The Devil No.3 The Origin of Evil

Ezekiel 28 at verse 11. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him, this is what the sovereign Lord says. You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you, ruby, topaz and emerald, crystallite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold.

On the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God.

You walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence and you sinned.

So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth.

I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you and it consumed you and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.

All the nations who knew you are appalled at you. You have come to a horrible end and will be no more. Now let's turn together in God's word to the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians in chapter 6. And once again if you have the new international version of the Bible I request that you read with me the opening three verses of the paragraph beginning from verse 10.

That's Ephesians 6 verses 10. I too will take the first, yes we will, the three verses 10, 11 and 12. Let's read them together.

Finally be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Well we're coming back to those verses again this morning as we continue to look at our theme about the devil and specifically focus on the problem of the, the problem of the origin of of evil, the origin of evil. I think that this is one of the most intriguing and one of the most necessary questions to ask ourselves, that is if we claim to be thinking people. And I'm aware that what I have to share this morning is not sort of lightweight, but I don't think that what I have to bring before you is beyond the comprehension of any who will do what a preacher can expect of the majority of his congregation and that is just to apply concentration.

If there was ever a message that I preached from the tabernacle that I think the devil would want you not to hear, it's that one, it's this one and those who know me and come here regularly will agree that I don't make that sort of statement every other day. I want us to inquire into the problem of evil, where does it come from? Or let's put it another way, where does the devil come from? Now you can't read your newspaper, you cannot hear the media, television, BBC, radio, without recognizing that some pretty diabolical things happen in our world. We are capable even in the 1980s of perpetrating upon other unfortunate people some very terrible things.

We would not want to do this individually, but we find that when we're together as a bunch, almost as a herd, that certain policies emerge and what we would never countenance on our own happens. You saw the pictures of those wretched folk moving from Ethiopia into the Sudan during these last few days and I'm sure it brought tears to many of your eyes. Well, if they were next door to us, what would we do? We'd open our larder, we'd say, come and share my food.

We couldn't see our next door neighbor starving, would we? Not one of us here, whether you're Christian or not Christian. Well, there's an example of the tremendous diabolical problems that confront our world as a whole and when we think them through individually, we think, where on earth has all this emerged from? Why is it that we are so incapable of bringing up some rational solution? So you see my point, you've got to somehow or other, if you're an intelligent person, at some point in your life to stop and say, why, where is this evil coming from? What is this that causes man to behave in the way that so frequently he does in modern times and also yesteryear? Well, it's for this reason that we're looking into the 10th verse and onwards of Ephesians chapter 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the devil's schemes, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood and so forth.

Now, it seems to me that that 12th verse of Ephesians 6 begins to highlight something of the problem. You say, what do you mean? Well, the apostle here, when he's speaking to us about our adversary and about the problems that confront us, say that they're not human based. They're not against flesh and blood.

It's not just qua man qua man. Man because he is man that creates problems for us. There are certain things, there are certain evil influences that propel man to behave as he does.

There are certain powers that control the affairs of mankind. In one sense, it would be very easy, you see, if we could agree, which Paul doesn't, that our struggle was against flesh and blood. If that was the only problem for us Christians, the rest of humankind, then the difficulty would be less and the solution easier.

We could size up man and we would endeavor to come to terms with the problem that man presents to us, but it goes beyond that. It's much more subtle. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, says the apostle, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world.

In other words, he is arguing, and he does not blush so to argue, that behind our world there are forces of evil that are personified in the being Satan, referred to here as the devil. Now immediately you might scorn and scoff. Perhaps you're not a usual attender here at the tabernacle.

You've come in somewhat casually this morning and you can hardly believe your ears. Can it be the case that a so-called intelligent man is suggesting that there is such a thing as as evil and that evil is headed up in in an individual by the name of the devil? You know from your own listening and looking at television that the devil is a subject of scorn and mirth, a comic tragic figure that really has no credibility today. Well let me warn you, my friend, that the subject matter in front of us is so important that if you turn to 2 Peter and chapter 2 you will discover what the fisherman apostle has to say about those who pass scorn and uncalled for comment on things that they know little about.

From the 10th verse of 2 Peter chapter 2, Peter referring to such stupid people, this is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant these men are, not afraid to slander celestial beings. Yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusation against such beings in the presence of the law.

You see the point? He who scoffs at the devil runs counter to the express teaching of the word of God. So we must approach this subject very seriously because we are up against the devil in in our world and what's more we must approach this subject as though we are people prepared to listen to and accept the teachings of scripture and work them out in the 1980s. And what is more, when we consider the subject of the devil, we are not to get over frightened.

Now I think that's most necessary. You see there are some people and they're so preoccupied with demons they seem to see the devil under every carpet and you can go to the other extreme. The one is you deny his existence, the other is he's so omnipresent, which he's not, he's so all-powerful, which he's not, that I must be utterly afraid of him and go through life with cringing fear.

Well of course that is absurd. Equally so the apostle Paul referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and the great victory that is ours because of his, the great victory that we we benefit from because of all that he did on the cross says in the 38th verse of Romans 8, I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And he goes on later to say in that same epistle in the last chapter and the 20th verse, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

So what have I said by way of introduction? Well simply this, that this is a subject that we must inquire into because as Christians we're up against forces. They're not just forces of flesh and blood. There's something far more terrible at the back of this and these forces are such that they demand respect but they do not demand a cringing fear.

That's why the apostle started off with a positive and not a negative in this final part of his argument. Finally be strong in the Lord. He doesn't start off be terrified of the devil.

He says be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power because when you realize something of the strength of God and the mighty power of his Christ you realize that though the devil may be powerful and though demons may exist in our world today we have no reason as Christian people to have a cringing fear towards them. Well all that just by a way of introduction. I said that I'd be speaking today on the origin of evil and who the devil is.

Who he is. So let me address a few remarks first of all about the origination of this doctrine and indeed the the origin of the devil himself. Now there's no specific passage in scripture to which I could direct you and say well read that chapter and that chapter and you'll be perfectly clear.

You see that the scripture is not really concerned to put across a full explanation of the devil and his diabolical activity. The scriptures are more concerned about redemption and the fact that you as sinners need to come to the foot of the cross and to have your sins forgiven. But there are backgrounds that are set up in scripture from which we can begin to understand at least a little of the purpose of the devil and where he emerged from.

The first thing I want to draw to your attention is this that the devil is a created being. The devil is a created being. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Did you ever read that statement properly? Not just the earth, not just the universe, not just the planets, not just the stars, but God created the heavens. And the heavens themselves are not unpopulated therefore. There are these beings that Paul refers to in the third chapter of Ephesians which he calls authorities that exist in the heavenly realm.

Verse 10 the rulers and the authorities in heavenly realms. God created these things. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 19 and 20 makes this very clear.

Particularly or rather verse 16 and 17 makes it very clear. For by him, that is the Lord Jesus, all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.

So it's important to realize that even the devil was within the creative purpose of God. But when the devil was created he was in a very different form to the form that we discover him in today. He had very excellent virtues.

Now I want you to turn if you will to the prophecy from which Ted Davey read earlier and that is the prophecy of Ezekiel. And there you will discover some very interesting things that are taught about the devil not only in Ezekiel but also in Isaiah. Let's turn first of all then to Ezekiel in chapter 28.

Now sometimes when you read the Old Testament scriptures, the immediate reference has also a wider fulfillment. For example if you were reading through the Psalms, it speaks from time to time about David. But you know that some of the things that it says about David really refer to the Lord Jesus Christ, David's greatest son.

Now here in Ezekiel 28 and also in Isaiah 14, reference is found to two very evil men, the king of Babylon and also the king of Tyre. They represented the literal enemies of Israel in the days of the prophets. But there are certain things said about the king of Tyre and the king of Babylon that obviously go beyond these individuals.

It's possible for a man to be so used by the devil that he almost becomes the devil incarnate, a baptism of evil he knows. That's why Jesus warned Peter when our Lord had to say, get you behind me Satan. He was offering himself at that point was a fisherman into the power of the evil one.

Well there are other men who have done this and when you read in Ezekiel 28 about the king of Tyre, you discover that the prophet is speaking not only to a literal king but also one who personifies evil. But it tells us a great deal, at least it tells us something significant about this being which obviously can't refer to the king of Tyre. Look at the 13th verse of Ezekiel 28, you were in Eden, the garden of God, every precious stone adorned you.

Verse 14, you're anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. Verse 15, you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created. Now keep your finger on Ezekiel 28 and turn back to Isaiah 14 and you get an equally wonderful description in terms of a title that is given originally to the devil.

Verse 12 of Isaiah 14, how you have fallen from heaven, oh morning star. Those of you who are reading the authorized version, Lucifer, son of the dawn. Lucifer really means the light bearer and so you've got the idea of of this remarkable being, perhaps the most remarkable of all of God's creation in the heavenly realm and he has excellences, he has qualities which are really good bound up in him.

A guardian cherub, blameless in your ways. This was the one who ultimately becomes the devil. What is more, he seems to have great authority.

You read in Ephesians 3 of these principalities and powers who seem to have some authority in the heavenly realm. Now it's an interesting question, though no definite answer could be given. What authority, what was the very territory in which Lucifer, the shining one, the one who bore something of the glory of God and reflected it? What was the territory that he had lordship over, that he was able to exercise authority over? And there are some who suggest that it was God's original purpose for Lucifer, before the fall, in all his excellent qualities to exercise authority in the name of God, over the world that he had created.

Well there are suggestions as to the origination, the origin of the devil, but of course the story is not quite as happy as some of those verses in Ezekiel and Isaiah might suggest. For we discover that there was a rebellion in the heavenly realms. One of the qualities that the heavenly beings had, which you and I do not have, is the quality of free will.

Now free will has within it the capacity to serve or not to serve, to obey or not to obey. And if you put up the philosophical question, where does evil come from? Well indirectly it comes from the lord in as much as he created the capacity for free will to be exercised by these great heavenly beings that he created. And the greatest one of all, Lucifer, the lamp bearer, the shining one, rebels against God.

What is known as the prime of the seven deadly sins? Well you would immediately answer it is pride, is it not? And it was pride, or so it seems, is the impression that were given from scripture that eventually won the day as far as Lucifer was concerned. Look at Ezekiel 28 and verse 17. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.

So I threw you to the earth. I made a spectacle of you before kings. Isaiah 14 and verse 12 has almost the same to say.

How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, O morning star, son of the dawn. Let's go to another very interesting scripture found in the book of Revelation. And now we're into the ninth or tenth chapter, the book of Revelation, rather the twelfth chapter.

And there we are told again about the devil. Verse four, his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. Come back to that verse in a moment.

Now to verse nine, the great dragon, a metaphor that is used to describe the devil, was hurled down that ancient serpent called the devil or satan who leads the whole world astray. Pride you see. If you were to look into 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6 you will discover that that is the natural trait of the devil.

So Lucifer raises pride against God. He wants to be what God is and as a result he is expelled out of heaven. And it seems that not only is the devil guilty of the sin of pride but also the guilty of the sin of faction.

For there are those in heaven who are affected by what he has to say. One third of the heavenly realm is expelled from heaven, as Revelation makes very clear, and comes down to the earth. The Lord Jesus in his ministry, when he sent out the 70 to preach the gospel at one point, as is recorded in the tenth chapter of Luke's gospel, and in the 18th verse has to speak about satan falling from heaven.

I saw satan fall, says the Lord Jesus Christ. Well then let's put all these things together and what do we discover? Well satan, his name originally was Lucifer, the the shining one, the one who was reflecting the glory of God, gave way to pride, set himself up against God. There's a war, a rebellion in the angelic realm and satan is ejected.

Lucifer, the shining one, becomes satan, the slanderer, the accuser, and he is dismissed from the heavenly presence. And he takes up operation in another sphere. What sphere is that? Well the apostle Paul refers to this in Ephesians and that final passage to which we've been referring and working our way through during these last two or three Sundays.

The apostle makes reference to the devil who works in the heavenly realms. Look at the 12th verse, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So this is a picture which you can believe or disbelieve as you please, but in one sense, in one very real sense, I think I can argue from the scriptures and from history that you will never understand the phenomenon of man and the problem that man gets himself into if you dismiss, if you dispense with this doctrine of the origin of evil.

Here is a devil and he's expelled from heaven, and yet he retains, or seemingly so, something of the authority that might have been his to be exercised in a completely different fashion before the fall in heaven, before the war against God. He exercises power on this earth. This is the arena where you discover particularly the manifest dynamic of the evil one.

Look at Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2 where we are told, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. So you see what scripture is saying, that this being, once known as Lucifer, the shining one, now known as Satan, the accuser of the brethren, the slanderer of God, he has his evil influences and they work, they circumnavigate the globe. So the Bible refers to the world as being in one sense the devil's territory.

Now I wonder if you ever noticed, and with this I'd like you to turn back to Luke's gospel, and the beginning of that gospel, that when the Lord Jesus is first encountered by the devil in the temptations, the devil does something that's very significant and the Lord Jesus does not object in the first place, but he objects in the second place. Now you're looking for Luke and chapter 4. Let me set up the scene. Here is our savior and he's been hungry for 40 days, he's been without food, he's been without water, and now he's tempted by the devil.

Satan slides alongside and there are three particular temptations, all that you know, but there's one thing that particularly I want to bring out. Look at the fifth verse. The devil led him, the Lord Jesus, to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and he said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want to.

So if you worship me, it will all be yours. What did Jesus deny? Not that the devil had authority and power in the world. He never questions that at all.

What Jesus questions is the devil's right to receive worship. All these will be mine, will be yours if you bow down and worship me. Jesus never doubts the former but he questions the second, the latter, the impropriety of offering worship to anyone else apart from the Lord God.

Therefore Jesus says, worship the Lord your God and serve only him. But you see the point. The devil claims power and authority in our world today and Jesus doesn't deny that.

Let's go on to John's gospel for a moment. Here is our Lord and he's preparing to move towards Jerusalem as I shall be explaining this evening and as he comes nearer and nearer to his arrest and subsequent crucifixion, he has several interesting things to say about the devil. Here we are in the 12th chapter of John's gospel and the 31st verse.

I'll read from the 30th to set the context. Jesus said this voice was for your benefit not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world.

Now the prince of this world will be driven out but I when I am lifted up from earth will draw all men to myself. The prince of this world. Let's go to the 14th chapter and on to the 30th verse and Jesus still speaking says, I will not speak with you much longer for the prince of this world is coming.

He has no hold on me but the world must learn that I love the father and that I do exactly what my father has commanded. And our last reference the 16th chapter of John's gospel and the 11th verse and what you find here well once more a similar reference. I am going to the father where you can see me no longer and in regard to judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

The devil operates in our world in particular. You can't just say that he's there because the bible refers to him as being in the heaven. It's not in the highest heaven but it doesn't just say that he operates on earth as though he's a mundane creature.

It underlines the extraordinary powers and influence that the devil has and he operates particularly on this earth. Why? Well because it seems as though before the fall in heaven he was given particular responsibilities down here and here on the planet earth something remarkable would happen the like of which had never been known in the heavenlies. God would create this time not just an angel not just a cherubim or a seraphim.

He would create someone who would be in his own image as near to God as it is possible to be without being God and in a word that's you that's me. There is that which distinguishes you and me from even the angelic hosts from the seraphim from the cherubim. You are born in the image of God to reflect the glory of God and on the earth man and woman take up their residence and their mandate is to worship the Lord and him only.

But here is Lucifer now Satan the adversary of God the accuser of man and he slides alongside Eve in the form of a serpent and with great subtlety he tempts her. He tests her. What are the issues at stake? The salvation of Adam and Eve? Yes and no.

Yes in degree but no that's not the important thing. At issue is the glory of God whether created man will reflect that glory and remain true to God or whether he'll go the way of Lucifer whether the fall in heaven shall be replaced or shall have a correspondence on earth. And you know full well what happened the prince of the power of this world duped our first parents as he's duped every offspring that they have had down the course of human history.

But Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ comes into our world as the son of God the representative of God to do what was never attempted for the angels that fell with with Satan who are already reserved for hell and for eternal condemnation to confront the power of evil head on and to bring into our world the possibility of salvation for all those who believe. And so what you've discovered our Lord Jesus doing right at the beginning of his ministry he's on a collision course with Satan and all the way down the years of that public ministry the devil comes at him again and again and again to besmirch his glory. Do this go my way accept this reject that become as I have become and all this will be yours.

And Jesus says no I have come to do the will of my father and one day wondrous day that it was Jesus the God man trod the cross the path that led to the cross and ultimately offered his life a perfect sinless life for the atonement for the forgiveness of men and women who will receive what he has done and at the point of reception these men and women become new creatures they pass from one state of existence to another more delightful state and that's what we call being saved. Will you turn to Acts of the Apostles and the 26th chapter as I make my final summing up. Here is the apostle Paul and he has been given a commission from God to proclaim the gospel.

He's now towards the end of his life and he tells a heathen king about the way that he was ordained as a minister. He speaks of the voice of God as it was revealed to him years before verse 17 acts 26 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from what from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they might receive forgiveness of sins and a place amongst those who are sanctified by faith in me. What has the gospel done for you? It's delivered you from the power of Satan from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

Paul again makes this so crystal clear as he writes to the Colossians and in the first chapter of that epistle he says in the 13th verse speaking of our Lord Jesus for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins. So what's happening in our world? There is the power of Satan. He is the prince of the power of the air.

He has lost the victory of Calvary but he's still in his death throes. The dragon is swishing the tail a few more times. The lion is about to die but he's roaring for the final time but the day is coming as the book of Revelation makes very clear in the 11th chapter and the 15th verse when the kingdom of the world shall become the kingdom of our Christ of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever.

The final curtailment of the devil's power will be when the Lord Jesus Christ returns on the second occasion and take those who trust him to be with him forever. Now that's basically the doctrine. It's been one of the hardest doctrines I've ever had to try to explain from this pulpit not only because of the complexity of it but because of the fear with which one would naturally handle such things and you might go away from this congregation this morning and say well that was a very depressing subject what I understood of it but let me say this to you friend I don't really believe it was depressing at all.

It was a fearful subject difficult to handle but in one sense I find it the most stimulating subject that I can ever bring before you. You see it gives me an explanation as to what is going on in the world. I can begin to understand why man is as manipulated as he is and allows things to happen which in more sane moments he wouldn't allow.

I can find an understanding of man and only the Christian can fully understand man but what's more I am clothed with a bold optimism. You see all the time that I've been speaking of Lucifer and Satan and all his hosts all his authorities all these principalities and powers I have at the back of my mind something that is even more wonderful the mighty power of Christ and I have to stand firm in that power for when the devil reaches the Lord Jesus overreaches when the devil minds the Lord Jesus undermines the victory you see it's his so I can go into this world with an optimism I believe in the power of the Spirit in the baptism of the Holy Ghost which enables a man to confront the forces of evil head-on to offset Satan when he comes along and in insidiously in his insidious ways he endeavors to tempt and deflect and move one away from the purposes of God I fall back on this mighty power this power of the Holy Spirit it's not just something that is available in a meeting though it's that power can be released there most unusually but you test yourself as to your baptism in the Spirit not by what you do here or anywhere else in worship together you test the baptism of the Spirit and the mighty power of God when you're on your own when you're lonely when the going is tough when the temptations are hideous then you work out what you know of the mighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ indwelling directing helping encouraging you to be able to fight and to stand as the day of evil comes you see I'm not depressed I've got a holy boldness because beyond and above the power of the devil is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and he moves us the whole Christian church from the victory at Calvary to the final victory as he returns in great power and splendor when the devil shall be expelled from this world forever any rights he has are squatter's rights the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and one day the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of God's Christ and he shall reign forever and ever do you understand that then how dare you go from this place and be depressed or despondent finally my Lord my friends in the face of all this the insidious evil of the devil all the temptations that may crop up in your life in spite of all this be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power well let's just do that go forth to serve our blessed Savior with the benefits of the Holy Spirit and his power at our disposal Amen 366 our final hymn we rest on thee our shield and our defender we go not forth alone against the foe he . . .