Part 1
Today we are talking about our enemy the Devil! He is known as Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Evil One, the Father of Lies, the Angel of Light, the Dragon, the Deceiver, the Ruler of this World and the god of this age – these are among his many names.
And our difficult question of the day is this; “Why did God create the Devil when he knew he would lead a rebellion against him, and why create him in the first place? Why not just destroy him rather than let him spread misery?
The Bible opens not with the beginning of evil, but with the sudden appearance of unexplained evil. Man is created innocent, and the serpent appears out of nowhere. The serpent is deceitful and opposed to the God of creation. That is where the Bible begins. No explanation is offered at that point for how Satan became evil.
Someone put it this way: If God is so wise, why did He create the devil, and if He is so strong, why doesn’t He simply get rid of him? These are the questions we will attempt to answer. Significantly, God did not create an evil Satan. God created a good angel, who used his free will to reject God and become evil.
But first I think we need to establish whether or not there is a Devil. Most of the world today pictures the devil as a mythical two-horned, fork-tailed impish creature, dressed in red flannel underwear, busily pitching coal into the furnaces of hell! He is often the butt of stand-up comedians, via “the devil made me do it” jokes![i]
Scripture, however, describes him as a roaring lion devouring the unsuspecting.
George Banna’s research, shows that almost half of evangelicals in the United States deny (or doubt) the existence of Satan, seeing him as only a symbol of all that is evil.[ii]
The Bible, however, takes him very seriously. The devil is mentioned in seven Old Testament books – Genesis, 1 Chronicles, Job (12 times), Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. He is found in 19 New Testament books and is referred to by every New Testament writer. He is referred to by our Lord Jesus Christ some 15 times.[iii]
We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea, but rather a personal being who is our mortal enemy. This disciple of doubt seems to thrive best when he is either underestimated, ignored or denied.
It is eye-opening to realize that there is scarcely a culture, tribe, or society in this world that does not have some concept or fear of an invisible evil spirit. Witch doctors, shrunken heads, voodoo dolls, and totem poles all give dramatic evidence of this universal fear. Only eternity will reveal how many millions of human beings have been cruelly slaughtered upon grisly, blood soaked altars to appease some invisible evil power. One may well ask where this fear came from and of whom are they afraid.[iv] If there isn’t a Devil, why is there a nearly universal fear of him? If there isn’t a devil, where does evil come from?
Let us begin our journey today by looking at the fall of Satan as recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15.
Can an “ideal” being be tempted?
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Isaiah 14:12-15
This passage is known as the 5 “I wills’” of Satan, and explains the reason for his fall from grace. There are 5 ambitions that Lucifer had in his heart to accomplish:
- I will ascend into heaven. …to assault and take over God’s domain & kingdom.
- I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. His desire to sit on the throne and be absolute ruler.
- I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. His desire to be worshiped, followed and idolized by all the angels.
- I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Clouds represent God’s glory. This is his desire to be number one and to be glorious.
- I will be like the Most High. This is Satan’s desire to replace the almighty God with himself!
These are 5 things Satan wanted. You might even say he coveted them. So perhaps covetousness was the first sin. He wanted power, position, worship and adoration. He wanted to take God’s position!
It doesn’t really matter what he wanted, what matters is the question, “could he covet, and did he?” Being created as an ideal or perfect being does not mean that Satan had everything there was to have; it means he was in every way without physical, mental, or spiritual need. He didn’t “need” anything to complete himself.
However, he was created with the ability to reason that there was more he could have; he was created with a desire to be able to want it; and he did have the freedom to be able to go and try to get it. He must have come to the place where he thought he could take God’s glory from Him!
SATAN WAS ABLE NOT TO SIN, HUMANS ARE NOT ABLE TO NOT SIN. (I know it’s bad grammar, but it illustrates the point). Satan sinned because despite his nature he wanted to sin. Humans sin because we are compelled by our nature to sin.
As an example, there are a lot of things I could do if I wanted to. I could eat dirt, but I have no interest in it! I am not compelled by my nature to eat dirt. But what if I came to the conclusion that mud pie had something to offer me that my food could not! What if I thought that God was wrongfully withholding mud pie from me? I could eat it if I wanted to, because even though I have no inborn compulsion to eat it, I have the ability to do so. And that is what Satan did.
Satan carefully planned and he actually thought that he could become God by deposing God. But, so sorry, It just can’t be done because God is almighty. These statements reveal Satan’s sin, his rebellion, his self-exaltation, and his all-encompassing pride and arrogance.
Why didn’t God just Destroy Satan?
I want you to know that God did not just sit idly by while Satan carried out his master plan of attack. God did not destroy Satan, because, like humans, angels are eternal beings. Snuffing Satan out of existence is not an option. But, God did do something drastic in response to Satan’s sin. Three severe judgments were passed on to Satan – Here’s how God judged him:
His Fall: (12) He has fallen from his position in Heaven. He was kicked out of his position as arch angel and could no longer live in heaven.
His Grounding: (12) He was cut down to the earth. He was stripped of his heavenly position and cast down to the earth. God did not immediately imprison him, but instead allowed him to walk to and fro on the earth tempting another one of God’s creatures: humans. We will talk about why he did that in a moment.
His End: (15) He will be imprisoned in the bottomless pit, and eventually, he will be cast into the lake of fire.
Satan’s path is always a downward path. What can we gather from this to help us answer our question? “Why didn’t God immediately destroy Satan?” So much pain and suffering could have been avoided if he had just stopped him before Adam sinned!
Here’s the answer: God allowed Satan to become the tempter because it was within His sovereign plan. Ephesians 1:11 says that, “God works all things after the counsel of His own will.” God even uses evil for His good purposes (Ge 50:20; Prov 16:4). This is somehow part of God’s all-wise plan.
If God had chosen to end Satan immediately with a show of superior force, there would be a danger that everyone else would follow out of fear rather than love. What God wants are people who love and serve Him voluntarily, not merely because they are afraid of Him.
And I might suggest that reason for it is that God desires worshipers who will voluntarily love and worship him in Spirit and truth, despite the scandalous pull of sin and Satan. A world without freedom is not a good world at all! As long as God offers freedom to his creation, the free moral agents (angels and men) would possess the ability to do good or evil. So the question is not about Satan’s existence, it is more about the presence of freedom.
Couldn’t God have reached the same goal without Satan? Yes, I suppose so. But if you really want to test the loyalty and love of an individual, put temptation in front of him! Then you will see just how trustworthy and pure his heart is. Satan is one of the trials in life that are placed in your life to test you and to try humanity, to see which ones will go to the dark side, and which ones will cry to the Savior, and hold fast to Jesus.
Here’s another reason; if God had destroyed Satan immediately, how would anyone really know God’s way was best? No one had dared to try an alternative. God gave Satan a chance to demonstrate his alternative system. That’s why he was given an opportunity to make his pitch to Adam and Eve. This planet has become a testing ground where the character of Satan and the nature of his kingdom are contrasted with the character of God and the nature of His kingdom.
[i] https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=will_know
[ii] https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=will_know
[iii] https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=will_know
[iv] https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=will_know
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