom 8:28

At this time, in Eden, it seems true that “iniquity was found” in Satan (Isa 14). However, at this time it seems he had not yet actually technically sinned himself, but rather had just tempted others to sin.

This is confirmed in that even in the time of Job, thought to be a contemporary of Abraham, Satan was still able to appear before God in heaven. Satan had not yet been cast out of heaven due to sin.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
Job 1:6

“Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” SoSatan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Job 2:1-2

If Job was a contemporary of Abraham, then this means Satan was still not kicked out of heaven as of around 1700 BC. There maybe is another example dating to around 520 BC which shows Satan still being allowed in heaven:

“Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”
Zec 2:13, 3:1-2

By this time God had to rebuke or correct Satan for wanting to oppose what God was about to do. Seeing Satan’s intent, God rebuked Satan before he actively said or did anything. It seems it was later that Satan did technically commit sin, personally committing an action of direct disobedience to God:

Eze 28:16-17 “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”

This prophecy indicates that Satan sinned due to the “multitude of merchandise” that he had, and that shortly after Satan sinned he was cast out of heaven “the mountain of God” and down to the ground.
When did Satan sin?

 “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”  And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Luke 4:5-8

In Satan tempting Jesus Christ to worship him, Satan sinned. We are going to cover this in more detail later, but after the flood God set Holy angels over nations of men, to be their set messenger angels and to look after justice among the nations of men. (Deu 32:8 LXX, Heb 2:5, Psa 82) More power was later given to Satan by these angels that subsequently fell. By Jesus’ time it was true for Jesus to call Satan the “prince of this world” because these other angels had also fallen and handed their power over to Satan.  Satan’s “multitude of merchandise” mentioned in Eze 28 were the many kingdoms that had come under his power, delivered to him by other angels who had fallen after receiving positions of responsibility over the nations. In the midst of all this was violence. And so the “multitude of merchandise” in Eze 28 parallels “all the kingdoms of the world… this has been delivered to me” in Luke 4 (also Matt 4:8-10). During the temptation of Jesus Christ is when Satan sinned, when Satan tried to tempt God Himself to worship him.

Therefore, shortly after, God cast Satan out of heaven permanently. After Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, after His resurrection, there was a war in heaven and Satan and all the fallen angels were cast out of heaven permanently, and down to the earth. This is detailed in Revelation 12.

“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Rev 12:1-9

The woman with twelve stars on her head is symbolic of Mary, an Israelite. Her male child is the “seed of the woman” Jesus Christ, who is identified in Rev 19:15 to be the one who will “rule all nations with a rod of iron”. The child being “snatched up to God and His throne” is Jesus’ ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, after His resurrection. Satan and his angels were not kicked out of heaven until shortly after Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, which was when this angelic war took place.

What follows next is a piece of prophecy in Isaiah 14. It covers from the time Satan was cast down to Earth after Jesus’ ascension and the war in heaven. It also covers how Satan persecuted people in wrath. It covers that there is much rejoicing when Satan loses his power, and is brought low being bound for 1000 years in the Abyss, and the earth is at rest and people sing.

That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Isa 14:4-17

This parallels Satan first being cast down to the Earth as is in Revelation 12, “how art thou fallen from heaven… thou art cut down to the ground”.  The part which reads “He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger,” parallels Rev 12 again:

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, 
 because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.  But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.  Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
Rev 12:10-17

Next Isa 14 prophesies of Satan’s 1000 year imprisonment in the pit, the Abyss, during Jesus’ millennial reign. It is during this time that “the whole earth is at rest, and is quiet”.  The passage paralleling this is Revelation 20:1-4

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Rev 20:1-4

Satan is cast and bound in the “bottomless pit” for 1000 years, a place which is also called the “Abyss”. This is followed by Satan’s brief release, and then Satan being permanently cast into the lake of fire.

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.  And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Rev 20:7-10

This release, then casting into the lake of fire of Satan parallels the rest of Ezekiel 28, speaking of Satan’s destruction:

Eze 28:18-19 “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will
I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”

And so that is the story of Satan in a nutshell, past, present, and future. Today, Jesus Christ has already triumphed over death and the power of Satan.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Heb 2:14-15

I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Rev 1:18

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel 2 Tim 1:10

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.  Luke 10:19

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A Modern Guide to Demons and Fallen Angels © 2007-2013
Paradox Brown

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