The origin of Satan

1. Many years ago I remember a teacher saying to some students he had confused two things.

2. He said he had for many years believed inference and implication are the same thing.

3. As time passed he learned that these two items are not the same.

4. Implication or “imply” means something is suggested.

5. For instance, a man might say, “I like to eat when I get hungry.”

6. Then he adds, “I am hungry right now.”

7. This man is implying he wants to eat.

8. If we listen to what the man says and we draw a conclusion from his words, we “infer” a conclusion.

9. Sometimes people imply something that is false. Or, we may infer a wrong conclusion.

10. Inference and implication are valuable tools and they are important for a lot of reasons.

11. Sometimes when we deal with spiritual things we use inference and implication.

SUCH IS CERTAINLY THE CASE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE DEVIL. IF YOU WERE PRESENT LAST WEEK YOU MAY RECALL HOW WE EXAMINED 4 PASSAGES THAT ARE OFTEN USED TO EXPLAIN SATAN’S ORIGIN (BEGINNING). IT WAS DETERMINED THAT NONE OF THESE ALLEGED PROOF TEXTS TALK ABOUT THE DEVIL.

a) Tonight we want to show, from the Bible, where Satan came from.

b) Our study is one that involves implication and inference.

c) There is no single passage in the Bible that tells us where Satan came from.

d) We must infer that information based on what God has revealed or implied.

2) A good beginning point is to remind ourselves that Satan is not God.

3) He is a powerful creature, but he is not divine.

4) In Job 42:2 Job makes a wise and right observation about God.

5) He said no purpose of God can be restrained.

6) That is, if deity wills or desires to do something, there is nothing to hold God back from acting.

7) Such is not surprising because God is called “God Almighty” (Gen. 17:1).

a) Does Satan have this same capability?

b) Can the devil be restrained in his purposes? The Bible answers this question.

c) Satan had to0 receive authority from God to afflict Job (Job 1:12).

d) Satan had a will or purpose, but he had to go to someone else to fulfill it.

e) When Satan tempted Jesus with the kingdoms of the world he made an interesting admission.

f) In Lk. 4:6 he told Jesus the kingdoms of the world had been “delivered” to him.

g) As powerful as he is, he only owns the kingdoms of the world because a higher power has permitted it.

h) Satan does not have the power to reign freely.

8) Another demonstration of this is found in the life of Jesus, Lk. 22:31.

9) The Lord said Satan asked to “have” Peter.

10) Since he had to ask for permission, his purposes can be thwarted. He can be restrained.

11) Consider, too, this point from Rev. 20:10: Satan will be cast into Hell at the end of time.

12) When that even occurs, he will be powerless to resist and avoid punishment.

13) John said (1 Jn. 4:4), greater is the one in us than the one in the world (Satan).

14) In view of all these passages we may draw a conclusion: Satan is not deity. He is not eternal.

15) We may infer from what has been said that Satan did have a beginning.

a) To find this beginning we need to trace back information on the devil as far as we possibly can.

b) Very early in the Bible we read about the Garden of Eden.

c) Do we have any information about Satan existing at this time?

d) Yes; Gen. 3 tells us he was involved with the fall of Adam and Eve.

e) We know he had to be created some time prior to this.

f) A passage that helps us is Ex. 20:11. Moses said God “created all things.”

16) Since Satan is not eternal, he is a created being and included in the scope of Ex. 20.

17) As we stated last week, all that God created was good (Gen. 1:31).

18) Satan was not created to be evil; he became wicked by personal choice.

19) Furthermore, we may infer something about the type of creature Satan is (i.e. his nature).

20) Satan sinned; we will make that point in a bit.

21) For now consider this question: What kind of creature sins?

a) We do not read of animals sinning, so we would infer Satan is not an animal.

b) Human beings sin, but Satan is far more powerful than man so we exclude him from being like us.

c) Satan is a spiritual being who shares in the qualities possessed by angels.

d) This is the only class we know about that fits, and it is a class that is consistent with the New Testament.

22) God tells us Satan is a creature that has powers beyond those that we see on the earth.

23) We find this information revealed in the book of Job.

24) When we look at the tragedies in Job’s life what was the force behind them?

25) Job lost his animals and farmhands (1:14-15); was this a freak accident or Satan?

26) Job then lost more animals and men (1:16); was this a second accident or was it the devil?

27) Job lost a third bunch of animals and men (1:17); was this a third accident or was it Satan?

28) All Job children died in something like a tornado (1:18-19); was this a fourth accident or was it Satan?

29) Satan was involved with all these things.

30) Men and animals do not behave in this way. Men and animals do not have this type of power.

31) Angels, however, do. We have shown that to be the case in previous lessons.

a) At some point in the past God created angels.

b) These powerful creatures are the only logical choice for Satan’s origin.

c) Satan was numbered among them but choose to not stay with them.

32) Three verses pay special attention to Satan and his fall.

33) We want to look at these passages in this order: 1 Jn. 3:8; Jn. 8:44; 1 Tim. 3:6.

a) In 1 Jn. 3:8 John says the devil “sinned from the beginning.”

b) John used a present tense verb. This means the devil began to sin and kept on sinning.

c) One day we may have something that leaks.

d) It may be a leak in our car; the anti-freeze begins to leak and the fluid is finally all gone.

e) When the fluid is gone, the leak stops. It is not fixed, but there is no more fluid to escape.

f) The devil is not like that; he began to sin and he has continued to sin. Sin goes on and on with him.

g) John is telling us the devil is the source or the fountain of sin.

h) This is why Jesus said this in Jn. 8:44 – READ.

i) Satan is the one who got sin going. We know there was sin in the Garden of Eden.

34) Satan sinned prior to the Garden of Eve (that was his fall).

35) He then became involved with sin in the Garden, and he has continued his work since that time.

36) Until the end of the world, Satan will be involved with sin.

37) This is what he lives for, works for, hopes for, and wants for all people.

38) If a creature is this committed to something, there must be a reason behind it.

39) A hint about Satan’s driving interest in sin is found in 1 Tim. 3:6.

a) It is in this chapter that we read about elders and deacons.

b) Paul spoke about what these men are to be like, and he made a comment about Satan.

c) The devil is actually used as an illustration.

d) 1 Tim. 3:6 - READ.

e) Not everyone agrees on how this text should be understood.

f) There are quite a few who believe Paul mean “pride” was what caused Satan’s fall.

g) Satan was an angel and pride motivated him to rebel.

40) From very ancient times there has been a belief about Satan being a fallen angel.

41) Most date the book of Job as being a document from about the time of Abraham.

42) This is very likely the earliest Bible book we have.

43) One of Job’s “friends” made an interesting statement in Job 4.

a) This was Eliphaz; he was trying to prove that Job must have committed a terrible sin.

b) Although this man was wrong in his conclusion, he said something very, very interesting.

c) Job 4:18-19 – READ.

44) “Charging the angels with error” in verse 18 – where did this statement come from?

45) Believing in fallen angels is a very old belief.

46) If all we had was the words from Job’s friend, it might not be completely conclusive.

47) We have additional information.

a) Two New Testament references deal with this same subject; there is 2 Pet. 2:4 and Jude 6.

b) In 2 Pet. 2:4 Peter says “God spared not the angels when they sinned.”

c) This statement lines up very, very well with the information given thus far.

d) Satan was an angel and he sinned. Satan was not the only sinful angel.

e) Since Peter used the plural (“angels”), there was more than one.

f) Jude makes all the same points Peter made in Jude 6.

g) His wording, however, is slightly different.

48) Rather than saying angels “sinned,” Jude goes into a little more detail.

49) He says, angels kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation.

50) Evil angels (and I am including Satan in this description) had a role or function in heaven.

51) At some point some of the decided they did not want to remain in this state.

52) Perhaps they wanted more or something God had not authorized them to have.

53) There was some type of rebellion and Satan and a demonic host was born.

54) If we sum up all the information given tonight, here is the picture we find.

a) God created all things. Part of God’s creation involved angels.

b) At some point after creation (seemingly very early), some of these creatures decided to revolt.

c) After the upheaval, they lost their heavenly position.

d) Satan is the leader of these deposed spirit creatures.

e) This leaves us with a very important lesson: we cannot fight against God and win.

f) If angels could not do it, man cannot do it. The right choice is submission to God.