Who Is Satan?

I don’t know how many times over the years I have been asked who I think Satan really is. Now, that may not surprise you, but what should surprise you is that almost all of these questions came from people who referred to themselves as born-again Christians.

That reminds me of an old Twilight Zone show. An American man is walking through the countryside of Europe. It becomes dark and he gets lost. A fierce storm begins to blow, and finally, he sees an old medieval castle, all by itself in the middle of the forest. A storm is raging all about the man who decides to take refuge in the castle.

He knocks on the door and pleads for shelter, and finally the monks agree to let him in. They seem hospitable, but not quiet what you would call friendly. But they feed him and let him roam around to see the castle.

The man happens upon a cell in the basement. Inside the cell was a very handsome and pleasant man. He begged the American to help him escape. He said the head monk was crazy and had kept him locked up there for nearly 20 years.

The American confronted the monk, who said the man in the cell was really Satan, and as long as he was locked in the cell, the world was safe. He figured the monk was crazy indeed, so he went back down and unlocked the cell door. The nice man in the cell slowly came out and stood before him.

And all of a sudden, that nice man who had just been freed turned into a hideous monster and sneered the sneer of evil, and then in a poof just disappeared. His evil laughing could be heard echoing away in the darkness as the reality of what he did came to the American.

He ran to the monk to apologize and ask forgiveness. He said he didn’t recognize the devil because he looked so pleasant.

How many of us today could not recognize the devil if he were to appear in front of us? George Barna had a poll that asked if people believed in the devil as a living being, or was it just a symbol of evil? Nearly 50% of American Christians said the devil was nothing more than a symbol of evil, but that no real devil existed.

Today, I would like to talk about that enemy of God, the great deceiver.

Satan was a created being in Heaven, and was called Lucifer. He was a sinless and righteous angel.

EZEKIEL 28:15 tells us,

‘You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till wickedness was found in you.’

At one time, Satan was one of God’s elect. He was beautiful beyond compare, and his personality and charm must have commanded the respect and love from all the rest of the angels. And his power was so great that he was the highest of angels. So, what caused this great Lucifer to become evil and fall from Heaven?

EZEKIEL 28:17 says,

‘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.’

Over a period of time, Satan focused on himself. It all became about him, not about God. When we become overly concerned with what we want, or what we desire, it is called pride. Here are some of the things the Bible says about pride.

PSALM 10:4 – tells us how pride will numb us to spirituality.

‘In his pride, the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.’

In PROVERBS 8:13 it tells us that God hates pride. In GALATIANS 6:3 it tells us about the false estimation of self-greatness.

How many of us are prideful to some degree, too? How many of us focus on what we want, even though we know the Lord does not want that for us? It is because we, too, are filled with pride. And that is what changed Lucifer from the divine angel he was created to be, to the evil power-hungry demon he became. In short, he was corrupted by his own personal ambitions.

Lucifer wanted the power and position that God had. He no longer worshiped God; he now envied God. And envy always turns to hate if left unchallenged. The problem that presented to Lucifer is that according to REVELATION 3:21, God had reserved that high position for His Son, Jesus Christ. Lucifer got frustrated.

A young couple had not been married very long when the man found out he was laid off. At first, he busied himself with typing resumes and going out for interviews. But after a few months, he got more and more frustrated and began to accept the fact that he was going to remain unemployed.