SATAN, DEVILS, ANGELS, AND SPIRITS
There are many different conceptions of Satan among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Norman Vincent Peale, a prominent protestant preacher of the last century, stated, “I believe the ‘devil’ is merely a personification of the evil which struggles with the good in the hearts of men.” Adventists believe Satan is a created being, a fallen angel who ultimately will be reduced to nonexistence. If I was informed correctly, years ago the Bishops of the Church of England decided by a majority vote that Satan is an actual being and not just a name for the personification of evil, but recent events suggest that their Church and clergy are moving away from this concept. Pope Francis reiterated the Catholic belief that Satan is real and is the “father of lies” and “the prince of this world.” Most Americans are reported as not believing in Satan as a being.
There is much evidence in the Bible that supports the belief that Satan and other evil spirits are real and not just terms for the personification of evil. Christ and his Apostles made many references to them as actual beings. In the English translations of the Bible, Satan is called by many different descriptive names: The devil, Lucifer, dragon, son of perdition, slanderer, demon, adversary, destroyer, devourer, and deceiver. Satan comes from a Hebrew root and means spoiler or adversary, announcing that he is our enemy and seeks to destroy us. The Apostle John in the Book of Revelation of the Bible describes Satan as a fallen angel, cast out of Heaven for rebellion, as were the other spirits that followed him instead of God. They used their agency to fight against God and reject His plan for His children to come to this earth to be tested.
Just as God is the ultimate good, it appears Satan is the ultimate evil, at least in our experience. God’s dominion is clearly beyond our comprehension whereas Satan’s influence is apparently confined to this world. Bible scriptures indicate God is allowing Satan and his followers to tempt us to sin, while in contrast, God inspires us to do good; we then choose between these opposite influences. The old excuse “Satan made me do it” is a lie. God does not allow Satan to force us to do anything bad, and God will not force us to be good. We use our agency to choose between the two influences. We are learning by experience to distinguish between good and evil (think of the Garden of Eden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil).When Satan’s usefulness to God has ended, he will be banished to “outer darkness” forever, where he and those other evil spirits called devils can never tempt us again. God is not in a struggle against Satan—we are.
For those who are interested in learning more about this evil spirit and his followers, the following scriptures are instructive: KJV Bible, Isaiah 14:12-20; Revelation 12:7-10; Luke 10:17-18, 20; Luke 9:1; Mark 1:34; John 8:41-44; 1 Peter 5:8; Mark 5:2-20; and James 2:19. There are others as well. There is nothing in the scriptures to support the nonsensical belief that devils have horns, hoofs, a forked tongue, and a tail.
What do all spirits, good or bad, look like? Read Luke 24:34-39 where the Apostles and some faithful disciples mistook the resurrected, glorified Christ to be a spirit, probably because none of them except Peter, James, and John had seen him appear before in glory (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-8; and Luke 9:28-36), and he came through the walls, something mortals cannot do, but He as an immortal did.
When Christ’s Apostles earlier saw him walking towards them upon the water, not recognizing him in the dark and at a distance, they thought it must be a spirit, as most of us cannot walk on water unless it is in a solid state—frozen (Mark 6:49-50). It was the only logical answer they could think of in the dark of night or early morning, not yet recognizing that it was Christ nor understanding his power to do things you and I cannot yet do.
What do angels look like? The English word Angel comes from a Greek word meaning messenger. It is a broad title that can mean any messenger from God, even mortals (See Genesis chapter 19). No angels have wings; wings are a metaphor for their power and ability to move swiftly on their errands.
In the Koine Greek[1], in which the New Testament was first written, the three references to John the Baptist translated as prophet or messenger are from the same Greek word translated elsewhere as angel. See Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; and Luke 7:27. The seven angels mentioned in the book of Revelation are also thought of by Bible scholars as human messengers.
The book of Revelation was given to John by a heavenly angel who came with authority from Christ and spoke exactly what Christ would have spoken were he to have delivered this message personally. This angel is described in Revelation 1:1-2, 10-15 (see also Matthew 28:2-3; Mark 16:3-6). This angel was not Christ, but “one like unto the Son of Man” (Christ).[2] Also note that the angel’s glorious description does not include any wings.
That it was not Christ is brought out later in the book of Revelation when the angel was finishing his message from Christ and John reported “I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.” This angel then said, “See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and them which keep the sayings of this book (i.e., the book which he was giving to John, not the Bible as it was only assembled centuries later): worship God” (KJV Bible, Revelation 22:7-9).
This glorious angel was a resurrected prophet who had lived earlier on this earth. After he told John not to worship him, he continued speaking as if he were Christ and finished the message from Christ that he was sent to give. Is it reasonable to infer that since this angel was a glorious, resurrected being, those who are righteous will also be resurrected in the same glory as was this prophet? Wouldn’t all these glorious beings make us want to shield our eyes? Not if we are also glorified. Does John’s description of a resurrected prophet suggest that even in our wildest imaginations we don’t comprehend the glory “which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:16-18) if we are faithful?
[1] The peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean in Christ’s time used Greek as their universal language, much like Great Britain spread English all over the world, or Rome spread Latin throughout its dominions. Greek was imposed on these different countries by Alexander the Great about three hundred years before Christ.
[2] The Biblical book of Revelation is difficult for most people to understand because of John’s extensive use of symbols. Many Biblical prophets and Christ used symbols to teach truths to a population that generally could not read and had little reading material anyhow. Examples of modern symbols include flags, icons, and even colors. Aslan the Lion in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is a symbol of Christ. We use a black cat as a symbol of bad luck.
