Satan is not a fallen Angel!!!! When reading the Bible it is important to take each verse in the context of all the surrounding verses as well as in historical context. When we pull one verse from one place and another verse from another place, we are easily led astray into false doctrine. Most Christians believe that Satan was the most beautiful angel, head of the heavenly choir, second in command. He decided to rebel against God and try to take over. One third of all the angels joined him and there was a great war. God cast him and his followers out of heaven. All this happened between verses one and two of Genesis. Now this is a real cool story full of drama and righteousness triumphing over evil. Too bad it’s not true. Satan’s start: This story is first recorded in history in many pagan legends. It was introduced to Christianity by John Milton in the form of an epic poem/story called “Paradise Lost” in 1667. Those who believe this story use a variety of verses in the Bible to prove it. Let’s look at those verses, in context, and see if they are right: Isaiah 14:12-15 “12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” This does very much sound like the story above. However, if we go to the beginning of the subject in Isaiah 13:1, we find that Isaiah is relaying a message of condemnation on Babylon. Israel and Judah had sinned and God was going to use Babylon to punish them (Isaiah prophesied more than one hundred years before this actually happened). Babylon went beyond the command of God however, and God is saying He will punish her for this. In 14:1-2, God tells Judah that she will be returned to her own land and then in verse three He tells them that at the time they are delivered from Babylon they will taunt the Babylonians by saying the things in verses 4-23. Verses 12-15 are aimed specifically at Nebuchadnezzar himself who, the book of Daniel tells us, thought he was the most special thing around. His arrogance was so extreme that God humbled him by making him insane. He spent a time eating grass in the fields thinking he was a wild animal. His kingdom was totally destroyed in the next generation and disappeared from the face of the earth.There is no mention of Satan whatsoever and no hint that these few verses should be read any differently than the ones before and after. Ezekeial 28:12-19 12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 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.14 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. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude 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 God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 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. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. Again, I see how you could think these are referring to the fall of Satan story. But the first verse clearly tells us who God is talking to: The King of Tyre. Tyre was an island nation just off the coast of Israel (related to the Phoenicians) This island was nearly invincible. Because of its location in the sea it was thought impossible to conquer. The king of Tyre at this time was incredibly rich and thought himself to be the greatest thing under heaven. His island was a king’s paradise. All the proceeding and following verses are also speaking about human kings and nations. There is no indication that this is speaking of anything but a human king who thought the things recorded in verses 12-15 but God tells him like it is in verses 16-19. Alexander the Great conquered the nation by building a causeway from the coast to the island and marching his army in then laying siege for seven months. By the time he and, later, the Romans were done with Tyre, it was a flat rock good for nothing but drying fishing nets. There is no mention of Satan nor any indication this verse should be put anywhere but with the accompanying scriptures aimed at Tyre’s neighbors. Luke 10:18 And he (Jesus) said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Taking this in context the conversation went something like this; We conquered Satan in Your Name! Well glory be! Satan has just fallen from his position of power (because of what you just did) Doesn’t that fit much better with Jesus’ personality and what was going on at the time? Jesus wasn’t saying the devil was ever in God’s throne room, just that he was defeated by the power of God working through the disciples. 2 corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. This does not say that Satan began as an Angel of light, but that he appears to be one sometimes. The surrounding verses are talking about false ministers pretending to be godly men. This scripture simply says that Satan also often fakes it, pretending to be good. Revelation 12: 7-10 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Most take these verses and move them back between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. However, they take the entire rest of the book of Revelation and put it 6000 years later, 2000 years after it was written and still ahead of us. There is no indication in the text to make one think this should be done, but this fits with their Satan story. It is mishandling of the Word of God. The war this text was talking about takes place in the same time as the preceding verses (the birth of the Christian Church) and is followed by the following verses which tell us that the Blood of Christ is the weapon that conquered Satan. This is probably the worst case of taking the scripture out of context since the text clearly puts the event some time AFTER the crucifixion. Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. God created Satan just as He created everything else. Why? God created us to worship Him. He created us in His image and thus with the ability to choose. This ability is necessary in order to have true love and worship. Without choice, we are nothing more than slaves and robots. God wanted true friends. So God created a choice! For every up He made a down and for every front He made a back and for every in He made an out. There was already a loving, truthful God. He created a hateful, lying, ugly counterpart; a choice. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts 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 8:44 Satan is our adversary, enemy, accuser, the old serpent, great dragon, Beelzebub, Blial, the father of lies, and the tempter. He is the opposite of God in every way. He is not and never was an Angel!!!
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:19:27 +0000
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