Page 27 - Youth Discipleship Student Textbook

Satan’s fall into sin is described in Ezekiel 28 and in Isaiah 14. In these passages, he was perfect in
beauty, sinless in character, and had full access to God’s throne before his fall. He was ranked among
the cherubim.

In Ezekiel 28, we see how Lucifer reasoned among himself. The five “I wills” of verses 13 and 14 are the
basis of Satan’s rebellion against God. He claimed, “I will be like the Most High” (v.14) which is his
ultimate form of pride and this fits the New Testament description of Satan’s fall 1 Tim.3:6.

Satan’s rebellion was heaven wide. He was able to convince 1/3 of all the angels to follow him in his
rebellion and deceit (Rev.12:4). These rejecting angels are Satan’s demons. Ezekiel says that he was
cast out of the mountain of God (v.16, cf. Rev. 12:4) and cast to the ground (v.17). While he still had
access to God’s thrown, his access was limited to making accusations against God’s elect.

The Bible says that in the future, Satan and his demons will be punished by fire (v.18, cf. Rev.20:10) in a
lake of fire for all eternity, when time is no more.

What are Satan’s primary activities?

Satan is seeking to oppose God’s plan by promoting evil in every way possible. He works
indirectly through the world (in which he has great freedom and power – John 12:31; 1
John 5:19) and the flesh (Gal.5:19-21). The world, the flesh and the devil are not three
separate enemies of the Christian. Rather Satan works through the evil world system (1
John 2:13-15) to exploit the fleshly nature that still wars within us (Rom.7:18; Gal.5:19-21).

Satan works directly to oppose God in every way he can by deception, temptation, attack
and possession. Satan blinds their minds of unbelievers to hinder their understanding of the gospel (2
Cor.4:4) and when the gospel is heard or understood, he tries to hinder its effect (Luke 8:12).

Satan uses persecution (Rev.2:10) and false religions (Rev.2:13) to hinder the effect of the gospel.

Among believers, Satan tempts them (to pride – 1 Chron.21:1-8; to materialism – John 2:15; James 5:1-
7; to immorality – 1 Cor.7:5; to lie – Acts 5:3; to discouragement – 1 Pet.5:6-10; to be unforgiving – 2
Cor.2:10,11 etc.). He seeks to hinder their ministries (1 Thess.2:18; Rev.2:10). He promotes false
teaching among believers (1 John 4:1-4). He promotes anger, bitterness and division (Eph.4:26,27; 2
Cor.2:5-11).

One of Satan’s favorite tools is to pollute the culture so that it opposes God. He makes evil appear good,
and good appear evil. He is active in our entertainment industry, in sports, in our educational systems,
even in our churches to encourage people to believe lies as truth and to resist those who hold to the
truth of God’s Word. He convinces people that they “need” and “enjoy” these things. As people feed
on the television networks and movie industry, he slowly and subtly alters their belief system to oppose
God. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 he is described as the god of this world:

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to
keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the

image of God.

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