OceanSide church of Christ

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Who Is Satan
by: Dalton Gilreath

I.              Who He Is Not

A.   Satan is not Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15)

                                          i.    Lucifer has a lot of characteristics like Satan but so does anyone who is serving him

                                        ii.    In this context Isaiah has already informed us that he is discussing the King of Babylon and not Satan (Isaiah 14:4)

                                       iii.    As you follow the pronouns you see the King of Babylon is called Lucifer, not Satan

B.   Satan is not the anointed Cherub (Ezekiel 28:13-15)

                                          i.    Many also attribute the characteristics described here as connecting solely with Satan

                                        ii.    However, again this is a king Ezekiel is describing

                                       iii.    He identifies him as the king of Tyre (28:12)

II.            Who He Is

A.   First of all, we know that Satan must be an angel

                                          i.    He is not deity nor is he human leaving only one other choice

1.    He is seen with angels as one of them (Job 1:6)

2.    He can transform like an angel (Gen 3:1, 2 Cor 11:14)

                                        ii.    We know that all things were created by God, even the angels (Col 1:16)

1.    Satan was created by God but not evil

2.    All God created was good (Gen 1:31, Jam 1:17)

3.    Therefore, Satan immediately chose sin as he had free will

B.   When were the angels created?

                                          i.    We can actually narrow it down to basically  the very beginning of the first day of creation

1.    Job tells us the angels were with God when He created the foundations of the world (Job 38:4-7)

2.    Additionally, the Bible says the Heavens were created along with the Earth and the “host” of them (Gen 2:1)

a.    The host of Heaven included angels (Neh 9:6, Luke 2:13)

b.    Therefore, angels were created during the 6 day creation process

                                        ii.    Putting all this together we can be fairly certain the angels were created first thing on day 1 and rejoiced with God as He created the world below

C.   What type of angel is Satan?

                                          i.    We may not know if Satan is a seraphim, cherubim, or something else

1.    But he is comparable with Michael (Rev 12:7, cf. Jude 1:9)

2.    Satan is said to have his angels as Michael has his

a.    Therefore, it seems probable that Satan is an archangel

b.    This would explain why his power is second only to God

c.    Plus, Daniel tells us there is more than one “chief prince” (Dan 10:13)

                                        ii.    Whatever the case we must know the He is a murderer and a liar (John 8:44)

1.    The moment God created him he chose sin and deceived Eve in the Garden after her creation

2.    Jesus says he was like this from the beginning

D.   What does it all mean?

                                          i.    Satan was created as an archangel and pride took over him

                                        ii.    He chose to sin against God and bring man with him to his eternal destination (2 Pet 2:4)

1.    This ought to make us hate him

2.    This ought to make us want to resist temptation knowing he is trying to take us down with him and knowing he was the first to choose sin and led Eve to do the same