Fallen angels follow Satan instead of God. These fallen angels, along with Satan chose to rebel against God. As they look to Satan as their leader, they do everything in the power to thwart God’s plan and hinder His people (Daniel 10:13). Prior to the fall, he was an angel of light. How did he fall and become Satan?
Satan was once named Lucifer, meaning “day star.” The story of his fall is described in two key Old Testament chapters – Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. He was an angel who was powerful and full of wisdom. He was perhaps the most beautiful and splendid angel ever created by God and of the highest order, but his pride caused his downfall and God caste him from heaven. So where did the breakdown happen? Why did he rebel?
In Ezekiel 28: 15, it says that he remained perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. We discover what this iniquity was in verse 17 which reads, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” It appears that Lucifer became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power and position that he began to desire the high honor and glory that belonged to God. This sin corrupted him and was resulted from self-generated pride. This represented the actual beginning of sin in the universe, even before the fall of Adam and original sin.
As a result of Lucifer’s sin, he was rightfully judged by God. In Ezekiel 28:18 we learn that he was thrown to the earth. Satan was then completely cast out of God’s heavenly government and authority. He wanted to be like God and he discovered the consequences.
Following his monstrous sin against God, Lucifer was banished from living in heaven which we are told about in Isaiah 14:12. After this, he became corrupt. He changed his name from Lucifer, meaning “day star” or “morning star” to Satan, meaning “adversary.”
It’s very important that we watch out for Satan and his advances. The enemy will do everything in his power to get you to focus your attention away from God. In a society where so many are driven by acquiring wealth, power and status, Satan wants you to believe that obtaining these things will bring you happiness and completeness. This is completely false.
He also wants you to believe that hell doesn’t exist, not only because it puts us in a mental place where living a life of sin is acceptable but also because he wants to put us at odds with God. How could a God who loves us so deeply send any of his children to a place of such torment? While hell is just as real as heaven is, God doesn’t send us there. Our complete brokenness does. God does everything He possibly can to keep us away from hell.
In addition, Satan wants you to believe he’s more powerful than God in hopes that you will lean on your own understanding, not God’s. He wants you to hear his voice, which manifests itself in the form of stress, confusion, addiction, even depression, instead of talking to God and trusting that all things are possible through Him.
If you believe God doesn’t have your back, Satan believes you will turn to him. This lie will surface especially when you’re at your lowest and darkest points. The Devil wants you to believe that God doesn’t love you because if He did, he wouldn’t put you in that situation. But God has a plan for us, even if we don’t always understand it.
Finally, a big way that Satan wants you to fall into his trap of lies is by believing our earthly life is all there is. There’s no need to worry about tomorrow or the next day because everything ceases to exist when we die. On top of that, why not sin? There’s no need to concern ourselves with God or life after death because that doesn’t exist either. This lie couldn’t be further from the truth. God promises eternal life and salvation for those who believe.
Angels ultimately want to bring us closer to God, while demons like Satan desperately want us to be separated from God. Angels will point us closer to God, whereas demons will separate us from God through distraction. They do this by showing up in the form of false gods, so that we lose sight of the one true God. False gods are described in the Bible as any god other than God. These false gods can show up in the form of money, work, relationships and power among other things.
While the description of demons/fallen angels and their efforts may sound scary, remember they are defeated enemies of God. Colossians 2:15 tells us that Christ has “disarmed the powers and authorities” and He has “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” God’s love conquered sin and death, triumphing over Satan and all his empty promises. While we are surrounded by a host of angels and demons engaged in battles and victories, God uses his angels to accomplish his goal of protecting us from the enemy and his evil ways. We are protected from the Evil One, and the forces of evil active around us in the world today. Thankfully, we are warned of these forces in the Bible. It is our responsibility to recognize them, and when we notice the presence of evil, respond accordingly.
