Why did God create Satan?

Recently someone asked me this question:

Why did God create Satan and allow (or predestine?) him and so many other angels to turn against God, and why did God allow (or, again, predestine?) Satan to successfully tempt our first parents in the garden?

This is a loaded question and one that we must answer carefully. I’m going to answer this question in 5 parts.

1. It was necessary to have the fall so that God could then have a reason to die for our sins thereby demonstrating that God can and does provide the greatest act of love which is to lay down one’s life for his friend (John 15:13).

2. The fall of Satan provides yet another method for God to be glorified in that God can use sin to prove that sin is “bad” and that God’s Word about righteousness is true.

3. If God is to have creatures with free will, then the risk of rebellion is part of that freedom.  Satan had that freedom and used it to rebel.

4. If God had not created Satan and instead another angel fell, then we’d be asking why God made that angel knowing he would fall.

5. God has reasons about which we know nothing.

Just over a year ago now, we had our son, Micah. I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that my son would one day disobey me. Even today at 13 months old, he disobey’s me. But that doesn’t mean that I should stop having kids because I know that one day they might rebel. Part of the risk of freedom is that rebellion will be a reality.

Now let’s shift the focus to all of humanity. There have only ever been three people on this entire earth that have had free will in things heavenly, Adam, Eve and Jesus. We read in Genesis chapter 3 of the terrible day where the entire human race fell into sin. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Unlike the angels, Adam, Eve and Jesus we do not have free will in things heavenly. We are born into sin and frankly, all we want to do is sin. But the story doesn’t stop there, in the middle of our despair comes the Good News.

Jesus was born of a virgin, thus he wasn’t born into the sin and bondage that we are, He was born free. He lived his entire life free of sin, in word, thought and deed. He then went to the cross, suffered and died in our place. He absorbed the wrath of God and He took on all of the sins of His people, in exchange He gave them His perfect righteousness. Now in Jesus, we can live the life we were supposed to live, not because of anything done or said by us, only because of what He did some 2000 years ago. THAT is Good News.

The 5 answers were based off an article at www.carm.org