Different Satans and Devils in the Bible

DIFFERENT SATANS AND DEVILS

Part 1

“Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”

(2 Cor. 11:14).

What does it mean that “Satan is transformed into an angel of light”?

Light = revelation of God.  Light shines in darkness (John 1:5). This the “truth”. The word of God. Jesus Christ is the LIGHT (John 1:4; 8:12). He is the light of the Heavenly city (Rev. 21:23).

Satan transforms himself as an angel of light, as a fake angel of light. For the truth is Jesus Christ is the LIGHT and his messengers are angels or messengers of Jesus the light.

2 Cor. 11: 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Paul was talking about “false apostles” - counterfeit apostles, fake apostles. We know that “apostles” means “messengers” [those who bring the message]. And it is similar with the word “angel” which means “messenger”. Compare it with “Satan” and “his angels” (Rev. 12:9); “the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41); “Satan” and “his ministers” ( 2 Cor. 11:14,15).

What Satan is Not.

The word “Satan” here does not mean a “supernatural being” who was once perfect in beauty archangel “Lucifer” and then rebelled against God and cast out of heaven with his rebellious angels who became Satan and devils. No! Such teaching of “Satan” is a myth or a “cunningly devised fable” that came from pagan mythologies.

What Satan Means.

Satan means “enemy” and whenever it is used as a name such as this name “Satan” it pertains to a person, a group of people, a system or “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:5). Depending on the context, Satan may mean the lust of the flesh, the apostate “Jewish high priest” , the apostate “Judaism” or “Jews religion” , the apostate “Jewish nation” and the Roman Empire. It may also be a personification of law, sin and death.

The Enemies of the Cross of Christ.

Here in 2 Corinthians “Satan” and “his ministers” were the “enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18) whose God is their belly, who mind earthly things, who teach false doctrines, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (Rom. 16:17,18), who “bewitched” believers to not believe in the truth (Gal. 3:1), teaching “Jewish fables and commandments of men, that turn from the truth” (Titus 1:14). Titus called them “alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (Titus 1:12).  Peter called them “false teachers” (2 Pet. 2:1), “as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Pet. 2:12). These are similar to the serpent in the garden of Eden who was more subtil than any beast of the field (Gen. 3:1) who beguiled Eve through his subtilty (2 Cor. 11:3) “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts” (2 Timothy 3:6).

These enemies [Satan] of the cross of Christ were identified by Paul as “the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” (1 Thes. 2:15-16).

The Jewish Priesthood and the Sanhedrin.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Paul exhorted the saints that they wrestle not against flesh and blood. It means the warfare is not physical, but it is spiritual.  That they wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. And Satan was the leader of these rulers. He was called by Paul as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).

The warfare, as I said was “spiritual” and not “physical”. The enemies were described as in “high places” [high position].  Spiritual wickedness in “high places”. And they were led by “the prince of the power of the air”. His realm of influence was “the air”. Where is the air? Is it somewhere up there in the atmosphere? It may be. Yes. When the Bible uses the word “air”, it was used to describe the birds and fowls of the air that fly there up there in the sky or higher level over the ground. The idea is that “Satan” was compared to the birds in the air who are up there flying. So some Bible believers have come up to the conclusion that Satan is a prince or ruler over the air. And that he and his angels are having their sphere of influence in the outer space and in the atmosphere over this planet. So they came up with the idea of U.F.O’s as Satan and his angels riding there ready to wage war against God and his people on earth. That’s why they believe that when the Church of Jesus Christ gets “raptured”, they will cast down Satan and his angels from the air and he will come down to earth with his wrath.

But that’s not really what the Bible wants us to understand about Satan and his angels. The air is a literal air which means “some exalted place over the ground” and it is the same with “high places”. They were not literally ruling in the air, but it simply means that Satan and his in angels were “ruling” and in “high position of authority”. They were called “principalities” and “powers”. Paul used the words “principalities and powers” in Titus 3:1 talking about the rulers of their governments during their time. They are equivalent to the present presidents and prime ministers of the countries, the governors, the mayors, the Supreme Court, the senators, congressmen and all government officials. If the “principalities” and “powers” were the immortal super enemy called Satan and his demons, why would Paul tell Titus to be “subject” to them?

The answer is because whenever Paul was using the words “principalities and powers”, he was talking about “people who are in high positions of authority”.  Paul was talking about their “rulers” and “leaders” in their government and religion. Who were the ruling bodies in their time as a nation?  They were the merging powers of the Sanhedrin and the Priesthood. Religious leadership was a very powerful. Saul of Tarsus [who later became Paul the apostle] was granted the license to arrest and kill by the high priest (Acts 9:1,2). The high priest was a very powerful religious and political icon during their time as the Pope and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church are today.

So the “spiritual wickedness” or “wicked spirits” in high places spoken by Paul were the “religious leaders” of Judaism with the high priest(s) as Satan, the prince. They are “Satan and his angels”.

But isn’t the warfare not against flesh and blood? Yes, indeed. It simply means, it is not physical wrestling, but wrestling spiritually with these rulers. Paul said “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. These rulers were in high places of authority waging war against God through their “doctrines”. These doctrines or “thoughts” were “exalting” themselves against “THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD” and rebelling against God’s authority. That’s why the warfare is not carnal or physical, but spiritual. It is the “BATTLE OF THE MIND”. It is the “BATTLE OF KNOWLEDGE”. And the weapon Paul was using was “mighty through God” to the PULLING DOWN OF STRONGHOLDS, CASTING DOWN “IMAGINATIONS”. And this weapon is “THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, THE WORD OF GOD” with the whole ARMOUR of God as described by Paul in Eph. 6:11-18. Paul suffered a lot from this “Satan” and “his angels” and all the church of God. 

John the Beloved used an imagery of the great red dragon and a serpent. This serpent was not the serpent of Genesis 3. Others

believe that the serpent of Revelation is the same as the serpent of Genesis, thus creating an immortal fallen angel called Satan. But that is not true. Remember, John was using codes, symbols, figures and numbers. Yes, both serpents were “enemies” but they are not one. Jesus called the Pharisees and Scribes [religious leaders] of Israel as “serpents” and “generation of vipers” (Matt. 23:29,33). Of course they were not literal serpents but they were “serpent-like” just like the serpent of Genesis who was “subtil” and “wise”. So in Revelation 12, John the Beloved uses the imagery of a serpent for Satan. He used these descriptions:  “the great dragon…that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). He was “in heaven” which means that he was in a “high position”. He was cast out from heaven into the earth. He was humiliated. He was demoted from high position into the “dust”. Jesus said that “whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased” (Luke 14:11). Satan in his high position was exalting himself against the knowledge of God. And so God abased him and his angels. Do you know who was this “Satan”?

The dragon was deceiving the whole world. And it was not the globe or planet earth (for there is no such thing as globe or planet earth) but the whole world of Judaism. How was he deceiving that world? By his false teachings against Christ.

He was the accuser of the brethren who was accusing before God day and night. Who had access to God through the temple and who can accuse the brethren before God day and night? It was the high priest of Judaism.

This “Satan” and “his angels” were all defeated and destroyed by Christ (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 20:10). According to Paul in the context of doctrine and false teachers, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” (Rom. 16:20).

Every High Thing That Exalted Itself.

Now, that the Satan(s) described by the Bible was/were already judged and destroyed by God, is/are there still “Satan(s)” today?

We are not in the same situation as Paul and the church in the first century having warfare against “the apostate Jewish Satan government” and “apostate Jewish nation”.  Yes, that kind of Satan was already destroyed. But the battle still continues. it is not against that defeated Satan. Law was abolished. Sin was put away. Death was abolished. Judaism was put to an end. The temple of Jerusalem, the Jewish “heaven on earth” was destroyed already by God.

But Paul states in 2 Cor. 10:5 that our warfare is against “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God”.  That is a “knowledge” battle. Battle of doctrines. There are still “religions” of this world and “doctrines” of men around that are in opposition to the knowledge of God.  They are “thoughts” and “doctrines” of men in “high places” [high positions] in religious empires.

The problem is in the hearts of men. In their hearts, men are in rebellion against God. For what can be more wicked than the heart of man?

Jeremiah 17: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

                          

Satan, God’s Obedient Servant.

Now does it mean that Satan can only mean “the high priest”, false religious teachers and “personification of law, sin and death”?  Can’t Satan be a “spirit” or an “angel”?

I did not say that Satan cannot be an “angel” or a “spirit”. But what I said is that Satan is not an immortal or ethereal spirit that is against God or is a little lower than God, the personal eternal enemy of God and men (as taught us by tradition).  We have seen in various accounts of “Satan” and “devil” in the Bible that one kind of a Satan and devil which the Bible also calls “the devil” and/or “satan” is a servant or messenger sent by God to fulfill his purposes.

Look at the account of “Satan” in Job. The Satan in Job is a creature that has an access with God and consults God, having been given a job to put Job in trials. Is that Satan God’s enemy? No. But he was called a Satan or an adversary of Job. If God uses a person to test you in a hard way, you may have hated this person and consider him as your enemy. But let us remember the Bible’s wisdom that says

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

That Satan in Job may be used by God to test Job, to “sharpen” him. And we see the results in Job’s life at the end of the book.

In the presenting of the sons of God before the Lord, a being called Satan was present with them. And the Lord asked him. (The sons of God may be “the righteous people” doing their services to the Lord in worship gathering or the “angels of God” in a heavenly gathering. Bible teachers differ on their opinions about it.)

Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Satan’s reply to the Lord’s question of “Where have you been recently?” may sound like this: “I just came recently from around the world tour from walking up and down in it”. So it seems that only an angel of the Lord can do this adventurous act of walking up and down in the earth. It seems going up to heaven and going down to earth. A mere man can’t do it.

This Satan was under the Lord’s command and never was doing a thing outside of God’s will. What Satan did to Job was God’s approval.

Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

The tragedies that happened to Job and his family cannot be done by a mere man. Only an angel or a spirit sent by God can do them.

Satan under God’s approval smote Job with sore boils:

Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

If we follow Job’s story until the end of the book, after this incident, Satan was no more mentioned. And there was no record that Satan was punished by God at the end of the book. Why? because that Satan was not God’s enemy but God’s servant sent to Job to be Job’s adversary to test Job’s faith in God.

The Evil Angels, Members of God’s Host

That’s how I want you to understand that one kind of Satan in the Bible is God’s servant or messenger, as members of the heavenly court. Read these verses to show what I mean.

2 Chronicles 18: 18 Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.

 19 And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

 20 Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith?

 21 And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so.

 22 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee.

In that scene, the Lord was sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. It seems like what we can see in kingdom movies – the king with his council, the ministers and rulers, department heads on his right and left discussing matters.

That’s the same with the heavenly kingdom. God was sitting on his throne with his ministers on the right and left. The HOST of heaven are his ANGELS.

Psalms 148:2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

God was discussing matters with his host. An angel suggested to God, “I will go out and become a lying spirit in all the mouth of Ahab’s prophets”.  That’s what happened. An angel of the host of heaven got out and became a lying spirit in the prophets of Ahab.

Psalms 78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

God was responsible in sending angels to fulfill his purposes, whether these things look evil in the eyes of men. God was using angels even to kill and destroy peoples. (2 Chronicles 32:21)

Therefore these “angels” or “spirits” are God’s servants or ministers even labeled “evil angels”. But they were just doing the king’s orders.

Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

These “evil angels”, the angel who presented himself to be a “lying spirit” and the Satan of Job are God’s ministers sent to fulfill his purposes. They are not God’s enemies but his servants, but may be enemies or Satans to certain men to whom God sent them.

This kind of Satan is very different from the Satan figure devised by religion.  The Satan in Job is God’s servant.  The Satan of religion is a monster ruling in the darkness of the underworld. It looks like the Hades god of the underworld of the Greeks who was against Zeus the chief of the Olympian gods, a.k.a. the God of heaven.

God Himself Played The Role Of Satan.

2 Samuel 24:1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

1 Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

Look at these verses. Who stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel?   Read very carefully.  2 Samuel says it was the Lord. 1 Chronicles says it was Satan. How?  It may be confusing. And those who don’t believe in the Bible call these as one of the contradictions in Scriptures. But they just said it because of the traditional belief that God cannot be Satan.

Remember that Satan means “adversary” or “enemy”.  So here in these event, the Lord became an enemy against Israel. So Satan here was the Lord himself!

That’s why I’m telling you that there are many “Satan” in the Bible and not only one. Even the Lord himself became a Satan. It is not true that there is only one Satan who was an archangel Lucifer who became a Satan – a fallen angel and now became God’s personal enemy. That is not true!

The Serpent of Genesis 3 was not Satan.

The serpent in Genesis 3 is neither the Lucifer of Isaiah 14 nor the Satan in Job. Lucifer was not an angel but he was the King of Babylon during the time Isaiah was prophesying. That was just a human king of Babylon and not an angel, or a spirit.

The serpent of Genesis 3 is not the serpent of Revelation 12. They are two different creatures.  It is not true that the serpent of Genesis 3 was Satan or indwelt by Satan. They are just speculations. The serpent was merely a “beast” that was more subtil than any beast of the field that God made (Gen. 3:1; 1:25). The serpent was neither an angel or Satan. In a way, he can be a “Satan” or enemy to Adam and Eve but not to God.  The serpent was a responsible, thinking and talking being and therefore not an animal (snake). The word “beast” is sometimes used for “men” or to describe men. (See Titus 1:12 and 2 Peter 2:12). That serpent was an upright creature, and not a snake, an animal. He did have a casual ordinary conversation with Eve and with his natural craftiness and subtilty he beguiled Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.  None in the text provoked him or possessed him. He did it out of his nature.

I am not saying that there was no Satan that became the enemy of God’s people. There was and there were many Satans and not just one being. And that Satan is not an immortal, ethereal, supernatural god who is as powerful  or little less powerful than God.

God is the Only Immortal and Eternal Spirit.

You see there is no such thing as “immortal ethereal Satan” portrayed by religion and tradition. The teaching that there is an immortal spirit who is very powerful and more powerful than men and little less powerful than God is a myth. This belief is “dualism” believing in two gods: (1) the god of goodness [God] and (2) the god of evil [satan]. Just like the Greek mythology: (1) the good god, the god of heaven, Zeus and (2) the evil god, he god of the underworld, Hades.  That’s not what the Scriptures teach. The Scriptures teach rather:

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Yes, that’s it. THE LORD is the one doing “ALL THESE THINGS” –

(1)  he forms THE LIGHT and makes PEACE.

(2)  he  creates DARKNESS and creates EVIL.

GOD is the ONLY IMMORTAL, OMNIPOTENT, OMNISCIENT and OMNIPRESENT ONE.

So when the text says, Satan is transformed into an angel of light, as the context is in teaching and bringing of messages, Satan here was the leadership of this false teachers. The false doctrines of the false teachers were thought and received by people as “truth” and “light”. And they thought that these “teachers” were “messengers [angels] of light. Paul was using a code calling the enemies of the gospel by the name Satan. Even the apostle John in Revelation was using codes, symbols, figures and numbers. All these have meanings. It is the custom of Bible writers from the beginning. Every code, number, symbol and figure used is significant.  When Paul told the Thessalonians about the Wicked, the man of sin, he told them “you know what I’m talking about. You know who that one is”. Read 2 Thes. 2:5-6. He simply used a “codename” and by mentioning that codename  without mentioning the real name or identity of that person, group of people or system, the audience understood what he was talking about. In Revelation 11:8, John also used a code for a place, the great city: he called it as “Sodom” and “Egypt”. We know it was not the literal place called Sodom and Egypt. He described it as “where also our Lord was crucified”. So his audience or the original readers of his book understood clearly what he was talking about by using “codes”. He used the codes “dragon”, “serpent”, “beast”, “angels”, “spirits”, “Babylon”, “Alpha”, “Omega”, “trumpets”, “thunders”, “lightnings”, “earthquakes”, and many more. All these have meanings. They were codes. And our job is to unlock the codes by comparing Scriptures, and words and phrases, and by “counting” numbers. In Rev. 13:18 John said that to understand who or what the beast was, “count the number of the beast”. And he gave the clue: the number of a man.  You see, they are codes and not literal things. Mysteries that must be unlocked.

How about the Satan and devil that tempted Jesus?

Well, we can explore this subject in more depth and see more of these next time.

- To be continued –

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