One of the great, enigmatic theological questions throughout Church history has been, "Why did God create Satan?" An answer to this question will help us to understand why certain apparently godly men have ultimately become men of compromise and enemies of the Truth.
In approaching this question let us carefully consider the few Scriptures concerning the beginning of this angel Lucifer. Two passages of important insight into Satan's genesis are Isaiah 14, a proverb to the King of Babylon, and Ezekiel 28, a lamentation to the King or Prince of Tyre. Although these contexts are addressed to kings, God is actually speaking to the power behind these kings, Satan himself.
In Ezekiel 28, God "laments" the fall of the Devil. Within this lamentation (28:11-19) God describes this pre-fallen creature's beauty, glory, and anointing. We are told of his past "thou hast" (28:13) and "thou wast" (28:15). The past was marked by perfection, anointing, coverings, beauty, and workmanship. This glorious view continued "till iniquity was found in thee" (28:15b). He was created for beauty, for glory, for a doxology to God; he was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. Isaiah 14:13-14 reveals that this iniquity found in him was birthed in his will: the will rose up against the will of God in thought. With all his beauty and glory, he believed he could be worshipped, and glorified, yea, even become like God! The Scriptures make it very clear that Lucifer (his pre-fallen name) was created by God as the "Shining One," the beautiful one, the doxology to God. One day he, with his own thoughts and will, birthed another entity. This entity became known as Satan, the "adversary," the Devil, the "accuser," and the "slanderer." Lucifer was God-created; Satan was self-born!
In Luke 10:18, Jesus stated in response to the seventy: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." The verb beheld is in the imperfect tense, which is a present tense leading to an aorist, crisis moment. Jesus saw Lucifer's impending fall and change into Satan. Finally, in Revelation 12:4 another passage speaks of Satan's tail drawing the "third part of the stars of heaven," and casting them to the earth. This seems to indicate that Satan convinced one-third of the angelic realm to rebel against God, for which they were cast out of heaven with him.
The Self-Born Enigma of Israel
The event of the created Lucifer becoming the self-born Satan is an enigma that has often typified the history of nations. In Isaiah 5:1-7 God tells the prophet to take up a song against the nation of Israel. Israel was God's vineyard planted on a fruitful hill (Hebrew, ben shemen meaning "son of oil" or one "anointed"). God had planted sorek (Heb., "choice seed") in order to produce the choicest grape vine. The Lord was so confident of the result from the effort in His vineyard that he built a tower and a winepress there. "And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes" (5:2b). These "wild" grapes in the Hebrew are bushim, meaning they have a bad smell. It was only in the crushing, the crucible, and the judgment moment that these apparently good grapes revealed their wretched condition. The Lord responded, "Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" (5:3-4). Where did the Lord fail in this matter of His vineyard? The answer must not be that God failed; something happened within the grapes or vines themselves after all that was done to make them perfect. We are not told how this came about; nonetheless, it is evident something happened to cause the promised seed to go bad.
The Self-Born Enigma of an Individual
The self-born enigma can be found not only in a godly nation but also in an individual. A classic example of this would be King Saul. There is still a theological debate about this man, "Was he ever saved?" First Samuel 9-10 depicts the story of this man's rise to greatness. The Bible says "the spirit of God came upon him" (10:10); "God gave him another heart" (10:9); he prophesied among the prophets (10:11); he hid himself as if he were a deeply humble man (10:21-22); he held his peace when the children of Belial refused to bring the new king presents (10:27). It is also evident that Samuel deeply loved Saul and truly desired the best from this man.
Following these good words Saul is revealed projecting himself into the priestly office by sacrificing the burnt and peace offerings (I Samuel 13). In I Samuel 15 we read of his incomplete obedience to God's Word and his anger in response to the prophet's actions and words. In chapter 16:14 the Spirit of the Lord departs from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubles him. In chapter 28 he seeks out a witch for guidance and help. Finally he ends his life through suicide (31:1-5; I Chronicles 10:1-6, 14). The world may invent a number of psychological reasons for this decline of Saul: for example, that the prophet Samuel was too hard on him or there was too much pressure on him to do right.
Nevertheless, we must discern the process of Saul's own destruction. In I Samuel 15:22 he was disobedient, not hearkening to the things of God; in 15:23 he was rebellious to God, to His Word, to His Spirit; and he was stubborn in not yielding to the dealing and rebuking of the Lord. Samuel's words to Saul in 15:22 are a defining moment that reveals to us the heart of Saul:
Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Obedience from the heart is the crucial key for any man. God can only be served with the heart; mere sacrifice is outward. Saul by this time is self-deceived; in that self-deception he is rejecting the Word of the Lord. He had come to believe truth a different way, from a different perspective than God and His Word. He truly believed he had a right to go against the Word of God. Thus in so doing, he created another self, becoming a self-centered man, consumed with his own desires and ambitions alienated from God.
A True Christian Versus a Self-Born One
It is no enigma to see a child grow up in a drunkard's home, a cursing home, a lying or cheating home and find him living the same life. Apart from a miracle of deliverance through Christ, we can even expect the child to be the same. Sometime ago I ministered in a county jail that was separated into four large cells. In one cell there was a grandfather, in another cell a father, and in a third cell a son/grandson. Although the grandfather had never met the nineteen-year-old grandson, a family reunion took place in a jail. The three were incarcerated for the same offence, drunk driving. The grandfather had killed a man by his drunk driving; the father and son in separate incidents were caught drunk while driving. If drinking was the master sin of the family, it is understandable that a son and grandson would end up the same way.
However, there is an enigma when such a child comes from a loving, caring, godly home. Although the child was trained in the precious environment of the ways of the Lord, changes often come during his teenage years. During these years his concepts of life begin to change contrasting that which was instilled in him from birth.
This new thought-life is a powerful thing. Babies do not think; there are no concepts yet by which to reason, only images of the mind. As his concept of language develops so does his thought life. His rationality starts out rather simple; but as knowledge increases his conceptual mind broadens. Eventually the child enters a season in which his thinking can be independent of what he was taught. This happens to all children in both secular and Christian homes. It is a time when self begins to think independently. This in turn is influenced by the heart and will of the teenager as well as his environment outside the home and church.
Life viewed by this new, independent self is also very powerful. A young person can grow up in a Christian home, a good church, and even attend a good school. He can be taught and instilled with principles and concepts of God. But there is a season when the heart of self begins to readjust what it has been taught. By the time the child reaches his late teens, if he has given himself to such independent thinking, he will become perverted or void of the most basic concepts of God and what a Christian is.
It is at this point that an enigmatic transformation takes place: the young person creates his own belief-system even while sitting and hearing the truth. He creates in thought a secret rejection of the biblical God and begins justifying his way of thinking along with its resulting failures. From this new belief-system he individually births his own new Christianity, a "self-born" Christianity.
This change of thinking happens not only to teenagers and young adults within good Christian homes but also in a Christian who begins to backslide. There is the danger of changing truth he once was taught. To accommodate his backsliding he often creates new thoughts about a Christian life, about biblical separation, about doctrine, about the Bible, and about truth itself. Other factors may contribute to it such as friends, readings, relatives, and carnal Christianity with its weakness and shallowness. Ultimately, however, he creates his own new entity. This individual finally becomes a stranger to God and His people; he becomes a self-born enemy of God.
It must be remembered that all of us have the power within self to alter truth, to forge our own error, and finally to believe it to be the truth. When communion with God is broken, when we fail, when we sin and refuse to recover from that sin, when busyness overtakes the Christian life, there is ever the potential of empowering a self-birth pursuing that which is heresy, error, and even apostasy.
After David's sin with Bathsheba and nine months of unrepentant silence, God sent the prophet Nathan to him. David could have retaliated against Nathan with deep anger as Saul had. However, Psalm 51 was his cry; he wanted to keep the record straight about his sin. At this time God gave David sight to his sin and how it was rooted all the way back to his conception. A self-born person does not see the continuity of his life; he does not see how the changes he makes in thought and action reverse the good he might have had within and through God. A self-born person is fragmented in his thinking; there is no law, no order or design to his life. He cuts off all that was given to him and literally creates another life.
David knew what must be done. In Psalm 51:10 he desired for God to create a clean heart within and prayed for God to renew a right spirit within. In verse 11 he pled with God not to cast him away from His presence, entreating the Lord not to take His Holy Spirit from him. In verse 12 he cried out to God for Him to restore unto him the joy of His salvation as well as to uphold him.
The heart of a man is the core of the self. It is for this reason Solomon asks "My son, give me thine heart" (Proverbs 23:26). Why such a desire from the father? The son is under a father, under his care and commands. No obedience will be known in the life unless one sees this father and son relationship. We are not God's enemies or slaves; we are His sons. No son can project himself into fatherhood over the Father. The heart has many claimants: Heaven and Hell contend for it; the world with its riches, honors, and pleasures is also crying, "Give me thine heart." Even Satan in his tempting voice is declaring, "If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine." But there is the Father: He is calling through His Beloved Son to us as adopted sons, "My son, give me thine heart."
The End-time enigma of children leaving Christian homes for a "new" Christianity or simply the world and its pleasures is becoming more common. They with increasing boldness claim, "I have no heart for God," or "I cannot make up my mind yet," or "I believe I can come to know and live for God another way." To save the teenager from following his ponderings of question and denial, God must send conviction at this season in his life. Right when these thoughts are swirling, God must conquer them with true repentance, a true change of perception of mind (metanoia). To conquer these thoughts God wants the heart as a gift that rightfully is His; God the Father is striving with His child's will.
When a child grows up in a Christian environment, there is the tendency to believe that his goodness is his salvation. His outward submission is often considered the evidence of his Christianity. Yet Christianity has no true meaning without the heart. All other religions can be performed with outward submission; only Christianity demands the heart. Delilah made a statement to Samson that is very profound: "How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me?" (Judges 16:15). To truly love God will demand His ownership of our heart. The greatest commandment witnesses to this fact: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matthew 22:37). This commandment does not mention the physical aspects of hands, feet, and tongue. The deepest form of love is found in the realm of the spiritual—the heart, soul, and mind. If we do not love God within, we do not truly love Him.
Although the heart must be broken, it cannot be divided. The heart will either be given to self or God. God needs to regenerate the heart; He needs to shed abroad in that heart His love by the Holy Ghost. Nevertheless, He wants ultimately the full control and possession of that heart or else it will become the womb for another entity of self.
Can Men Who Were Anointed Change?
It is a sobering thought to ask, "Can men who have known the anointing of God turn from God and eventually become the product of themselves?" Can a true Christian belief become a neo-Christian belief in a man over a period of time?
Sadly, we are witnessing this mutation in our day. It has happened to great movements such as Methodism. Methodism was a movement God used to bring a great revival of biblical spirituality throughout the world. Next to Romanism, though, Methodism today has become the deepest apostasy in Church history. How do we explain the changes in men whom God in earlier years anointed to preach the Gospel? How do we explain the apathy of churches that once were the product of the grace of God, fighting against compromise and error? How do we explain the ecumenicity of denominations that were birthed in biblical separation? How do we explain the capitulation to Neo-Evangelicalism of schools that were once citadels of truth?
Although we must fully acknowledge that they were God-born and used mightily of God in the past, something has happened. The heart, the will, the thought life has changed; their identity is no longer God-born but self-born. A man may have had from God an honorable vision in the birth of his ministry; he may have had years of leading it in a precious, biblical way. Yet as he grew older, he may have become a tyrant and lord over his God-appointed flock.
Note carefully the difference between the Old Testament names Adonai and Baal: Adonai refers to a tender lord, master, or husband; Baal was an oppressive lord. Although Baal worship afflicted its adherents, God always was an Adonai to those who loved and served Him. Observe Peter's exhortation to pastors:
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock (I Peter 5:2, 3).
In the Olivet Discourse, Christ gave three parables that are warnings for us in the End Time. His first parable (Matthew 24:44-51) warned of fellow servants smiting one another while the Lord delayed His coming. This has been true of the power of oppressive Romanism over its parishioners throughout the centuries. This has been true of the Shepherd Ministry some years ago among certain Charismatics. This has been true of denominational leaders who rise to power and use that power over the laity. This is what the Bible calls the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, a doctrine "which I hate" saith the Lord (Revelation 2:15). Although many of the charlatans of our time never had a biblical beginning, others began seemingly well only to compromise and capitulate to the Neo-Christianity for expediency. They have become self-born. Just as no one can blame God for the existence of Satan, no one can blame God for this falling away in Christianity.
Conclusion
David cried out in his lamentation on the death of Saul and Jonathan, "How are the mighty fallen!" (II Samuel 1:19, 25, 27). We are going to be witnessing more and more the fall of the mighty. Many have passed before us: mighty angels, mighty kings, mighty nations, mighty churches, mighty denominations, mighty schools, and mighty preachers. As more and more mighty in our day fall away, many will be convinced that "all is well." Instead of repenting and fervently going back to the landmarks of truth, hearts will slowly leave truth and minds will try to reasonably vindicate the changes. One day, the creature of God's beauty, glory, and anointing of the past will become a self-born creature, an adversary of the truth.
Dear reader, to witness such a metamorphosis will cause one to stand in awe of how it could ever happen and could shake the very foundation of one's theological system. One could easily be tempted to dismiss this drastic change completely. An observation was made some years ago that although a certain individual believed Billy Graham to be a Christian, he also believed he had done more damage to destroy true Christianity than any other man in the twentieth century. How can both statements be true? Yes, this is an enigma that the Christian world does not know how to handle.
Nonetheless, the Bible speaks clearly in John 7:17, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." The first phrase is a very accurate declaration that if any man "willeth" (in the present tense) to do God's will, he shall know of the doctrine. This is the focal truth of this enigma: "Am I willing to do God's will?" If a person inwardly concludes "no," then his thought life will begin to form a new view of being a Christian, in turn birthing a new person that is not of God. This transformation takes place in the heart and will over a process of time.
May God ever keep us as God-birthed creatures to the end of our days; may He keep us from covering self in a failure or sin that could lead, over a period of time if not resolved in Christ, to a self-born creature away from God.