Satan and the Ruler over Hell

8 min readJan 1, 2022

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
- Revelations 20:10

When I was in my pre-teenage days, I used to love reading cheesy “Christian” fictions. “Archangel Michael and his battle with Beelzebub” and “Gabriel Journeys the Earth” are some of the titles I used to be infatuated with. Now, as I am on a better journey of actually studying the Bible and not feeding my soul with pointless stories, I am cringing currently as I remember the past, and I will most definitely cringe physically and mentally as I write this article.

Among these entertaining fakes, I distinctly remember one story about the origins of Satan and the end of Satan. Roughly translated from Korean, the book’s description reads, “The opposition of God! In the final days, there will be a battle between God and Satan, and whoever has garnered the most followers will win!” Can you find anything wrong in the previous sentence?

Origin of Lucifer

Let’s talk about Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, the Opposition, etc. He is not some “he-who-must-not-be-named” type of being. He is also not the double-horned, red fella with a pitchfork. And most importantly, Satan is not God’s greatest opposition, nor is he equal in stature with God.

So who, or what is Satan? Is he the one who will torture fallen humanity in the end days, when the unrighteous will be separated from the righteous and receive the deserved eternity apart from the presence of God?

Simply put, no. Satan is not a deity that rules over hell. He is not the prison warden for the unrighteous, nor is he the arch-nemesis of YHWH. So let’s look at the origins of Satan and what the name “Satan” means.

Satan is often described by modern-day christians as Lucifer, the fallen angel. There are some truths and faults in the famous, conventional story. The narrative goes: a seraph, a high order of angel, desired to be God, and thus led a rebellion in the heavens against YHWH. The rebellion is crushed and the fallen seraph and other rebelled angels are casted down from heaven to be known as Lucifer, or the Satan as we know of today. This story originates from the prophesies in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

Let me tell you something shocking. Did you know that there is absolutely no reference to the word “Lucifer” in the Bible? The story mentioned above is actually a biblical interpretation from the theologians and historians.

Let’s look at the story in Isaiah 14. It is similar to the narrative that we are so familiar with. However, the subject in the story is not named Satan; rather, his name is the King of Babylon!

On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon.
-Isaiah 14:3–4

Who is this king of Babylon? It is widely debated in the theologian community, but the most commonly accepted interpretation is Satan, Lucifer, or the Accuser. It is up to you, as readers and fellow practitioners of faith, to discern if the interpretations are acceptable (however, this interpretation is commonly accepted among renowned theologians).

So here, we can see where the idea of Lucifer comes from, and we can see what his identity is: a rebellious, fallen angel who is removed from the presence of God for his sins.

The Enemy of God

Ok, now we kind of see the origin of Lucifer (Satan) and its biblical interpretation. Now, what is his position with God? Is he the true biblical antagonist that God has no power over? Is he like the Thanos in the Infinity War, an adversary with a sympathetic background? What is his power dynamic with God the Father?

Let’s take a look at the story of Job, especially at Job 1. We see a particular relationship highlighted in the interactions between God and Satan. It’s as if they are existing in the same place, as if God and Satan are making a bet on the righteousness of Job. It is almost as if God is entertaining the very idea that Satan is presenting. We don’t see the warlike relationship that is often portrayed between God and Satan.

In verse 6, it says “One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.”

Satan was entering the presence of God like the angels, or sons of God, were doing to give report of what they have done.

Whoa, how could that be? Isn’t Satan the very reason why God’s beloved creation has fallen, who is the cause of every wrong and bad things in the world? How could he enter the presence of the Holy God and even dare to converse with Him?

To answer these questions, let’s talk about the nature of God. What is the most common and important word to describe God? Holy. God is holy, holy, holy. We see this in Isaiah 6:3, when the seraphim were declaring the Holiness of God by proclaiming:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is filled with his glory.”

Let’s look at Exodus 33, where God partially reveals himself to Moses. He only reveals His back to Moses, for He states that

“you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

How scary is that? The holiness of God is, in magnitude, so great, that we sinners would instantly die if we were to see His face. But this makes the position that Satan took in Job 1 much more confusing. How was the enemy, the temptation which caused the downfall of God’s beloved creation, even allowed to step foot in the sanctuary of YHWH?

From the previously mentioned verses, we can see that even what Moses saw was not the true figure of God. The whole concept is much more complicated than is described here, but everything that reveals the nature of YHWH are just mere representations of Him. It is never the true form, figure of God for the reason revealed in Exodus 33. We, sinful and unholy beings, will perish in the true presence of God.

What I believe is that Satan saw a representation of God. His shekinah glory. His representation of the true glory that He shines in His dwelling place. That, for me, is the only acceptable logic where the embodiment of sin could approach the Holy and Perfect One.

So what was Satan doing there? Is Satan secretly a double spy, working for the good? Is he a gambler who dared to gamble with God? Is he the equal opposition of God?

No, no, and no. He is not any of these titles. He is merely a character in God’s infinite, good plan, for God to be glorified through the trials of Job. Everything that happens in Job’s life, caused by Satan with the allowance from God, only further shows God’s good character and magnifies His glory. We see at the end of the Book of Job that through God’s rebuking of Job, Job praises God in his glory out of fear and reverence. As we can see in the book, Satan’s original intention was quite the opposite of the end result.

Now here is the thing. We see that Satan is able to commit these supernatural acts through the permission from God. We see that his abilities are far greater than our own, and that although it doesn’t reach God’s level, Satan is able to do tremendous harm to us.

This is evidenced by the way Jesus calls Satan the “prince of the power of the air”, the one who rules over the current world through supernatural power and influence. We can see, through Job and many other books in the Bible, how influential and dangerous Satan is to the world and to the believers. What should we do? Where should our focus lie in terms of being enemies of Satan?

Fear of Satan

Should we tremble in fear of Satan and what he can do to us? Will our lives be paralyzed in knowing who Satan is?

Simply put, no. The Christian cliche answer is this :We should not be afraid — God is with us. Although it is overly spoken sometimes in situations where different words of advice should suffice, it is true.

We’re looking back at Job. Satan cannot do anything without the permission from our God. But the reader may ask this question: what if God allows pain and suffering on me? Then don’t I have a reason to be afraid?

To this question I say, one word: trust. Although there are many answers that go in to this question, there is only one that is enough. But how am I so sure of this fact?

We are living in the era of Jesus Christ. The moment after Jesus died on the cross, the moment He rose from the dead, the moment He sent us the redeemer Holy Spirit, we were marked by His blood and love. Doubting this is doubting the very basis of our faith in God, YHWH. This, although is a process not normally visible, is the greatest act of love and miracle.

Because we live in the era of Jesus Christ, the prophecy spoken by God in Genesis 3 is fulfilled. Death is no more for us, and because Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent, our opposition and Satan, we have nothing to fear.

When reading through Psalms, there are so many instances were King David puts his trust in the Lord because of His unwavering love and mercy towards us, that the flaming arrows of our enemy will be useless against our God.

So how should we act during trials like Job? How should we accept that, although Satan is much more of a threat than we think, we should not fear?

Biggest weapon against fear is faith. Daily asking for a faith that is stronger than yesterday’s. It is a discipline that must be practiced every day.

Second is to be informed with the Word. It is our best protection against the temptations and the twistings of Satan. We can see through the examples of the temptations Jesus went through, how Satan manipulated the Word of God to fit his needs. There are so many cases like that in the world. We see prosperity gospel reigning over people’s hearts. We see cults and wrong teachings everywhere in this world. It is our most important guard and practice to fend off against the evil. What better to do so than to use and be obsessed with the Word of the Living God?

We do not have to worry about fighting off Satan. Our God is a God who avenges, a God who protects His children, a God who is in everything good and is good. We are called not to live a life of fear for the enemy but a life of victory over evil and sin. We witness all of this through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I pray that we all live a life style of confidence in God and over Satan.

Bibliography:

Satan and the Ruler over Hell

Origin of Lucifer

The Enemy of God

Fear of Satan

Written by David Kwon

No responses yet