A lady supplies me with Present Truth, and during a little chat with her I was incited to write you, and asking certain questions I put to her in connection with Satan as the Devil of the Bible.
A lady left Present Truth of August 7, and I found on page 500 an article entitled, "Fallen Angels." [The article referred to appeared in the August 7, 1902 edition of Present Truth, and was written by Augusta W. Heald. I have placed it in the Appendix.] Can you tell me where in the Bible the fallen angels mentioned by Peter and Jude are defined as the Devil? and if they are in everlasting chains under darkness, reserved till a certain day, how can they be roaming about as a lion, seeking whom they may devour?
Next concerning Ezekiel 28:2 which says, "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus." Now if, as this chapter says, it is the king of Tyrus that is spoken of by God through the prophet, how do you reconcile your statement that he was a fallen angel, that is, the Devil and Satan?
The next passage is Isaiah 14. Is this not highly figurative language? and does not the context declare it to be spoken against the king of Babylon? I refer you to Daniel 4:30, for a literal fulfillment of this prophecy in the person of Nebuchadnezzar.
The next reference is Revelation 12:7-8. Revelation 1:1 says the revelation is signified, i.e., given in signs, to John, to show things that must surely come to pass. I fail to see how you can say in the face of this, that this war in heaven occurred previous to Adam's temptation.
There are other difficulties, too, such as this: If sin originated in heaven, and its originator was an angel, I don't see what Paul's meaning is, when he declares that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; because if the angels that sinned were cast into the earth previous to Adam's sin, then it did not come into the world by man, but by an angel.
I believe that every man has an evil heart or mind naturally,--that he has himself to fear, and those of like nature, and not a supernatural, personal devil. Paul says that the devil is that which has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14); sin has that power; therefore sin in the flesh, i.e., human nature unrestrained is in my opinion the Satan of the Bible.
Satan a Fallen Angel
It is not at all necessary to be able to identify the fallen angels mentioned in Peter and Jude with the Devil, since he is but one, and there are many. There is but one being known as "the Devil and Satan" (Revelation 12:9, 20:2); while there are many demons, or devils, who, like their leader, have fallen from heaven.
That Satan fell from heaven is plainly stated in Luke 10:18 and Revelation 12:7-9; and in the last reference we are told that "his angels were cast out with him;" (Revelation 12:9) so we are not drawing on our imagination in the least, when we identify "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation," (Jude:6) with the devils of which the Scriptures have so much to say, and that are the enemies of mankind.
A little more careful reading will show that it is not at all incongruous for things that have previously occurred, to be referred to in a revelation of things that must shortly come to pass. Indeed, we are plainly told that this is the case; for in Revelation 1:19 we read this instruction to John: "Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter." (Revelation 1:19)
In order that the reader may understand the description of things that are to take place in the future, it is often necessary to introduce an account of things that have already occurred.
You say that you do not see how we can say that Satan's expulsion from heaven took place before Adam's temptation, when the description of it occurs in the revelation of "things which must shortly come to pass." (Revelation 1:1)
I have just shown from the same Revelation that John was to write some things that already were; and nearly a hundred years before John wrote, Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven," (Luke 10:18) without indicating how long it had been since He saw him fall. This takes out all the force of your objection. Now when we know that Satan fell from heaven long before John's day, we are bound to identify the serpent that beguiled Eve, with "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world." (Revelation 12:9)
We are not for a moment left to conjecture, for the declaration that "that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world," necessarily includes the deception of Eve.
The Devil a Powerful Personality
Now a few words concerning the idea that there is no devil except "human nature unrestrained." Such an idea cannot be held by anybody who has read the Bible through, unless he paid no attention to what he read, or else did not believe it. Let me cite only one or two instances out of many.
In the 4th of Matthew we read that the tempter came to Jesus in the wilderness, that he took Him into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and afterwards took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and that "Then the Devil left Him." (Matthew 4:11)
Do you think that all this was done by "human nature unrestrained"? No answer is necessary. Was it "human nature unrestrained" that went at the command of Jesus from the two men who dwelt in the tombs, and entered into the herd of swine? (See Matthew 8:28-33)
The Devil Is Distinct from Men
I might pursue this line further; but this is sufficient to show that a man's opinion is very absurd when put in the light of Bible truth. It is impossible to read the numerous references to Satan and his angels, and what they did, believing the record, without knowing that they are real, personal beings, as real as men are. But that they are supernatural beings, and not men, is plainly declared in: "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness ["wicked spirits," margin] in high places." (Ephesians 6:11-12)
But they are bound, you say, and so are harmless. Yes, they are bound to this world. They have not, as the unfallen angels have, the freedom of heaven, nor the privilege of visiting other parts of God's universe. They are in bonds, under darkness so dense that no ray of heavenly light ever pierces it. This intense darkness they have plunged themselves into, through rejecting God, and so there is nothing for them to look forward to but "the blackness of darkness for ever," (Jude 13) utter extinction.
The God of This World
We have now only the two texts referred to in Isaiah and Ezekiel, yet to consider; and these are so full of instruction that I am glad to notice them in particular. The first ten verses in Ezekiel 28 are addressed to "the prince of Tyrus," and the language is such as could well apply to an earthly ruler having great riches, power, and wisdom. But from the eleventh verse to the nineteenth we have a "lamentation upon the king of Tyrus," in language that could not possibly apply to any human being. "Thus says the Lord God, You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold (Compare Revelation 21:10-21): the workmanship of your tabrets and your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. You are the anointed cherub that covers; (Compare Psalm 80:1) and I have set you so; you were upon the holy mountain of God, you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the multitude of your merchandise they have filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy you, O covering cherub, and from the midst of the stones of fire." (Ezekiel 28:12-16)
The reading of this is enough to show us that it never was true of any man on this earth; it applies to the highest being ever created in heaven--one of the cherubim overshadowing the throne of God in heaven. The question then comes, "How is it that he is called the king of Tyrus?"
The answer is easy. Satan, "the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience," (Ephesians 2:2) "[is] the God of this world," (2 Corinthians 4:4) the chief of "the rulers of the darkness of this world." (Ephesians 6:12)
He is therefore the real ruler of every heathen nation that sets itself in opposition to God; while the nominal king is only his agent. So the visible ruler of ancient Tyre, that proud and wicked city, was in reality only the prince; the real ruler was the wicked spirit to whose control he had yielded himself, and whose designs he was carrying out.
This also applies in the 14th chapter of Isaiah. That is indeed in connection with prophecies of the destruction of the city over which Nebuchadnezzar ruled. Satan, who first brought sin into God's universe, by seeking to make himself equal with God, was the real ruler of ancient Babylon when its nominal ruler exalted himself against the God of heaven.
That the prophecies in Isaiah concerning Babylon embrace a great deal more than the city famed in history, and whose ancient site is noted in our maps, is evident when we read the New Testament. That city was utterly destroyed long before the days of the apostles; and the kingdom of Babylon had been succeeded by three other world powers; yet the book of Revelation abounds in references to Babylon, and of prophecies of its fall. The very language of Isaiah is used by John. (Compare Isaiah 47:8-9 and Revelation 18:7-8)
Babylon and its king exist as really today as they ever did, although the city and king known to secular history have long since ceased to be. In the destruction of Babylon of the Chaldees we have the type and the assurance of the destruction of Satan and his kingdom.
Satan Powerless Except with Man's Consent
What about the statement that "by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans 5:12)? It is perfectly consistent with the statement that Satan sinned in heaven, and that he is the originator of sin; it must be so, since both statements are in Scripture. Satan introduced sin into the universe; but Adam introduced it into this world; for although Satan was permitted to come to earth after he sinned, Adam was the ruler of it, and nothing could be done here without his consent.
Satan might have roamed up and down on this earth without having the power to blight a single flower, or to cause a moment's pain or suffering to any human being, if man willed it to be so. Sin may crouch at the door, desiring to seize upon and ruin man; but it is powerless and harmless unless man consents; man may rule over it.
And herein is hope and comfort for us; for although man has proved recreant to his trust, God is faithful to His word, and He has never taken back the dominion which He originally gave to man. In Christ we are still kings, and if we resist the devil, he will flee from us, even as he did from Christ, when Christ said, "Get you hence." (Matthew 4:10)
And we have the assurance that: "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (Romans 16:20)
Necessity of Knowledge Concerning Satan
Someone may ask, "What difference does it make whether or not we believe that there is a personal devil? If we earnestly resist the devil that we find striving within us for the mastery, what difference does it make to us what its source is?"
It makes a great deal of difference whether we believe the Bible or not. The mere fact that the Bible tells us of a personal devil, and warns us against him, is sufficient evidence that it is a matter of vital importance for us to know the truth about him; for the Bible does not deal in trivialities.
Here is one all-sufficient reason for being well-informed concerning the devil and his devices: It is a sure safeguard against being led astray by that great delusion, Spiritualism. Without this knowledge, one is sure to fall into that horrible snare. If Satan can only persuade people that he and his host cannot exist, and that the Bible accounts of him are myths, then he has them at his mercy, which is cruel.
Then when they get messages purporting to come from their dead friends, relating incidents that no other human beings could know; and when they even see and converse with and handle things that have every resemblance of those dead friends, they will certainly fall into the trap, and believe that their friends have surely returned to visit them.
And when those supposed friends declare that they have just come from heaven, and that the things which they once learned from the scriptures they now know to be error, the poor dupes will inevitably throw away what hold they have on God and His Word. This is not fancy, for it has been done many times, and it will be done yet more.
Directly growing out of the fact that ignorance concerning Satan lays one open to the deception of Spiritualism, is the fact that disbelief in his existence naturally tends to disbelief in Christ and the atonement.
First of all, because Spiritualism itself is first and foremost of all a denial of Christ; and second, because that when a person believes that he has only himself to contend with, it is very natural for him to persuade himself that he can conquer by his own unaided power. Such a one will insensibly, no matter what his present belief in Christ, come to regard the power of the Lord working in him as proceeding only from himself; for that is a great temptation that continually besets all mankind. So from believing that he is his own tempter, he will come to believe that he is his own saviour.
Michael, the Archangel, contended with the Devil for the body of Moses. The mighty Prince was not disputing with His "human nature unrestrained," but with a being as real as He himself.
And this brings us to the close, with the blessed knowledge that the battle with the hosts of darkness is not ours, but the Lord's. The great controversy is between Christ and Satan, for the souls of men, and for the possession of the earth.
Thank God, Christ has conquered at every turn, in every conflict, and we have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.--Present Truth, October 2, 1902.