Here’s a draft from a part of a lesson on the origins of Satan that I wrote for a Baptist church. This was a particularly fun commission.
1. Satan’s creation and fall
Read: Isaiah 14:12–17 and Ezekiel 28:11–19
Q: Why would the prophets tell the story of Satan through the story of the downfall of a couple of tyrannical kings?
Q: Why do you think Satan was described as “beautiful” so many times? How did that quality apply to him?
Explain the text — The Old Testament tells us Satan’s backstory, but it does so in an intricate way. It layers Satan’s story into a couple of poems about tyrannical kings. Isaiah 14:12–17 is a prophetic poem about the downfall of the king of Babylon, and Ezekiel 28:11–19 is a prophetic poem about the downfall of the king of Tyre. From this, we can take at least two insights. First, discerning the direct work of Satan requires prophetic vision that most observers don’t have. Satan’s story is told by prophets, who were given special spiritual insight by God. Second, Satan often acts in layered ways, in some sort of collaboration with rulers. Sometimes, he tempts people directly, the way he tempted Adam and Eve. But, like other spirits who don’t have bodies, he often accomplishes his works in the world by influencing humans, who do have bodies. The gospels tell the stories of demons and unclean spirits having influence over men, women, and children. But in the two passages about Satan that we have from the prophets, we read about Satan having influence not over common people, but over tyrannical kings. Or, perhaps, of kings carrying out the work of Satan. Either way, the Lord’s prophets have discerned a relationship between the story and the work of Satan and the story and work of the tyrannical kings of the earth. These prophets will tell Satan’s story in three stages.
First, both prophets describe Satan’s original beauty. Isaiah simply calls him “Day Star, son of Dawn” (14:12). In this context, Satan is being described as the shining one of his day, full of promise and potential, with the ability to shed light, to share life, and be a source of wisdom and knowledge. Ezekiel picks up pon this by calling him “the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (28:12). But Ezekiel goes further, pointing out Satan’s God-given role at the beginning of creation. Satan was a “guardian cherub” placed “in Eden, the garden of God” (vv. 14, 13). Satan had a special role of leadership and guardianship, related to the most beautiful part of God’s creation, and to the humans who were created in God’s image.
Next, both prophets describe Satan’s original sin. Isaiah describes Satan’s sin in the form of five “I will” statements that were buried in his heart (14:13–14). The first four are about ascent. The garden of God, atop God’s mountain, was not high enough for Satan—he needed to ascend higher than that. His goal was “heaven,” “above the stars of God,” and “above the heights of the clouds.” But he wanted even more than that. He wanted a “throne” within “the mount of assembly,” where angels sat in judgment. His final word was the worst and most dramatic: “I will make myself like the Most High.” These are the same words Satan used to tempt Adam and Eve: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Satan has consistently had a fascination with achieving king-like Godlikeness, and of being unsatisfied with his God-given beauty and God-given role. Ezekiel agrees: “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor” (28:17). Ezekiel expands on this by imagining Satan as being involved in the violence-laden business that the kings of the earth occupy themselves with, the kind of ambitious aspiration to ascend that comes out of the heart and into the world: “In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned” (28:16).
Finally, both prophets describe Satan’s original fall. Isaiah is succinct and describes Satan’s punishment as two forms of humiliation: “You are brought down” and “Those who see you will stare at you” (14:15–16). Ezekiel mentions the same two forms of humiliation, but in different words: “I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you” (28:17). Why would God punish Satan by allowing other rulers to humiliate him? What makes this an essential expression of His justice? Isaiah lists the kinds of things that the rulers will “ponder” about as they look at him. Notice that they’re all powerful works of destruction put into the past tense. Just like there were five “I will” statements, there are five past tense verbs: Satan made the earth tremble, shook kingdoms, made the world a desert, overthrew cities, and did not let his prisoners go home (14:16–17).
Q: What made Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve consistent with his other work?
Q: Why do you think the prophets describe Satan’s sin not only as pride but also as violence-laden trade?
Application point — These passages help us recognize a few things about the particular ways in which Satan deceives human beings. First, Satan preys on beauty and potential. Satan himself was beautiful, and was God’s “shining star,” in a manner of speaking. He wanted to leap from high to higher. The mountain itself wasn’t high enough for him. That helps us understand why he preyed on Adam and Eve. Weren’t they made in God’s likeness? Could they not make the leap from God’s mountaintop garden to heaven itself? That also helps us understand why he preys on rulers and kings, the powerful ones of the earth, those who sit on metaphorical mountains and can imagine making the leap from “in his image” to “I will make myself like the Most High.”
Second, Satan inspires violent uses of our power. We don’t see this very clearly in the Garden of Eden story in Genesis 3, since that world was not bustling with industry and trade. But we do see it more clearly in the world of nation and empire. Ascending to God looks like the simple pride of the heart in Genesis 3 but, in the world described by the prophets, and the world that we live in, ascending to God often involves violent use of power.
Third, Satan will try to get you to share in his fall. The king of Babylon fell like Satan. And so did the king of Tyre. If you share in Satan’s ascent, you’ll share in his descent. That is the inverse of what it means to be united with Christ in His death and raised with Him in newness of life (remember Romans 6:1–5). And this is what James means when he says, “‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:6–7).
Q: Do you think that Satan tempts everybody equally, or do you think he focuses his attention on some people and leaves other temptation-work to other demons?
Q: What do “power” and “beauty” look like in our local community? What kinds of potential do we have that Satan might be inclined to try to prey upon?
This does sound like it was a fun project. Nice brief write-up. I think the connection to kings goes back to Genesis 6 and 11. Actually, all of Genesis 1-11 treated as a unit has a lot of connections: Adam as king tempted to become a god (Gen 3) crossing the boundaries of Gen 1, spiritual beings crossing boundaries creating the violent Nephilim warriors (Gen 6), and the desire of Babel's builders—laced with military language—to make a name for themselves (instead of calling on the name of Lord as Seth's line does at the end of Gen 4) in Gen 11. So you have threads of kingship, demonic forces and idolatry which, imo, connects nicely with Isaiah and Ezekiel.