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Revelation 12:9
“The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
Before we move on from our study of angels, specifically the good angels, we should make one final point—namely, that we are to serve and worship God, not the angels (Rev. 22:8–9). In reality, few of us may be tempted to sin in this way, but the speculation about angels and their work that bombards us in our culture might lead us to at least focus on angels too much, if not entice us to other sins. That being said, Scripture tells us about angels, so God wants us to know about them. Today we will begin a look at the bad angels: Satan and his demons.
Christian theologians have traditionally regarded Satan as a fallen angel, an idea suggested by passages such as Revelation 12 and Job 1. Scripture, however, does not give us much detail about the fall of Satan, such as when it happened or exactly what caused it. Since God created everything out of nothing and made it all “very good” during the six days of creation (Gen. 1; Heb. 11:3), we know that Satan was initially a good creature but then somehow fell into sin. Many people in church history have suggested that Satan fell from grace when he tried to make himself higher than God. This is based on texts such as Isaiah 14:3–23, though that text is actually about the fall of the king of Babylon. At most, it is a secondary allusion if indeed it has any connection to the history of Satan and his fall. Other texts suggesting a fall of the devil include Luke 10:18, though this text is not about his initial fall into sin, because it concerns what happened during the ministry of the seventy-two disciples of Jesus sent out to preach the gospel and heal the sick.
Scripture has more to say about Satan’s tactics than it does about his origin. We know that he accuses believers of sin, tempting them to wallow in it instead of remembering the righteousness of Christ imputed to them that covers their sin and shields them from the wrath of God (Zech. 3:1–5). Especially important for us to remember is that he is a liar and deceiver who will even come to us looking like an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). He is crafty and always presents himself in the best way possible. We do well to heed Dr. R.C. Sproul’s warning: Satan “will try to deceive us by coming to us not in an ugly state but as pious and pure, perhaps even quoting Scripture while causing us to go against the Word of God.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
That which is evil does not always present itself to us as blatantly evil. Satan likes to deceive and knows that we can be more easily enticed to sin when sin looks attractive to us. We must be on our guard against his schemes and know God’s Word so that we can see through Satan’s deceptions when they come our way.
For further study
- 1 Chronicles 21:1
- Job 2:1–10
- 2 Corinthians 2:5–11
- 1 John 3:8
The bible in a year
- 2 Chronicles 13–16
- John 14