From Lucifer to Satan
In Memories of Eden, part 1, I explained the background of Satan and the origin of evil using sections from the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel,1 but there’s a significant group of scholars who don’t think that’s what those passages are talking about at all. One study Bible suggests the comments in Isaiah are just an analogy. John Calvin proclaimed it a “useless fable” to try to apply Isaiah’s words to Satan. In fact, commentaries on the passages from both books often say they don’t refer to Satan.2
So what do we really know, and how do we know it?
The first reference to something opposing God in the Bible is the serpent in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but then Genesis says nothing about who the snake was. The answer to that question comes at the far end of the Bible in the last book of the New Testament. In Revelation 12:9, John links five different names and descriptions together. He mentions a “dragon,” “that ancient serpent,” “the devil,” “Satan,” and “the deceiver of the whole world.” They’re all references to the same being, and it ties “Satan” and the “the serpent” together.3
That’s as far as we can get using direct connections. There’s no simple bridge from there to the things Isaiah and Ezekiel said. Instead, the leap from “Satan” to “Lucifer” relies on a handful of parallels.
Look at how Satan is described in the New Testament. Paul mentions he can appear as an “angel of light” and was condemned for his pride.4 According to John, Satan was “thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.” And finally, Jesus, in talking to his disciples, said he saw, “Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”5
Each of those elements shows up in what Isaiah and Ezekiel wrote. Their descriptions both tell of someone who was either close to God or full of light, who became proud and self-focused, and who was brought to the depths of the pit or thrown out of heaven. It at least makes it seem like they are all talking about the same thing.
If you go the other route, and apply Isaiah and Ezekiel's words to human kings, the analogies are a stretch. Isaiah describes a “shining one” who wanted to rule at the same level as God.6 Ezekiel says the king of Tyre was originally full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, covered in gems, spent time on the holy mountain of God, walked in the midst of the stones of fire, and was an “anointed guardian cherub.”
Maybe these are all statements of what the kings thought of themselves, but the last comment, the “anointed guardian cherub,” isn’t just a phrase, it’s a designation. Since at least the time of Moses, the guardian cherubs were known to serve right beside God. They show up at the gate of the Garden of Eden, in the Tabernacle of Moses’ day, in Solomon’s Temple, and in the visions of Ezekiel, and probably those of John as well.7 Regardless of how far the king of Tyre fell, it’s hard to imagine Ezekiel saying he was once right next to God.
Christian theologians starting 1500 to 1700 years ago identified Satan and Lucifer as the same thing, but you don’t have to rely on these parallels to figure out most of what we know. Remember, Isaiah and Ezekiel are only giving Satan’s motivation and background. Everything else about him comes from comments found in other places.
Try the following logic, which doesn’t use Isaiah or Ezekiel at all:8
If Satan exists, and God created everything, then God created Satan.
If Satan is not God, he’s either a human or something else, with an “angel” as best we understand them, being the most reasonable guess.
If God is good and gives good gifts, then Satan was made as something good.
If Satan is now evil, then something changed, and since John ties “Satan” to “that ancient serpent,” the change happened before the events in the third chapter of Genesis.
Adding it up, Satan is some created being, probably an angel, who turned from good to bad sometime before the events in Eden.
The background is helpful, but in the end perhaps the vital things to remember are Satan wants us to die and God wants us to live.9
What happens from there is up to us.
1. See Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 for the full passages in question. The name “Lucifer,” as given in the King James Version, only shows up in Isaiah 14:12 and nowhere else in the Bible. Other versions, like the English Standard Version, translate it as a description. For more, see Horn, S. H. (1979). In The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary (p. 683). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
2. For the idea that Isaiah and Ezekiel are referring to nothing more than human kings, see Barker, K. L. (2002) NIV Study Bible. Isaiah 14:12-15, note and Ezekiel 28:12-19, notes. Zondervan. Even though it dismisses the idea that this passage refers to something supernatural, the cross-reference for Isaiah 14:12 still sends you to Luke 10:18, where Jesus refers to the fall of Satan. For John Calvin’s commentary on Isaiah, see here. Finally, in this list of commentaries on one part of the passage in Ezekiel most take the reference as an analogy to a human. Only one source sees it as referring to Satan.
3. For John being the author of the last book of the Bible, see Revelation 1:1. For the specific passage that links several names of God’s adversary together, see Revelation 12:9. This comment only comes in the last book of the Bible, but Paul mentions “the serpent,” in an earlier passage (see 2 Corinthians 11:3), so people were perhaps already aware of the connection.
4. For Paul’s reference to Satan disguised as an angel of light, see 2 Corinthians 11:14. For Satan condemned for his pride, see 1 Timothy 3:6.
5. Jesus’ comment about seeing Satan fall like lightning from heaven in Luke 10:18 can be taken a number of ways. One commentary connects it to the fall of Satan from heaven originally, but it can also be talking about Satan’s continual fall, especially in the context of this story where the disciples are casting out demons. It is also possible that more than one meaning is intended. For more, see here as well as Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 781). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
6. For “Day star” meaning “shining one,” and for the connection Tertullian, Jerome, and other church fathers made between “Lucifer,” mentioned by Isaiah, and Satan, see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1977). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 4, p. 170). Review and Herald Publishing Association. For the timeline of when Jerome and Tertullian lived, see here and here. For the idea that this was all just a way the king of Tyre thought, not things that were, see comments here.
7. For more on where cherubim appear in the Bible, and their connection with God, see Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.
8. Texts supporting what we know about Satan that don’t use details from Isaiah and Ezekiel are below. First, John 1:1-3 says God created everything. Second, Psalms 145:9 and Mark 10:18 support the idea God is good, while Matthew 7:11 says He gives good gifts. Finally, John 8:44 and 1 John 3:8 say that Satan is evil.
9. Supporting the fact Satan wants us to die is 1 Peter 5:8. Supporting the fact God wants us to live is John 10:7-11. 1 John 4:4 shows that God is more powerful than Satan. For the choice being up to us, see Romans 10:9-10. There are several references in the Bible that suggest Lucifer (and subsequently Satan) was not alone in his rebellion, even if he was the leader. John comments on the dragon and his angels, Peter refers to angels who sinned, and Jude mentions angels who left their place of authority.