There is a prevalent doctrine that Satan was once a glorious angel, in harmony with the goodness of God, but pride and ambition took over and he rebelled. The primary Scriptures used to support this doctrine are those of Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, interpreting the king of Tyre and Lucifer as Satan. However, let’s take a closer look at what these Scriptures say:
Ezekiel 28:11-19 MKJV
(11) And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,
(12) “Son of man, lift up a lament over the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘So says the Lord God: You seal the measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
(13) You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your tambourines and of your flutes was prepared in you in the day that you were created.
(14) You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I had put you in the holy height of God where you were; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
(15) You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you.
(16) By the multitude of your goods they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned. So I cast you profaned from the height of God, and I destroy you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire.
(17) Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have spoiled your wisdom because of your brightness. I will cast you to the ground; I will put you before kings, that they may behold you.
(18) By the host of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trade, you have profaned your holy places; so I brought a fire from your midst; it shall devour you, and I will give you for ashes on the earth, before the eyes of all who see you.
(19) All who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you; you shall be terrors, and you will not be forever.’”
We see no evidence here that Ezekiel was prophesying of Satan, a heavenly creature gone bad, existing before man was created. Furthermore, there is nothing in the Scriptures that says Satan was ever an “anointed cherub.” Such doctrine contradicts Jesus, Who said Satan (the Devil) was a liar and murderer from the very beginning:
“You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44 MKJV).
Before Adam and Eve sinned, it was declared of the serpent God created:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1)
What beginning was the Lord talking about in reference to the Devil? Mankind’s? The earth’s? Heaven’s? The answer is simple enough: He spoke of the serpent’s (Satan’s) beginning, which came on the sixth day. Isn’t that the most reasonable conclusion?
Then there is this passage:
Isaiah 14:4-17 MKJV
(4) “You shall take up this song against the king of Babylon and say, ‘How the exacter, the gold gatherer has ceased!
(5) The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers
(6) who struck peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, a persecution without restraint.
(7) All the earth is at rest and is quiet; they break out into singing.
(8) Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you have fallen, no woodcutter will come up against us.”
(9) Hell from below is moved for you, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, all the he-goats of the earth. It has raised from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
(10) All of them shall speak and say to you, “Are you also as weak as we? Are you like us?”
(11) Your pride is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you, and the worms cover you.
(12) How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! [The KJV says “Lucifer.”] How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
(13) For you have said in your heart, “I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.
(14) I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”
(15) Yet you shall be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the Pit.
(16) Those who see you shall stare and closely watch you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble; who shook kingdoms;
(17) who made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities; who did not open the house for his prisoners?”’”
These words were spoken to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God had granted great and glorious power. He conquered and gathered all the surrounding nations under his domain. God made him the head of gold, as Daniel told him. Nebuchadnezzar reigned over the greatest empire in history to this day:
“You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of Heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wherever the sons of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens live, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold” (Daniel 2:37-38 MKJV).
As Daniel informs us, Nebuchadnezzar became proud, and God brought him down:
Daniel 4:28-34 MKJV
(28) All this came on King Nebuchadnezzar.
(29) At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
(30) The king spoke and said, “Is this not great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?”
(31) While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from Heaven, saying, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you.
(32) And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He will.”
(33) The same hour the thing was fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, and ate grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
(34) And at the end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to Heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him Who lives forever, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His rule is from generation to generation.
Where did the king of Babylon come from? Was he not a descendant of Adam, who was the “shining star, son of the morning” in Eden? Doesn’t Isaiah refer to the lineage of the son of God, Adam, who was corrupted by the serpent in Eden?
Wasn’t Adam the “anointed cherub that covers” (Ezekiel 28), ruling in Eden until he fell, partaking of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, thinking it would make him wise, knowing good and evil, as God?
Genesis 3:2-6 MKJV
(2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
(3) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
(4) And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die,
(5) for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.”
(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
We know by the Lord’s own words that Satan wasn’t an angel that was good then went bad. Satan was never “good” except in the sense that he was created as purposed. There was never a morally good dragon or serpent. Jesus said so. Let’s believe Him and dispense with the confusion found in explanations for things carnal men don’t understand. We err when we read into the Bible what isn’t there or ignore what is there.
But who is Satan? Read The Origin and Identity of Satan for further explanation.
Consider the alternative to believing Satan was a good angel gone bad: Instead of looking at man’s existence as one long history of spoilation at the hands of an arch nemesis, know that God, our sovereign Lord, uses the evil He created (Isaiah 45:5-7) for good. Glory to His Name!