Satan Loves Good

Before the fall, he was Lucifer, the son of the morning, the highest-ranking of all the angels. At some point in the past before the creation of mankind, he committed the first sin, the sin of arrogance, when he decided that he would be like “the Most High” and become equal with God. At that point, he became Satan. His sin of arrogance blinded him. Ezekiel 28:12-15; cf. Isaiah 14:12-14.

[CONSIDER: If arrogance can blind the most genius creature who ever lived, how much more so can it blind us.]

In his arrogance, Satan then led a rebellion against God in which one-third of the angels joined in opposition to God. God’s righteousness condemned Satan and the other fallen angels. They were kicked out of their heavenly abode, and they were condemned to the eternal lake of fire. Matthew 25:41. God then created mankind, creatures lower than angels. Adam and the woman were created in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden. God gave mankind the same volition that the angels had so that we too can choose for or against God.

That choice was represented by two trees located in the middle of the garden. These two trees represented separate and distinct choices. The tree of life stood for God’s plan (Genesis 2:9), in which sinless man would continue to rule the earth under God’s perfect care and provision. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood for Satan’s plan, under which the enemy of God would rule the earth and all mankind (Genesis 2:16-17). It described what Adam and the woman would face if they disobeyed God’s authority and ate of its fruit. We know good and evil are linked. They are not only linked by the symbol of this tree in the garden, but they are linked in Satan’s cosmic system today.

Satan is the master of deceit and the father of lies (John 8:44). His cosmic system is his diverse system of power and thinking that is totally opposed to God. It is a system of thinking that blinds mankind to their need for salvation (2 Corinthians 4:4) and blinds believers to the plan of God for their lives. Since the cosmic system is totally opposed to God and His will and plan, it is evil.

Satan is evil, but he also seeks to produce good. In fact, Satan loves any system of relative good. He loves good because it blinds the unbeliever to their need for the gospel. How many times have you heard a person say that they are good enough to get into heaven, that God will surely smile on them because of all the good things they have done in this life. If someone ever says that to you, a great question to ask is how many good deeds does it take? And what if you are short just one?

Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it very clear that salvation is not through works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Titus 3:5 adds, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

Evil is Satan’s way of thinking. Good is human good; it is what man produces from his own energy, his own power separate from God and separate from the Christian life. Disguising himself as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), Satan promotes the lie that man’s self-generated righteousness, his own righteousness based on his own ability, effort, and power, can please God, gain His approval and meet His absolute righteous standard. That is a lie straight from the mouth of Satan.

Anything the unbeliever can do cannot be the Christian way of life. So it is not the deed that is the Christian life. It is the motivation and the power behind the deed.

The sin nature has an area of weakness, where temptation leads to personal sin. The sin nature also has an area of strength that produces human good. These are called “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1; 9:14). Satan knows that and he exploits those works.

The only way we as believers can produce good that is pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 9:8) is when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything that we do under the power of the Holy Spirit is divine good and that is rewardable for all eternity. The believer produces divine good under the power of the Holy Spirit, which the Bible calls the filling of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18(b); Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 4:11-13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Believers remaining in fellowship with God and using the power of the Word of God in their souls can fulfill Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with divine good,” the absolute good that is pleasing to God the Father.