What if Satan was not created? Well, it’s tempting to say we’ll all breathe a sigh of relief, after all there’ll be no more temptations. But that won’t be true and the reason is because we won’t know any different. If Satan wasn’t created, we won’t know what being tempted by Satan is. But we seem to be getting ahead of ourselves, let’s back up a little.
“Satan” is a Hebrew word. It means “an adversary, one who resists.” In the Bible the word is used as both a proper name and title, which is why sometimes it has the definitive article, “the” before it (Zechariah 3:1); and sometimes not (1 Chronicles 21:1). And sometimes the word is used to refer to anyone in an adversarial position. (Numbers 22:22) The word “Satan” occurs eighteen times in the Old Testament (fourteen times in the Book of Job alone), but thirty-two times in the New Testament. In twenty eight of those mentions in the New Testament it’s accompanied by the definite article “the,” which is a reference to Satan in his titular or governmental capacity. Satan has a kingdom. (Matthew 12:26) He runs a government.
The word “Devil” on the other hand is from the Greek word “Diabolos” meaning “slanderer, accuser.” We got the word “diabolical” from “diabolos.” These monikers became the Devil’s personification. He is the accuser-in-chief, a very adversarial personality. To understand why Satan is referred to as “Lucifer” go to http://myilluminare.com/2017/06/11/what-if-lucifer-had-not-fomented-a-revolution-in-heaven/
Now, let’s take a look at this narrative in the Book of Revelation (It gives us historical perspective) – “War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon. The Dragon and his Angels fought back, but were no match for Michael. They were cleared out of Heaven, not a sign of them left. The great Dragon—ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray—thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth. Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying, salvation and power are established! Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah! The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out, who accused them day and night before God. They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness.” (Revelation 12:7-12 MSG)
The passage zigzags between time and timeless dimensions but that’s typical of the Book of Revelation. Even though it’s a book about end times, some of the stuff reported happened before Genesis. And sometimes two or three timeframes are meshed into one sentence in Revelation. The book somehow assumes you live in the past, present and future at the same time. Which is saying it is written for the most part from God’s perspective, whereas most other books in the Bible are written from man’s perspective.
Why was there insurrection in Heaven? Turned out the problem was Satan’s vanity and vaulting ambition. Prophet Ezekiel gives us a glint of the status of the Devil pre-fall: “You had everything going for you. You were in Eden, God’s garden. You were dressed in splendour, your robe studded with jewels: carnelian, peridot, and moonstone, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald, all in settings of engraved gold. A robe was prepared for you the same day you were created. You were the anointed cherub. I placed you on the mountain of God. You strolled in magnificence among the stones of fire. From the day of your creation you were sheer perfection…” (Ezekiel 28:12-14)
But then the green-eyed monster struck. Listen to Prophet Ezekiel: “And then imperfection—evil!—was detected in you. In much buying and selling you turned violent, you sinned! I threw you, disgraced, off the mountain of God. I threw you out—you, the anointed angel-cherub. No more strolling among the gems of fire for you! Your beauty went to your head. You corrupted wisdom by using it to get worldly fame. I threw you to the ground, sent you sprawling before an audience of kings and let them gloat over your demise. By sin after sin after sin, by your corrupt ways of doing business, you defiled your holy places of worship. So I set a fire around and within you. It burned you up. I reduced you to ashes. All anyone sees now when they look for you is ashes, a pitiful mound of ashes. All who once knew you now throw up their hands: ‘This can’t have happened! This has happened!’” (Ezekiel 28:15-19 MSG)
So we know Satan became a corrupt and greedy government official. And his ambition got the better of him. This is how Prophet Isaiah captured that ambition bit: “Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations! You said to yourself, “I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon. I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!” But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking: “Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble? Is this the one who made the world like a desert, who ruined its cities, and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’ (Isaiah 14:12-17 NET)
What is interesting is that all three passages – Revelation 12:7-12, Ezekiel 28:12-19, Isaiah 14:13-17 – talk about nations that existed on Earth before, during and after the fall of Satan. It’s why many theologians believe there was a pre-Adamic civilisation on Earth. Revelation talks about Satan deceiving the whole world before he was exiled. (Revelation 12:9) Ezekiel speaks of Satan being sent “sprawling before an audience of kings.” (Ezekiel 28:17) Isaiah talks of the Devil destroying the world and cities before he was cast out. (Isaiah 14:17) These passages strongly support the notion of a pre-Adamic civilisation. If the Devil was thrown down to Earth after the insurrection in Heaven, we can safely deduce that at the time of insurrection the Earth already existed. There are actually deductive hints he might even have led an earthly rebellion as a continuation of the war in Heaven, only now in a different theatre. Think of World War II being fought in the deserts of North Africa.
From these passages we see three primary functions of Satan: a). He deceives the whole world. (Revelation 12:9)
b). He accuses “the brethren” – Christians. He relentlessly levels prosecutorial charges against them in the heavenly assizes. (Revelation 12:10)
c). He terrorizes the world. (Isaiah 14:16-17)
And so Satan is a deceiver, accuser and terrorist. In order to deceive people he sometimes manifests as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:4) Which is why we must be careful about supernatural manifestations. Not everything supernatural is of God. Jesus would describe Satan as a murderer, liar and father of propaganda. (John 8:44) Peter described him as an opportunistic, stalking, ravenous lion. (1 Peter 5:8)
It follows that if God didn’t create Satan there will be no deception in the world and no terror. That unrelenting feeling of guilt you have after repentance is of Satan. The blood of Jesus not only purges us from sin it purges our conscience as well. (Hebrews 9:14) But Satan won’t let off accusing you. Yet his accusations cannot erode your righteousness. Once you’ve confessed your sin move on. God is faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. “If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].” (1 John 1:9 AMP) Believe God’s word rather than your feelings. Now you know who’s instigating those feelings of unworthiness and condemnation.
But the natural question is, why would God create such a being? Didn’t he know he’d turn rogue? Of course he knew! But God is not afraid of the natural consequences of the bestowal of freewill to both mankind and angels. Creation has a logical progression and God subjects himself to it. That logical progression has to play out within time dimension. The donation of freewill led to undesirable and painful political outcomes for God and yet he abides the consequences. Without freewill we’ll be robots. Angels too. What God does though is having foreseen those consequences he creates remedial countermeasures. He knew Adam would sin and so he made provision for the sacrifice of Jesus before Adam was even created. (1 Peter 1:20) Yes, Satan is a very brutish and condemnatory fellow but the important thing is, at the end of the day we win! That’s what the Book says. (Revelation 12:11)
If you’ll like to give your life to Jesus, please pray this prayer: Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus Christ died for me, that you raised him from the dead. Please forgive me Father. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.
God is not afraid of the natural consequences of the bestowal of freewill to both mankind and angels. Click To Tweet