6… and Satan came
also among them.
Who is this Satan anyway? A lot of conclusions have been
drawn from preaching over the centuries. What we know about Satan, from the
text of the Bible here in its oldest book, is that Satan is an individual, not
an idea or a force. We know he could come before God as evidenced here. We can
assume that he can still make his will known to God from Revelation 12:10 where
he is called, “the accuser of our brethren,” who, “accused them [God’s people –
our brethren] before our God day and night.” He is our adversary.
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Satan is called that old Serpent, the Devil and the Dragon.
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
These names are also linked through Isaiah and Job in
likening Satan to a reptilian creature, a dragon being the name that predated
the 19th century word, dinosaur, to describe a large reptile, or a
leviathan, which is a reference to a large creature like a whale or a dinosaur.
Isaiah 27:1 ¶ In that day the LORD with his sore and great
and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan
that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
This particular supernatural creature, described as we would
think of a dinosaur or a dragon of mythologies around the world, has another
distinction.
Job 41:34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king
over all the children of pride.
Although Satan is never said to be an angel himself he will
lead angels in rebellion against God.
Revelation 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven;
and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven
crowns upon his heads.4 And his tail drew
the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour
her child as soon as it was born.
Although he can appear as an angel to us in order to
deceive.
2Corinthians
11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. 15
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as
the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
By virtue of this reference to an, “angel of light,” we
presume that Satan is also the same entity as Lucifer, a term used only once,
which may or may not be a title rather than a name. It means, “light-bearer.”
Isaiah 14:12 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!
Satan introduces the second set of supernaturally created
creatures directly created by God in the spiritual world and not by any
biological process. They are called cherubim and are animal-like creatures with wings that
surround God’s throne in Ezekiel, chapters 1 and 10, and in Revelation, chapter
4, perhaps prototypes for all non-human animal life on earth.
Ezekiel 10:15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the
living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
While the, “sons of God,” and, “cherubims,” are both direct
creations of God in another dimension of time and space to which we are not
privy in our biological limitations they are not the same thing. One appears as
a person without wings while one has the appearance of an animal with wings.
One of the unique ways the Bible is constructed is how it
describes Satan. In the description of men who are like Satan, or types of
Satan, like the kings of Babylon, Tyre, or the Pharaoh of Egypt, God reveals
what Satan’s original position was, what he does now, and, perhaps, when he
fell from grace and where his deceptions were first revealed.
Ezekiel 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth;
and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast
walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
As there are cherubims around God’s throne in Revelation,
chapter four, perhaps Satan as Lucifer was the reptilian cherub who covered
God’s throne from above.
We know he was also, as spiritual beings can exist in the
physical world and the spiritual at the same time, in the Garden of Eden before
he fell from grace. He was dressed similar to and perhaps was performing the
duties of a priest (compare the following with Exodus 28).
Ezekiel 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the
beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle,
and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee
in the day that thou wast created.
It is here that iniquity was found in him.
Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
What was that iniquity? Perhaps his part in implementing
Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God in inspiring them to doubt what God said,
as many of you still do.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any
beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Satan’s realm is in the heavens below the Heaven we know of
as the abode of God. He is called the Prince of the Power of the Air.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
That place we call Outer Space is his domain.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
All human government and institutions on earth are under his
operative control.
2Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
But his demise and eventual fate are certain.
Luke 10:17 ¶ And the seventy returned again with joy,
saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven.
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him… 12 ¶ Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that
dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil
is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but
a short time.
It is clear from the Bible that Satan is not God’s equal,
and in fact, is often permitted by God to unleash his fury against mankind as
part of God’s judgment so that sometimes you are unable to discern whether or
not God did something or whether or not Satan did it. As an example, see what
prompted David to initiate a census of his kingdom. This is a great example of
how our pride allows humanism, the elevation of man in the Renaissance sense and
in the sense of the ancient Greeks, to take over our worship and our behavior.
David wanted to count his subjects, the result of which would be to count his
wealth and power as coming from what he had rather than from God.
2Samuel 24:1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled
against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and
Judah.
1Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and
provoked David to number Israel.
As we will see in Job, Satan is given authority to do things
to God’s people under the limitations set by God, much as evil men are
permitted to operate in the world to reveal their wickedness and to bring
judgment on their heads.
Satan will be bound in Hell a thousand years when Christ
returns to rule in His millennial kingdom. He will be unleashed for a time to
lead the final thrust of the world’s leaders against Christ at the end of that
time, before final judgment and eternity begins. Satan will then be cast into
the Lake of Fire.
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels:
Revelation 20:1 ¶ And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old
serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 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…7 And when the
thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together
to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth,
and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are,
and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Christ came to destroy the works of Satan, one of which is
the death that resulted from Adam’s sin and, another, sin itself.
Hebrews 2:14 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;
1John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for
the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
We are to resist him as he purposes to destroy whomever he
can.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you.
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Those who oppose God are under his control.
2Timothy 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of
the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Ephesians 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others.
Satan, a created being, reptilian in form, rebelled against
God in his own heart before he led mankind in Adam away.
Isaiah 14:12 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! 13 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: 14 I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to
the sides of the pit. [Hell is called a bottomless pit because a circle, as
in the center of the earth, has no bottom, only sides.]
And so, as we see here, while Satan lost his place over God’s
throne, perhaps, he still has and will have great influence over events until
the end of history, when his fate is sealed. He is the primary tormentor of God’s
people, one of the unholy trinity that includes our dying flesh and a wicked
world system, all of which we must resist.
Satan is about to question Job’s faithfulness to God to whom
Job seems so devoted. Remember Satan, when you doubt a fellow Christian’s
commitment to Christ without reason other than your own cynical skepticism and
self-righteousness and their lack of commitment to your convictions.
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