Introduction
One of the things I really enjoy doing with the ministry the Lord has blessed me with is answering questions of believers and unbelievers alike. The questions people have never cease to amaze me; most I have never even considered myself.
This QFTBOC (Questions from the Body of Christ) series are articles from these questions I have received and will be in a question and response format.
If you or someone you know has a question pertaining to the Word of God – theology, difficult passages, eschatology, etc. – I would really like to hear from you.
If I end up using your question, and you would like to have your name and/or place of residence listed on the question in the article, please specify with your submitted question; otherwise, if I use your question, it will be listed as “Anonymous.”
Regardless, I will make every attempt to answer every person’s questions in a response to the emails I receive. Depending on volume, it may be a little while until you hear back from me, but my intention is to respond to all inquiries.
Other articles in this series are: QFTBOC: Civil Disobedience and Patriotism, QFTBOC: Memory – Fully Retained or Total Reset?, QFTBOC: Psalm 91, Protection, & God’s Will, and QFTBOC: God’s Chastisement of His Children.
Question
Hi Mark
I have had an article or two on RR, but that by no means makes me an expert on scripture. So, I have a question…
If as many teachers and ministers alike say that Hal-El [Lucifer, Satan] knows the Bible better than most humans and he quoted it to The Lord Jesus in the desert temptation, AND he still has access to the throne of The Lord God as in Job (I assume to ask The Lord questions, and then he can plan accordingly), why is he self-fulfilling his own demise? i.e., If he sat down on his hands right now and did nothing, surely The Lord God or the Lord Jesus can’t compel him to do what is in Revelation?
If he sat on his hands and did nothing, Bible prophecy wouldn’t come to pass, making The Lord a (and I hate to say this) Liar; therefore, he [would] save himself from eternal torment.
No, I don’t believe he deluded himself; I really don’t think fallen Cherubim can catch colds or have mental problems. Neither do I believe he thinks he can win and is therefore deluded, [so] why is he still trying?
I’ll understand if you say, “I don’t know,” as the Apostle Paul said we look through a glass darkly.
Cheers from down under.
Nicholas Lagos – Australia
Response
Hi Nick!
Thanks so much for your email and great question!
So, in short, I really do believe that Satan is deluded. His pride, it seems, just like the pride of man, has deluded his awareness of his being a created being.
Satan – The First Evolutionist?
Henry Morris, in his Study Bible, does a great job in sharing how he believes Satan came to his deluded conclusions regarding God and who he thinks He is.
Morris points out that, more than likely, Satan really believes he isn’t a created being and that he “evolved.” And because he believes that he evolved, then so must have God – only God evolved a step before he did. He may actually be creation’s first “evolutionist,” and this is why so many false religions – atheism included – believe in some form of evolution.
In other words, he doesn’t believe that God is eternal and self-existent. Just like we don’t have any knowledge of our birth, the angelic creation may also not have knowledge of their creation. All of a sudden, they were just there, and, eventually, Satan’s pride led him to this first step of declaring God’s Word a lie in renouncing God’s act of creating him.
This seems very reasonable and would explain fallen man’s fanatical desire to believe the same.
Satan’s Pride
Ezekiel prophesied of Satan through the prophecy of the king of Tyre:
“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. 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. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:13-15). (Emphasis mine)
Isaiah also prophesied of Satan through the prophecy of the king of Babylon:
“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! 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: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15). (Emphasis mine)
Both of these prophecies were addressed to earthly kings, but the context clearly establishes the fact that they were applied to Satan, who was the proverbial “power behind their thrones.”
While Satan is a fallen angel of the cherubim order, he is still a created being. As such, he would seem to have attributes – intellect, free will, and most certainly, ambition among other characteristics – common to mankind. If this is the case, and I believe it is, then he would also have like characteristics in his fallen state similar to man, which seems pretty evident in what we know of him.
This is why pride was the main temptation of Eve, and human beings have been tempted with this selfish and evil consciousness ever since. When we consider pride in human affairs, we should see the same correlation in Satan and other fallen angels, and I believe we do.
Passage after passage in Scripture finds God warning of man’s susceptibility to pride:
“A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit” (Proverbs 29:23).
Jesus warned:
“For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
Pride is the precursor to many other evils common in everyday experience of the fallen creature, Satan being the originator. Let’s consider a few others.
Satan: “Father of Lies”
God hates lies that liars tell, and those who tell lies will be held accountable:
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). (Emphasis mine)
Satan is the originator of lies:
“He [Satan] … 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 8:44b).
Similar to mankind’s susceptibility to speak lies and how lying continually in a person’s life can eventually tarnish one’s perception of truth, Satan, too, is so consumed with lying that he has probably deluded himself into thinking his lies are actually truth. How many times have we seen this in our own observations with people who lie incessantly?
Satan: A Murderer
Hate leads to murder:
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).
Satan hates God, and he hates all mankind, who are created in the image of God, for …
“He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44a).
What is Satan’s objective in God’s creation?
“… [The] adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
It all comes down to sin and where it originated:
“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” (1 John 3:8).
Sin is the way of Satan, fallen angels, and fallen man; and that sin nature in the human heart invariably leads to pride, lies, and murder among a host of other evils apart from Christ. For mankind, we have a Savior and way out of this situation. But for Satan and his demonic horde, there is no chance at redemption – nor do they even desire deliverance – and their fate is sealed.
Why Doesn’t Satan Just Stop?
As for your other inquiry, Satan can’t just not do something. He is who he is and has made his mind up that he hates God and God’s people – it seems he can’t stand humanity because we are made in the image of God and the angels were not. His is the ultimate in unbridled, manic jealousy, forever ungrateful to the Creator he denies and yet attempts, insanely, to dethrone.
Remember, God saw all of His creation before He ever created. Like I pointed out in my article QFTBOC: Psalm 91, Protection, & God’s Will,
It all comes down to God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. They are two sides of the same coin. God works His sovereignty through man’s free will. In fact, God worked out His sovereignty before He ever created, knowing everything – choices, actions, thoughts, etc. – about everyone He would ever create!
This includes Satan and the angelic realm as well. God knew everything about them before He ever created them.
Therefore, it is totally impossible for Satan not to fulfill the prophetic future of himself along with all of God’s creation. It just can’t be done. Plus, in light of Satan’s own delusion, he really believes he can thwart God’s plans even when he thinks he knows what those plans are.
Consider the Cross
The Scriptures made it abundantly clear that the Messiah would have to die. They even tell the details and the method of his dying.
Yet, Satan, in his delusion, thought he had won when the Son of God was crucified. Satan was even told, concerning the Messiah, that he [Satan] “shalt bruise His [the Messiah’s] heal,” which was included in the protoevangelium (Genesis 3:15) – the first prophecy and first mention of the gospel in the Bible.
He possessed Judas to betray Jesus and was, no doubt, with the powers of darkness, the spiritual inciter of the mob crying out for the Lord to be crucified.
Even Psalm 22 seems to describe Satan and his minions celebrating the crucifixion:
“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16).
Remember, Christ prayed for those who crucified Him, asking the Father to “[F]orgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). “The assembly of the wicked” most certainly were “… principalities, … powers, … the rulers of the darkness of this world, … [and] spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12b).
These were the true instigators of the crucifixion, and they knew exactly what they were doing, all in fulfillment of God’s Word and God’s will, of course.
Even though Satan thought that he was the power behind the scenes killing the Son of God, he should have known that this was all God’s will and was clearly laid out in the Scriptures.
Jesus Himself, in speaking to the Pharisees, asserted:
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18).
Satan surely must have been there in their midst as he heard the Lord say these Words, but just like his misunderstanding of the prophecies of the Messiah’s sufferings, Satan just didn’t get it.
Obviously, his understanding of the Scriptures must be quite limited, mostly because of his wicked and obsessive delusion to usurp the Creator and, most importantly, because he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit to guide him.
Satan Doesn’t Believe God’s Words?
Satan must have been privy to everything the Lord Jesus said while He was on this earth. This, too, suggests that Satan doesn’t believe God’s Word, which takes us back to the Garden of Eden and the temptation of Eve:
“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?” (Genesis 3:1). (Emphasis mine)
“Hath God said?” The first temptation of man by The Tempter questions God’s Word. I think there is more here than meets the eye.
Is it possible that Satan actually doesn’t believe God? He would have to if, in fact, he doesn’t believe he’s a created being. Because of this, he surely wouldn’t believe anything else God has to say, including His settled written Word:
“For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
In fact, Adam and Eve’s sin was directly related to not believing God’s stated command – His Word – not to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Satan’s initial sin would seem to be no different, and his not believing God’s Word led to his prideful rebellion.
This would explain why Satan has such a hard time comprehending the Scriptures. He can’t believe that God means what He says and, therefore, proceeds to fulfill his own demise unknowingly – or in spite of knowing – in reckless abandon.
Consider how Satan will be released from the abyss after the 1,000-year Millennial Reign of Christ and will set out one last time to deceive the nations, which is clearly revealed in Revelation:
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 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” (Revelation 20:7-8).
Here is another instance where Satan could just “stop” and leave God’s Word unfulfilled. But it won’t happen because Satan doesn’t believe God’s Word and, through his manic obsession, is seemingly unable to fully comprehend the prophecy.
God’s Word is true and will be fulfilled, and there’s nothing Satan can do to thwart that Word.
Satan Is Obsessed with Worship
Satan’s pride, sin, and rebellion have deluded himself so greatly that his sole obsession is to receive worship that is only reserved for God.
We note this obsession in Satan’s temptation of Christ:
“And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (Luke 4:5-7).
Of course, Christ rejected Satan’s temptation by quoting Scripture:
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8).
It’s been noted that it appears that Satan has had a candidate for Antichrist since creation. Why? It is through Antichrist that he will finally achieve the worship he is obsessed with, and it seems he is quite aware of this prophecy, yet he still continues down this path that has been clearly laid out in the Word of God.
He should, and probably does, know his end but seemingly can’t control himself and his obsessive delusion.
Satan’s ‘Understanding’ of the Scriptures
It seems Satan may understand the Scriptures better than man, but the more I think about it, I really don’t think he does – at least in comparison to a saved man or woman guided by the Holy Spirit.
He thinks he does – and in most cases, he may know more Scripture than the average Christian – but, in the end, there’s nothing he can do to alter what God has revealed, try as he might.
Even when he thinks he isn’t doing something that he sees in the Scriptures regarding himself, he actually is, but he just doesn’t recognize that fact.
Nobody can thwart God and His revealed Word, and this we can and should all rest in, even though it might be difficult for us finite beings to totally wrap our heads around.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Thanks for your excellent question, Nicholas. I pray this has helped your understanding – as well as the reader – as I’m sure we have all wondered about this very issue at least once in our walk with the Lord.
Blessings to you and yours, and please give my blessings in the Lord to all my brothers and sisters in Christ in the Land Down Under!
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
Email: mab10666@yahoo.com
If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ and are seeking answers about God, Jesus Christ, the gospel, and salvation, please email me at mab10666@yahoo.com for information.