Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Satan in Isaiah
Satan is mentioned far fewer times in the Bible than one might think. Surprisingly, he is not even referred to until near the end of the thirteenth book of the Bible, and he is thereafter mentioned only rarely. Satan is not the imposing, important figure that he would have us to believe. He is a loser, a disgusting little creature who has wasted his life and his opportunity for happiness. He lightly esteemed all of his wonderful blessings from God and lost them forever.
When pride entered Satan's heart because of his beauty and wisdom (Ezekiel 27), he schemed to persuade the angels in heaven to render to him glory that is due to none but the Creator. He persuaded many of heaven's angels to do just that, and he and they were cast out of the presence of God forever. "There was war in heaven" (Rev. 12:7), but God was never threatened. Satan is a coward when it comes to facing God. The warfare was one of the heart, not one of bows and arrows.
God was listening to Satan's thoughts when envy invaded his heart and he first entertained the desire of sharing in God's glory. It is difficult to understand how Satan, created with such great wisdom, could have been so stupid as to forget that God knows the thoughts and desires of the heart. His sin apparently blinded him to the obvious truth that God knows all things, including what Satan was thinking in his sinful heart. Isaiah (14:12-17) reveals to us the very words that passed through Satan's mind when he first went astray:
From Isaiah 14:
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art
thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13
For thou hast said in thine heart, "I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,
in the sides of the north.
14 I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."
15 Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Popular Christian myth holds that Satan tried to overthrow God. That is laughable. Satan may have been blinded by envious desire, but he never would have imagined that the Creator could be unseated and replaced. Only men think such nonsense. No one who has been in the very presence of the Almighty could possibly imagine driving Him from His throne of Glory.
No, Satan only hoped to be "like the Most High." And the only way he could be like the Most High is if he persuaded some of God's creatures to think of him in terms that apply to God. He succeeded in heaven to the extent that one third of the angels were taken in by his cunning. He succeeded on earth in the Garden of Eden, and from that time, man has been deluded by his propaganda. He is described by the prophet as the creature who "deceived the whole world" (Rev. 12:9).
The truth sets us free from Satan's craftiness. It teaches us to fear God, not the devil; to trust God, not the devil; to follow God, not the devil. The truth is precious; it makes life the beautiful thing it was meant to be. It clears our minds of the superstitious clutter of wrong ideas about God. It shows us who we are, who the devil is, and who God is. And to know God is everlasting life (Jn.17:3).