Before time even began, God and the angels were busy in heaven. God had created angels to serve and worship him and live in tranquility and harmony. One angel was known as Lucifer. Ezekiel describes Lucifer as the most talented and beautiful angel with a wonderful life. Lucifer’s life was described as right and good. Lucifer had wisdom, and everything went his way. Even before God created man, angels exercised free will. Like men, angels could choose between doing the right things God prescribed or going in a different direction. Isaiah 14:13-14 describes Lucifer’s attitude and shows that a person’s heart can be placed above God. In two verses, the text uses “self” or “I will” five times. Lucifer had a perfect situation, but his pride and self-image got the best of him. Lucifer became known as Satan as his actions took him away from his duties. Satan wanted to be worshiped and to sit on God’s throne. Lucifer/Satan was not satisfied with worshiping God and living in heaven. Satan’s free will caused him to become the most foolish angel and the leader of all the banished angels who allowed their free will to follow Satan. Theologians say that a third of the angels left heaven to follow Satan. The Bible does not state how many angels fell from heaven. This number comes from interpreting several verses to that conclusion.
From this point forward, God and Satan have a very unusual and challenging relationship. Satan was once a high-ranking and respected angel but lost his power, position, and respect because of his mistakes, ignorance, pride, and foolishness. The ironic thing about Satan is that he still has limited access to the throne of God. Satan must consult with God, ask God’s permission, and get direction from God before doing anything. To understand this relationship, we could compare Satan’s situation to having been a very powerful Board Member of a mighty corporation. Satan fell out of favor with the Board of Directors (God) and was banished from the boardroom and any managerial decision-making. Satan may be in charge of Hell, but he must still report to God. God always has the last word and controls everything. God knows that if Satan were to have power, he would abuse it, and the universe would suffer.
An excellent example of God overseeing Satan is the story of Job. Satan challenges God about Job’s faith. God allows Satan to put Job through a litany of tragedies. Satan causes Job to watch as his servants die, his wealth dwindles to nothing, he loses his family members, and his personal health declines. God did not allow Satan to take Job’s life. God set the rules for Satan to follow during the challenge. God also restored Job at the end of the challenge. In another situation, Satan has his demons working to torture a poor man in the Book of Mark. When Jesus expelled the demons, the lead demon named Legion asked permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs. Without God/Jesus’ approval, the demons would have had no place to go. In many of his writings, the Apostle Paul warns that we should be aware of demons and know their abilities. We also need to consider that in Genesis 1, God created everything and declared everything good. Demons are part of God’s creation of the angels, spiritual creations with intelligence and free will. Demons did not start evil but followed Satan out of heaven and now have to exist with their mistakes.
Revelation 12:12 tells us that nothing Satan is involved with is out of God’s control. The Devil/Satan can rant, rave, and act out all he wants, but only to the point God allows. Every person has a fear of Satan and worries about Satan’s influence over people. We must realize that Satan has no power unless we allow Satan to take us over. First John 2:17 reminds us that everything passes away from lust and evil, but those who abide by God’s will endure forever. “Some liken the Devil to a pawn which God uses to bring about His will. It’s a deception to think the Devil has power or authority; he has only what God gives him, and that power is temporary—and always subject to God’s will.
(Durham, 2013) According to Dr. Durham, demons exist to deceive people, discourage dreams, destroy livelihoods, and divide families.
First Peter 5:8 warns that the Devil is everywhere, looking to devour us. James 4:7 tells us to submit to God, and the Devil will run from us. In First Corinthians 10, we are told that God will not give us more than we can handle. God has placed a shield around each of us to protect us from Satan. However, the protection God has put in place is at our discretion and will disappear with our actions. We are saved, but our free will allows us to make the same mistakes as those made since the beginning of time.
John Piper, Chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary, offers some motivating remarks about Satan. Mr. Piper tells us that Satan is just God’s lackey. Satan wants to appear as God of this world but only under our God’s authority. The world has many unclean spirits, but they all obey Jesus. Only God determines who will suffer, even if it looks like Satan is causing the problem. Only God can take a life. Satan cannot harm anyone without God’s permission. Satan is a murderer and pure evil, but he can only act after God has given his verdict. Satan is a schemer, a tempter, and a liar, but God has the last word in all circumstances. We can all agree that Satan can blind us with temptation, blind us through our mistakes, and cause great harm, but only God can cause us to see again.
Durham, R. (2013, 9 28). Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved from If there are demons, do they exist inside or outside of us?: https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/2013/09/28/if-there-are-demons-do-they-exist-inside-or-outside-of-us/30658037007/