Last I checked a immaterial analogy for sin cannot take one and put them on top of a temple . . . nor appear as an angel of light.
Pertaining to these points, the temptation of Christ occurs after his period of prayer and fasting and the devil or accuser seeks to tempt him. Now one need only ask who were the group/people who continually sought to accuse Christ of wrongdoings. These same people were in the position to take Christ to the pinnacle of the temple (an actual place). A temptation needs to have a realm of credibility to it to actually be a temptation.
As an example, if you were a regular person down on their luck but without any particular skills and saw two identical cars in the street. One is locked and the other unlocked with the keys in it. Which is the greater temptation to steal? The one with the keys in it. Why? Because you know you can take that one whereas you can't the other. There is only one credible temptation with these two cars.
So, in the example of Christ's temptation and the offer of being given the kingdoms of the world Christ knew this scripture -
Dan 4:25
till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.
The power to give kingdoms rests with God alone, so this isn't a credible temptation if made by Satan in the popular construct.
Don't take scriptures in isolation, the reference to Lucifer is in the midst of a prophecy against the King of Babylon. Now this is in Isaiah and is to come. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever when you examine the timeline against the popular use of this scripture to support the existence of a Devil.
The word satan is hebrew in origin and means adversary. This can apply to anyone who opposes you, for example in a sporting game, the opposition is the adversary to that team. Young's literal translation does translate the word satan to adversary and the passages still make perfect sense. It was a shame that way back when the word was not translated but merely transcribed.
A really good example of how odd the popular construct of satan is, is evident in these passages.
1 Chron 21 -
1 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2 Sam 24 -
1 Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”
and here is the 1 Chron verse from the Young's translation -
1And there standeth up an adversary against Israel, and persuadeth David to number Israel,
So the verse still makes perfect sense and when cross-referenced to the 2 Sam passage it is then clear that God was the adversary to Israel.
Most references in the New Testament have satan as an adversary to God's plan for salvation. I believe that this is what fuels most of the belief in Satan being a supernatural being.
In Matt 16, Peter is chastised by Christ -
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Here, Christ clarifies it for us, pointing out that Peter is being mindful of the things of men, hence being an adversary.
This ties straight into Romans 8 -
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those
who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace.
Since Christ came to conquer sin and death, anything that opposes the fulfillment of this plan is an adversary to Christ, most noteable in this is sin itself which is born out of the carnal mind. So this is where I draw out satan being the personification of sin. Perhaps not the best way around it but it is in keeping with the nature of middle eastern languages. See Prov 8 for an example of the personification of wisdom as a woman.
Satan is bound when we choose not to follow him.
