What caused Satan to disobey God? Pride and the desire for power! Isaiah and Ezekiel tell us about Satan’s fall, and although Scripture seems to be talking about the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12-15, most scholars believe it actually refers to Satan, calling him “Lucifer,” which means “Star of the Morning.” “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15). Notice the “I will;” it shows the arrogance of Satan in the way he speaks.
In Ezekiel 28 it seems to be talking about the king of Tyre, but it goes beyond the king himself and applies to Satan, we know this because it talks about him being in the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13). It is possible that Satan may have taken possession of the king’s body, or what we know today as demonic possession. Satan was a very important angel in heaven who wanted to usurp authority over God—he actually thought he was more important than God, that is what led to his fall from grace.
Satan is the first angelic being mentioned in the Bible, although he is in the form of a serpent, the Bible leaves no doubt that it was Satan that tempted Eve (Revelation 9:12). God provided Adam with everything he could possibly need for life, in fact, God actually gave the earth to Adam, (Read Genesis 1:28-30), but God also told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he would die. Satan comes along and plants doubt in the mind of Eve about God’s love and care for her and Adam, and told Eve that she would not die if she ate of the tree, and that she would be like God. Adam and Eve fell into Satan’s trap and allowed the lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, and their pride, to cause them to disobey God (Read 1 John 2:16). In this disobedient act Adam died spiritually and gave the title deed to the earth to Satan (more on this later). And mankind has suffered the consequences ever since.
The next time we see Satan mentioned we read: “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel”(1 Chronicles 21:1). Satan caused King David to take a census of the people in Israel so that he could brag about his kingdom, and his pride caused 70,000 men to die of the plague (Read 1 Chronicles 21:1-30). Pride and bragging are tools of Satan, and there have been many men and women that have caused themselves great harm by their arrogance. Pride is the sin that brought Satan down, and it will bring a person down also. Pride is the worst sin for humanity—it leads to all other sins!
At the time in history that Job lived, Satan had access to the throne of God. And we see Satan at the throne of God (Job 1:6) and God says to him, “Have you considered My servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). And Satan says, “Big deal, You have put a hedge around him, but if You let me at him I will cause him to curse You to Your face” (Job 1:11, my paraphrase). So God allowed Satan to afflict Job in many different ways. But Job proves to be faithful to God and ends up being blessed by God. The book of Job teaches us that angelic forces are working behind the scenes in all of our lives.
Hundreds of years later we see Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him and the Lord said, “the Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:1-2). Many Bible Scholars believe that Satan is telling God that Joshua is a sinful man, but God puts His righteous clothes on Joshua and tells him to obey His commands. It seems that God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are the only ones powerful enough to rebuke Satan. Even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 1:9).
Satan is called the accuser of the brethren and he does it day and night (Revelation 12:10). And even today, Satan is accusing us before God of the bad things that he sees us doing. Telling God how wicked we are, and that we do not deserve to be in God’s heaven. And many times Satan will use people to accuse us, sort of like Job’s three friends were accusing Job of being a sinful man. But for those of us who are Christians, Paul wrote, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33-34). It doesn’t matter if Satan, or anyone else, is accusing us, if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then He is our righteousness, He is our Savior. Is He your Savior?