What Do You Know About Satan? Have You Seen Him? Series

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SATAN? HAVE YOU SEEN HIM?

[A]. THE FACE OF SATAN

Have you seen the face of Satan? No, I don’t expect you have, nor will you, but Jesus has. He knew the anointed cherub because He created him. He knew him when he was perfect in all his ways. Some don’t acknowledge the Ezekiel passage as relating to Lucifer/Satan but I believe it does relate. It speaks to the ruler of Tyre but it talks way beyond him. Here is one statement – {{Ezekiel 28:15 “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.”}}. The Ezekiel verse can’t refer to the ruler of Tyre because he was not blameless at any time in any of his ways. That refers to Satan when in heaven before sin entered into him.

Jesus also was face to face with Satan in the threefold temptations. Also today Satan has access to heaven as the accuser – {{Revelation 12:10 I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for THE ACCUSER OF OUR BRETHREN has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.”}}

God prepared a special habitation for this anointed cherub – {{Ezekiel 28:13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald, and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared.”}} (NASB).

This was not the Eden of Genesis. In the Middle East it was “paradeisos” a special lovely garden. The description in that verse portrays the absolute beauty and glory of God’s most wonderfully beautiful creation –> the anointed cherub, who became Satan. (Michael the archangel is the most powerful of God’s creation).

In that verse (28:13) I see Eden as the perfection of God in creation. In Genesis the earthly Eden (a homophonous root meaning “delight”, or from Summerian “edin” meaning a plain or steppe, or from the Akkadian “edinu”) was the perfection of creation for man. Eden is translated “paradeisos” by the LXX (Septuagint) which comes from the Old Persian “pairidaeza” (park, pleasure ground) which in time became “paradise” in English. This Eden of Ezekiel created for Lucifer is not at all related to the Genesis Eden but is the special created setting God made for Lucifer, both he and Eden being of the most exquisite beauty.

[B]. WHAT WAS THE FIRST SIN EVER?

Satan committed the first sin which was pride – {{Ezekiel 28:17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendour. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you.”}}

When we look into Isaiah we see this verse about the “Morning star”. {{Isaiah 14:12-15 “How you have fallen from heaven, O STAR OF THE MORNING, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.’ “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.”}}

Yes, it was vaulting pride that caused Satan to think he would rise up and overthrow God. The cause of that pride was his beauty. Be warned! Be very careful, O Christian, that what God has given you does not become a source of pride. That may relate to your abilities, your position, especially your church position, your wealth, your achievements (Nebuchadnezzar), and so much more.

Isaiah 14:12. This word “O star of the morning” is from the Latin “light bearer”. The word is the translation of the Hebrew “helel” (“heosphoros” in the LXX - Septuagint) meaning “shining one”. The Arabic uses for “bright, shining one,” the word “zuhratun” the name for the planet Venus which is what the word “Lucifer” is in Latin. Jerome, when translating the Vulgate, (Hebrew/Greek into Latin between A.D. 383 and 404) had difficulty in rendering the Hebrew “helel” into Latin, and because it was associated with “light” (luc/lucens - Latin) he decided on Lucifer, and the name has remained. It has become the name for Satan.

I asked at the beginning have you seen Satan. Just supposing for a moment you could see Satan, what would you see? Would you behold an angel of light in the beauty wherein God created him? Would you see a horrible, grotesque form before you? Would you see the face of an innocent lamb, or a roaring lion, or a wolf or a vicious, twisted serpent? One thing is certain, Satan is all things to all men, an ever changing façade for every occasion.