There are many names for Satan: The Devil, Prince of Darkness, Lucifer, the Evil One. We know what he is, but what was he originally? Was Satan an angel?
What Is an Angel and was Satan One?
An angel is a celestial or heavenly being who is commissioned to execute the will and plan of God. The word for angel in the Hebrew and Greek can actually be translated 'messenger.' When we most often think about angels we think of those messengers of God. “Angels are created beings” who “cannot die” and “cannot be numbered.” Humans are typically unable to see angels. Their purpose is to “do the will of God;” to guide and protect believers. Seraphim, cherubim, and archangels work for God.
The Bible never uses with word "angel" to describe Satan but rather that he was was originally a high-ranking angel, specifically a cherub or an angel of significant status. Ezekiel 28:12-17 describes a figure who was an "anointed cherub" placed in a high position in the Garden of Eden but became proud and was cast down due to his corruption and sin - Ezekiel 28:14 (NIV): “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.”
Fallen angels, however, are Satan’s instruments of destruction. “The fallen angels rebelled and became evil angels. Satan is such an angel.” God created all things, including the angels. He “saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Satan, then, was originally good too.
In Revelation 12 we are told of a war in heaven where Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (identified as Satan) and his angels. This indicates that Satan had a significant angelic role before his rebellion. Here we see Satan referred to as a dragon: Revelation 12:9 (NIV): “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.”
What Was Satan and What Happened to Him?
Satan tried to usurp God’s power. With a host of God’s angels on his side, Satan sought to overthrow the Kingdom of God by waging war on the Almighty and His faithful angels. Satan failed and was thrown out of the Kingdom forever with His subjects (Revelation 12:9). They are now Satan’s demons, living in Hell (Matthew 25:41), taunting human beings all the time.
We are told little else about Satan including where his evil intentions started, but since all that God made was good, Satan’s desire for power and yearning to destroy God’s Kingdom came from within.
Satan and his demons lure unbelievers to eternal death by undermining the words of God in the Garden. He continues to tell people that they will not surely die if they eat of the fruit or, in other words, if they try to be their own gods autonomous from the Almighty. They also threaten the peace of believers who, though sealed by the Spirit of God against death for eternity with God, suffer from the effects of sin.
Disguised as a Messenger of Light
Concentrating on the enemy takes one’s eyes off of Jesus, but it is worth recognizing some of his ploys to ensnare the unwary. Satan is a liar — the Father of Lies or Deceiver are two of his names. As a liar, he tells people they do not need God. He tells them they are good and there is no such thing as sin.
He suggests that a small deception is okay — only big lies matter. He tells people that it’s okay to think something as long as they don’t do it (hurting or killing someone; lusting after another man or woman; wanting what someone else has).
Lucifer means “bringer of light,” a name he received in modern times from the belief that Isaiah 14:12 refers to Satan: “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!” Satan brings darkness, not light. Here we see Satan referred to as Lucifer, the Morning Star.
Convinced by the Devil’s deceptions, the Word of God is “folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Bondage to the one true God sounds like slavery in the human sense, not freedom. Christians know that the Father set His people free by attaching them forever to Christ through the Holy Spirit, a bondage that removes the yoke we were carrying before, such as addiction. Satan does not remove the yoke when supposedly “freeing” people from God’s Lordship, but instead hides it, piling the load higher.
Satan tempts one to choose a distraction or a temporary savior to “fix” a problem such as alcohol, in the face of despair. This “temporary soothing savior pushes us into greater self-hate” until “self-condemnation becomes a self-fulfilling loop of prophecy that, over time, becomes more and more inescapable and more and more damaging.”
The temptation could be working too much, excessive exercise, or gossip. While the individual is responsible for acting on the temptation to sin, Satan is adept at crafting its appealing guise.
Misdirection Master
Satan is the expert at misleading people into believing they are obeying God by being good. Screwtape writes to Wormwood “we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything — even to social justice.” The Evil One tempts humans to think:
1. The good they do is their purpose in life and an end in itself. If Christ is not at the center then a person “values Christianity because it may produce social justice,” but God “will not be used as a convenience.”
2. Christianity is a way to get something good out of life, as taught by preachers of the Prosperity Gospel. If Christianity is “a means to their own advancement,” then Christ is not one with Almighty God but merely a personal genie.
Ascetic sects and those who loudly engage in self-denial or generosity attempt to earn salvation and public acclaim, and that’s how Satan likes it. Paul wrote “do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5).
One cannot manipulate God into giving a favorable answer to prayer by doing good things. Fasting leads to a deeper reliance on God and a focused prayer life. We give of our time and energies in order to serve Christ, not to draw attention.
Jesus also told us to do our good works in secret (Matthew 6:1) and to not be “somber” when we fast. Otherwise, when people comment on our self-control and self-denial, we “receive [our] reward in full” (Matthew 6:16). Pride is the pathway to Hell.
Satan Has Limited Power
Satan has a lot of power — consider what he was able to do with the man in the graveyard in Luke 8. He is the “prince of demons” who probably “launched and led [that] heavenly revolt” in which he and his followers fell. Since that time, Satan has ruled this world (John 12:31) with the power to “bind” and to “oppress.”
Once one invites Satan in and keeps Christ out, that person is quickly overcome by the evil one. His deceptions are powerful to unbelievers. Satan, like angels in general, is stronger than human beings. He is not, however, more powerful than the Holy Spirit; nor is the Devil Christ’s “equal opposite.”
God always gives us a helper — His Word is full of examples: Moses and Aaron; Ruth and Naomi; and David and Johnathan. Christians are inhabited by the Spirit of God, their Helper, interceding for us with the Father. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3).
The Spirit is more powerful than Satan or any angel. So, while one should never underestimate the battle that constantly rages around us in the spiritual realm, Satan cannot possess a person who has received salvation from Christ.
Also, while Satan is in charge of this world, God is holding him back from exercising his power to its fullest extent. “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Yahweh controls even Satan. This is the greatest truth for today - Jesus has conquered Satan already.
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