GNB-11
070325AM
Above all the vast reaches of the cosmos, above all the swirling galaxies, shining stars and circling planets God made some special creatures, fashioned for His own service—the angels.
And in this angelic host of the Almighty God in heaven, above the super-powerful archangels, above the fiery seraphim, and above the mighty cherubim, there was one angel that God chose to be the crown prince of them all.
His name was Lucifer. He was designed as the star of the morning, made the leader of the host of heaven, set up as the guardian of the throne of God.
Into Lucifer’s hands was committed all that the Lord God had made and all of the angels that He had created. He was beautiful. He was perfect. But in his God-given beauty, his God-given perfection, and self-generated pride Lucifer first thought and then said, “I will be like the Most High God!”
Where did Satan come from? That is the question that confronts us as we enter the next section in our overview of chapters 1-4 in the Gospel by Mark.
We are surveying the big messages of the first four chapters of this book until we get to chapter 5 where we left off in our study two years ago.
So far in this survey we have seen: Mark the human writer, Peter the eyewitness of Christ’s life, John the Baptist and his humility. Now as we open to Mark 1:12-13 we need to understand Satan.
The temptation of Christ by Satan has many sides to study. We could focus on HOW Satan attacked Jesus and WHEN. Or we could look at WHAT Jesus responded and WHY.
But our aim this morning is to look at another facet—WHO was it that would even consider such an attack on the Son of God? WHO is Satan, and WHERE did Satan come from?
Without the aid of God’s Word we would never really know where the Universe came from, where Satan came from, and most of all where we are headed without God’s saving intervention. We need to listen to God, and trust His Word to know and understand reality. We come to a foundational truth of God’s Word to consider this morning—
God Says Satan is Real
God’s Word reveals to us: Satan is a real person, his pride was deadly poison, and the spiritual war he began against God includes us; and spiritual warfare the state we are in all the days of our earthly life.
Please stand with me as we read the account of Christ’s temptation and pray.
Mark 1:12-13 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
This morning, because of Satan’s fall and his luring mankind through Adam into sin—we are all fallen and proud.
- We all have a life-long struggle with our internal independence against God, which is called pride.
- We all have a life-long struggle with wanting to go our own way instead of God’s, which is called pride.
Because of that shared struggle, it is important to pause to remember where pride originated. God’s Word describes for us the start of sin; and we find that the first sin came from pride. Unrighteousness was first found in Satan.
Today Satan is YOUR adversary and mine. Pride is his sinful infection that has infected every human being except One, and that is Christ Jesus our Lord, our Savior, and our only hope.
As Paul, James, and Peter warn us, we need to be aware of the plan of attack our adversary follows. We must prepare for battle, stay aware of our enemy and walk by faith in the Spirit. No one is exempt from attack by Satan, no matter how godly, how steeped in God’s Word they may be. That is what a great pastor once learned.
Late one night in 1521 in a massive stone room of Wartburg Castle, Martin Luther sat in the luminous ring of a flickering candle. Suddenly, Luther scooped up his inkwell and violently flung it at the wall. Satan was an adversary so present to Luther, that his translation of the God’s Word into German was being disrupted.
Likewise Satan wants to disrupt us from God’s Word, from prayer, from ministry, and from worship. Today is a call for each of us to resist Satan, humble ourselves, and receive God’s great grace!
Luther’s resisting Satan that night almost 500 years ago was a real turning point in his ministry, and from that event flowed the words of the greatest song of he reformation A Mighty Fortress is our God [#26].
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing;
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not His equal
And tho’ this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph thro” us;
The prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
God Says Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth
Satan is alive and well on planet earth today. As Prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), his silent army of demon invaders swirl through the air. Around us lurk those infernal warriors of the Kingdom of Darkness. These are not science fiction aliens. Rather as super strong extra-terrestrial intelligent beings their aim is clear. Their shocking strategy is so powerful, normal humans would pale if aware of it. These twisted demon hordes as deadly as a terrorist’s bomb, are locked on course. Their target is the human mind, the control center of every human being on the planet.
Like hideous locusts they feed on the filth of spiritual wickedness. They find resistance only from those armed with the armor of God, clothed with the Spirit of God, and disciplined as soldiers of God in the kingdom of light. This morning we are enemies to Satan and his hosts. To even speak of this dark world of evil, invites great and inexplicable difficulties. As this truth from God’s Word is taught you may experience strange and powerful turmoil.
Our faith in Christ assures us though that we are “more than conquerors through Christ.” As we enter the realm of spiritual warfare, let’s pray for peace. As we learn and grow today, we will find Satan is a defeated foe, a weakened adversary, and crushed enemy. We have the victory.
God Explains Satan’s Origin and Nature
Satan’s original state is reported for us by God, the only witness to the spiritual world. God’s Word is the only factual account of both our origin and the rest of the Universe!
From the Old Testament there are several observations we can make about Satan before his fall into sin:
- Lucifer was a supreme angel called the “Lucifer, son of the morning (NKJV) “morning star and son of the dawn” (NIV) in Isaiah 14:12.
- Lucifer held an exalted position in the presence of God (Ezekiel 28:12); the brilliance of heaven was his setting (Ezekiel 28:13).
- Lucifer was filled with wisdom, beauty, and was blameless (Ezekiel 28:12, 15).
- Lucifer was the “anointed … covering cherub” seemingly a position of highest honor before God (Ezekiel 28:14, 16). We already know what other cherubs (cherubim in Hebrew) looked like from Ezekiel 10:8-12.
- Lucifer, once fallen, became God’s chief adversary (Heb. Satan), and is never again called by any of his former titles.
Now to establish these truths in the bedrock of God’s Word, open with me to the great 66 chapter long book of Isaiah and mark these verses if they aren’t already noted in your Bibles. We can start by seeing Satan as Lucifer before his fall as Isaiah writes.
Isaiah 14:12-15 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. (NKJV)
Isaiah 14:12-15 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the grave,
to the depths of the pit. (NIV)
Now continue on to Ezekiel 28:12-15 where God continues the description of Satan prior to his fall.
Ezekiel 28:12-15 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. (NKJV)
Ezekiel 28:12-15 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ”‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. (NIV)
God Reveals Satan’s Fall
The most glaring portrait of sin is Satan, a creature rebelling against creator. The most glaring portrait of pride is Lucifer, made glorious and powerful by God only to try take the credit for himself.
God also describes Satan’s fall in both Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. By comparing many Scriptures with these two passages we can draw the following observations:
- Satan’s extraordinarily high rank led to his proud thoughts recorded in the five “I will’s” (Isaiah 14:13–14).
- Satan then fell from his position of being the “anointed cherub who covers” (Ezekiel 28:14a), the highest ranking angelic being, concerned particularly with the glory of God.
- Satan was cast out from being “on the holy mountain of God,” and “walked in the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:14b), dwelling in the immediate presence of God.
- Satan fell into sin and God says that “unrighteousness was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:15).
- Satan fell sometime after the sixth day of creation of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:31).
- Satan was also cast from his station among the other holy ones who serve in God’s Presence because of his sin (Ezekiel 28:16).
- Satan’s downfall was his pride; his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and his wisdom became corrupt (Ezekiel 28:17).
- It was then that Lucifer became the Serpent of old; Satan, the adversary; Apollyon, the destroyer; the Devil, the slanderer; the Roaring Lion stalking believers; and the Accuser of the saints (I Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9-11).
- Satan is still allowed to come before God at various times to accuse believers before the Presence of God (Job 1:6; Zechariah 3:1; Rev. 12:10).
Revelation 12:9-11 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb [that is FAITH] and by the word of their testimony [that is HOPE], and they did not love their lives to the death [that is LOVE].
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing;
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not His equal
And tho’ this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph thro” us;
The prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.