Since before Jesus’ earthly ministry,
there have been those who sought to pervert God’s truth. Jesus warned of false
teachers, as did the apostles. Unfortunately, these false prophets have led
many astray. Satan is no slouch when it comes to corrupting, or trying to
corrupt, God’s plans. What better way to disrupt the church than to plant his
minions within the church to mimic truth, but then introduce false doctrine.
The question we have to ask ourselves is this: who is telling the truth? We
must carefully weigh the evidence honestly before we make our final judgment.
As Christians, we look to the Bible as
the absolute authority, mainly because we know it to be the inerrant Word of
God, but also because it has passed scrutiny back to its beginning. Not one
word in the Bible has ever been disproved. Though there are those who claim
otherwise, these claims are nothing more than that, claims. When we listen to a
so called “expert,” especially on many of the television programs, we need to
look for possible clues to any hidden agenda. If a person attacks the Bible,
but they misquote or refer very little to its content, be suspicious. Generally
speaking, if we quote from the Bible, it will make its own argument. That said,
it is good when we can give scientific, historical, or other forms of
authentication, but we do not have to prove the Bible by outside sources. We
can and should be confident to make a convincing argument by the very words
written within it’s pages.
As for the argument of dualism,
i.e. God and Satan being equal yet opposite, we must first define dualism and
the various beliefs associated with it. According to The Evangelical Dictionary
of Theology, dualism is, “A theory in interpretation that explains a given
situation or domain in terms of two opposing factors or principles.” It also
states, “there are three major types: metaphysical, epistemological or
epistemic, and ethical or ethico-religious.”[1]
For our purposes, we will focus on ethical or ethico-religious. Again,
referring back to The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, we find, “Ethical or
ethico-religious dualism asserts that there are two mutually hostile forces or
beings in the world, the one being the source of all good, the other the source
of all evil.”[2] Two
examples given are Zoroaster, an ancient Iranian religion, and yang and yin
(equal balance of good and evil) found in Chinese thought.[3]
Many religious beliefs over the centuries have had an understanding of good
verses evil, and I believe the assumption of equal power is based on the
assumption that good never truly wins over evil, at least not for long.
One difference I would like to point
out is purpose or plan. In all of the religions along this line of thought, to
my knowledge, not one has any explanation as to why. This is where Christianity
makes a jump above the rest. Not only do we have an explanation of “the
beginning” (creation found in the book of Genesis), we also have the reason why
evil seems to prosper, but more importantly, we know the final outcome. We have
the hope and assurance that one day good will ultimately triumph over evil,
forever.
If we look to the Scriptures, we find a
great deal of information on God, Satan, and the role of each, as well as their
powers and limitations, or lack thereof. The first sentence in the Bible reads,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Whether
a person believes this to be true or not, it is stated in the Scriptures. To my
knowledge, nowhere is Satan ever given credit for creating anything (other than
pain and suffering). If we suppose that God did in fact create the heavens and
the earth, one might still pose the question, “but how does that prove Satan is
any less powerful than God?” My reply is simply this, if Satan were equal to
God, we would see a great deal more evil in the world. Unbridled evil could and
probably would have already destroyed mankind.
Consider Satan’s attempts to
destroy the nation of Israel.
Time and time again, Satan brought massive armies against this small nation
only to be thwarted by God, either supernaturally or by a smaller army (Ex. 14;
Judges 7; 1 Sam. 17). There is no record of Satan ever doing anything like
this. If we look closely, we can see a pattern; God chooses to do things in a
way that glorifies Himself by demonstrating His power, while on the other hand,
Satan is constantly trying to attack God by going after His people. Generally
this is attempted by deceit and craftiness (Gen. 3:1-15).
The Bible claims that God (the Trinity)
has existed from eternity to eternity (Is. 57:15; Rev. 22:13), but Satan is
referred to as “created” (Ezek. 28:13 and 15). If we believe that the Bible is
the inerrant Word of God, and that He created everything including angels,
Satan, being an angel (Ezek. 28:14), would therefore fall into the category of
created things.
As for Satan’s future, “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!” (Is. 14:12). This passage is in
reference to Satan’s being removed from heaven. Both Satan and his demons know
they are already defeated (Mat. 8:29).
I believe when God cast them out of heaven, there was no doubt as to their
future destination.
Satan’s desire has always been to be
God, or be like God. His jealousy and rebellion are what caused him to be cast
out of heaven. We read, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will
be like the most High” (Is. 14:14).
Satan was not content to serve and dwell with God, he wanted to be God. The
next verse says, “Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit” (Is. 14:15). When Satan
rebelled, he caused a division between himself and God forever. Having been in
God’s presence and rejecting Him, he has no chance of repentance or
salvation.
There are those who do not believe that
these passages refer to Satan. In Theology for Today, Dr. Towns says,
“Returning to Isaiah 14:12-17, it must be noted that no less than six views
have been developed to explain the actual personalities in this passage.”[4] He
lists these as: “Historical king of Babylon,
future king of Babylon, Sennacherib,
solely Satan, king in the time of Isaiah with Satan behind him, and future king
and Satan behind him.”[5]
Dr. Towns summarizes these arguments by saying,
“five prominent
arguments from Ezekiel 28 reveal that Ezekiel is looking beyond the King of Tyre to the Satanic
force that controls him. The first argument is: (1) that no such lofty
terminology by Jehovah should be directed to a mere fallen man. (2) No king of Tyre
was ever in Eden, only Satan. (3)
The person spoken of was created “perfectly.” The only other option is Adam and
he is not in view. (4) No man was set above all the other angels and created
beings, only Satan. (5) The “stones of fire” (v. 14) may denote the first
estate of this angel, which was one of walking in unbroken fellowship with
divine holiness.”[6]
I agree with Dr. Towns and in light
of the references, I can see no other possibility.
We should be aware that Satan has great
power; however, he is limited as to what he can and cannot do. In the book of
Job, Satan wanted to test Job. God allowed him to do so, but He set parameters
on what could be done (Job 1:9-12; 2:3-7). Satan tried to destroy Jesus as an
infant but God protected Him (Mat. 2:13-18).
Satan was also allowed to tempt Jesus (Mat. 4:1-10) after He had fasted for 40
days and was weakened, but Jesus overcame the temptation. It is common for
people to fear Satan, but the apostle John reminded us, “Greater is He that is
in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
It is not uncommon for people to believe they
have no power to overcome temptation, but this simply is not true. When Jesus
conquered death, He conquered Satan and his hold on us. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In
the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world” (John 16:33). He
also promised to send the Holy Spirit who indwells us and helps us to live more
Godly lives. If we look in the book of Acts, we see what the Holy Spirit is
capable of doing in our lives. If we seek to serve our risen Savior, He does
not abandon us, He empowers us to overcome temptation.
Lastly, we must address the question,
“if God created Satan and Satan is evil, then doesn't
that suggest that God created evil?” There are various theories on this
subject but I will relate this in the way that I understand it. I pose the
question, would you rather your spouse and children love you because they
choose to, or because they have no choice? I believe God gave the angels and
mankind free will so that we could reject Him or love Him of our own volition.
Satan, having this choice, allowed himself to be caught up in pride, in the
perfection in which he was created, and once he chose to rebel against his
Creator, sin was born. Sin is not a created thing, it is a lack of something,
holiness.
God has spoken to man from the
beginning and down through the ages. He wants us to know Him intimately.
Satan’s strength is in his deception; if he were indeed God’s equal, he would
not have to hide behind a façade.
Bibliography
Elwell, Walter. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House Company,
2001. (would not let me space this line)
Towns, Elmer.
Theology for Today. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment