Bible Study The developmental concept of ha satan

[TonyChanYT]

The developmental concept of satan

u/SilverStalker1, u/AsukaLangleySoryuFan, u/Firm_Evening_8731

The behavior of satan was complex. This OP is about the developmental character of satan [lowercase].

Was evil present in the Garden of Eden?

With hindsight, I think so. Jesus spoke to the antagonistic Jews in John 8:

44 "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

The devil lied and killed Adam and Eve's spiritual consciences. As far as Jesus was concerned, he was a sinner from the beginning.

The idea of a tester/tempter was first introduced in Genesis 3:

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

That was the first sign that there was a creature who questioned the word of God.

This beginning of an evil force was later portrayed by the satan against the upright Job. God allowed the satan to test him, Job 1:

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God [ben elohim] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [the satan H7854] also came among them.

The satan appeared as a member of God's court, acting as a tester or prosecutor of human faith.

Strong's Hebrew: 7854. שָׂטָן (satan) — 27 Occurrences

The root meaning of שָׂטָן is "adversary," "opponent," or "accuser."

Using a definite article means that satan was not a proper personal name. With the definite article, the satan sounds like a job title. Further, the same H7854-satan appears in (ESV) 1 Samuel 29:

4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him [David]. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary [satan H7854] to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?

Here, satan refers to David. Elsewhere, the concept of satan was tied closely to God himself in the Balaam incident in the Aramaic Bible in Plain English Numbers 22:

22 And the wrath of God was provoked against him because he went, and the Angel of LORD JEHOVAH stood in the road to be Satan an adversary to him, and he rode on his donkey and his two young men with him.

Balaam was going the wrong path. God sent an adversary (satan) to correct him.

Later, Satan appeared in 1Ch 21:

1 Satan [satan, no definite article, LXX G1228 διάβολος] rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.

There is a parallel account in 2 Samuel 24:

1 Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

The LORD used satan to accomplish his will against David! Sometimes, he sent out evil spirits.

Later still, the good prophet Micaiah saw the Lord permitting a spirit to lie in the mouths of Ahab's bad prophets to deceive Ahab. Micaiah said in 1 Kings 22:

23 “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

By the time of the exile, something had changed fundamentally in Daniel 10:

12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me,

This was angel against angel. It was an open rebellion. This satan/adversary opposition force opposed not only humans,

because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

There were angelic forces for and against Daniel. These were two distinct wills but only one was for God.

In the NT, the satan concept became the person Satan, the devil, Matthew 4:

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

BDAG διάβολος:
② subst. ὁ δ. one who engages in slander

Satan was not just an accuser but a devil/slanderer.

Demons became rampant, Luke 8:

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

Satan lost his position in heaven, Luke 10:

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

After Jesus' Cross, Satan, who accused us day and night before our God, was thrown down to the earth (Rev 12:9-11). Jesus now is our Advocate-Paraclete before God (1 John 2:1, Romans 8:34). Satan no longer had access to God.

Satan lost his access to God when Jesus died on the Cross before Jesus ascended to the right hand of God.

Hebrews 2:

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil

Over time, Satan's character has become increasingly independent of God. Even the concept of testing/tempting has evolved. In the OT, God tested/tempted Abraham. After Satan went rogue, God tested people, and Satan tempted people. Right now, Satan is the ruler of this world.

Paul used Satan in 1 Timothy 1:

20b Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I [Paul] have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Satan is the dragon in Revelation 20:

1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

The concept of the satan changed over time. God used the serpent to test Adam and Eve in the Garden. God permits Satan to tempt us today. In the Garden, satan manifested itself as the serpent.

In the end, Revelation 20:

10 the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The word שָׂטָן (H7854 satan) appears only 27 times. It could be used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. There is a more common word צָר (H6862 tsar), often translated as adversary. H6862 appears 111 times.

In hindsight, Jesus told us that satan was a bad guy right from the beginning when he did the temptation works for God. God created the satan to tempt/test people in God's way. The satan had his own ambition and enjoyed accusing good people before God. He became more and more disobedient and conspired to overthrow God. Some bad angels and demons sided with him.

The Son of God came on earth to die for people's sins. After his resurrection, he ascended to the right hand of God and became our Advocate. The Accuser was kicked out.

 

[for_his_glory]

Ask yourself, who is your greatest adversary in life? Is it your family, friends or co-workers? They can be if they are being used by the greatest adversary there is in this world. That adversary has many names like Belial, Beelzebub, Dragon and Serpent, but we know him as Satan the fallen angel of God cast out of heaven to the earth for his disobedience.

Satan’s kingdom is that of earth to travel back and forth in to deceive and corrupt the nations. His only purpose is to distract people from the love of God through the lust of our flesh as our desires become that of what we can lay up here on earth as our treasures as we gain that which is of the world, but lose our very soul in the process. Nothing here on earth last forever for all is temporal and our eternity is based on the condition of our heart.

When we become our own gods we have no desire to know the God of love and compassion when things are going good in our lives. It’s not until our world around us comes crashing down and when we lose the power we once had over our lives and even control of other people then we lash out and curse God.

Satan loves to destroy those of faith in God by using others that are the closest to us like our families or friends. Gossip, backbiting, anger and hatred are his weapons of choice to cause us to lose our faith in God if we fall to his devices of evil. When he can get us to speak words of hurt and anger towards others then this will cause our flesh to rule over the Spirit of God that dwells in us and shuts down the blessings of God in our life.