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If Satan would have never sinned, would sin still exist?

   If Satan never sinned, would sin still exist?

  We have two passages of Scripture which refer to Satan and his sin. Isaiah 14:12-14 says, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." We see from this passage that Satan’s sin was pride, and it caused him to rebel against God.

Ezekiel 28:12-17 is another passage that decribes Satan’s fall into sin. This passage begins by talking about the King of Tyrus, and goes on to compare him to Satan himself, the evil power behind the wicked king. "Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee." Once again, we see that Satan’s downfall was his pride. He was a beautiful and very wise creature, and had everything going for him. The sad part was that he let it puff up him up with pride, and he rebeled against God.

It is interesting to note that the King of Tyrus was so much like Satan, that the Lord used Satan’s exalted position and resulting fall as an illustration of how God would also judge the king. This tells us that if Satan would not have tempted mankind to sin, it would have come along through someone else. The extremely sad thing about Satan was that he was so priveleged to be in God’s presence, and yet he rebeled. What a picture of Judas Iscariot. RIght in the presence of the Lord, and yet he rebeled and met destruction.

Face it, man is easily filled with pride, just like Satan. Give man a little success, and he thinks that he can conquer the world, too. Just look in the sports realm, and see how man is so filled with pride. But that does not impress God in the least. Psalm 147:10,11 says, "He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy."

Even in the ministry, God warns against placing a novice in the position of a pastor, because if he meets with quick success, then he will be tempted to be lifted up with pride, as if he did it all. I Timothy 3:1-7 says, "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) NOT A NOVICE, LEST BEING LIFTED UP WITH PRIDE he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

Yes, sadly, mankind did fall to Satan’s temptation. Genesis 3:1-6 says, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Just like with Satan’s fall, the root of the problem was pride. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." She thought that she would be wiser for eating of the fruit. It was totally against what God commanded, but Eve let pride get in the way, and thought how it would benefit her (she thought).

Not only did mankind fall into sin at the devil’s temptation, but other angels also fell with Satan. Matthew 25:41 says, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS." Some angels follow Satan — not the Lord. Revelation 12:7-9 says, "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and THE DRAGON FOUGHT AND HIS ANGELS, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And THE GREAT DRAGON WAS CAST OUT, that old SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and SATAN, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and HIS ANGELS WERE CAST OUT WITH HIM." So once again we see that some angels rebeled with Satan and now follow him. And they will follow him right into hell. Remember, hell was created for the devil AND HIS ANGELS. Matthew 25:41 says, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS." Man who chooses to follow the path of Satan’s rebellion will end up in the same place that was prepared for Satan.

Each of us are born with a sin nature because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Romans 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Psalm 51:5 says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." But we cannot blame Adam and Eve for all that we do. We, just like they, have the choice to obey the Lord or go ahead and sin. All of us, hundreds of times, have chosen to do wrong. I John 1:8-10 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

If it was not Satan that had fallen into sin, and then tempted mankind, it would have been someone else. God did not make human or angel "robots." He made us with a free will to choose, either right or wrong. Have you chosen to repent of your sin and to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? John 1:12 says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

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