Category: Satan
The mystery of Satan’s fall
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
Scripture offers no clear answers as to when and how Satan originally falls – or even why a sovereign God permits the evil one’s rebellion and all its horrific consequences. Genesis 3 does not introduce us to the origin of evil, but reveals the presence of unexplained evil in the serpent. Adam and Eve are created innocent, and shortly thereafter the already-fallen serpent shows up. John Piper’s candid perplexity is a welcome perspective. In response to a listener’s question about where Satan even got the desire to sin, Piper replies, in part:
Continue readingAs far as I can see, no explanation is offered in the Bible for how Satan became evil…. How could a perfectly good being – with a perfectly good will and a perfectly good heart – ever experience any imperfect impulse that would cause the will to move in the direction of sin? The answer is that nobody knows …
Anointed Guardian Cherub – Part II
The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.
Check out Part I of this chapter.
When considered together, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 invite different interpretations. Three rise to the top: (1) the authors are describing the depravity of earthly kings, using exaggeration and/or sarcasm; (2) the authors are describing both earthly kings and – in Ezekiel 28 in particular – the fall of Adam; and (3) the authors are describing both earthly kings and Satan, peeling back the curtain to expose a supernatural creature who pulls the strings of his marionette monarchs.
Trusted Bible scholars vigorously debate which interpretation best fits the text. So, let’s briefly survey each view.
View 1: earthly kings
Many commentators see Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 as graphic depictions of wicked earthly kings, with hyperbole and/or sarcasm employed to show the folly of the rulers’ bloated self-esteem.
Kenneth Boa and Robert Bowman favor this view. In Isaiah 14, the prophet directly addresses the king of Babylon (v. 4) and specifically refers to him as a “man” (v. 16). But the prophecy also draws on pagan mythology to depict the king’s fall from power. For example, in one Canaanite myth, a god named Athtar (meaning something like “son of Dawn” or “morning star”) wanted to rule on Baal’s throne from Zaphon, a sacred mountain to the north. Compare “the North” (CSB) with “Zaphon” (NRSV) in verse 13 and see the connection. So, according to this view, Isaiah likely is using religious imagery typical for his time to describe the humiliation of an arrogant earthly king.
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When and How Did Satan Fall?
This excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan from High Street Press. Order your paperback, Kindle, or Audible copy here.
Scripture offers no clear answers as to when and how Satan originally falls – or even why a sovereign God permits the evil one’s rebellion and all its horrific consequences. Genesis 3 does not introduce us to the origin of evil, but reveals the presence of unexplained evil in the serpent. Adam and Eve are created innocent, and shortly thereafter the already-fallen serpent shows up. John Piper’s candid perplexity is a welcome perspective.
In response to a listener’s question about where Satan even got the desire to sin, Piper replies, in part: “As far as I can see, no explanation is offered in the Bible for how Satan became evil…. How could a perfectly good being – with a perfectly good will and a perfectly good heart – ever experience any imperfect impulse that would cause the will to move in the direction of sin? The answer is that nobody knows ….”
Piper goes on:
Continue readingHere is what I do know. God is sovereign. Nothing comes to pass apart from his plan, which includes things he more or less causes directly – things he more or less permits indirectly. There is no doubt in my mind that Satan’s fall and all the redemptive plan of God for the glory of grace afterward were according to God’s eternal plan….
God can see to it that something comes to pass which he hates. This is what he did, for example, when he planned the crucifixion of Jesus, according to Acts 4:27-28. The murder of Jesus was sinful, and it was planned down to the detail by God.… I think the Bible leads us to believe that he is sovereign over all sin and that he never sins. That is what I believe the Bible teaches.
John Piper
Anointed Guardian Cherub
Following is an excerpt from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy now in paperback, Kindle, or Audible versions.
Marcus Licinius Crassus was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in ancient Rome. Born in 115 BC, he amassed a fortune through various enterprises, which ranged from dealing in slaves to restoring fire-ravaged land and selling it at huge profits. His wealth enabled him to crush rivals and buy influence with Julius Caesar. In fact, he bankrolled the army sent out to quash the Spartacus-led slave rebellion.
In gratitude, Caesar named Crassus governor of Syria, a land rich in resources. It should have been one more step in Crassus’ meteoric rise, but he flamed out like a falling star. He led a disastrous campaign against the Parthian Empire. After the battle of Carrhae, he parlayed for peace. But the Parthians poured liquid gold down his throat. One of the richest men who ever lived choked to death from a scalding dose of what he valued most in life. An exalted crony of Caesar, Crassus died in humiliation – a spectacle for the ancient world to behold.
Curiously, we know more about Crassus’ rise and fall than we do about Satan’s. The Bible offers little insight into the evil one’s exaltation and rebellion, although it does tell us something of his fall and ignominious destiny. We know the devil is a created being. We know he is powerful, clever, deceitful, rapacious, and deadly. We know he throws his full weight into a guerilla campaign against God and God’s people. We know he has a vast army of evil spirits who engage holy angels and humans in spiritual warfare. We know he has a kingdom and great authority over those he has taken captive.
But we also know his limits. Satan is neither omniscient, omnipotent, nor omnipresent, for these attributes belong to God alone. Equally important, we know that no matter how highly exalted he once was, or makes himself appear today, he is on a steep downward trajectory. He has been cast out of God’s throne room and banished from the heavenly realm. Today, he furiously bides his time prowling the earth. One day, the fires of hell – stoked particularly for him and his minions – are to be his everlasting place of torment (Matt. 25:41).
But when did Satan become the evil one? How did wickedness rise in his heart? How did he ever get the notion he could defeat his creator? And why does he insist on taking as many people to hell with him as possible?
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Satan: What’s in a name?
Learn more above the evil one from a biblical view, and order your copy of this new resource from High Street Press.
What’s in a name? Our parents may have named us after beloved ancestors, movie stars, heroic leaders, or even favorite songs. Our daughter Aubrey, for example, shares the name of the title character in a 1970s pop hit. Popular names in one generation may fade as trendy new names emerge, only to return later. Others seem timeless, like James and Mary, which have remained the most popular U.S. baby names for a century.
It’s hard to know what on earth celebrity parents are thinking when they christen their kids “Moon Unit” or “Pilot Inspektor.” But even lyricist Shel Silverstein revealed a motive behind the dad who named his son “Sue”:
But ya ought to thank me, before I die
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
Biblical names seem a bit more purposeful. God names the first human Adam, which generally denotes “human being” or “mankind” and links to the Hebrew adama to indicate the earth from which he is formed. Pharaoh’s daughter names her adopted baby Moses, based on a Hebrew term that means “to draw out [of the water].”
The LORD commands Hosea to name his sons Jezreel and Lo-ammi, and his daughter Lo-ruhamah, all of which signify pending judgment on Israel. Elizabeth and Zechariah insist on naming their child John, resisting all pressure to name him after his father, because that’s what the angel Gabriel has instructed them to do.
And then, of course, there are nicknames and descriptive titles. The son of Elizabeth and Zechariah comes to be known as John the Baptizer. God changes the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, who receive a portion of the divine name, Yahweh, as a sign of God’s covenant with them.
Disciples James and John are the sons of thunder. The apostle Thomas is called Didymus, which means “the twin.” And Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul, who gives himself a scathing nickname, “the worst of them [sinners].”
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