Ep. 58 - BONUS - Who is Satan?

Papa: Ok so…today’s episode is going to be a bonus episode. And just like the other BONUS episodes, we are going to be exploring a topic.  Because while there are lots of stories in the Bible, the Bible isn’t just stories.  Many things in the Bible are more like topics and ideas.  And sometimes, in order to understand a story, we need to understand a topic first…which is what we are going to do here.

And just like last time, Mama is going to give me a hand me talk through this. And so with no further adieu…Hello Mama!  And welcome back to Papa’s Bible Stories.

Mama: Hello Papa. It’s nice to be back.

Papa:  Well thanks for coming back! Ok so there’s another topic that we need to talk to the kidzos about.

Mama:  Alright great. What’s the topic?

Papa:  Well, we just finished a few episodes on Job. And the story of Job starts off with a super interesting scene in (what seems to be) heaven, where God and Satan are arguing. Now, before this, the last time we saw Satan in our stories was as the serpent in the Garden of Eden. So we went from Satan being a snake in Eden to Satan being in heaven arguing with God. So, I’d imagine that there’s a few kidzos out there scratching their heads. Is Satan a snake…or something else? How is it that Satan is in heaven with God? And why is God arguing with Satan?

And there isn’t really one place in the Bible that talks about the whole story of Satan. We just find little tid bits about Satan here and there in the Bible. So to understand Satan, you have to go through the whole Bible and piece things together…which is what I’d like to do in this bonus episode.

Mama: Ah, that makes sense.  Where are we going to start?

Papa: Well, the first question that I want to answer is – what is Satan and where does he come from? Well to answer this, let’s first turn to the book of Ezekiel. Mama, can you read for us Ezekiel 28:12-15?

Mama: Absolutely.  In Ezekiel 28:12-15, it reads – “Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the Garden of God; every precious stone was your covering; the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”

Papa: Ok, so in this chapter we have God talking about Satan. And God says a few things about Satan, one of which is that Satan was a “cherub”. Mama, can you help us here. What is a cherub?

Mama: Isn’t a “cherub” a certain kind of angel?

Papa: Yes that’s right. Angels go by a few names in the Bible, like Seraphim, Cherubim, and Archangel. So, as it turns out, Satan is an angel from heaven. And not just any kind of angel, but the “anointed cherub who covers” and the angel who was “on the holy mountain of God”. Now the cherub who covers seems to be an extra special angel…and actually the tabernacle might give us a hint here. And wouldn’t you know it…we have a tabernacle expert on the podcast today! Mama, is there anything in the tabernacle that can help us understand a little bit more about this “covering” angel?

Mama: Well, if you remember, in the tabernacle, there were three rooms, the Courtyard, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  In the 3^rd room, the Most Holy Place, was the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark was a golden chest that held the Ten Commandments.

The top of the ark was the Mercy Seat where God’s Shekinah Glory shone from and where His presence dwelt.  Next to the mercy seat on each side, were two sculpted golden cherubim.  The instructions as received from God to Moses in Exodus 25:20, said “ . . .  the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another.  The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.”

Now, notice it just said that the angels were “covering the mercy seat”, which sounds a lot like the verse we just read in Ezekiel that said Satan was the “cherub who covers.”

Now, if you’ll remember from the bonus episode on the tabernacle, the whole tabernacle was built according to the pattern God had given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  And what Moses was shown on Mt. Sinai was a pattern or a copy of the things found in heaven. So we understand from this that there is something like a Mercy Seat in heaven where God’s presence is and that this is where there are two cherubim who cover the mercy seat as part of their role in heaven. And it seems that Satan was one of these two cherubim who spent most of their time right next to God.

Papa: So Satan wasn’t just any angel, but maybe one of the most important angels in heaven. Wow! And Satan went from being one of the most important angels in heaven (and probably the most powerful created being in the whole universe), from being one of the closest beings to God, from being the “seal of perfection” and “full of wisdom and beauty”… to being the devil…Satan…the serpent…what we know today as the one from whom all evil and all bad things come from. What happened?

Well, let’s keep reading in Ezekiel. Mama, can you read for us Ezekiel 28:17, Isaiah 14:12-14, and then Ezekiel 28:16?

Mama: Sure Papa. Ezekiel 28:17 says, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.”

And then Isaiah 14:12-14 says, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!… For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest side of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

And then Ezekiel 28:16 says, “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within. And you sinned.”

Papa: Ok, so what is this saying? Well, it seems that at some point while Satan (also known as Lucifer) was doing his thing serving God, that he started looking at himself in the mirror and saying, “You know what…I’m pretty amazing. I’m super good-looking and super-smart. I think that I could do this whole God thing better than even God can. I should be in charge! I’m going to take God’s place!” And then the Bible says that by the abundance of Satan’s “trading” he became “filled with violence” and then he “sinned”. Now, the word “trading” in the Bible can sometimes also mean “slander” or “lying about someone”. (I guess the idea being that trading, where each side is trying to get the best deal possible, often involves lying.) So, after Satan started thinking he should take God’s place, he began to go around lying. Lying about what? Well, the Bible doesn’t exactly say…but since Satan was looking to take God’s place, he was probably lying about God and what God is like. If you kidzos remember, we saw Satan doing exactly this in the Garden of Eden all the way back in episode 2. Remember the serpent said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4-5) Satan was lying to Adam and Eve about what God was like…saying that God was a liar, and that God was someone who keeps good things just for Himself. And Satan would know…because he was the “covering cherub” who was “on the holy mountain of God”. Satan was one of the closest beings  to God…he was on the inside…and he should have known more about God than others.

Mama: Ok so Satan became proud thinking highly of himself, decided he wanted to take God’s place, and then started lying about God. So, we know that God created Satan and that God is more powerful than Satan. So I’m sure that lots of people wonder…why didn’t God just destroy Satan as soon as he started causing problems? I mean, think about all the suffering and dying that Satan has caused since then!

Papa: Yes a good question Mama. Here’s the thing…if God had destroyed Satan right away…what would that have looked like? Imagine you are at school and say the vice principle (or whoever the #2 is there at the school), starts going around talking to the teachers and the kids…and lying about the principle. Maybe saying something like that recess could be a whole 2 hours…but the principle wanted to keep recess to only 45 mins. Why? Because the principal wanted was taking a 2-hour break in the middle of the day (which they couldn’t do if there was a 2-hour recess for everybody else). So the principle is kinda keeping a 2-hour recess to himself or herself. And people don’t know what to think about it, because the vice principle is #2 in the school and obviously works closely with the principle…and should know. And then the vice principle starts saying that if they were the principle…well then you’d have that 2-hour recess! Now, what would you think if one day you came into school, and suddenly the vice principle was fired? What would that look like? Yah…if would look like the principle was just getting rid of someone for saying bad things about them. And for spilling the beans on keeping the recess for themself. Right? And God was in the same position. If God had destroyed Satan right at the beginning, all the other angels and all the people on the other worlds would have thought that God was just getting rid of someone who was saying bad things about Him. It also would have looked like all the bad things that Satan was saying about God…might have been true. So God had to allow Satan to continue lying and slandering Him. And Satan’s lies were so good…and so convincing…that about a third of the angels in heaven believed him…and joined Satan’s rebellion against God.

Mama: Ok, it’s clear God wasn’t going to destroy Satan, at least not yet.  Not until Satan’s accusations were put to rest. So, even though God wasn’t going to destroy Satan, what was He going to do?

Papa: Well, don’t forget that in the text we read from Isaiah, it says, “How you are fallen from heaven, Oh Lucifer, son of the morning.” So, even though God didn’t destroy Satan, he also wasn’t just going to leave him in heaven causing trouble. So, God kicked Satan out of heaven…along with all the angels that had started following Satan. Now, it’s not quite clear exactly what being kicked out meant…because as we see at the beginning of Job’s story, Satan seems to be in heaven arguing with God. So Satan and his angels must have still been able to go to heaven for some things…but maybe just couldn’t live there or spend most of his time there? We’re not exactly sure on the details. But what we know is that, at least for the most part, Satan was kicked out of heaven.

Mama: So, the next question is, if he was no longer in heaven, where did Satan go?

Papa: Well, this brings us to the beginning of all our stories…to the beginning of the Bible…all the way back to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. After Satan had rebelled against God, and after God created the Earth, Satan was allowed to hang out in one of the trees in the garden - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And it seems that Satan could only be there in the tree…and nowhere else (and we know this because God had warned them to stay away from the tree…which He wouldn’t have done if Satan could be everywhere). So, after Satan was kicked out of heaven, we don’t exactly know where all he could go…but we do know that there was a small place set aside for him where he could be on earth. And it’s kind of a guess, but if there are other worlds out there that God has created, then it makes sense that Satan had a small place on those worlds too. And from those places, Satan was allowed to talk with the people of those worlds…like he did with Adam and Eve…to keep trying to convince people that God was bad and that Satan would do a much better job than God if he were in charge…to continue lying and slandering…and he was allowed to find more people to join him against God…which is what happened with Adam and Eve.

Mama: They believed his lie “that they could be like God, knowing both good and evil,” and they ate of the fruit, that God had told them not to.  

Papa: Yes. And when Adam and Even sinned, they joined Satan…they joined Satan’s team against God. Satan also became the “ruler of this world”. And this is a whole topic on its own that maybe we will talk about in some other bonus episode…because I’m sure there’s all kinds of questions about that too (like what exactly it means that Satan is the ruler of this world…and is Satan still the ruler of this world). But putting that aside for now, we’ve finally come full circle to Job. Since Satan was the ruler of this world, this is most likely why Satan was in heaven arguing with God. At the beginning of Job, the Bible says, “now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1:6) It sounds like there was a big meeting in heaven, and probably because Satan was the ruler of Earth…Satan was there for that meeting. And that’s why Satan was with God in heaven. And that’s why Satan was arguing with God in heaven, because…as the Bible tells us…Satan is trying to take God’s place by making God look bad…which is what Satan was doing when he was saying that that the only reason Job followed God was because God was blessing him.

Mama: Yes, and it’s sad to see that Satan, the enemy of God, was representing our world in heaven. I look forward to the day when Satan no longer has any power over our world, and when he can’t cause so much suffering for God’s people like he did with Job.

Papa: Me too Mama. So, I think we’ve answered the big questions here…who and what Satan is, why Satan was in heaven, and why Satan was arguing with God in the story of Job. But that being said, I really want the kidzos to take something home from this. Now that we understand who Satan is and what he’s trying to do, we also now understand that there is a great battle going on. This battle is happening all around us…here on earth, up in heaven, and probably out there in the universe too. The battle is between God and Satan…good and evil. And this isn’t a battle like with swords and shields or guns and artillery, it’s not about taking over land, it’s not a battle about who is stronger…it’s a battle about who God is…it’s a battle about who will rule the universe, and it’s about whether we will follow God…or whether we will follow Satan. It’s a battle for people’s hearts…for your heart and for my heart! And there is no staying out of it…there is no neutral ground…you must pick a side. And it’s my prayer that as many kidzos as possible will pick the right side…that you will follow God…and that you will give your hearts to Him.

Mama: That’s my prayer too Papa! I hope that it all makes sense to the kidzos out there too.

Papa: Yes I hope so too! Well, thanks again Mama for helping me walk through this with the kidzos. Hopefully we will see you again in some future bonus episode?

Mama: As the Lord wills.