What the Bible Says...about God, Man, Satan, the Christian Life, the Church, Future Things, and Salvation

 

Satan

Satan is the enemy of God.

The devil started out with the name Lucifer, which means light. He is not the Light of the world, but he is an imitator of that Light, Jesus Christ. He actually thrives in darkness and condemnation and is the constant accuser of those who have been set free from his dark kingdom by the true Light of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that Lucifer was a beautiful angel of light, an instrument of worship created by God, for God. He was positioned above God’s throne to lead the hosts of heaven in worship to God before he rebelled in an attempt to take all God’s glory to himself. Like man, Satan was given a free will by His Creator and chose to rebel against God – even to unseat Him if possible; for all this, God unseated him instead!

Satan and his demonic hosts are genuinely afraid of Jesus Christ, but they continue in warfare in a relentless quest to steal, kill, and destroy all that God made. Since man is God’s highest creation, made in His likeness and image and given authority by God as caretaker over the earth, Satan has zeroed in on him to destroy him utterly. He constantly tempts man with sin in a tireless effort to keep him separated from God, His loving Creator. Thus, as the archenemy of God and all that He represents, Satan, who is the father of lies and the master of deceit, uses trickery to keep man locked safely within his spiritually dark domain.

Satan takes advantage of man’s unhealthy spiritual condition. Since man has separated himself from his Creator, he is not whole; he has a great void that he is always trying to fill. He constantly reaches out to meet the needs and desires of his flesh – his flesh being the base, temporal part of his being. Satan takes advantage of this by persuading him to find quick, easy, and even pleasurable remedies to those cravings. He tricks man into thinking that he will be fully satisfied by meeting his temporal, carnal demands by acting on temporal, carnal desires, whether those demands are essential needs or unessential lusts. Satan tempts man constantly by appealing to his natural mind and unregenerate heart. When man acts on those temptations, he is fulfilled in a way that does give him immediate satisfaction but that does not make him whole. Wholeness only comes when we are made partakers of Jesus Christ, our missing link to God.

Satan is the fiercest enemy of mankind, since as an angel and spirit being he can do supernatural things that influence both the physical and spiritual realm; he can even plant thoughts into our minds. But his abilities and strengths are not without limits. His authority (his right and ability) to rule over man stops quickly at the doorstep of those who are living a surrendered life under the authority of Jesus Christ. Those who are in Christ and who are “walking in the Spirit” of Jesus Christ have an impenetrable shield against Him. While “in the Spirit,” we cannot also be “in the flesh.” The Bible says, “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord raises up a standard against him.” It is only when believers surrender again to Satan’s temptation that we become overpowered by those temptations. However, those who are not in Christ have very little defense against him. They are literally ruled by him who also rules the world as “the prince of the power of the air.”

Though he is far more powerful than many men, his strength is not to be compared with the power of Jesus Christ, who supersedes him in every way. Unlike the infinite wisdom and unlimited reaches of Jesus Christ, Satan does not know everything, nor can he be in all places at once.

Satan is a thief. He is an oppressor. He is a discourager to men. He is an enemy to everything that is good. He is also a fraud, and he is temporary. He is something to reckon with for a season – until Jesus comes again! He is only a created being. The Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Yes. He is a “roaring lion,” but he is also toothless! He is no match for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and he has no place in those people who are hid in Christ with God.

When Jesus was here, He was subjected to all Satan’s temptations and overcame them all. Now He freely offers His overcoming power to all those who will truly yield to Him, turning from the old sinful nature and yielding to “the new man” of righteousness by faith.

This process of deciding whether to continue yielding to Satan’s enticements or to Jesus Christ is something that all men and women everywhere wrestle with. It is a daily battle and the ultimate battle of the ages that has gone on since the beginning, even until this very day. It will not be over until Jesus comes again and does away with him. In God’s perfect time, this centuries-old battle will be put to an end and will clearly reveal the Conquering Victor, Jesus Christ!

The Bible says Satan will be bound and thrown into a pit for one thousand years before being cast into the everlasting lake of fire with all his followers forever. His followers are those angels who rebelled with him from the beginning, as well as all people who refuse the free gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.


Select Scriptures about Satan

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:1-5)

Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:9-15)
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. (Ezekiel 28:13-17)
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:18-20)
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. (Matthew 4:1-11)
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
(Matthew 10:7-8)
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:1-2)

Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:43-44)
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:1-3)
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)