This makes a great deal of sense to me. Wonder what you folks think about it?
I have always taken everything in the scriptures as it has its place in the big picture. If we haven’t figured out the big picture before we tackled the jigsaw puzzle pieces, we will not know where to fit everything in. So here is how I understand the “satan” story....
God already had a large “family” of spirit beings in heaven long before material creation took place. We know this from the book of Job when God was asking him about where he was when creation was taking place and said that “all the sons of God were shouting in applause” when they saw the finished product. (Job 38:4-7) They were spectators to this amazing series of events.
At the end of the 6th creative “day”, God had assessed everything he had made, and pronounced it all “very good”. The humans were placed in the garden of Eden and were told of only one command that they needed to obey, under penalty of death. The future looked amazing. So where does satan enter this picture?
Not many people seem to realise that he was right there in the garden as a guardian angel...a “covering cherub”, which is not some cute little baby with wings, but a powerful spirit creature who is assigned heavy responsibility. How do we know this?
In the book of Ezekiel, God addresses the King of Tyre, but his words are clearly directed at satan because of the traits this king was demonstrating in imitation of the devil. He said....
Ezekiel 28:13-15...
“You are sealing up a pattern, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 In Eʹden, the garden of God, you proved to be. Every precious stone was your covering, ruby, topaz and jasper; chrysʹo·lite, onyx and jade; sapphire, turquoise and emerald; and of gold was the workmanship of your settings and your sockets in you. In the day of your being created they were made ready. 14 You are the anointed cherub that is covering, and I have set you. On the holy mountain of God you proved to be. Inthe midst of fiery stones you walked about. 15 You were faultless inyour ways from the day of your being created until unrighteousness was found in you.
“Because of the abundance of your sales goods they filled the midst of you with violence, and you began to sin. And I shall put you as profane out of the mountain of God, and I shall destroy you, O cherub that is covering, from the midst of the fiery stones.
17 “Your heart became haughty because of your beauty. You brought your wisdom to ruin on account of your beaming splendor. Onto the earth I will throw you. Before kings I will set you, [for them] to look upon you.”
So unless the King of Tyre was “created” and was there as an angel in ‘the garden of Eden’, here we have the reason for satan’s rebellion. He was so magnificent that he desired worship for himself. He was created perfect, but was not content with his lot and wanted more than his God was offering.
Before the creation of man, he could not be a god to any of his fellow angels who were all his equal...so here, with the creation of lower creatures of intelligence, he had his opportunity to be a god them. All he had to do was separate them from their Creator and they were his to do with as he pleased. He planned his moves very carefully after observing the humans closely. He targeted the woman when she was alone and deceived her, but his real target was the man because if he could get Adam to join her.....mission accomplished!
So why did God let that happen? Couldn’t he have simply wiped out those rebels and started again? Yes he could have, but this would only have proven that he was more powerful....satan never challenged God’s power...he challenged his sovereign right to set the limits of the freedom of choice that he had given to all of his intelligent creation. So the issues satan raised in Eden pertained to God’s Sovereignty, and whether his way of ruling his human creation was just and fair? He also claimed that God was a liar, stating that they would not die if they ate the forbidden fruit. So what God allowed was his free willed creatures (in both realms) to make their own choices without his interference, and to see for themselves what would be the consequences of stepping away from Jehovah and his protective laws to live an independent life of their own choosing. By obeying the devil they made him their god and ruler. God permitted this for the sake of the exercise. The outcome of which will settle once and for all God’s Sovereign right to set the rules for his creatures. (Luke 4:5-7; 1 John 5:19)
And here we are....right at the very end of this object lesson, and the majority of mankind are still clueless as to why the world is in such a mess. Satan has indeed “blinded the minds” of those who do not want to believe in the true God or his truth. (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4) They have made gods for themselves out of all sorts of things, but none of them can offer salvation. The devil also created the “weeds” of false Christianity creating more confusion and division. Divide and conquer has always been his favourite tactic.
We already know how it all ends because the Bible tells us, but the question is......where we will stand when that final judgment comes? That is really up to us.