Why did God create Satan?

Thoughtful question. The "why" questions of God ("why did God do this," "why is God this," etc.) are among the hardest to answer because you always take a great risk when you try to answer for someone else, even if they're not God. I actually think the answer as to why God created Satan is very much wrapped up in the answer to why God created us.

The Bible actually tells us very little about Satan for probably the same reasons it tells us little about angels (see "How did God get the Angels?"). It's not my desire to go deeply into a biblical discussion of Satan and the demonic at this point, but I will address what is necessary to answer the question.

One of the inferences made about Satan and the other angels is that they, like us, have the freedom to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, God's way and our own way. Revelation 12:4 says that Satan took a third of the angels with him. Now, if you take the time to look up the passage, you'll see that it says that the dragon swept away a third of the stars. Dragon? Stars? Didn't I say angels? I did, but one of the metaphors for angels in Revelation is stars. If we read ahead to verse 9, we also see that the dragon is, in fact, Satan.

Because Satan is able to take a third of the angels with him, because he is able to deceive them as well, we understand that even angels are faced with the same responsibility as we are to choose God. While some Christian traditions deny the possibility of free will, it seems to be an essential component of a loving God who creates beings to enjoy fellowship with Him.

If God creates beings who can only love him, is their love genuine? I would say not. Love is only genuine because of the possibility to not love. If there is no choice, there is no love. When God created the angels (including Satan) and us, He did it knowing that there would be those of us who would reject Him. Yet He also did it knowing that there would be those who would embrace their Creator in a true, loving relationship.

The question is not so much, "Why did God create Satan?" so much as it is, "Why did God create beings who could choose not to love and follow Him?" He created beings with the potential for evil because of their potential for good.

Think about it. Jesus left the mission of the Kingdom to, among others, a few ex-fisherman, a former tax collector, and a revolutionary. He did it knowing that they would have to overcome their own shortcomings as well as struggle against demonic forces, but He gave them the Holy Spirit so that love, peace, and restored relationship with God could be taken to all people everywhere. God will win over Satan and evil once and for all, and He will do it with those who choose to love Him, angels and humans alike.

How did God get the angels at the beginning of time?

Interesting question made all the more interesting by the fact that the Bible does not specifically talk about how and when the angels came onto the scene. It does say, however, that, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Let's crack that shell and take out a tasty nut of truth.

First, when we see a phrase like "heaven and earth" or "good and evil" we need to understand that the writer is using a figure of speech called a merism, which is a reference to a single thing by naming several, if not all, of its parts. So when Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the writer is saying that God created everything, including the angels.

It's been suggested that the reason why God didn't give us the specifics on how and when the angels were created is because He knew we would develop an unhealthy obsession with them. The word "angel" means messenger, and in the Bible they deliver and reveal God's will to people. An angel told Mary about Jesus, and another angel revealed the vision of Revelation to John. When John tried to worship the angel in Revelation 22:8-9, the angel refuses worship and commands John to worship God only.

All that to say while we don't have a passage that says specifically when and how the angels were created (i.e., "and on the third day..."), we do know that God did create them sometime in the beginning of things.

How do you know that your faith is strong enough to go to heaven?

What an honest question. I wonder how many of us think this but are too afraid to voice it. Based on Ephesians 2:8, we will approach this question from two points: grace and faith (click on the link to see the verse).

First, our ticket to heaven is stamped with the word "GRACE" on it, and it's free. Well, it's not exactly free. More like, it's been paid for already. Grace is sometimes defined as God's Riches At Christ's Expense (See how the first letter of each word spells out "grace?" Pretty cool, huh?). We are allowed into heaven because Jesus paid for it by dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead on the third day. Grace is free; you could never earn it even if you tried.

Faith is our response to this free gift of grace that God gives us. When we believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Savior, He gives us the grace that we need to both live the life God created us for and to go to heaven when our earthly life is done.

Still, how strong must your faith be to receive grace, live fully, and go to heaven? Maybe it's not how strong must your faith be. Maybe it's about what your faith must be like. Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 that if your faith is like a mustard seed then you would be able to do the works of the Kingdom.

A mustard seed is tiny, so it is often said that all you need is a little faith to follow Jesus and go to heaven. Very true, but what else does a mustard seed (or any seed for that matter) do? It grows towards the sun! Our faith may be small today, but as we follow Jesus our faith grows towards the Son.

It's not about our faith being strong enough to go to heaven but about receiving the free gift of grace that God gives us as we follow Jesus.