Reconsidering Satan

I think we will have to disagree on the cutest Satan - I prefer the Annunciation Satan to the Temptation Satan.

But I sometimes wonder if we have our whole idea of Satan wrong.

The traditional explanation is that Satan began as the best of the angels, but attempted to take God's place and was cast down in punishment. We hear about Satan as prideful and desiring authority and power for himself.

But I wonder if perhaps Satan has better motives than mere power.

You may recall that the name "Satan" essentially means something like "Prosecutor". Increasingly I see Satan as a figure devoted wholeheartedly to Justice, and why does God allow Satan to roam free? Because God knows that seeking justice and testing humanity is important work. You might even say that God loves Satan.

But God also knows something else: Humanity cannot survive a strict application of Justice. God's love of Justice is tempered by mercy - Satan's is not. Satan's brand of Justice is necessary to the crucible in which humanity is refined and purified - but God holds Satan back from pursuing full justice, because that would mean the end of humanity.

Jesus is the proof that Satan requires, that humanity is capable of refinement and purification, that (some) humans may one day be allowed power without fear that that power will be abused.

So if Satan is doing God's work, and God loves Satan, then why will Satan eventually be destroyed? Because seeking justice like this is hard business. I am reminded of a story I once read about a soldier who had worked as a dog handler during a war, and when the war was over he was required to kill all the dogs he had worked with. Why did he have to kill them? He said he knew that those dogs knew only warfare, and could not be trusted in peacetime ... but then he asked, now that he had disposed of his dogs, where was the man to dispose of him?

In the end, when his work is finished - Satan will not want to go on. He will ask for, and be granted, his rest.