Who is Satan?

Scripture speaks of how Satan hides his true identity from us. Think about that. Who would willingly follow Satan if they understood who he was? Does any person who believes himself good or has a desire to be so a professing follower of Satan? In Hebrew he is called Abaddon and in Greek he is named Apollyon, which mean destruction and destroyer respectively (Revelation 9:11). In Revelation 12:10 he is called the Accuser. He strives to present you in your sinful state before God so that you may be destroyed. In the same chapter he is called the deceiver of the whole world because he works to hide the glorious light of Jesus from the eyes of man. Here are some of his other names: The angel of the bottomless pit (Rev. 9), the beast (Rev. 14), the enemy (Matt. 13), the father of lies (John 8)... How can he get away with this? Why can't we perceive him as such? I believe the answer (and this is so important) is that he disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and, as humans, we tend to put our faith in things that are beautiful.

So after all these words, how does the world WANT to view Satan? We get an idea from the new Bible series which, though amazing in its own way, reveals Satan as some kind of love child between an 80 year old Obama and Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. Check it out:



Do we honestly think a person this nasty looking would appeal to the masses? NO! Satan WANTS to be beautiful! He probably wants to be the most beautiful of all to behold. The queen in Snow White really nails this truth about Satan. She is beautiful in her allure and yet a picture of death. Like her apple. Like Satan's apple. This is because we desire to have that which is lovely. We largely perceive goodness to be synonymous with beauty. Meditate on this because now we get to see what the Bible says about Jesus.

Isaiah 51 states that:
...he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Compare that to his classic Renaissance depiction:



Their roles should be reversed. Satan should be beautiful and Jesus should not be.

Why in the world would God allow such a physical distinction to be drawn between His own Son (of perfect righteousness) and a wicked fallen angel? Well, God desires to show that His kingdom is not one of this world. God speaks this truth to His prophet Samuel when he is picking the second kind of Israel: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature... For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7)

On this Easter then, consider the works of Jesus and the works of His adversary, Satan. Consider the world of your own heart apart from every face you try to put up. How does it hold up to the works of the flesh and the spirit?

Galatians 5:16-24 states:
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other... Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.