"Democrats seize control of the House," newspapers around the country are headlining today. "We have returned to two-party politics," one television analyst said a few minutes ago. It takes two sides to have a conflict or a relationship. In coming days we'll learn which we have now.

There's no question which we have in the larger spiritual contest being waged for the souls of humanity. God and Satan are in a war, and you and I are the battleground. If you have chosen for God, and I hope you have, your decision did not remove you from the battle. Rather, your faith has placed you on the front lines of the war. It's now your job to win the fight for those you know who do not know Jesus. As with any conflict, it's crucial to know your enemy. Thus this series on Satan and spiritual warfare.

We're asking these days about the origin of Satan. Yesterday we looked at Isaiah 14, the text cited by many in answering our question. As we saw, the Hebrew does not name Satan or the devil. It speaks of the "morning star," a title which Jerome translated into Latin as Lucifer and which Milton used for Satan in Paradise Lost. If Milton had considered the rest of the chapter, he might have changed his mind.

Here's how the text continues: "Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: / 'Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, / the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?' / All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. / But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; / you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, / those who descend to the stones of the pit. / Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, / for you have destroyed your land and killed your people" (Isaiah 14:16-20, italics mine).

In the context it is clear that the prophet was referring to a human ruler. Most scholars think that the person in question was the king of Babylon, a monarch known for his pride and arrogance. He would indeed make himself a god over his people and the nations he conquered. Nebuchadnezzar would build a golden image of himself and require the populace to worship it (Daniel 3). Daniel would warn Belshazzar, "you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven" (Dan. 5:23). And so Babylon fell to Persia, fulfilling Isaiah's prediction: "you have destroyed your land and killed your people" (Is. 14:20).

Where, then, did Satan come from? Why should we care? Let's continue tomorrow.

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