"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Known as Satan, he now wanders the heavens and earth. In terms of Satan's ability to travel around 'freely', we learn in Job 1:7-10, that the angels came before God and Satan came with them. God asked Satan, 'Where did you come from?' Satan then replied, "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. In another chapter of Job, 2:2, God said to Satan, 'Where did you come from?" Satan replied, "From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it". Through these verses we learn, Satan still had access to the heavens and to God, and his 'fall from heaven' as described in Luke (above) was a symbolic statement. Satan was able to 'travel' between the heavens and The Earth, and, 'wander' around The Earth.

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Satan/Lucifer

There is not as much information on Satan in The Bible as perhaps we would like. The general teaching is that Satan was in The Garden of Eden having 'possessed' a serpent to do his bidding and tempt Eve. He also stopped an angel getting a message to Daniel for 21 days. Michael The Archangel had to go to this angels aid so he could deliver God's message to Daniel (Daniel 10:10-13). In addition, Satan argued with Michael the Archangel over Moses' body (Jude:9).

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He's clearly the Father of Lies (John 8:44). However, I'm inclined to think about this whole 'Good v's Evil' battle slightly differently. If we break it down into 'Good v Evil', then God is good, and Satan would be evil. The only problem is, is that Lucifer was created 'perfect', then.... sin was found in his heart and he rebelled. As there was no demon/devil in the heavens at that time to tempt him, his desire to overthrow God must have come from within him. This would mean that all who are 'created' by God are created with 'Free-Will' to either love and serve God through 'choice' and live, or not love and serve God, and die.

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For us as humans then, we were also given that same 'free-will' when we were created by God. After all, Adam and Eve did not sin until the idea was 'put' in Eve's head to eat the fruit, and through her own 'free-will', she chose to disobey God. It is agreed that perhaps she may not have eaten the fruit if the idea was not presented to her in the first instance, but it shows that she had 'choice'. It also shows that the ability to 'desire more power, and experience greed' to be more than what we are (human), was also created in us and is not something that Satan puts into us. It's already there and is 'God given'.

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If we look at what The Bible does tell us about Satan specifically, we see in Job 1:6-22 (as mentioned above) that when he approached God with the other angels, God said to him, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth?, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God and escheweth (rebukes) evil?" Satan more or less said, 'Job only fears/serves you because you have blessed him to the point that he has the most of everything in his region. But if you take this away from him, he will openly curse you'. (Job 1:9-11). God then gave Satan permission to take away all that Job had except his life. This is important, because only the Angel of Death can take a human's life. If Satan didn't have the power to take away Job's life, God would not have had to specifically state not to take his life. This means Satan/Lucifer had the power to take life and as such he is 'The Angel of Death' also.

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So Satan took away Job's cattle, servants and even the lives of all his children. When Job heard the news he got up, ripped his clothes, shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshipped God saying, 'I was born naked, and with nothing and so I am again. God has given and God has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord'. Satan again went to the heavens and spoke to God who said, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God and escheweth (rebukes) evil? and still he holds fast to his integrity, although you moved me against him to destroy him without cause". Satan said, '...if you plague his skin, he will curse you'. So again, God allowed Satan to plague Job's skin but Satan was not allowed to take Job's life. Job's wife cursed God, and Job told her to stop talking foolishness because they had received good things from God and therefore they had to also accept the evil. In all this, Job did not curse God, neither did he sin and was blessed with more than he had before.

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In terms of Satan's 'role' here, he seems to be 'one means' by which God tested humans and their faith in him. Satan did the same to Jesus when Jesus was in the wilderness after he had been baptised (Matthew 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-13), and Jesus is The Son of God. Satan's fate is already sealed. He is going to 'The Lake of Fire' and will be completely destroyed along with Death and Hell etc. after he has served his 1000 year prison sentence in The Bottomless Pit and gone about deceiving the nations (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:2-10). Through discipline, humans can get away from the desire, greed etc. of the heart. These 'behaviours' do not need Satan's assistance to present themselves, so he can't be blamed for sin, he just 'stirs the pot' (1 Peter 5:8). Humans have a 'choice' whether or not to do what is 'right in the sight of God', and to "...build up faith and love for God. 

 

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