Satan: Who is He?

To Satan no sight is beautiful but deformity itself, and no smell is sweet but filth and nastiness. - John Calvin

Throughout generations, humanity has always engaged in the development of ideas about “Satan ” that may or may not have been biblically based. Some of these ideas were careless, abstract and even foolish, while others were so aversed to the idea of the evil one that they refused to acknowledge him at all.

However, the Bible gives us a clear picture of who Satan is, how he has affected the lives of people in both biblical and secular history , and how he will continue his destructive work both today and in the future.

Put plainly, God’s Word tells us that Satan is/was an angelic being who was cast from his position in Heaven as a result of his sin and opposition of God. Since that day, Satan has used his power and resource to attempt to impede the plan and purposes of God.

The first use of the name Satan is found in scripture is in 1 Chronicles 21:1 - “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”

But Chronologically, this is surpassed by the use of his name in the Book of Job which was written much earlier.

The name Satan literally means “adversary ” in Hebrew.

Justin Martyr was an early church father [AD 156] who said about Satan:

Or He meant the devil by the lion roaring against Him: whom Moses calls the serpent, but in Job and Zechariah he is called the devil, and by Jesus is addressed as Satan, showing that a compounded name was acquired by him from the deeds which he performed. For ‘Sata’ in the Jewish and Syrian tongue means apostate ; and ‘Nas’ is the word from which he is called by interpretation the serpent , i.e., according to the interpretation of the Hebrew term, from both of which there arises the single word Satanas.1

Another name for Satan also appears in the OT in Isaiah 14:12:

“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!

Lucifer means “Light Bringer ” in Latin and “Light bearer ” in Hebrew.

A name temporarily designated to Satan sense Jesus lays claim to it in Revelation 22:16 - “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” [the light bearer]

What other names have you heard satan called?

The Bible never actually designates Satan as an angel . But we back into that understanding through biblical text such as the one below.

Ezekiel 28:14 - You were an anointed guardian cherub . I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

On the surface, this passage would seem to refer to the fall of the King of Tyre [ti-er] but upon further inspection it would seem that Ezekiel’s description of the king is not common to an ordinary man.

Ezekiel 28:13 - The King had been in “Eden ”

Ezekiel 28:14 - He is described as an “anointed cherub ”

Ezekiel 28:14 - He had access to the “Holy Mountain of God”

Ezekiel 28:16-17 - He was “cast ” from the Mountain of God.

In conclusion: Satan is a fallen angel, who rose against the Lord and as a result was cast out of Heaven to become was he is today, the prince of the power of the air! Eph. 2:2