Satan / Lucifer: How God's Greatest Angel Became Ruler of Hell

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Satan, also known as the Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Prince of Darkness, the Great Adversary, and Lord of Hell. We’re going to go through the Old and New Testament, examining Satan’s role, character, and story throughout - his precipitous plummet from exalted hierarch of heaven, one of the foremost angels of the celestial realm, to the wicked and wily arch-nemesis of God, heaven, and goodness, to his eventual eternal banishment in the lake of fire.

Let’s get into it.

In the Abrahamic religions, meaning Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Satan is either an agent of God, a malevolent entity, or an abstract force that tempts people towards evil and sin - though this video will focus on the conceptualization that portrays Satan as a malevolent entity, the chief evil of creation. In the Old Testament, Satan functions as an angel whose sin eliciting activities are sanctioned by God, testing humanity's resolve to stay on the righteous path, making him, thus, subservient to God in this capacity. Breaking away from this notion, Satan, in the New Testament, is viewed as a rogue entity, a fallen angel who operates in defiance of God, ceaselessly endeavoring to unravel the Lord’s design by contriving the ruination of his great works, namely humanity, ever tempting people to stray from what is right and good, using evil and sin as his instruments of corruption. What’s interesting here, though, is some of the discourse surrounding Satan’s existence in defiance of God. When conceptualized as an entity of evil that works in opposition to God, on some level, it can be argued, Satan’s existence as the arch-nemesis of heaven continues because of the sufferance of God, as God is all powerful - omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent - meaning, if he so desired, he could obliterate Satan with but a thought, expunging him from the fabric of reality, as is more or less what happens at the very end of the bible when God summons forth a storm of fire that rains down from the sky.

Watch the video for the rest!