The Bible doesn’t say much about Satan, he is mentioned several times, but his entire history is not known. What we do know is that he was once an angel in Heaven, one of the top angels, who was beautiful in appearance and had a very melodic voice. And there is no reason to believe he is any different today. He is not the red faced demon in red leotards, holding a trident in one hand, with horns growing out of his head. In fact, he is still likely very beautiful today, which makes him even more able to deceive us.
Somehow, pride overcame Lucifer. He saw the power of God and Jesus, and he no longer became satisfied with being “just an angel”, and he wanted to take the place on the throne. He began telling lies to the other angels about God, that God was controlling them, holding them back, and that He was an evil tyrant.
Now God had the ability to destroy Lucifer right then and there, to eliminate sin altogether. But God gave even the angels “free choice”, and if God had destroyed Lucifer, it would have proven Lucifers point, that God is an evil tyrant.
So instead, God cast Lucifer and the angels he had managed to convince (about a third) to earth, and earth is Satan’s kingdom today.
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” – Job 1:6-7
From this scripture, we know Satan is among us to this day.
And when Adam and Eve were created perfect, Satan decided he would try to convince them too of how bad God was. So entered the serpent, told Eve a lie, and tempted her to sin. And thus, the battle continued.
The battle, which started in Heaven, is between God and Lucifer. God loves us, He wants the very best for us, and He is patiently waiting for the day to come where we can join Him. Satan doesn’t want that. Satan is trying to kill as many of God’s children as possible, to hurt God. And that is why he tempts us to sin, to draw us away from God, and to have us perish with him in the end.
This life on earth is a battle between good and evil. If we choose to follow Christ out of love, and are obedient to Him, we will have an everlasting life with God and Him. But if we choose evil, if we choose to fall to the temptations of Satan, then we choose death. “For the punishment for sin is death.” The good are rewarded with an everlasting life, the wicked only have this short time on earth, then they die.
When we violate God’s law, it is because Satan has tempted us to do so. Many people think following God’s law is “legalism”, and if we fear God’s wrath, then yes it is, but if we follow God’s law out of a love for Him, then it is not legalism.
Have you been faithful to your spouse? If so, were you faithful because “adultery” is an actual law on the books you can be prosecuted for, or you were afraid that your spouse would catch you and file for divorce? Or were you faithful to your spouse because you loved them and didn’t want to hurt them? It is the same with God’s law, we follow it out of love for Him and because we don’t want to hurt Him.
Just how powerful is Satan? Pretty powerful, but his is far from God. Satan knows the scripture, he knows it better than even the best and most talented preachers know it. Satan used scripture to try to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, but Jesus was a better expert being the author of scripture, and was able to use scripture to defeat Satan.
Does Satan tempted you himself? Likely not, he does not have that power. But he does send his fallen angels to do his dirty work. And Satan or his angels are able to possess us, just like he entered the serpent that tempted Eve, and just like he entered the demonic men that Jesus healed in the cemetery.
This battle will continue until the end of time. This battle will continue until Jesus Christ returns to gather the righteous and take them to Heaven. It is never too late to heal, but is also never too late to fall. Jesus forgave the thief on the cross next to Him. But you can also be righteous all your life, and fall at the end.
So we have to be ever alert, always on guard for Satan to tempt us. And he will, we are only human. But if when we are tempted we recognize that, we open our hearts to God and allow Him to convict us of our sins, and if we immediately back out, confess our sins to Him, and pray for forgiveness, He will. “His mercy endureth forever”.
My personal belief, for those that question the second coming, is that God knows who will convert in the end and who will not. And He is waiting for that last person to convert, then He’ll send His Son to rescue us from this evil world. God will give everyone, every chance to follow Him. Just like the Prodigal Son, God is waiting for the last one to come home.
If we perish with Satan in the end, it will be our own fault, because we have separated ourselves so far from God that we are not righteous enough to withstand His Glory.
The Real Meaning of Life 