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 workmanship 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.
What a sneer and laughter, what a triumphant shout Satan must have uttered when the deed was done! And with the fall of man he laid hold again on this earth and became its prince.
Satan"s Doom Announced
Then the Lord sought that which was lost, the guilty pair, and addressed the serpent. The words the Lord then spoke contain the first prophecy of the Bible. It concerns Satan, how G.o.d will deal with him and his final doom. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. iii:15). Without fully explaining this prophecy, which may well be termed the germ of all subsequent prophecy, we but point out what it means. From the woman there is to come a seed, an offspring who is to bruise the head of the serpent (Satan), that is, overcome the serpent, and that the serpent is to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. Furthermore, there is to rage a conflict between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent"s seed and the seed of the woman. There can be no question whatever that the seed of the woman means the Son of G.o.d in His incarnation. Paul writes to the Galatians, "But when the fulness of time was come G.o.d sent forth His Son made of a woman" (Gal. iv:4). He is the seed of the woman, the virgin-born Son of G.o.d. His death is mentioned in this first prophecy as the bruising of His heel. Then the final victory over Satan and his final doom, his head is to be bruised. And till that is accomplished there is to be conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, a conflict between those who side with G.o.d, believe on and wait for the promised One, and those who side with Satan and his works. Satan heard then from the lips of Jehovah that the seed of the woman would conquer him and seal his doom.
His Work and the Conflict Begins
The predicted conflict began at once. Two sons are born to Adam and Eve. Satan watched them. He is interested to see if one of them might be "the seed." He saw Cain bringing an offering of the fruit of the ground (the labor of his hands) unto the Lord.[2] Satan must have been delighted with Cain, as he beheld him, as a self-righteous man, rejecting G.o.d"s provision for him as a sinner. He knew Cain was his man and belonged to his seed. It was different with Abel. Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof. "By faith Abel offered unto G.o.d a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, G.o.d testifying of his gifts" (Heb. xi:3). He was a believer, who owned himself as a sinner and because he believed, G.o.d accepted his offering. As Satan beheld this scene he must have imagined that Abel was "the seed of the woman."
Then he filled Cain with wrath and moved him to slay his brother Abel.
Thus Satan manifested himself in the beginning of the human race as the liar and the murderer. Our Lord testified of this character of the enemy when He spoke to those who conspired to kill Him and who belonged to the Devil"s seed: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the l.u.s.ts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it" (John viii:44). But the murder of Abel was unavailing. Eve bore another son "and called his name Seth, for G.o.d, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew" (Gen.
iv:25). Satan was defeated for the first time.
An Interesting History
An interesting history follows. The Old Testament history is the history of conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Satan continually worked to oppose G.o.d, attempting to prevent the coming of that promised seed of the woman. He knew if he succeeded in this he would not again be dispossessed from this planet and his own doom would never come. Besides trying to prevent the coming of the promised One, his aim is to control the nations, have dominion over them, and to deny the truth of G.o.d made known to man by revelation. He corrupted the human race before the deluge so that the earth was corrupt before G.o.d and filled with violence (Gen. vi:11). This great being knew well that G.o.d is holy and cannot tolerate evil. He plunged the race into great wickedness in the hope that G.o.d would destroy the whole race and leave him possessor of the earth. But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord.
When Satan received the knowledge that the seed to conquer him and seal his doom would come through Abraham, he then opposed the seed of Abraham to frustrate G.o.d"s purpose. The land which was promised by Jehovah to Abraham and his descendants was settled by the nations which were Satan-controlled and were his willing instruments. Satan"s power in wickedness and vileness was manifested in the Canaanites. That is why the Lord commanded their utter extermination. So that in the land itself there was a steady conflict between the seed of the serpent, the Canaanites, and the seed of the woman, G.o.dly Israelites.
When Pharaoh gave the command to kill all the male children born to Israel in Egypt, it was another attempt of Satan to make the coming of the promised seed impossible (Ex. i:16). But G.o.d took care and used the Hebrew midwives, the weaker vessels, to bring to naught the wicked plan. Pharaoh brought up in his own palace one of the Hebrew boys, whom Satan would have killed; and that boy became the great leader and deliverer of Israel. All the persecutions of the people Israel in Egypt were Satan"s work. When at last they had left the house of bondage, Satan in impotent rage stirred up Pharaoh to attempt their destruction; but Pharaoh and his army found their graves in the Red Sea.
Afterward Jehovah announced that the promised seed should be of the house of David. Then Satan watched David and his descendants. Through Saul he persecuted G.o.d"s anointed, but failed to touch his life.
Immediately after the Lord had made the covenant with David (2 Sam.
vii) promising him a son whose Kingdom shall be established (the seed--Christ), Satan led David to commit his awful sin. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, belonged to the seed of the serpent. This wicked son of David slew all his brethren. It was Satan"s attempt to exterminate the descendant of David (2 Chronicles xxi:4). Then the Arabians came and slew all his sons except Ahaziah. Still greater was Satan"s attempt to end forever the house of David through wicked queen Attaliah. She was the mother of Ahaziah. When her son had been slain "she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah" (2 Chronicles xxii:10). Satan had made the awful suggestion to her and when the seed royal was destroyed he thought he had triumphed at last.
"But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the King, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the King"s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehorada the priest, hid him from Attaliah so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of G.o.d six years" (2 Chron. xxvii:11-12). Satan was defeated.
Through Haman he made still another attempt to have all the Jews, men, women, and children, killed. G.o.d watched over His people again and Satan"s plan was frustrated. And how much else might be added!
Throughout Old Testament history he had his chosen instruments, like Nimrod, the kings of Babylon, the Pharaohs, the a.s.syrian, the Persian Kings, Alexander and others through whom he attempted world dominion.
He instigated the cruel and terrible wars. Israel, the people of G.o.d, were led by him into idolatry and apostasy. In all this and much besides his aim was the defiance of G.o.d and to keep G.o.d from carrying out his plan of redemption though the promised seed.
The Promised Seed and Satan"s Opposition
The promised seed came. The Son of G.o.d took on the creature"s garb and became man, the son of David and son of Abraham, according to the flesh. All Satan had done for 4,000 years had been in vain. G.o.d had kept His promise. King Herod was the seed of the serpent and when the child was born, Satan moved him to seek the young child to destroy him.
Herod, inspired by the murderer from the beginning, "exceeding wroth, sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under" (Matt. ii:16). But G.o.d had watched, and the young child was on the way to Egypt when Satan"s suggestion was carried out by the Roman soldiers.
And how many more times he must have made the same attempt! When Satan had taken him on the pinnacle of the temple and suggested "cast thyself down," he tried it once more. The people of Nazareth were the serpent"s seed and under his control when they rushed him out of the city and attempted to cast him headlong down a precipice. The storms on the lake were Satan"s work to take His life. Little did he know that the ship in which the Son of G.o.d slept peacefully, though it filled with water, was the only unsinkable ship which sailed the seas.
He could not touch the seed of the woman, for He was holy, without sin, and death had not claim on Him.
Yet He had come to die "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." He knew that the Lord Jesus would get the victory and the dominion over this earth by the way of the Cross. That is why he took Him on the exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.
He offered all to the Son of Man, if He but would fall down before him.