The goal of this content is to explain who Satan is and expose his lies.
A short examination about Satan seems appropriate for this era since many people have an exaggerated concept of what he is and what he can do. The misconception of Satan then integrates with distorted concepts of eschatology. In the other direction, Satan may influence eschatology. I won’t claim that Satan is behind all the misunderstandings of eschatology, but he influences many views and propagates lies. That is just my disclaimer as I introduce the actual topic.
I will present a novel concept that seems to have been overlooked. Since it is novel, there may both be rash rejections of it but there could also be errors in my perception. The important interest regards a balanced view of Satan’s ability and his nature. I may note later –as well as now– of the scriptures lack of emphasis of this creature since scripture focuses more on God’s work of redemption in the world.
Satan has greatly lied about who and what he is, as we can see in society and religion around us. As his basic identity, I note that he originates as one like the beasts of the field (Gen 3:1). We should recognize him as a creature of those found in Genesis 1 and 2. However, he is different too, not quite the cold-blooded serpent—limited in lifespan— that might be expected solely from Gen 3:1. Instead, he has had access to God (Job 1) and has been reasonably seen as a prosecutor who both leads people into evil and accuses them. His essence then is not purely physical but exists in a fashion that is unseen. However, he is not a fallen angel, as will be addressed.
He basically functions as a bottom feeder. He cleans up the debris, which is anything susceptible or inclined to evil. Consequently, he attracted the woman in the garden to eat the forbidden fruit, if she would comply. He tempted Jesus to disobey God if possible. In such efforts, he functionally is there to attract and expose evil, as a way to clean the earth of it. That is the same thing we see in Rev 20:7–9, where the nations are deceived and try to come against the Christians. He then likely was influencing the four empires of Daniel for following evil and being arrogant. I think also that the arrogance of the king of Assyria in Isaiah 10 basically describes the arrogance of Satan — but my point is just about similarity rather than the actual message in Isaiah 10.
One lie forms in chapter 14 shortly after Isaiah 10 and is used to enhance his influence by claiming to be Lucifer. This is a super obvious misreading since “lucifer” is a Latin word meaning “morning star” rather than a Hebrew name. We understand further that anyone following Lucifer is following a lie. The first reason is there is no creature named Lucifer within scripture. Consequently, anything people believe about features attributed to Lucifer are false, since only real creature is known as Satan. But religions are built around this false idea of Lucifer as being found in scripture.
The additional lies derived from the misapplication of Isaiah 14 include Satan being thought to have an angelic role around God. Isaiah 14 fully explains the king of Babylon in his pride and self-estimation using exalted poetic language. Isaiah prophesies of the eventual reign of Nebuchadnezzar, whose pride is apparent in Daniel 2, where he makes a great statue to his own glory. No reason exists to extend this language literally to another creature. Albeit, there can be a similarity of the serpent in Gen 3:14 as being restricted to life on its belly with Isa 14:14–15 of the king seeing himself like the Most High but cast down to the pit. The pattern can be used for various unrelated purposes. Furthermore, by claiming association of himself with Isaiah 14, Satan claims to a higher status than he ever has had. He appropriates the image of scriptures to create a false grandiose status. The true application of Isaiah 14 toward Nebuchadnezzar helps to see Isaiah’s insight into the Babylonian captivity and to provide some comfort to the Israel people in their exile and beyond. In this setting, Isaiah 14 has a clear focus on preparing people of faith for the future instead of a statement about Satan without any context.
Still, scripture does show Satan as influencing the governments.
Gen 3:15 suggests the crushing of Satan’s head as a disabling of political power. Also, Rom 16:20 speaks of the crushing of Satan, which may provide a reminder of the end of government persecution of Christians. We see this influence and deception of the nations from the Rev 20:7–9 text and indicating the type of deception in Rev 20:3. The deception also appears in Rev 12:9–10. That deception is in the accusations made against Christians.
What are we trying to solve here?
I think the idea of a fall of Satan is basically uncoordinated in the views held my most people. Some see Rev 12:9 as the fall from heaven but Isaiah 14 would have been earlier if it applied. The fall in Rev 12:9 would be out of sequence with Genesis 3:1, which, if Satan were an angel, would seem to have been his fall when said to be confined to his belly. This would be long before Revelation events. Additionally, Rom 16:20 shows another period for Satan being crushed.
Especially in Luke 10:18, Jesus mentions seeing Satan fall like lightning from heaven in response to the seventy who went to share news of Jesus and the kingdom. That appears to be Jesus expressing that this subjection of demons and the loss of Satan’s power was to happen in this sharing of the message by the seventy or the start of the kingdom. One point that should be obvious is that Jesus expressed this fall as the present tense expression of something to actually happen later in the century.
We should ask “Is Satan an angelic being?” In any strict sense, the answer is “No.”
There is no mention of Satan being an angel. Even in Rev 12:9, he is identified as the dragon, not of angels. The verse may speak of his presence in the heavens without being an angel or this may reflect his influence on the earth without angelic status. It is interesting in Daniel that neither Gabriel nor Michael appear to confront Satan, as would make sense if Satan were an angel. It seems the main sense is not an actual presence in heaven, but rather it is the reach of influence of Satan over the nations being represented within scriptures. His so-called angels then are those nations and people who fall under the deceit that leads to them acting against the Christians. Whatever the exact details are, the focus is on the power of Satan over the nations and his confrontation of the Christians.
We can add that Satan, as the accuser, brought fear of death to the people. This following text describes Christ undoing Satan’s power as shared in Hebrews 2:14–15 (NKJV)
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
There may be more ways that Satan has influenced the world and nations, but scripture has been focused on Christ, not Satan. People may even find more passages to consider, but this should be a good overview of what Satan was doing and what he can do in bringing forth an attempt against Christians as in Rev 20:7-9. I hope this will help people have a better sense of balance rather than thinking that Satan functions as an independent force equal in power to God.
For video version of this, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4lWPXMrKD0
Authored by Mike S. Whitney parablesofthemysteries.com
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