Listen: 66 Question 2

I think we should start off by stating what Satan does not look like.  Many of us have an idea of Satan being red with horns and a tail, and carrying a trident.  This is just the result of someone’s imagination and it has become a common figure when thinking of Satan or his demons.  These characteristics seems to remain whether the picture is very graphic and frightening or whether it is a cute cartoon drawing.  We don’t find this in scripture at all, so we would do well to reject society’s image of Satan.

Most of us realize that Satan was not created by God.  God created Lucifer, who after rebelling against the Lord became Satan.  In reading of Lucifer’s creation, we learn in Ezekiel 28:13-15, “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.    Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”   I expect that Lucifer was very pleasant to look at, and I don’t see why his appearance would have been altered by his fall.

Probably the most frightening thing about the appearance of Satan is that he often disguises himself as a righteous servant of the Lord.  2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”  It is very possible that some ministers today are actually servants of Satan disguising themselves as servants of the Lord.  How can we discern who these people are?  We are forewarned in 1 John 4:1-3, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

Everyone who calls himself a minister is not truly a minister of God.  We are given the responsibility to discern by the Word of God, those who are true and those who are false.  Those who are true ministers of the Lord will gladly acknowledge that God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, was born into this sinful world so that He could die for sinners like you and me.  We are plainly told in 1 Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”  So many today speak nicely of Jesus, but do not speak of His coming into the world to offer Himself as a sacrifice to save us from our sins.  There are so many ‘self-help’motivators today who really do not teach people of their need of a savior.  So many do not even mention sin, they just preach self-improvement through positive thoughts of self-worth.  The Apostle Paul warned against such people in Philippians 3:18-19 where he wrote, “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”  How many so-called ministers do we hear today that just speak of making our lives easier here on earth?  They preach more about gaining riches than they talk about gaining salvation.  They seem to be ignorant of the truth that “…our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” as we read in Philippians 3:20.

We are surely living in the last days of the church.  The Lord’s return to rapture His church is imminent.  In the last letter he wrote, the Apostle Paul gives us this warning in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  Through study of His Word and dependence on the Lord, may we learn to discern that which is of the Lord and that which is of Satan…and turn away from any that have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God.