There are many names, titles or adjectives used across scripture in reference to Satan. In the last article: Leviathan, the dragon of the sea! we saw him presented as “the Leviathan”.
We also saw a clear connection between Proverbs 16:4 and Colossians 1:16 where Proverbs established that the LORD made all things, even the wicked and Colossians told us how he created principalities and powers i.e. Spiritual wickedness.
In this article, we will continue outlining how scripture testifies of Satan being created evil with specific focus on two of his other titles: The smith and the waster/destroyer.
God created the smith and the waster:
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
Isaiah 54:16 KJV
The Waster
God has told us clearly that he created the waster: ‘to destroy’. But why is the title ‘waster’ applied? To appreciate this, we have to look at what it means ‘to waste’ scripturally:
Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?
Jeremiah 27:17 KJV
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
Psalm 91:6 KJV
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
Numbers 14:33 KJV
From the above, we can see that ‘waste’ speaks scripturally of: death, destruction, ruin, decay etc.
Now, let’s look at the identity of ‘the waster’.
God is often seen laying waste to wickedness:
And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord : because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
Ezekiel 29:9 KJV
But the waster was created and therefore cannot be the Creator. We also see men laying waste to people/things in scripture:
We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.
Numbers 21:30 KJV
But the waster was created ‘to destroy’, while God created men in his image and for relationship:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:27 KJV
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Ephesians 1:4 KJV
So the waster cannot be man nor God. But there is someone else seen in scripture wasting…. The Devil:
The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Jeremiah 4:7 KJV
The lion who came out of ‘his thicket’, that destroys the Gentiles, is none other than the devil. So here, we see him functioning as a waster, that is, he went forth to bring desolation, destruction, death:
There is another place we see the devil functioning as ‘waster’:
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
Psalm 91:6 KJV
The destruction that wasteth at noonday. Why noonday?
Recommended reading:
Noonday is the sun at it’s highest point, the heat of the sun is hottest at that time. The sun at noonday, is the devil at the height of his power. His power is death!
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Hebrews 2:14 KJV
The devil is the destruction that wasteth at noonday, he is the lion that seeks to lay waste to the city (people) of God, he is the waster created to destroy.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 KJV
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1 Peter 5:8 KJV
From the beginning, that is, from the start, this is who he was… a destroyer
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 8:44 KJV
The Smith
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
Isaiah 54:16 KJV
The smith makes weapons/instruments for his purposes or his work. Verse 17 makes it quite clear what is the work or purpose of his weapons. They are crafted to slay men, hence the reason for God’s promise to render the crafted weapons/instruments ineffective, that is, they won’t prosper against those who trust in the LORD.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17 KJV
There is only one being in all of scripture whose purposes, whose work, is to slay men.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8 KJV
Notice Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil.. He came to destroy death:
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Hebrews 2:14 KJV
The smith crafting weapons/instruments for his work is the devil. His work is our death. This was his work from the start, from the beginning. But God purposed from the beginnings to destroy the works of the smith/devil:
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8 KJV
When the lamb was slain, God’s purpose from the foundation was established, the death of Jesus destroyed death’s power over us.
Because our death is the goal of the smith, the weapons he crafts are to this end. But notice, before bringing forth a weapon/instrument for ‘his work’, the smith first blows on the coals. What is the significance of “blowing the coals”? And what is the weapon produced by blowing the coals?
Men are described as coals:
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Proverbs 26:21 KJV
Blowing on coals causes them to heat up. And scripture records both God and the devil blowing on coals:
His breath (the leviathan) kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
Job 41:21 KJV
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his (The LORD’S) mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Psalm 18:8 KJV
As coals, we will be kindled by the breath that blows on us, if the word of the LORD, by virtue of his breath (Spirit), blows on you, you will burn for his work.
And when he (Jesus) had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
John 20:22 KJV
But if the breath of the Smith, the Leviathan, the devil, blows on you, then you will burn for his work.
The weapon/instrument brought forth depends on who is blowing the coals. If the breath of God blows on us, the weapon that comes forth is the sword of the Spirit, which is the truth of God’s word.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Ephesians 6:17 KJV
God’s weapon is truth, whilst the weapon of the enemy is lies. He blows on men to produce this weapon in our mouth, that is, what we say with our tongue and what we say with our lives.
Though his weapon is used in and through men, our warfare is against him and not the people used by him.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12 KJV
And our weapons in this fight are not carnal:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: [4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 KJV
And though we are in warfare with spiritual wickedness, we have already been given the assurance of victory in Jesus:
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57 KJV
And the assurance that no weapon formed by the smith, that is, no weapon crafted by the devil, will prosper:
Isaiah 54:17 KJV No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
If you have read all the articles in the Darkness Series then you know that scripture makes it clear that Satan was created as he is today i.e. Evil. However, there are many questions yet to be answered. Didn’t he fall from heaven? Didn’t a third of the angels fall with him? Didn’t scripture say he was an anointed cherub? What about Lucifer? How could he be created evil when God beheld all he created and said it was good? And many more. As we continue in this series, we will address all of these questions from scripture. In our next article titled “Fall from heaven”, we will explore the topic of Satan’s fall from heaven and the significance this holds for us
