SATANOLOGY

seyton ology we'll look at the reality names identity and nature personality depravity and activity of Satan the reality of Satan in the Old Testament the book of Genesis depends upon the reality of Satan working through or in the form of a serpent to cause the fall of mankind if there is no real entity such as that depicted in the Bible concerning Satan then there is no explanation for the fall of mankind likewise in the book of Job which was written around the same time as Genesis and perhaps even before Genesis the story depends on the reality of Satan to make any sense if God truly exists and job truly exists then Satan truly exists the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 in the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 some say that these cannot be explained without having a super normal being such as Satan behind them and in Zechariah 3 Satan is a definite person who opposes the angel of Jehovah which has we seen is the pre-incarnate son of God in the New Testament every writer recognizes his reality 19 of the 27 books of the New Testament mention Satan by name and the eight books that do not specifically mention him by name and ply his existence by mentioning evil angels or demons Matthew's Gospel Jesus has led by the spirit into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil and Satan in the New Testament similar to the book of Job requests of God permission to sift Peter Simon like wheat in Revelation 12:9 the great dragon is identified as the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan identifying the real entity behind the symbol and creature in Revelation 20 the dragon again is identified as the serpent of old from Janus who is the devil and Satan and he is bound for a thousand years during the Millennial Kingdom a biblical argument for Satan and demons can be made what Jesus Christ who is the son of God teaches is true Jesus Christ teaches the existence of Satan and demons in Matthew 4:3 when Jesus has tempted he speaks to Satan he says go Satan for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only Jesus continues to carry on a conversation with Satan and Luke 829 Jesus speaks to demon casting them out asking them what their name is and in Matthew 12 23 25 in response to the charge that he does miracles by Beelzebub a name for Satan he teaches concerning satan's kingdom that it cannot stand if it is divided against itself so we conclude from the teaching of Jesus that therefore the existence of Satan and demons is true the names of Satan identity and nature and personality of Satan there are many names that are used for Satan we'll look at just a few here anointed cherub some see this and conclude that he was the highest rank of the highest class of angelic beings he's a prince of this world shows that he is the ruler of this cosmos or world that includes all that is in opposition to God and he opposes God's rule and Kingdom the Prince and power of the air could also be translated atmosphere this picture Satan above everything ruling it from the sky both fallen men and fallen angels the god of this age identifies a period in time in which he rejects the true God and substitutes himself and offers a counterfeit life and religion that dominates men the prince of demons that describes him as Beelzebub or Lord of the Flies which is likely a term taken from the gods of the Philistines and is used as a Hebraic in for their false gods as a prince he is also pictured as a ruler of the demonic host or army that brings men into spiritual bondage through idolatry and enticing their sinful natures Lucifer Isaiah 14:12 not all agreed that this should be a title or a name given to him but if so it means shining ones and it depicts his original state among the other angels Satan which is used 52 times simply means adversary he is the self proposed rival of God and the counterfeit substitute for the real devil used 35 times means slanderer the devil is the one who slanders or the one who trips off believers in D feigns God the old serpent identifies him as crafty in deception he raises up false apostles according to 2nd Corinthians 11 and like he did to Eve he leads men astray according to second Corinthians 11:30 he is the great to picture him as terrifying and causing total devastation is the evil one which clearly limits him to a specific name or person not just the personification of evil but the evil one which is also used in the Lord's Prayer he's the destroyer like locusts that destroy crops he is able to destroy spiritual life he's the tempter since he tries and entices men he's the tempter since he tries men and entices them to partake of evil and engages them in moral combat and he's the accuser since he shows up and the presence of God to accuse us before the father and he is the deceiver since he deceives the whole world on a continuous basis there are many other titles and descriptions used for Satan but these are some of the main ones the identity and nature of Satan he is like all other angels a created spirit he has all the endowments of angelic abilities this would include the manifestation of his presence invisible form he was created by Jesus Christ according to Colossians 1:16 since he is an invisible power from heaven he is an angel and spoken of as the evil one he is very powerful but he is not ubiquitous that is present many places at once he may certainly give the deception through his army of demons but ontologically he is limited and in this world he is described as the Prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience and that judgment is upon this world because of that and eventually this ruler Satan will be cast out he is described as very beautiful 2nd Corinthians 11:14 he disguises himself as an angel of light and some see and as the highest-ranking angel that there ever has been a cherub according to Ezekiel 28 and remember from our theology of angels that just because an angel turns bad and changes his will it does not change his nature or his rank he retains all that he is even if his will changes in opposition to God and becomes evil and once the will is set it is permanent and cannot change so his will is always opposed to God and all that his nature is is directed against God in opposition to him and he is totally morally evil again in a permanent state of opposition towards God since his nature cannot change by describing him as totally evil I do not mean to say that he is ontologically evil since he was created good but he is totally evil in the sense that all of his knowledge that is who he is is used by his will against God and his program but Satan is still a creature created by God and pales in comparison to God in every sense God is infinite and Satan is finite God is uncreated Satan is created and has a beginning God of course is all good and Satan is evil only God is all-knowing and Satan is limited in his knowledge yet of course it can be greater than any one human or even the collection of humans he is still limited in his understanding God of course alone is present everywhere but Satan can only have a local presence he can only be here or there he can't be in more than one place exerting his will God alone is all-powerful but Satan of course is limited in power he's limited to his angelic abilities certainly greater than humans and can be described as super normal but still nonetheless a creature and limited in power and he cannot do what only God can do only God can create life Satan cannot create life only God can truly raise the dead Satan cannot raise the dead and only God can truly supernaturally heal Satan can only pretend to heal or heal naturally or heal perhaps according to his angelic powers Satan can of course trick humans to think that he can do what God can do he can trick us to make us think that he could create life or raise the dead or to heal or to do signs and wonders but all of this is a counterfeit and a trick and nothing he can do is supernatural in the truest sense of what only God can do personality of Satan Satan is described with personal pronouns James 4:7 says resist the devil and he will flee from you being described in personal pronouns shows that he is a person and not just the personification of evil Satan has an intellect and we can tell this because he tempts Jesus he has the ability to create schemes and deceptions and to communicate those to others all of this takes an int Allah and he has a will since he gives commands such as Luka for three and the devil said to him if you are the son of God tell this stone to become bread giving a command is indicative of a will and he leads a rebellion according to revelation 20 when the thousand years are complete Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nation's he is spoken of as having emotions he has desires according to first Timothy three six since the devil was conceited and fell and in cured a condemnation he is spoken of as being jealous as he was jealous of job's blamelessness and uprightness and wanted to challenge it is full of hatred he's an adversary that prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour his full of anger revelation he has picked it as coming down having great wrath knowing that his time is short he is held morally responsible only persons can be held morally responsible animals and things are held morally responsible but persons are judged or second Corinthians 11 says that his end shall be according to his deeds john 16 11 says that the ruler of this world has been judged so clearly the Bible presents Satan as a person and with the characteristics of personality as he is to be understood as a real personal entity and not just the personification of evil but a person who is evil the depravity of Satan we begin by looking at a debate over Isaiah in Ezekiel between biblical theologians and systematic theologian biblical theologians some of them do not want to see Satan in these passages and systematic theologians almost consistently use these passages to depict the fall of Satan reasons against using Isaiah for example as depicting Satan they will point to the fact that the passage is of the king of Babylon and it uses the language of Canaanite Ugaritic mythology that has applied to pagan kings so some say this is not Satan or Lucifer is called a man in verse 12 and he is compared to other kings of the earth and verse 18 they would say that his fall from heaven is a fall from a great political height systematic theologians however do see Satan behind the king of Babylon they see a dual reference pattern that develops especially between this verse and also Ezekiel giving them justification for saying that Satan is behind this verse as well as Ezekiel 28 there they will note that there are two persons a human leader and Satan there they see that there is a different nature of man that's in view in verses 2 and 9 and angélica title cherub is used described as perfect beauty in verse 12 and blameless in verse 15 in verses 12 and 13 it said he had a seal of perfection full of wisdom and perfect beauty which would not be things said of a mere man so this debate that rages which we will not solve here does bring up the question if the biblical theologians for example win this battle ensure that these verses cannot be used what is left for us to conclude about Satan well there are many other verses that we can use to show the basic outline of what happened to Satan with regards to his original position and subsequent perversion we certainly would lose a more detailed description and definitely a more eloquent description but we would not lose the basic outline so what I present here does not rely exclusively on Isaiah and Ezekiel but will provide verses outside to lay out the basic outline of Satan's original position and subsequent perversion he was created perfect by God Colossians 1:16 or God through Christ created all things both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities which clearly includes the description of angels being created perfect of which Satan was one Ezekiel 28 of course says he had a seal of perfection he had a heavenly estate Jude 6 says and angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day in Ezekiel 28 of course speaks of him being in the Garden of God which is paradise and that he was an anointed cherub who was on the holy mountain of God the time of his sin is clearly before Genesis 3 and likely before the creation of Adam and Eve it is probably after the creation of the earth mentioned in Genesis 1:10 job 38:7 says when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy and it could possibly be before the second day of creation some have pointed out that this is the only day of which it is not said it was good the nature of his sin of course is pride this we can tell from first Timothy 36 where it compares a new convert to the Christian faith who should not be given a place of leadership least he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil clearly indicating that selfishness or pride that might develop up and a new believer disqualifying him for leadership is the very sin that was incurred by the devil and in 2nd Thessalonians 2 2 through 4 where it speaks of the man of lawlessness which we know Satan is behind the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat and the temple of God displays himself as being God this sin which the Antichrist does is copying the sin of Satan or the devil and of course if we turn to isaiah 14 we can find clearly the five iwill passages which conclude with i will make myself like the Most High the cause of the sin is personal free choice God cannot cause anyone to sin James 1:13 says let no one say when he is tempted I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone and as we've seen Satan was perfectly created he has a high angelic position perhaps the highest giving him the greatest intelligence position or rank and he has direct access to God there was no one else to tempt Satan there was no previous example or pattern for him to follow this makes his sin his subsequent perversion the most severe and consequent of all sin since all these five conditions existed and surrounding his choice to sin against God the result of his sin his punishment he has expulsion from heaven revelation 12:9 and the Great Dragon was thrown down the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceived the whole world he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him even though this is mentioned in the end time because time is not something that is relevant to the nature of eternal beings this is certainly applicable to him as a description of his perversion and consequential punishment the corruption of his character first john 5:18 shows that he wants to touch those who are born of God but God keeps them and so the evil one cannot touch them his perversion of power Ephesians 2:2 describes the course of this world which is according to Satan here depicted as the Prince of the power of the air who works in the sons of disobedience and he leads a defection of angels according to revelation 12:4 and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth in the final destruction of revelation 20:10 the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone these are the clear results of his punishment for his sin and pride there is an emphasis in scripture on the overriding Providence of God God creates only good creatures or things first Timothy 4:4 says for everything created by God is good Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good God does not directly cause evil but he does permit evil and evil you should remember is a privation in essentially good creatures or things and God is not the direct cause of evil God is patient toward us not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance so God will produce a greater good out of the evil and privation introduced into his creation and he does this in at least three ways one by defeating sin must not reign until he has put his enemies under his feet in his last enemy being death which was brought into creation by the sin of Adam and Eve through the temptation of the devil and second by destroying Satan the son God appeared for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the devil first John 3:8 and third by redeeming his servants Romans 5:20 were sin increased grace abounded all the more and of course God ultimately as we'll see in eschatology restores creation what was lost and the paradise in Genesis is regained in the last three chapters of Revelation the activity of Satan Satan always works in opposition to God he does it in two ways one directly this is by his original sin as we have seen and also by his continuous slander for it is Satan who can appear before the Lord and be our accuser and slander God because of our sinfulness the second way that he opposes God is indirectly and this he can do in many ways one by attacking God's Word which we see first in Genesis 3:1 where he says in questions indeed has God said and then he attacks the image of God in man starting in Genesis 3 by enticing the woman and Adam through her to sin against God Satan also induces Cain to murder Abel which is an additional attack on man in opposition to God introducing the first murder or physical attack on humans who bear the image of God he also attacks God's Son Christ Matthew 4:1 he is tempted by the devil and he attacks Christ through the world system the rulers of this age that did not understand and therefore crucified the Lord of glory I think it is important to keep in mind and considering all these attacks that Satan makes especially unbelievers today that such attacks should be considered proportional to the faith that we have in God or as Paul says to the measure of one's faith God of course is providential and sovereign over everything that all angels including Satan does and ultimately uses it for his own purposes and glory job is attacked severely perhaps the most severe of any servant of God because of his high proportional level of faith and Trust and God and even in the New Testament Jesus acknowledges when Satan ask permission to sift Peter that before Satan could move even on a disciple of Jesus our mission had to be sought to do so I think that we will find practically speaking that if we actively oppose sane by putting the gospel where it has been taken away by Satan and promoting truth where Satan has built a counterfeit we will be attacked and challenged by him it should be expected and of course the level of that attack will be proportional according to God's will according to our level of faith and finally Satan attacks of God's program in many ways he attacks God's program in heaven as we've seen by his original sin but also on earth and this is done in at least two ways first by taking away the truth he prevents the acceptance of truth by snatching away the gospel and blinding the minds of men to the gospel truth Luke 8:12 then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they will not believe and be saved in this he promotes an attraction to his counterfeit by offering a lie in this lie in counterfeit involves false philosophies and lifestyles false religions in idolatry false ministers teachers and doctrine promote schisms or divisions and introduces doubt and provokes or tempts us to sin and in principle these areas identify apply to us on a personal level in our homes and our churches in our corporate or work environment in government with respect to nations in politics in every area of the world that is opposed to the program of God the false philosophies and lifestyles Paul makes mention of this in Colossians 2:8 when he says see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy an empty deception according to the tradition of men according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ we should not understand the term philosophy here to mean the modern discipline of study that we speak of today and take classes in today Paul does not use that term in this way instead Paul has in mind a philosophy that has infiltrated the church at Colossae this is known as an incipient narcissism that involves not only doctrinal beliefs that are opposed to Christianity such as asceticism and legalism and dualism but also a lifestyle he goes on to mention the worship of angels which is likely being used as a means to promote themselves this philosophy or lifestyle is based in pleasure and possessions and in positions it's an egocentric ambition and if followed it keeps us from desiring a relationship with the Living God Ephesians 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh in the mine and were by nature children of Wrath even as the rest here Paul describes where believers were before they were saved as being part of the world who walked not by the spirit but by the lust of their flesh in mind this is the lifestyle and the philosophy that Satan promotes in our world in opposition to the program of God Satan has produced many false religions or idolatry first Corinthians Paul says I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to gods and I do not want you to become shares and demons it is clear from this that there are things in false religions that directly have the influence and participation of demons in Galatians 1 I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel but even though we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you let him be accursed or Paul specifically identifies a doctrine opposed to what he has preached that teaches salvation by human works to bypass the Savior's work on our behalf we can see this and that all false religions teach a works based system for achieving salvation or they say that there is no need for salvation since we are progressing ourselves all false religion produces an ethics that denies sin and evil promotes relativism and a cultic practices even within the church Paul says in 1st Timothy 4:1 through 3 but the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to be seat full spirits and doctrines of demons and John warns us in first John that we are to test the spirits in Satan's opposition to God's program there are false ministers false teachers and false doctrine 1st Timothy 4:1 but the Spirit explicitly says then in latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons here we are warned about deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons that can infiltrate even the church they oppose true ministry and teaching and promoted legalistic and human centered form of religion and produce many counterfeits of Christianity that we can see today and many new religious movements in the occultic practices it's a computer to one but false prophets also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the master who bought them bringing Swift destruction upon themselves in the Old Testament there were clearly false prophets that arose among the people in Jesus's day there were even false disciples in Matthew 13:38 through 39 and Peter here says that there will be false teachers in the church Paul even in his day identified false apostles and had to defend his true Apostleship even saying in 2nd Thessalonians 2 - that there were false apostles that were writing letters in his day 2nd Corinthians 11:14 and the wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of unrighteousness whose end shall be according to their deeds so such false teachers come in deception to us all this of course is the work of Satan against the program of God Satan promotes schisms and divisions and introduces doubt 2nd Corinthians 2:10 but whom you forgive anything I forgive also for indeed what I have forgiven if I have forgiven anything I did it for your sake in the presence of Christ in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes here Paul encourages the church to take forgiveness very seriously Christians in the church who fall into sin and who truly give and show repentance of their sin should be completely forgiven harboring unjustified anger and jealousy will give Satan an opportunity to introduce division within the context of God's people and in taking forgiveness seriously we also take holiness seriously which is just as important or as Paul says in Ephesians 4 we should be angry and yet we should not sin and when he says do not let the Sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity he is saying that we should always be angry at sin and if we are angry at sin then we are taking holiness seriously in Genesis 3 where it speaks of the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden from the very beginning Satan introduced doubt concerning God's goodness and God's Word making us question whether or not God truly does have concern for us and causing us not to take the Bible or God's Word seriously and finally Satan opposes God's program by provoking or tempting us to sin in acts 5:3 Satan filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit which is following the philosophy of achieving personal gain and hurting others in the process and Satan will tempt us regarding our pride according to 1st Timothy 3 6 where pride here is especially associated with spiritual status in the church working create a danger of self-satisfaction and self-confidence in which the believer would incur the condemnation that was upon the devil he will tempt us with worry Matthew 13 22 and the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful worried about the world is not compatible with bearing the fruit of the Spirit so Satan will use the world and its wealth to create worrying us hence when we worry we lose sight of who God is his love and his care for us and when we worry we do not depend on him as we should he tempts us with self-reliance as he did David when he moved David to number Israel relying on human resources and strength instead of God's strength so when we are tempted to trust our human wisdom and strength we develop confidence in human numbers and resources rather than putting our trust in God he provokes us to be discouraged first Peter says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you Satan wants us to be occupied with our difficulties and problems and Peter tells us here to be assured of God's care but then following this he tells us immediately to be aware of our adversary the devil because he prowls about seeking whom he may devour a person who has overcome by worry of the world cannot follow God this is even in the face of spiritual difficulties and even physical persecution in all instances we must trust in God in God alone he tempts us with worldliness for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father but is from the world worldliness is all that is in the world that opposes God this is from Satan and he uses this to influence us by appealing to the lust of our flesh the lust of our eyes and the pride of life or self-promotion we must be intentional in putting others first before ourselves especially in ministry we must be intentional on how we can promote others and love others to love them as much as we love ourselves and of course doing this in a context in which we put God first and love him with all of our heart mind and soul and finally he tempts us concerning sexual sin Satan appeals to our sexual nature to have it satisfied by other means than what God intends it to be satisfied by which is marriage stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control Satan will tempt us with all kinds of sexual sins such as fornication adultery homosexuality perverted self gratification all of these are explicitly or implicitly forbidden in Scripture

Channel: Doug Potter

Views: 6,392

Rating: 4.8823528 out of 5

Keywords: Satan, Satanology, Devil, Bible

Id: 1s0reb4c2m0

Length: 36min 15sec (2175 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 31 2016