In Defense of the Faith

Satan’s Fall

Question: I was always taught from Isaiah 14 that Satan was a fallen angel originally named Lucifer. Recently I’ve learned that this isn’t so, for the one being spoken of in Isaiah 14 is obviously “the king of Babylon” (verse 4). Then was Satan created by God as he is now, the most evil of creatures?

Response: Satan was not created by God as he is now. God does not create evil beings. Satan was originally as the Bible describes him in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 and elsewhere. He is a fallen cherub with great power and cunning. The cherubim seemed to be the angels closest to God, guarding even His very presence—and Satan was originally the chief cherub. Psalm:99:1The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
See All... says of God, “He sitteth between the cherubims.” (See also Genesis:3:24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
See All...; Exodus:25:20And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
See All..., 37:9; Ezekiel 10; Hebrews:9:5And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
See All..., etc.)

Yes, the king of Babylon is being addressed in Isaiah 14. However, what is said about him could not apply solely to him but ultimately only to Satan. For example, when did the king of Babylon have a position in heaven from which he fell? At times the Bible addresses Satan through ungodly earthly rulers to show that he is the real power behind them, just as he will be the power behind Antichrist, of whom it is said, “The dragon [Satan] gave him his power and his seat and great authority” (Revelation:13:2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
See All...). In fact, all these despotic and evil rulers are types or symbols of Antichrist.

That Satan is being addressed through such kings is clearer in Ezekiel:28:2-19 [2] Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: [3] Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: [4] With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: [5] By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: [6] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; [7] Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. [8] They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. [9] Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. [10] Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. [11] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, [12] Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. [13] 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. [14] 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. [15] Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. [16] By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. [17] Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. [18] Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. [19] All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
See All.... Here the “prince of Tyrus” is being addressed: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . . .  Thou art the anointed cherub [highest order of angel] . . . and I have set thee so. . . . Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee” (verses 13-15). Obviously, none of this was true of the literal “prince of Tyrus” but only of Satan, who inspired and directed him in his ungodly activity.

Note the similarities in Ezekiel 28 to what is said of “the king of Babylon” in Isaiah 14: “I am a God, I sit in the seat of God. . . . Thou [has] set thine heart as the heart of God,” etc. Clearly Satan is being addressed as the power behind both the king of Babylon and the prince of Tyrus. Isaiah 14 does indeed present Satan’s fall.

Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians:4:4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
See All...). Christ did not dispute his claim to ownership of the world system when, in the temptation in the wilderness, Satan offered to give the kingdoms of the world to Christ if He would bow down and worship him (Matthew:4:8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
See All...,9). Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 carry the same message.