Introduction
It’s often overlooked, ignored or even completely denied that the Scriptures tell us that there are what we call ‘fallen angels’, that’s angels who rebelled against God, and now continue to work against God and His creation, although at one time they were faithful to God.
Satan
Satan has many names in the Bible, including the names Lucifer and the Devil and in Scripture, he’s usually referred to as the opposite of God. However, a careful reading of the Scriptures tells us this isn’t the case, we must remember that God created Satan as an angel, and so he only has the power of an angel, which means that he has nowhere near the power or authority of God.
The name Satan means ‘adversary’ or ‘enemy’ and sure enough, he is truly the enemy of God and all mankind. We also must remember that Satan was created by God as a good angel called Lucifer, which means ‘Light Bearer’ or ‘Morning Star’, and he was possibly even one of the chief cherub. This could mean that he may have been one of, if not the most important angel, we simply don’t know
But as we read throughout the Scriptures we quickly see that this position wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to become God and have total power. Just as God give us humans free will, he gave the angels free will too, sadly, he rebelled against God and there was a massive battle in heaven. The good news is that Satan lost and along with his followers, was thrown out of heaven.
The account of his rebellion and the war in heaven is described in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 12:7-9.
These passages tell us that Satan wasn’t alone and led a rebellion against God taking as many as a third of all the angels with him. The original pure angelic state of Satan and how he changed is also described in Ezekiel and Isaiah, Ezekiel 28:11-19 / Isaiah 14:12-15.
Please note that the ‘earth’ referred to in the above passages could also mean ‘deep, utter darkness’, like a ‘grave’, and away from God’s light, rather than here on planet Earth. But from these passages, we can see that God had created Satan as a beautiful and powerful angel, but through his pride and greed, he became totally evil.
Please also note that in the reference from Ezekiel, Satan is referred to as ‘The King of Tyre’, which was a city that was located in what is now Lebanon.
In other words, God was either saying through Ezekiel that Satan was manipulating the human ‘Ruler of Tyre’ and that Satan was the real king of that city and the human ruler was just his puppet or God was saying that the king of Tyre was displaying the same attitude as Satan had, which is probably more accurate.
When it comes to knowing when the rebellion and war in heaven took place, we simply don’t know. Some believe it happened sometime between the creation of the Earth and the temptation of Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden, but we can’t be sure.
We do know, however, that it was Satan, in the form of a serpent or snake, who tempted them and caused them to sin, Genesis 3:1-6.
Notice how the serpent tempted Eve with the same temptation he failed to achieve, to become like God. Isaiah 14:12-15. Because of this, Satan is sometimes called or referred to as a snake, serpent or dragon, as we mentioned earlier in Revelation. It’s also interesting that God put cherubim, two or more angelic beings of the same original status as Satan, to protect the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:24.
We’ve read from the first human, Satan has been trying to stop people from following God and he and his followers are still doing it today. In his first temptation, he used pride and greed, the same sins as he was guilty of when he rebelled against God.
We must realise as Christians that Satan and his followers will try everything they can to stop people from knowing God and Jesus because they know that God has the total power and will ultimately have the victory.
As I mentioned earlier, Satan is called many other names, all of which speak of his evil character now and what he tries to do. Please take a moment to read the following passages which describe his character and how he works. Revelation 12:9-10 / 1 John 5:19 / Matthew 13:37-39 / John 8:44 / 1 Peter 5:8 / John 12:31 / John 14:30 / John 16:11 / 2 Corinthians 4:4
The devil not only hates God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but he hates everyone, especially Christians and he will try everything possible to stop us from knowing God better and walking in loving fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If he tried to get Jesus to follow him, Matthew 4:1-11, we better know that he will try it with us.
The good news is that Satan has lost that battle and he and his evil angelic followers, have also lost the overall battle for the universe. Satan thought he had won, when he, thought he’d, managed to get Jesus killed, but he was very wrong. Jesus came back to life and defeated the power of death and Satan forever.
And although Satan knows he’s lost the war and is well aware of his final fate and destination, he still tries to stop people from knowing about God today, in an attempt to take as many people with him on the Day of Judgement, Revelation 20:1-3.
