Satan Court Case

Satan’s character embodies the idea of a heroic figure because he questions what he feels to be true, even though his tragic fall is that he becomes easily misguided.

In the book of Job God boasts to Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that, if given permission to punish the man, Job would no longer worship him and turn from him and curse God. In one day, Job receives four messages, each bearing separate news that his livestock, servants, and ten children have all died due to marauding, yet Job continues to bless God in his prayers. Satan appears again with another test for job yet this time; Job is afflicted with horrible skin sores. Eventually he is also told by his wife to curse god but yet Job refuses her request and accepts the outcomes.

In the Old Testament story of Job, Satan is one of God’s angels. In order to become the Satan of evil, he must fall from God’s grace and vacate his position in His court. Greek mythology told the story of an epic battle in heaven between Zeus, god of heaven, and Typhon, the most fearsome of the giants, with “100 dragon heads, coiling serpents for legs and hundreds of hands” (Littleton, 149). Zeus succeeded in casting Typhon out of heaven forever, and the beast is said, variably, to either be destroyed in Mt. Etna, or banished to Tartarus, the deepest level of the underworld. In Revelations 12: 7-9, Michael and the angels fight Satan, described as “the great dragon… that old serpent”, and cast him out of heaven and into hell. Early versions of 2 Peter, telling the same story, even use the word Tartarus, which is later replaced with hell in King James and other popular

There are many verses in the Bible that show how how Satan came to be. Some of them are not straight ford but some give a good description. Most of the verses that describe where Satan comes from are in the book of Revelation.

Satan’s fall can be easily broken up into four steps: he came to think of himself too highly, putting himself equal to God; he made a following for himself; he plotted a rebellion with his fellow rebel angels; and he attempted to carry out the rebellion. His attempt to overthrow God and obtain power was, however, futile and easily thwarted. Satan was severely demoted and he spent the rest of the plot trying to pervert every good thing as if it would be to any avail to do so. He attempted to exert his own powers over creation and tried to get a foothold so that he could gain more power. His extreme arrogance led to his fall from grace. “This is the same willfulness which lies behind his rebellious claim in heaven that he is ‘self-begot’…What Satan the general refuses to give up here…is…individual glory, which he pursues at all costs.” (Loewenstein, 56-57). Considering that Satan was an angel in the presence of God at the beginning, he had no excuse such as ignorance to claim. Satan’s rebellion began within himself with little else to prompt him. Satan had the ambition to raise a rebel force, but army or no army, he surely would have thought himself more powerful than he ought have. His pride also got in the way of him ever being restored to his former position. “As part of his task of exculpating God…Satan explains that even if he could repent and get back to heaven ‘by act of grace’, it would do

In the book of Wisdom, Satan is represented as the father of all lies, who brought death into this world. Satan was the seducer and paramour of Eve, and was hurled from Heaven, with other angels, because of this sin. Since then he has been called "Satan";

Satan deceives all in his presence, even the fallen angels whom he claims as his "peers", whereas, God is not capable fabrication. Pride is also another example of an attribute to the Father of Deceit and in veracity the most influential attribute to Satan's character. His pride leads him to avenge war in heaven and to return to Earth to deceive Man: "New war, provok't; our better part remains/To work in close design by fraud or guile/What force has effected not: that he has no less/At length from us may find, who overcomes/By force, hath overcome but half his foe." Satan cannot back down from God without a fight. Even though he admits that God was the "Potent Victor", he claims that God may have won the battle, but not the war. Satan must fulfill his pride by retaliation.

Satan again reverses roles, portraying himself as good and God as evil. Many people fall for this lie. For example, many see Satan as noble liberator in the garden of Eden but judge God as a stingy jailer – instead of seeing God as providing an idyllic environment, while selfish man just had to have one more tree despite the abundant orchards! Man, imitating Satan, said "I will be like God" and rebelled against his benevolent Creator – a Creator Who in turn humbly took the form of a man to be crucified for the willful sins of His own creation so that a way of redemption could be open to all by simply trusting the Rescuer. To regard someone as 'evil' that dies on your behalf is the height of deception.

Satan’s definitions include the advocate of God, a personification of evil, the fallen angel, a spirit created by God, and also the accuser. People see Satan differently, some know of his existence, others think of him as just a myth, and there are those that just ignore him. John Milton's Paradise Lost tells of Satan's banishment from Heaven and his gain of earth. He and his brigade have plotted war against God and are now doomed to billow in the fiery pits of hell. Satan is a complex character with many different qualities. God is a character who we, as Christians, know about but do not completely understand. We also do not completely understand Satan. Some may think they know Satan but when asked “Is Satan divine?”

Following the standards of classic tragic heroes, Satan is a determined leader with an extreme amount of hubris. He knows that God is the most powerful being and yet he still

One of these obstacles is Satan’s insecurity; he encounters moments of weakness along the pathway to glory, but he recognizes them and grows stronger in his resolve, like a true classical hero. For example, when Satan enters Eden he is amazed by its beauty. Again he considers repenting to God but he justifies the bitterness he feels as foretelling of evil actions he intends to commit on humans (and snakes). Additionally, he has to justify the reason he rebelled once again and convince himself that he is hell and, “in the lowest deep a deeper deep / still threatening to devour me opens wide / to which the hell I suffer seems a heaven,” he is happier now than he was in Heaven (4.1-78). He goes on to say that he will feel no fear or shame in doing evil because evil is his good (4.104-113). Satan accomplishes his goal of tempting Eve to evil against God, and so slithers victoriously back to Hell. When he reaches Hell, he is treated like a king by his followers.

Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. ...He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God and to his fellow-men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body... pg. 236

The character of Satan in this story can also be related to other tragic heroes throughout history.

Because of the strict rule of God in this situation, Satan's rebellion is made to seem heroic. He is standing up against the rule of a tyrant, and helping and encouraging others to do the same. Part of the reason Satan in considered such a good leader in this story is because of his ability to persuade his followers through his

Disguised as a crafty serpent, Satan came to tempt Eve. Satan at one time was an angel who rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven. As a created being, Satan has definitely limitations. Although he is trying to tempt everyone away from God, he will not be the final victor. God promises that Satan will be crushed by one of woman’s offspring, the Messiah.