What Person He Satan Was

The conception, which originated in the middle ages, in connection with
the gross perversion of the truth of God, that this person is one of
repulsive and grotesque countenance, with the figure of a monstrosity,
is an invention and cannot be verified from Scripture. The Bible knows
nothing of such a being with a horrible face and figure. The very
opposite is the teaching of the Word of God. He was originally the
greatest and most marvelous creation of God. Though now fallen and the
enemy of God, he still retains much of his original beauty and wisdom.
In Isaiah xiv:12 the word "Lucifer" (lightbearer) refers to him. He is
called "Son of the Morning." That must have been his name when
unfallen. Still more striking is the description of the same person in
one of the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel. In chapter
xxviii:11-19 we read the following:

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take
up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith
the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious
stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl,
the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle,
and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared
in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed
cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou was upon the holy
mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the
stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou
was created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy
merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain
of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of
the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast
thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold
thee."

These words are words of lamentation over the wicked king of Tyrus.
While this king is mentioned the description does not fit him at all,
but must be applied to the one who was the unseen power behind the
throne of the Tyrian king. The great city of Tyrus, once so glorious
and now forever gone, is a type of the commercial glory of the world,
its wealth and its prince, foreshadowing the final great world-city and
world-system Babylon. Satan controlled Tyrus as he will also control
the coming, final Babylon. We have therefore here a description of
Satan in his original condition as an unfallen creature. He was full
of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was in Eden the garden of God and
every precious stone was his covering. He was the anointed cherub that
covereth, perhaps an archangel like Michael. He was in the mountain of
God and perfect in the day of his creation.

We quote another passage from which we may learn by inference his
original greatness and majesty. Jude predicts the final apostasy of
this present age, which culminates in man despising dominions and
speaking evil of dignities. He then makes a statement in which Satan
is mentioned: "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the
devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him
a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee" (verses 8-9). It
is a unique revelation nowhere else found in the Bible that when Moses'
body was to be laid away, the devil appeared on the scene. Perhaps
Michael was commissioned by the Lord to bury the body of Moses. The
devil evidently laid claim to the body of God's servant. Perhaps he
wanted the body to be preserved in an embalmed condition as an object
of idolatry. When Michael faced him he durst not bring a railing
accusation against him. He still recognized in him, though fallen, the
greatness of his original being. This is sufficient to show that Satan
was once a mighty, glorious, majestic being, full of wisdom and beauty.
Being a creature he is not omnipotent, nor is he omniscient or
omnipresent.

Next: His Satan Fall
Previous: The History Of Satan

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What Person He Satan Was