Part 6 (1/2)
THE HISTORY OF SATAN
Satan is a person and has a history. No intelligent believer in the Bible denies this, for the Bible teaches in both Testaments that such a being exists, and more than that, the history of this person is given in the Word of G.o.d. He is not a divine being, but a creature. His origin, his work and his final destiny are revealed in the Scriptures.
Yet it needs to be stated that much in connection with this person is obscure and that certain facts can only be learned by inference.
Questions are often asked concerning this being, which no one can answer. We mean these questions ”Why G.o.d created such a being, if He knew that he would be His enemy and do the awful work he has done and which he is still doing,” or ”Why does G.o.d still permit him to do this work and why does He not end his career?” In such matters it behooves us to confess our ignorance and also our faith in an all-wise G.o.d, whose wisdom, sovereignty and justice are perfect. Some day these unrevealed mysteries will be all cleared up for the Saints of G.o.d.
What Person He Was
The conception, which originated in the middle ages, in connection with the gross perversion of the truth of G.o.d, that this person is one of repulsive and grotesque countenance, with the figure of a monstrosity, is an invention and cannot be verified from Scripture. The Bible knows nothing of such a being with a horrible face and figure. The very opposite is the teaching of the Word of G.o.d. He was originally the greatest and most marvelous creation of G.o.d. Though now fallen and the enemy of G.o.d, he still retains much of his original beauty and wisdom.
In Isaiah xiv:12 the word ”Lucifer” (lightbearer) refers to him. He is called ”Son of the Morning.” That must have been his name when unfallen. Still more striking is the description of the same person in one of the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel. In chapter xxviii:11-19 we read the following:
”Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of G.o.d; 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 workmans.h.i.+p of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou was upon the holy mountain of G.o.d; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the mult.i.tude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of G.o.d: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”
These words are words of lamentation over the wicked king of Tyrus.
While this king is mentioned the description does not fit him at all, but must be applied to the one who was the unseen power behind the throne of the Tyrian king. The great city of Tyrus, once so glorious and now forever gone, is a type of the commercial glory of the world, its wealth and its prince, foreshadowing the final great world-city and world-system Babylon. Satan controlled Tyrus as he will also control the coming, final Babylon. We have therefore here a description of Satan in his original condition as an unfallen creature. He was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was in Eden the garden of G.o.d and every precious stone was his covering. He was the anointed cherub that covereth, perhaps an archangel like Michael. He was in the mountain of G.o.d and perfect in the day of his creation.
We quote another pa.s.sage from which we may learn by inference his original greatness and majesty. Jude predicts the final apostasy of this present age, which culminates in man despising dominions and speaking evil of dignities. He then makes a statement in which Satan is mentioned: ”Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee” (verses 8-9). It is a unique revelation nowhere else found in the Bible that when Moses'
body was to be laid away, the devil appeared on the scene. Perhaps Michael was commissioned by the Lord to bury the body of Moses. The devil evidently laid claim to the body of G.o.d's servant. Perhaps he wanted the body to be preserved in an embalmed condition as an object of idolatry. When Michael faced him he durst not bring a railing accusation against him. He still recognized in him, though fallen, the greatness of his original being. This is sufficient to show that Satan was once a mighty, glorious, majestic being, full of wisdom and beauty.
Being a creature he is not omnipotent, nor is he omniscient or omnipresent.
His Fall
His fall and how he became the great enemy of G.o.d is also revealed. We find it in the two chapters already quoted, Isaiah xiv and Ezekiel xxviii. He said in his heart ”I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of G.o.d; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah xiv:13-14). Ezekiel's prophecy tells us that iniquity was found in him. ”Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness” (Ezek. xxviii:17).
In the beginning of this chapter a similar statement is made, which also must be applied to Satan. ”Thus saith the Lord G.o.d, because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a G.o.d and sit in the seat of G.o.d.” The New Testament also bears witness to the fact and reminds us of the above revelations in 1 Timothy iii:6. Speaking of the qualifications of an elder, we read, ”Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” The word condemnation has the meaning of ”crime” in the Greek. He revolted against G.o.d; he was not satisfied with the position and place the Creator had given him and aimed to occupy the throne above the stars and be like the Most High. Then he fell and became the enemy of G.o.d, which he still is and ever will be. In his attempt to become like the Most High other angels sided with him and shared in the fall likewise.
Where Was His Original Dwelling Place
If this being attempted to put his throne above the stars, then must he have had a throne somewhere else. If he aimed to ascend into heaven and be like the Most High, he must have had some dwelling place which G.o.d had a.s.signed to him. There is no positive Scripture concerning this place. Yet by inferential evidence the knowledge can be gained that our earth in its original condition was the domain of this great creature of G.o.d.
”In the beginning G.o.d created the heavens and the earth.” We do not know when this was. In certain Bible editions the date 4004 B. C. is placed in the margin over against Gen. i:1. But that is incorrect. It would make the earth not quite 6000 years old. Science has demonstrated the fact that our globe is of a very great age. No human being can tell the exact time when G.o.d created the heavens and the earth. It may have been 2 million or 20 million or 200 million years ago. We know, however, that the human race became a recent tenant on this earth. The human race is not older than about 6000 years.
In that distant past before man was created the earth was in a different form. At that time there was a gigantic animal creation and an equally gigantic vegetation in existence. It has been brought to light through the fossil beds; but in none of these fossils is found a trace of a human being. This great original creation was plunged at one time into an awful catastrophe. Death and destruction came upon it, every living thing was extinguished, while water covered everything and all was enveloped in darkness.
This is exactly the condition of the earth as described in the second verse of the Bible. ”And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” If we turn to Isaiah xlv:18 we find a significant statement: ”For thus saith the Lord who created the heavens; G.o.d himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain; He formed it to be inhabited.” The word vain (tohu) is the same word used in Gen. i:2 and translated ”without form.” From this we learn that G.o.d did not originally create the earth as without form and void, enshrouded in darkness. It became this through a judgment which fell upon it.
Between the first and second verses of the first chapter of Genesis is therefore a long, immeasurable period of time. Now, if this original earth was ruined and pa.s.sed through a judgment, why did this ruin and judgment take place? This question must remain unanswered unless we bring that first judgment in connection with the revolt and fall of Satan, who had his dwelling place on this earth. This explains not only the ruined condition of the earth in Gen. i:2, but throws a great deal of light on Satan's successful attempt to get back his lost dominion through man and his tenacious hold on the earth, as the prince of the world and G.o.d of this age.[1]
Man Upon The Earth
In G.o.d's own time this earth was put into the condition to become the habitation for the human race. Of this we read in Genesis i:3-31. G.o.d then created man in His own image, and said, ”Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. i:26). ”And G.o.d blessed them, and G.o.d said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth.” Thus the earth, which was originally Satan's habitation, was given to man.
The Fall of Man
When all this took place this great fallen being was no doubt an eyewitness. He beheld G.o.d working in rearranging the chaos of the original earth produced by his revolt. He saw how G.o.d created man. He heard how G.o.d spoke to man and gave him to possess his former estate which he had lost by his rebellion. He beheld G.o.d putting man and woman into the garden of Eden. He listened when G.o.d said ”Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. ii:17). Then he must have been moved with envy and jealousy. He sees another in possession of his past domain. Something like this must have come into his mind--if I only can get man ruined and turn him against G.o.d, if I can make of man a rebel and lay hold on him, I shall get back the place which once was mine and then defy G.o.d.
The third chapter in Genesis shows how he succeeded in carrying out this plan. Through the serpent he approached the woman and said, ”Yea, hath G.o.d said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” G.o.d had spoken; the first word to man had come from His lips. Satan's first work was to make G.o.d's creature doubt G.o.d's Word. The first destructive critic who denied that G.o.d hath spoken was Satan. Every man, no matter what learning he may claim, who denies the inspiration of the Bible, and that the Bible is the revelation and Word of G.o.d, is the mouthpiece of Satan. Emboldened by the woman's answer he said ”Ye shall not surely die,” an out and out denial of what G.o.d had said; and then adds the lying promise, ”Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as G.o.ds.” He wanted to be like the Most High, and now he injects his own character into man. The transgression followed; sin came into the world and death by sin, the moment G.o.d's commandment was disobeyed.