#49 – Can spirit beings become material or physical for certain purposes? This question arises because of the premise submitted by Muslims and members of the INC-1914 which states that “God is not man, and man is not God.” What is your reaction to this?
Answer: First notice the difference between the statements: “God is not man” and “God cannot become man. Or “a spirit is not material or physical” and “spirit cannot become material or physical.”
Explanation:
Let us submit the case of Satan the Chief Demon. Please analyze very closely two passages:
Isaiah 14:12-16, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yes you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.””
Ezekiel 28: Satan, the chief demon is by creation a spirit being, a cherub. Genesis 3:1 says that God made the serpent, that is the spirit cherub who became rebellious and subsequently the Satan or Adversary. When he decided to oppose God, that nature of being an opposer has become permanent in him as gleaned from John 8:44. He was not physical or material. By his original nature, he is spirit. His original and created nature is NOT material or physical. But he can become material or physical when he took the form of a SNAKE. When he took the form of a snake, he possessed physical or material form, real flesh and bones. Is flesh and bones the nature and essence of Satan? NO. But he became flesh-and-bones snake. Yes, indeed.
Was Satan a spirit being? Yes. Was he able to become flesh and bones snake? Yes. Is a spirit being flesh and bones? By nature, a spirit is NOT flesh and bones, but a spirit being can become flesh and bones.
In the case of Satan, did a spirit being, one from the angelic hosts, become flesh and bones? Yes. Did he lose his nature as spirit-being when he took the material form of snake at the Garden of Eden? ? No. When Satan was in the form of flesh and bones, did he stop being Satan? No. Did he lose his natural creation nature of spirit? No. Is Satan a spirit being today? Yes. Can Satan become a good looking, innocent looking and likable angel and masquerade as angel of light? Yes. Please see 2Cor. 11:14.
Do you now agree that a spirit being can become material or physical?
__ Yes; __ No.