FOUNDATION

Satan in Scripture

In the King James Version of the Bible, in just the Gospels, there are 17 references to unclean spirits, 83 references to devils or the devil, 2 references to evil spirits, and 17 references to Satan. Jesus clearly regarded devils as real.

In fact, devils in turn regarded Jesus as real:

Luk 4:34 : Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

Satan was an exalted angel, created before man, perfect, these verses say, until iniquity was found in him. Here, in verses Ezekiel addresses to the Prince of Tyrus, he draws comparisons to the “anointed cherub” and, in doing so, describes Satan's position and fall:

Eze 28:12-17 : 12 ... Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Satan's iniquity appears to have been pride, rebellion against God. Similar to the verses in Ezekiel, Isaiah addresses these verses to the King of Babylon, comparing him to “Lucifer”:

Isa 14:12-15 : 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan, represented by a serpent, tempted Eve with two lies: “Ye shall not surely die,” and “Ye shall be as gods.”

Gen 3:1-5 : 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

After the temptation and fall of man, the first prophecy in the Bible is addressed to Satan. The woman's seed, God's Messiah, will bruise his heel while bruising Satan's head. Messiah's suffering and ultimate victory are predicted. In one verse, the message of the Bible is encapsulated:

Gen 3:15 : And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Satan, the “thief,” offers death, while Jesus offers life:

Joh 10:10 : The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

While addressing the Pharisees, Jesus calls Satan the father of lies:

Joh 8:44 : Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Paul draws attention to Satan's deception as an “angel of light”:

2Co 11:14 : And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

In Revelation, Satan is called a “great red dragon” (some believe that the reference to the “third part of the stars” indicates that one third of all angels are demons):

Rev 12:3-4 : 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth ...

In one of the most fantastic sections of the Bible, a “Götterdämmerung” of sorts, where Michael and his angels battle Satan and his angels, the ultimate victory of the Saints is heralded:

Rev 12:7-10 : 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

In Luke Chapter 10, Jesus sent seventy of his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom of God. When they returned, they were very excited about their experiences:

Luk 10:17-20 : 17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Yes, even the devils were subject to them, and Jesus confirmed what they had experienced. But he then reminds them their rejoicing should not be this power over Satan but instead that their “names are written in heaven.”