Thursday, January 12, 2006

A Brief History of Satan


I'm sure we all know that Satan exists and still tempts us. But, I don't think we talk about him enough, especially in the church.

I have studied about him before and have a pretty good idea of how he came to be Beelzebub, the prince of evil, Satan, what have you.

Here's a little narrative, using some scripture to show where Satan began and where he is now. It's all KJV. What thinkest thou?

Is 14:12-20
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! 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: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

Gen 3:1-5
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? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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.

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.

2 Kings 1:3
But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?

Luke 10:17-19
And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 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.

Luke 14:1-13
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

Mark 15:29-33
And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Matt 28:7-9
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Rev 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

9 comments:

Ryan F. said...

I believe in Satan. I think there are a lot of "little Satans" here on earth. You know, people who try to get others to share in their evil deeds. I know lots of Satans who try and get my kids at church to do things they shouldn't do. But I know we are speaking of The Satan.

bigsip said...

Yeah, there are many who live in "the spirit of the antichrist".

It's spiritual warfare, plain and simple.

BTW, Baal worshipers generally called Baal by the name Baal-Berith which means "Lord of the Covenant".

The Israelites, as a joke/slam called it Baal-Zebub which means "Lord of the Flies".

Just an interesting tidbit...

bigsip said...

That's where the name Baalzebub came from in reference to Satan.

mullinz8 said...

Good piece Sipper. He’s alive alright and he’s a sneaky bugger. His cronies are floating around us all the time and trying to push us one way or another.

I wish there was more on the subject of Satan in the Bible, the more you know about your enemy the better you can fight. Yes, I know the weapons against him but still.

I guess one of the best allusion to hell is where JC confronts the possessed man and the demon begs JC’s to NOT send him back into the pit. This “pit” is the home to the devil and his pals and this demon doesn’t want to go back, must be bad…

Oh yeah, how about a big shout out to Ryan. I'm glad your here!

bigsip said...

This is really just a summary of some of the Satanic references in the Bible.

There are many, many refs to the old bad boy.

I just had never seen an overview of Satan's history before and wanted to lay something out.

I don't think most people realize that Satan's sin and that reason for his fall was pride. His pride was compounded by covetousness and led him to fall.

The lesson, to me, is that pride is the father of sin. We have to be careful not to let it get in the way. When we become too proud to listen to the Word and think we can do whatever however we want, we're in a very dangerous spot; the seat of Satan.

mullinz8 said...

In the movie The Devils Advocate with A. Pacino and K. Reeves, the Devil (Pacino) is trying to get the young southern lawyer into a bunch of different crap make a statement that I think is the very poignant considering the film. “Pride is the Devil’s favorite sin, ya know.”

This phrase struck me and I can still here it right now because it’s so true. There are so many things that we do out of pride that we would otherwise not think of. From simple arguments to rape and murder once our pride has taken a hit it’s a hard item to get past.

I just read a drudgereport piece about a guy suing some other people from being slammed in a chat room, there are some other farfetched items associated with the whole thing but it all stems from one persons pride being tarnished.

Pride is an amazing emotion that can take a person to the highest peaks to the lowest valley’s in an instant.

bigsip said...

Amen to that, Mullins.

On a personal note, if there's one thing I have a problem with, it's pride.

I pray to God every day that He'll grant me humility. Pride's a human problem. We all want to think we're living the "ideal" way.

I didn't remember that statement from DA, Mullins. That's really cool! Aside from the very graphic stuff in the movie, it's pretty good.

It's so hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way :)

mullinz8 said...

Sadly only you and I know how hard perfection can be on someone Sipper.

I’m finially coming to grips with my perfection, one must do these things.

bigsip said...

Truly, it's a burden...

Now, if we could only get the world to recognize our perfection and follow us, we could start a cult and convince everyone we'll be teraforming Mars next February.