Please note that we have intentionally spelled satan’s name with a small “s” (even at the beginning of sentences, but not within quoted Bible verses) since we do not wish to show him any respect or acknowledge his importance anymore than we need to. This is not to say though that we are ignorant of his devices, since we have seen him steal, kill and destroy in the lives of millions of people in the world. He will however learn to know his place in our lives and the lives of those who take up their rightful place as manifested sons of God, according to the following verse: [Rom 16:20a And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly].

The Origin Of The devil

The devil (lucifer) was created as the main angel (cherub) of music in Heaven and he held that position until iniquity was found in him. When the prophet Ezekiel wrote about the king of Tyre, he was actually referring to satan – this was a type of figurative speech used when talking about someone whilst actually referring to somebody else. We know Ezekiel was talking about the devil because apart from God, there were only 3 other people in the Garden of Eden: Adam, Eve and satan talking through the snake (see verse 13 below). Note how beautiful lucifer was created:

[Eze 28:12 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. 17 “ Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. 18 “ You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.”’”].

Lucifer (which means “Angel of Light”) was corrupted because of his own beauty and he became full of pride (v. 17 above). Through some form of cunning negotiation or scheme (hence v.15 and v 18 points out he was “trading”) he managed to corrupt about a third of the angels in Heaven as well. And since sin cannot exist in Heaven, he was cast out and these angels with him: [Rev 12:7 And there was war in Heaven. Michael and his angels warring against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels warred, 8 but did not prevail. Nor was place found for them in Heaven any more. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him].

The devil was now the ruler of the earth, since this was where he was cast down to from Heaven. Then God created man and placed him on the earth as well and instructed him to cultivate and guard the Garden of Eden. [Gen 2:15 Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it] (GNB). What did man have to guard it against? After all, the lion and the lamb still grazed together? Against satan of course! The devil had ruled the earth until then, but now God had placed man on the earth to rule in satan’s place: [Gen 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the Heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth]. Thus because of God’s decree, man was the rightful ruler of the earth.

Then we read how through Adam’s negligence to guard the earth properly, how satan managed to use the body of a snake to entice Eve, who misled Adam as well. He led them to believe that they would become like God, when in fact they already were! [Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them]. They were also filled with the Holy Spirit [Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being] and carried God’s glory to the extent that they weren’t even aware they were naked. After they had eaten the fruit, they realized they were naked – actually they realized that God’s glory, which had covered them before, had lifted – which really meant they had died spiritually. Through this single act of disobedience Adam plunged the entire mankind into sin and since the seed of all the people on the earth was still inside him, every person ever born into this world would be born with a sinful nature. [Rom 5:12a Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men…].

This is why it was necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin – so that He would not inherit the sinful nature passed on from generation to generation since Adam, but instead Jesus was conceived through God’s own seed through the Holy Spirit. This is the very same seed which is given to us when we are born again: [1 Pet 1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever].

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 2:31 am and is filed under Adam, Sinful Nature, The Devil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.