Satan

Ezekiel 28 : 12 … ’This is what the Sovereign Lord says: "’You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. 18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’" In Genesis 3:15 when God pronounced the fate of Satan he said that it would be the seed of woman who would deliver that punishment. And that promise was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, ……. And 33 years later when Christ was crucified Satan danced and laughed and proclaimed to the world that he had won. But three days later there was no dancing in Hell as Jesus came out of the tomb proclaiming his dominion over death and hell and Satan. As Christians we have several names for him, Lucifer, the Devil,the Evil one , but probably the most common is Satan. The Bible calls him the “Prince of this World” the “Prince of Demons” and the “Prince of the Power of the Air”. Sometimes we call him the Devil which literally means the slanderer or false accuser.But who or what is Satan? Through the years Christians have tended to lean toward extremes on the subject, - either we ignore Satan and hope that he isn’t who the Bible says he is or we focus on giving him credit for every misfortune, illness or trouble that enters our lives. Too often if people even acknowledge the existence of Satan he is thought to be some comical figure in long red underwear with a pitchfork and horns. Somewhere along the line Satan came up with a strategy that allowed himself to be minimized so that Christians would not take him seriously. But hear me now - Satan is as real as I am and he is the author of destruction and evil. Satan is alive and well and earth is his playground. He can be seen in witchcraft, satanism, the occult and astrology. These are all his works in an effort to distract people from the truth that can only be found in Jesus Christ. You only have to watch the evening news to realize that we are surrounded by evil and yet we’ve become immune to it. Jesus himself had a few well chosen words to say about Satan. He called him the “enemy” in Matthew 13:39, the “Evil One” in Matthew 13:38, the “Prince of this world” in John 12:3, a “Liar” in John 8:44 and a “Murderer” in the same verse. In Luke 10:18 Jesus said he saw Satan fall from Heaven , in Matthew 12:26 we are told that Satan has a kingdom, and in Matthew 13:38 we are told that Satan IS the one who sows evil weeds in with the good wheat. Obivously this is not the type of person who you would want as a next door neighbor or to date your daughter. Satan is a roaring lion seeking who he may devour, he can produce false miraclesand show himself as an Angel of light and the list goes on and on.

So why is he here? In order to discover the purpose of Satan we need to go back to the beginning . In the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel we discover that before God created the world and mankind that there was a different realm, a spiritual realm, one of Angels. And of all the angels God’s favorite was one called Lucifer which meant “Light Bearer” and we are told that he was the most beautiful of all created beings. And it was this Angel, Lucifer who led a rebellion in heaven against God, and he was cast out of heaven along with 1/3 of the angels who had joined him in his rebellion. At that point he was no longer referred to as Lucifer instead… he was called Satan which means “To be adverse or to hate.” In Zechariah CH 3 (:1-2) the title adversary is given. We find it to mean, destroyer, one who causes demise, one who devours and demolishes. His purpose is to dissolve and diminish the faith of God’s children to decapitate their trust and to cause their hope to die. Satan’s job description is to cause chaos and confusion. So when hardship interrupts your life, understand, that Satan will attack those who love the Lord, simply because he already owns those who refuse to acknowledge God. Why go after what you already own?