Your Adversary the Devil

After the interlude of examining near-death experiences, we move on with our study of John's Revelation. The great drama of our rescue from the power of the dragon is portrayed by the woman (the church or true believers) giving birth to a male child (the promised Messiah) who ascends to His throne to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Ps 2:7-9). The Child is safe, but what about the woman? She too is safe. "She has a place prepared by God in which she is nourished in the wilderness, just as were the Children of Israel in the days of Moses.

Before we study how the woman is safe and nourished let us pause to consider what it means that the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, has been thrown down to the earth, and his angels with him (Rev. 12:9). As noted earlier, the scene shifts now from heaven to earth where Satan pursues the woman and  her offspring.

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. - Rev 12:7-9 ESV

Satan Falling (A Scribe From Beneath) 

. . . the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--

But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. - Rev 12:12-13 ESV 

Bodie Hodge posted a detailed study of Satan's fall from heaven. He points out that the name The Satan is first found 10x in Job 1-2 and literally means the adversary in Hebrew. The Satan is also found 3x in Zechariah 3:1-2. The early church father Justin Martyr (Dialogue, chp. 103) gave us the Hebrew etymology of the name. Satan without the definite article is used 10x in Scripture and can be translated as an adversary (e.g. Num. 22:22,32; 1 Sam. 29:4; 2 Sam. 19:22, etc.).

Hodge traces the etymology of the name Lucifer to the Latin translation of Isa. 14:12. The Hebrew heylel there means "light bearer" or "morning star" (cf. Isaiah 14:12 ESV). The Greek version of the OT (the Septuagint) translates the Satan as diabolos (slanderer). Diabolos is the same word found in the Greek N.T. The English word devil is derived from it. Nowhere else in Scripture is Satan referred to as Lucifer. We cannot be certain the Isa. 14 passage even refers to Satan, the devil. If it does it refers to him during and after his fall—not before. Nevertheless, many Christians feel that the Isaiah passage refers to Satan's being "thrown down to the earth," as proclaimed by John's Revelation.

The war in heaven to which the Revelation refers is beyond our reckoning, outside time. The serpent/tempter appears from the beginning of Bible history (Gen. 3:1-6). We cannot date Satan's fall.  It happened outside of human history. It is enough to know the dragon and his angels have no place in heaven. What awaits them is the abyss, the lake of fire, as noted earlier and detailed later in the Revelation (Luke 8:31; Rev. 9:2; 19:20; 20:2,3,14,14).

What is important for us to note, however, is what the Apostle Peter points out:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. - 1Pe 5:8-11 ESV

How The Devil Ended Up Being Called Lucifer

Lucifer! Now there's a scary name known to most of us. Why do we connect it to Satan, the Devil or the Prince of darkness? It all started with the Bible and a Latin translation some 1800 years ago.

The children of Israel were enslaved for seventy years during the years of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires toward the end of the eighth and the beginning of the seventh centuries before Christ. In chapter 14  the prophet predicts the fall of the two empires and salvation for the people of Israel. In his oracle about Babylonia we come across a very strange passage from which comes the name Lucifer.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?'

All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot - Isaiah 14:12-19, ESV.

So where is Lucifer? The new King James Version, following the earlier KJV, translates v. 14 this way:

"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!"

 Lucifer? It's Latin for Bearer of Light, the Latin name for Venus, goddess of love, fertility, war, etc. (Greek: Aphrodite). She was the goddess of many names. She's also known in the Bible as Ishtar or Astarte, Astaroth and the Queen of heaven, that frivolous and promiscuous goddess, beloved by men and gods. See Judges 10:6, 1 Sam. 7:3-4, 12:10, 31:10, Jeremiah 7:18 and Jeremiah 44:17-25.


Every 19 years or so the planet we know as Venus appears on our horizon as the sun is setting. The Latin speaking peoples called this star Vesperus, the evening star. In a few weeks the same planet appears just before sunrise. Thinking this was a different wandering star (planet means wanderer), they named it the Day Star or Light Bearer. Brightest of the stars after the sun and moon, they considered this to be the goddess Venus who brings light and love.

So how do we end up relating Lucifer to the devil? For starters Isaiah prophesies that the people of Israel will take up this "taunt" against the king of Babylon. The point to be made is mockery in the form of a parable, a Mashal in Hebrew. What we seem to have is a parable drawn from the mythology of the Babylonians, Assyrians and Canaanites. Does it speak about the rebellion of the devil in heaven and his being cast out of the heavens above only to be confined to the earth and the deep pits of Sheol? There are some who believe this to be an accurate description of that event before Adam and Eve were in the garden. That is doubtful, but often said. In any event, that exegesis and interpretation is disputed.

Jesus did speak about Satan's fall when he said, "I saw fall Satan like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18).  He also calls the devil the ruler of this world (John 12:31, 16:11). The Apostle John writes that "the devil has been sinning from the beginning" (1 John 3:8).

John's Revelation tells about the war in heaven when the dragon and his angels were defeated and thrown down to the earth where he continues the war (Revelation 12:7-9).

One thing is certain. The devil is real. He is truly the "ruler of this world" and the source of evil, death and rebellion against God. Jesus met him head on when the henchmen of the Sanhedrin captured Jesus and dragged him to their mock trial. He said, "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness"(Luke 22:53). The ruler of this world had no claim on Jesus, of course (John 14:30). In that hour that same ruler was defeated on the cross. And now we who have been called to faith in Jesus are delivered "from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Father's beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

As we await our final deliverance, freedom and resurrection, we continue to pray, "Our Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."