Free Will: The Origins of Satan and Sin

Why Does Life and Existence Seem Unfair???

A question that often perplexes us is the reason behind the imbalance in life. Why does life seem unfair, and why do bad things happen to good people? Despite the vast knowledge of science, religion, and philosophy, we need more satisfactory answers.

We imagine that everything in heaven is perfect…but the truth is that everything in heaven strives for perfection — only God is perfect. God creates lesser beings in his image but not exactly like him in all attributes. Like here on earth, we as the created must strive to meet God’s perfection — like children strive to imitate their adult parents…unless they don’t. That is when problems begin…the creation does not desire to emulate the creator but rather to replace the creator!

Another variation of this question is how the universe was set in motion. In this narrative, I delve into the epic battle between God and the adversary, Satan. Satan, more commonly known as the Devil — the Adversary, did not start that way. He was unique; among the angels and beings of heaven, he was exceptional. He was known as Lucifer -the Day Star, Son of the Dawn (Isaiah 14:12), the signet of perfection (Ezekiel 28:12) full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was placed in the Garden of Eden with an anointed cherub as his guardian (Ezekiel 28:14–15), blameless in his ways…until iniquity was found in him. Due to that iniquity, he became violent and profane.

So, what flaw led to Satan’s iniquity? It was pride, something we mortals should understand quite well. We also allow ourselves to think much higher about our status and what we deserve than others. Satan desired that rather than serve the most High God in Eden, he would raise his throne to the heavens above God (Isaiah 14:13–14).

Satan was proud because he was beautiful; he had splendor and great charm (Ezekiel 28:17). You might say he had extreme Narcissism and was self-absorbed. Think of today’s Mega-church leaders who fall from high positions when they sin or misbehave. This can be seen as the classical sin of Satan and, without repentance, can lead down a long, deadly dark path — taking others with them. Satan was expulsed or kicked out of the Garden of Eden by the very anointed cherub that was assigned to guard him (Ezekiel 28:16)

Satan failed in his attempt to overrule God, but he had an impact on many others within Heaven. Many followed his lead and, in turn, became profane, too. So, how does this all fit within the story of humankind?

It all began with the temptation of the first human representatives, Adam and Eve, and their fall into sin. This unleashed a torrent of sweat, toil, disappointments, losses, sickness, and death upon humankind and the world. To comprehend this, we must elevate our perspective to the unseen. There is no other way to solve this mystery. I will present a condensed summary.

In the beginning, before the creation of humanity, the heavens were in harmony, and the beings (or gods) were content with the rules of the highest (God) until something new was created. God was creating a new being of flesh (physical) and spirit — a hybrid. This being would be developed to live on a specific planet called Earth. God fashioned a place on the earth as a paradise, with a perfect climate full of exotic trees and fruit.

The gods looked down upon the creation and marveled. They were impressed, but not all of them were pleased. Some holy ones felt God’s attention was being displaced towards the new creation, not his original spiritual beings. Some became jealous and envied the new creation. Some abandoned heaven to go down and coexist with the latest being called a human. One among the gods spoke out about the new creation being weak and unable to keep the commandments of God. The one called Lucifer, the morning star, was one of the most beautiful and influential among the gods[1].He was proud and vain, loving himself more than the highest God. The creation of humans diverted God’s attention, and he saw room to move and undermine God by tempting the new creation.

Lucifer assumed the form of a serpent, a creature of earth that, at the time, was not despised by people. He got close to the humans and influenced them to believe that power and understanding were within their grasp if they consumed a particular fruit in the garden.

You see, the fruits of Eden, as the garden became known, had substances that altered the physical nature of the newly created humans. Some fruits provide a long life, others offer knowledge and wisdom, and some cure potential diseases. All the humans had to do was reach out and eat.

Lucifer, as Satan, debated with the highest God that there were no laws or requirements on the new human. How would humans show their obedience without rules as the angels of heaven had to observe? God agreed and placed a single commandment on the new humans not to eat of the fruit of knowledge, and he gave further information on what would happen if they did — they would surely die.

Lucifer (now known as Satan) took advantage of the law of the fruit, the first human commandment, and told the humans that God was wrong to forbid them the fruit as it would make them wise like a god. They thought that was a great idea, and they ate the fruit. The fruit had a remarkable and unpredictable effect — it opened their eyes to see reality as it was and produced in them a desire to do whatever they wanted. It was freeing at first until God confronted them, and the first sin had been committed.

Satan was overjoyed as now the new creation of God was lost. They were forced out of the garden to the harsh world environment. Their newly open eyes allowed them to see. Due to separation from the Tree of Life in the Garden, Death entered the world, and Satan obtained a new power — the ability to convict and destroy the earth and the things that dwelled on it.

He assumed the power to cause judgment and death. He thought he had God trapped in His righteous commandments. His creation had to die; that is, be separated from God for all eternity. Their spirits could not return to their creator once their bodies passed.

During this time, rebellious gods or angels[2] departed their heavenly home and came to the earth. They began teaching forbidden knowledge to the people, leading to wars and causing the descendants of the first humans to become wild. Some divine beings had children with humans, resulting in powerful hybrid offspring. These offspring took charge of human groups and fought among themselves.

The angels in heaven then complained to God about the uncontrollable new creation. God regretted creating humans and decided to eliminate them with a flood. However, a small group of humans stayed out of the wars and teachings of the rebellious ones. God found favor in those small groups and spared them the flood by creating a means for them to escape.

Once the flood subsided, the new human race started anew from that line. However, the gods that disobeyed were trapped in the earth, a place of gloom called the pit. Their spirits were chained up in gloom, awaiting the judgment of God. Satan was enraged that his fellow gods were facing judgment but was pleased he persuaded the newly created humans in that group as they had become sinners. If the gods or angels that sinned had to go to the pit, humans had to go, too. Satan knew God hated condemning his new creation, but the law is the law. It had to be observed relatively, and if broken, the punishment had to be equal for both humans and gods.

Satan thought he had won; either God would reject his laws and save people, or people would be doomed. Better yet, if God broke his commandments for people, he would free the fallen ones chained in darkness. Either way, Satan wins…or so he thought.

The number of people started to rise, and they cooperatively worked together as one tribe. Without the Nephilim, things started to calm down a bit…but not wholly. People began to think of themselves as gods; they sought to escape the earth and go to the heavenly realms. They made towers and constructs to commune with the gods. The remnants of those towers can be seen today in a distant country known as Shinar, Mesopotamia, or Babylon, located in Iraq. God observed their work on the towers and decided to divide humankind by language, culture, and race and separate them under the rulership of various gods. The nations were formed, each with a spirit head, and the people worshiped these gods, constructing idols and temples. This was the typical situation of early humankind across the known earth.

God, however, set aside a single group for himself to rule. He called out an insignificant man from Ur of the Chaldeans to become a nomad, a Bedouin that roamed the land of what later would be called the levant, Palestine of the Romans, the deserts of Israel. The man called Abram would not amass treasure or status; his test was of faith and dependence on what God told him. How he responded to God’s commands was credited to his faith. This was the foundation God wanted to build into a great nation.

The biblical story of Israel’s rise and fall is the primary story of the Old Testament. God called out a people to give laws and tested those people to see if they could live under those laws. Satan was there to make things difficult as he would push the Israelites to disobey and sin repeatedly. We see this starting shortly after the liberation of Israel from Egypt. After the parting of the Red Sea and various miracles under Moses, the Israelites complained and doubted God.

This cycle of God’s deliverance, commands, and disobedience dominated the words of the prophets, and Israel suffered significant casualties due to various wars, famines, pestilences, and dominance by other nations. There seemed to be little gained by calling out Israel as a theocratic nation — it didn’t seem to work on the surface.

Satan was ecstatic as God appeared to have failed again. God’s nation-making effort was lost. Satan did not count on the wisdom of God, and he did not know the true intent of God.

The Bible itself is a book of coded prophesies that gave small bits of information but in a manner that wasn’t straightforward. The messages came in small fragments over many years. Even the angels in heaven did not know God’s plan. What we see here is that there is a heavenly audience and an audience beneath the earth watching how things will work out. From time to time, God would send one of the angels for specific tasks and to provide information, but none knew it all, including Satan.

What Satan failed to consider was that God made humankind a hybrid being — physician and spirit. This meant that humans could technically die twice. Unlike angels and gods who are immortal, the death of both the body and the death of the spirit can die once. The definition of death is separation: separation from the world (body) and separation from God (spirit).

While that seems awful that human beings can die twice, it offered God an advantage. He could still enforce his commandments and death resulting from sin but salvage the soul if an appropriate means to live in perfection could be obtained. This means the law could be successful despite performance failures.

A substitute to take away the sins of the world and impart righteousness, not righteousness based on performance, but based on grace, the gift of God empowered by faith. Abraham was justified because he believed in God and was given to him as righteousness even though he was a sinner. His true children would be the same.

God’s call to Israel was secretly an invitation to become part of the master plan of salvation, not necessarily with their complete cooperation. He would use Israel to produce his salvation for all people. Christians know this as the gospel message.

The successful Israelite- Jesus -was born in the lineage of David, the true son of Abraham. Israel had to endure until Christ was born to fulfill their destiny as God’s plan for salvation. Only Jesus, the Son of God, successfully lived a perfect life under the Law of Moses, the great test.

Satan’s haste to kill Jesus was a big mistake. His death was an illegal move, as Jesus never sinned. This violation opened the door for God to transfer the sinless righteousness of Jesus to people condemned under the law. We still die in the flesh, but we no longer must face the second death. Like Jesus, we rise again!

Jesus came at the perfect time, as it wasn’t known how long Israel, as a nation, would survive. There were hints such as Daniel 9: 20–27, Daniel 11: 31–38, and Daniel 12: 1–13. What we do know is that after 40 years of Jesus’ ministry, Israel was no more a nation. In 70 AD or CE, the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem (the abomination that desolates) and drove the people out of the land, renaming it Palestine. The loss of Israel as a nation has endured nearly 1,900 years, and only recently, a sliver of the former whole nation has returned under the name Israel. These are historical facts, but the unseen dimensions influencing history are the proper drivers of these events.

Satan was infuriated by the victory of Christ and sought to stop the spreading of the gospel. During the first three centuries, he sought to destroy those who preached the gospel message, starting with the apostles and then the emerging church. He later thought it best to join the fledgling Christian movement and created new prophets and teachers who deviated from the message of God.

New thoughts and teaching emerged, and this effort grew over the centuries. If Satan could not stop the gift of Christ, he could divert many away from accepting it. This is why the New Testament stated that dark times would come with many false teachers. The urgency placed on the early disciples was to preach all over the world quickly as the door opened to salvation would soon be extremely limited if not closed for many. Then the end comes…

[1] Ezekiel 28:11–19 — The lament for the King of Tyre is an example of prophetic drifting that overshadows the message with exposure of the unseen. This is common with the major prophets in the Old Testament. God in the Spirit describes the creation of Lucifer, the force behind the King of Tyre. The greatest of all, God’s creations fell in admiration of his beauty. He was proud and full of violence and assumed the role of adversary against humanity. His end is foreshadowed in Ezekiel's lament.

[2] The Hebrew term bene Ha Elohim, which translates to Sons of God, holds significant importance in the biblical context. These beings, referred to as Watchers, are not described by nature but are believed to be angelic-like beings who observed the creation of God from heavenly places. Daniel 4:13–27 describes holy watchers as descending from the heavens. They are also depicted as having the ability to cause harm to those they perceive as defiling the Most High God.