Satan rebelled against God. Where did that first evil come from?

In Revelation 12:9 we read of satan being “thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with
him.” So, we find glimpses of both his beginnings and his followers and of their involvement with the rest
of creation. Satan is pictured here as having a new domain and that being the earth. In the Gospels Jesus
Himself refers to him as the “prince of this world,” and we find this repeated three times in John’s
Gospel, 12:31; 14:30, and 16:11.

To understand his “beginnings” or origin let us look at some of the names and titles, that often overlap
each other, given to the Evil One, beginning with the word “satan.” His titles describe his being, his
origin, his agenda, and his methods. References to him in the bible occur over two hundred times.

The most common name is satan which in the Old Testament is from a Hebrew word, satan, used 52
times. Its common meaning is an opponent or an adversary, and it is used for the devil in 1 Chronicles
21:1; Job 1:6ff. and Job 2:1ff.; and Zechariah 3:1-2. In the latter two instances satan is seen as “the
accuser” and in the first passage he is “the instigator of evil.”

In the New Testament the Greek word satanas is used 33 times. One reference is Matthew 12:26. Here
again the connotation is that of an accuser. The Greek word, diabolos, is used 35 times with the general
meaning and connotation of a slanderer, one who deliberately puts down somebody else. These are the
two most common words for the Evil One in the New Testament, though other names are also
mentioned.

It is generally accepted that satan was once an angel of high standing in heaven, a created being of
splendor and beauty who rebelled against God together with his own followers and consequently was
thrown out of the realm of the presence of God. Two passages in the New Testament make this clear,
namely, 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. Both references imply rebellion against God and a desire for usurping
God’s position and authority. 2nd Peter 2:4 specifies “angels who sinned” and Jude 6 mentions “angels
who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home”.

Two Old Testament passages are sometimes used in error to describe what happened in heaven when
satan and these angels sinned. One is from Isaiah 14:12-17, and the other is Ezekiel 28:12-19. The Isaiah
account has a direct reference to the King of Babylon and his downfall, and should not be used to identify
satan. Also, Ezekiel 28:12-19 refers to satan’s going against His Creator and God, subsequently being
thrown out of heaven. It is rather evident that the person being referred to is the Prince of Tyre and is
descriptive of Tyre’s eventual overthrow and we should not use this verse to identify satan.

God created the world with neither moral evil nor natural evil existing in it; everything was originally
“very good” (Gen1:31). However, He did create free will beings, both spiritual and human, for which
moral evil was a possibility. God wanted creatures who would love, serve, and glorify Him of their own
free choice and not by force, coercion or manipulation. The first and greatest commandment is that we
should love God with all our hearts and minds (Matt. 22:37). Freely chosen love is what God desires from
His creation. Giving His creatures free will was a necessary means to this end. The capacity to freely love
God also requires the capacity to hate and reject God. Therefore, God’s desire entailed a risk. God was
willing to risk the free choice of evil in order to have freely chosen love and worship. God is responsible
for the possibility of evil, but not its necessity or actuality. He made the free will creatures that had the
potential for choosing evil.

Sadly, God’s creatures have used their free will to commit sin. And as a consequence of this free choice,
all the evil that exists in the world has come into existence, the physical as well as the moral.
Understanding moral evil as the result of free will is much easier to grasp than physical evil. Sadly, under
the permissive will of God, created beings (satan and angels), and human beings (Adam and Eve)
exercised their free will capacity to reject God, and moral evil became a reality.

Angels exercising their Creator given free will introduced evil and sin to the spiritual realm. As a result,
they were banned from it. In a similar manner, the introduction of sin into the pristine, “very good”
world by the first couple instilled an element of corruption into the entire cosmos that will remain until
the second coming of Jesus. As a result, they too were banned from their heaven-like paradise. Bodily
disease and death, as well as a breakdown in the intended harmony between man and the physical
world, are all a part of this cosmic curse. (Gen 3:16-19, Romans 5:12-19, 8:18-22). Evil has been
unnaturally incorporated into the very fabric of the universe. This is the explanation for most of the
individual instances of suffering that occurs around us. All because sin has distorted nature, and the sin
happened through the free will decision of our first parents.

Thus, we see that evil in both forms (moral and physical) is the consequence of the free will choices of
men and some angels (satan etc.) to commit sin against God. It is not a necessary element of God’s
creation. But given the existence of free will beings, it was from the very beginning a possibility. As it
turned out, it was a possibility that sadly became a reality!
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