John 1

"3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

I know you don't have questions reagarding this issue, but this verse caught my eye because I've never noticed it before. This would be another good verse to remember when we try to discuss the existence of Satan. From this verse, we can see that nothing existed in the beginning, except for God. We know that because it states that, "All things were made through Him." The definition of 'All' is EVERYTHING. There may be others out there who question the existence of Satan by arguing that God is good, how can He create something so evil as Satan? Therefore, they argue that Satan and God co-exisited since the beginning. From this verse, it says 'All', and not 'All except Satan'. Therefore, Satan must not have existed in the beginning with God. We remember that Satan was not Satan in the beginning, in Isaiah 14 it states:

"12 “ How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘ I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit. "

There was a reason that Satan came to its bad name and evil state. God did not create Satan from the beginning just as God did not create death in the beginning. It was Adam & Eve's sin that brought on death. It was its own doing that Satan assumed its present role. Another verse that goes hand in hand with this one further confirms the fact that nothing existed along with God in the beginning:

"16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1)

Here again, 'all things' is mentioned, not 'some things'. Furthermore, it elaborates by saying 'visible AND invisible'. And if we cannot read between the lines and come to the conclusion that nothing existed before God from the verse in John, this verse clearly states that 'He is BEFORE ALL THINGS'. Therefore, nothing exists before God and everything is created by him. From these verses, I really cannot understand where the argument could come from that Satan and God both existed from the very beginning. Even if the intention was good, the truth should not be twisted. At the end, if we remember that God is good and almighty, then the questions regarding this topic should be solved. I'm just excited to notice another supporting verse in this chapter :).

Matthew Chapter 26

"17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” 18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’ 20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 21 Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” 24 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” He said to him, “You have said it."

Two observations here. First from vs. 18 where Jesus told them just find a certain man and tell him we'll have Passover in his house. If there were someone that did that to us now, we would've thought the person crazy. We would've probably thought, "Who are you, and why should I be obligated to open my house to a bunch of strangers?" This is the same situation when Jesus requested for the donkey to ride into Jerusalem. But somehow, it was never recorded what the reaction of these people are. But both incidences were done sucessfully, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on somebody else's donkey, Jesus held Passover at somebody else's house. Which then perhaps means that the donkey and the house are not really somebody else's, but belongs to Jesus. If there was a king who rules over a nation, everything in that nation somewhat belongs to him, he can take possession of it as he wished. With the same likeness, everything on earth belongs to God, and we are just given portions to take care of. When God needs it, he will come and get it. But unlike a worldly king who will take away for his own gain (e.g. Ahaz wanting Naboth's vineyard 1 King 21), God will take away for his purpose and glory to benefit us in His plan of Salvation.

Second observation I have always wondered about. That is Judas' inability to jump out even though he knew he was the one to betray Jesus. He was already found out before his deed that he was the guilty one. He had the chance to get out before being condemned. I think for most people, if they were planning to do something bad to someone, but that someone found out before the bad things happened, the planner would probably not carry out his plans and look like a guilty fool. But yet, here Judas did just that. It makes no sense, I can only attribute that to being possessed by Satan and unable to withdraw himself from the hole he already started digging for himself early on. He had already left a foothold for Satan to enter (Ephesians 4:27). From there, Satan helped him dig a deeper hole where he is unable to jump out. It is quite scary if you think about it. Knowing it's bad, being found guilty prior to the deed, but yet unable to correct it. Hopefully we will never come to this point in our lives where not even God can save us. Even Jesus said, "It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Let us not start a trap for ourselves and invite Satan to dig a deep hole for us, to the point where God would give up on us. May the Lord help us.

Matthew Chapter 24

"23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. "

We should not believe in all signs and wonders, because there will be signs and wonders coming from the works of Satan. Whatever signs and wonders not according to the truth should not be believe, if we believe, we will have been deceived and God will let us believe even more in that lie.

"9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2)

So be very careful to discern between works of God and works of Satan, because both can perform signs and wonders. If they are done according to the truth, then it is from God, if not, then it's from Satan. In order to discern which is which, we must be wise in the truth by pursuing the Spirit of God, the only thing that knows the things of God. Only then do we have the tool to discern between what is of God and what is of Satan.

"7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”[c] 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy[d] Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. " (1 Corinthians 2)

Matthew Chapter 2

"1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem."

It's alarming how we can be so easily misguided by others if we are not mindful to read the Word of God carefully. I'm not sure how it is in Germany, but in the USA, we had always thought there were THREE wise men from the East. This is due to Chrismas cards which print 3 wise men on the cover, Christmas plays which would cast 3 characters for the wise men, and even storybooks of Jesus' birth would say there are 3. However, here it clearly states only 'wise men' (also in vs. 16), it never mentioned how many there were. The best assumption of the number 3 could possible come from the fact that 3 gifts were given to Jesus (vs. 11). People probably assumed that each wise men gave Jesus one gift, hence there must have been 3 wise men, and it could have possibly been correct. However, God never intended to tell us through the Bible how many there really were.

This shows us how easily God's Word can be changed and worst yet, twisted, even if just one word is changed. In the case of the number of wise men, it's probably not so severe to our hopes of Salvation if we thought there were 3. Even then, just imagine the percentage of people in the world (or must just USA) believing there are really 3 wise men who visted Jesus. They probably will keep believing that until they die and never pay much attention to this verse or realize the mistake even if they read it. This may not be a severe problem. However, it becomes severe in the case of Adam & Eve and in matters regarding Salvation. Imagine how many people mistaken the Word of God and the gospel of Salvation. We are all quite familiar with the story:

"16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Gen 2)

"4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3)

Although God will most likely not ask us how many wise men there were before He lets us enter Heaven, this small misunderstanding can serve as a warning for us to read the Word of God carefully. We should be careful not to be influenced by other people, media, commercialism, etc..., and definitely not Satan's tricks in twisting the Word of God; because it could cost us our Salvation.