Who is Satan

Every follower of Jesus Christ faces an invisible opponent who tries to lure us away from a pure devotion to God. That opponent is Satan. We may not be able to see this enemy with our eyes but we can be fully aware of his evil schemes. There is nothing Satan can do that hasn’t already been done before. We recognise Satan’s schemes by some recurring patterns. God allows Satan to continue to roam this earth because He has a purpose for Satan’s exploits. Our opponent tests if our faith is genuine and if we love God more than we love this world.

(See Chinese versions: 简体中文 > 撒旦是谁 | 繁體中文 > 撒旦是誰)

 

Also, see Temptations serve a purpose

2 Corinthians 11:3 ESV  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 

2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT  … Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 NLT  History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

Job 1:7 NIV  The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Proverbs 16:4 ESV  The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

1 John 2:15-17 ESV  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

James 4:4 ESV  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

How Satan came to have an upper hand over mankind

God is Spirit and He created spiritual beings, one of whom was Satan. Satan was originally an angel but he led other angels to rebel and sin against God.

John 4:24 ESV  God is spirit…

Matthew 25:41 ESV  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

2 Peter 2:4 NLT  For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.

Satan is currently referred to as the “ruler of the world” although this was not God’s original plan. God originally created man and woman to rule over this earth. It was only after they chose to place their faith in Satan’s words, rather than God’s, that they relinquished their right to rule over to Satan.

John 12:31 ESV  Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

Genesis 1:26 NIV  Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Satan simply used subtle suggestions and half-truths to manipulate Adam and Eve’s feelings and thoughts to incite them to sin against God. Here are his typical tactics.

• Sow doubt and confusion – Satan will test our knowledge of God’s Word and eternal truths, and pose us questions such as, “Did God really say…” just like he did to Eve. (Genesis 3:1)
• Distract us from the greater truth – Satan will not tell us outright lies, he will put a spin on the truth in order to deceive us. Satan tricked Eve by telling her that she would not die physically from eating the fruit. The truth and greater danger was that Eve would die a spiritual death, leading to great suffering and separation from God.
• Show us the “good things” we need – Satan will appeal to our fleshly desires and human logic. He told Eve that she could “know good and evil,” which sounded like she would gain wisdom. What actually happened was that she became corrupted by evil and knew shame and distress for the first time. (Genesis 3:6)
• Accuse God of being unfair and not good – Satan will blaspheme God’s loving and perfect character by implying that God doesn’t really want the best for us, and that He withholds good things from us. (Genesis 3:5)
• Tell us to take charge of own lives – Satan will urge us to be the god of our own lives and not rely on God. (Genesis 3:5)
• Hide the true consequence – Satan will hide the consequences of listening to him. Adam and Eve, for instance, were banished from God’s presence. One seemingly small act of rebellion can have very serious consequences. (Genesis 3:4)

This is how people first sinned and fell out with God. It is how we continue to repeat that same pattern today. Also, see The sin of pursuing what’s good

Genesis 3:1-5 ESV  1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Sin separates us from God and His protection. As a result, the devil gained the upper hand to oppress man and woman from then on – until Jesus came to be born as a human being, live a sinless life, and take our place. He paid for our sins to redeem us. In the process, Jesus destroyed the works of Satan in our lives, if we choose to obey Him, rather than Satan.

Isaiah 59:2 NLT  It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Psalm 97:10 NLT  You who love the LORD, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

Hebrews 2:14 NLT  Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

1 John 3:8 … The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Ephesians 2:2 NLT  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.

It is only those who have been made righteous before God by repenting of all our sins, forgiving others, and obeying God that leave no room for Satan to come against them.

Some of the more obvious aspects of our sinful nature include “impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.” These keep us in allegiance with Satan and result in us being assigned to destruction like him. We will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 NLT  When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

The names and qualities of Satan

God’s Word gives Satan numerous names. He is also very commonly referred to as the devil and our enemy. Each one of Satan’s names can give us a snapshot of our opponent’s qualities. The word Satan, for example, means “adversary” in Hebrew. Here are a few others.

Our accuser – Satan will use any excuse to accuse us of being worthless, stupid, hopeless etc. The accuser only gets away with it because he manipulates our feelings and thrives on our fears.	Revelation 12:10 ESV  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
The commander of the powers of the unseen world – Satan works in the unseen and targets the subconscious hidden desires of our hearts.	Ephesians 2:2 NLT  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
Deceiver of the whole world – Satan has deceived the entire world into repeating Adam and Eve’s sinful patterns and continue to pass them on.	Revelation 12:9 ESV  And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Our enemy – Satan is out to steal our spiritual inheritance and destroy our souls. He especially targets those who are weak in their Bible knowledge and not alert to his numerous lies.	1 Peter 5:8 NIV Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
The evil one – Satan is the personification of evil.	John 17:15 ESV  I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Ephesians 6:16 ESV  In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
The god of this world (small “g”) – Satan dominates world systems with his false promises and lies. He is behind many false teachings in Christian circles.	2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV  Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
The liar, father of lies – Satan is a perpetual liar and manipulator.	John 8:44 ESV  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He … does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The murderer – Satan seeks to kill and destroy our eternal hope and salvation in Christ.	John 8:44 ESV  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning…
The prince of demons – Satan seldom works alone. He uses a multi-pronged strategy in order to succeed e.g. besides tempting us to lust, Satan will also bring along the spirits of shame and guilt to torment us.	Luke 11:15 ESV  But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”
The strongman – Satan will not depart from us easily unless we invite Jesus in to bind him and remove all his lies from our hearts.	Mark 3:26-27 NIV  And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
The tempter – Satan is a master of illicit suggestions. He tempts us to do everything except to love God and love others i.e. he tempts us to envy, judge, lie, self-pity etc.	Matthew 4:3 ESV  And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
The thief – Satan will keep robbing the Word of God from our hearts until we become blinded, lost, disconnected from God, and spiritual dead.	John 10:10 ESV  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Some of Satan’s other names include the dragon (Revelation 12:1-17, 13:2,4,11, 16:13, 20:2), the serpent (Genesis 3:1-14, 2 Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 12:9-15), Abaddon (Job 28:22, Proverbs 27:20, Revelation 9:11), Apollyon (Revelation 9:11), Baal (Numbers 25:3,5, Judges 2:11,13,3:7, Judges 6:25-31, 1 Samuel 12:10, Romans 11:4), Beelzebub (Luke 11:15), Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15), and Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12).

In short, Satan is a scammer

When we look at Satan’s patterns, we see that he is basically a scammer.

Matthew 16:23 ESV  But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Satan:

• Knows how to target human’s unspoken desires.
• Charms and distracts us with half-truths.
• Tells us what we want to hear.
• Offers us something enticing, usually targeted at our fleshly impulses and human understanding.
• Leads us to sacrifice something of value (usually our conscience, our ability to relate to God, our dignity, our spiritual freedom etc.). And we are usually unaware of the consequences until it is too late.
• Keeps us going back for more, through physical addictions, fear, emotional blackmail etc.
• Emotionally manipulates our thoughts and desires once we are hooked.
• Teaches us to lie to ourselves and to others.

Most of us will be furious if we found out that we have been scammed out of our life savings. Yet how many of us will be just as furious if we found out that we have been duped by Satan out of our very souls and eternal riches? Many, in fact, may not even realise we have been ensnared by the devil until we come to our senses.

Proverbs 22:4 ESV  The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

2 Timothy 2:26 ESV  and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

We may even have attended church for decades and never learnt how to recognise our enemy and his schemes. This is to our own detriment. Thankfully, God gives us His Word and the Holy Spirit to convict us of the sins that give Satan entry points into our lives to steal, kill, and destroy.

John 10:10 ESV  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

God is using Satan to serve an important purpose

Before we give Satan too much credit for the havoc he has wrecked in our lives, we need to keep in mind that Satan really isn’t all that powerful. There are limits to what he is allowed to do in this world, and he can only rule over a person on the basis of our continued, unconfessed sins.

1 John 3:8,10 ESV  Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil… By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

When Jesus walked the earth, we see that the demonic spirits (evil spirits) like Satan were terrified of Jesus. They begged Him not to torment them or punish them before their appointed time of eternal judgement. God is very much in control of what Satan can and cannot do.

Luke 4:33-35 ESV  And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.

Matthew 8:28-29 ESV And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

Why doesn’t God get rid of Satan yet? Jesus has said that it is necessary that Satan, the tempter, continues to roam this world and serve us with temptations. Even Jesus Himself allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil in the desert. Our Saviour also allowed the devil to tempt Judas Iscariot’s to betray Him.

Matthew 18:7 ESV  “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!

Matthew 26:14-16 ESV  Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Jesus showed us how to stand against Satan by retaliating against the devil’s temptations with Bible verses, which He quoted with great effect from the book of Deuteronomy. Judas, on the other hand, gave in to Satan’s temptations to lust after money and betrayed God. This is an important cautionary lesson we can all learn.

John 13:2 ESV  During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

God allowed all this to happen to Jesus and His disciples, and He will also allow Satan to come against us to test our faithfulness to Him too.

As Jesus’ followers, we need to be prepared to stand firm against the devil’s temptations. Satan will tempt us to resent people, to mock and condemn them, to lust after worldly possessions, to lie, to gossip, to complain, to be anxious, and so forth.

We see that Satan’s schemes are allowed to:

• Test us with trials and temptations so that we become strong and mature in godly character | Romans 5:3-5 ESV … we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
• Let us experience the deadly consequences of our fleshly impulses so that we repent of our sinful nature | 1 Corinthians 5:5 ESV you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
• Teach us not to sin again | 1 Timothy 1:20 ESV among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
• Keep us from becoming proud and conceited | 2 Corinthians 12:7 ESV So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

When Satan attacks, pause and seek the Holy Spirit

God is not the One who tempts us to sin, it is Satan that does. Our enemy targets anything we deeply desire and uses that against us. He tempts us to turn our desires into things we idolise. 

James 1:13-14 ESV  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

In Eve’s case, it was her desire to gain wisdom. In Adam’s case, it was his desire to please his wife. These desires are not evil in themselves. It is when we allow our human desires to become more important than submitting to God that they become our idols. Satan uses our idols to manipulate and scam us. It is only when we free our hearts of our idols that Satan has little leeway to dupe us.

James 4:7 ESV  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

When we feel oppressed by Satan or don’t seem to have personal victory over sin, the first step is to examine our hearts and check if we have allowed any desire to become more important than submitting to God. It may even be something good, such as wanting wisdom or pleasing our family members. The very real challenge for many of us is that our true desires or fears may be “unseen” – hidden from us.

For example, we are known to be hard-driving at work and lacking patience and kindness, contrary to the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Satan may have convinced us that this is because we want to do a good job, which is a good thing but the hidden truth is that we are afraid of being rejected.

We may have experienced favouritism at home or bullying in school, where our young hearts developed a fear of being weak or left behind that still drives us today. It is this true desire to avoid rejection that Satan will use to manipulate us. He will tempt us with alternative ways to fulfil our desires, such as becoming competitive and judgmental, and deceive us into chasing after earthly labels such as, “accomplished, popular, good, accepted.” In the process, we become worldly and arrogant, thinking that we know how to meet our needs better than God. The more we listen to Satan, the more we find it hard to submit to God’s will for us. This is how some of us have “already turned away to follow Satan.”

1 Timothy 5:15 NIV  Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

Thank God for sending Jesus to save us. Our Saviour always make an escape route out of Satan’s traps. Through the Holy Spirit, He will help heal the true inner anxieties that drive our earthly desires so that we will not be easily oppressed by the devil. God knows everything that Satan is about to do to us, and He has already prepared a way out for us.

Acts 10:38 ESV  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

1 Corinthians 10:13-14 ESV  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

Every time we come under spiritual attack from Satan, we can be confident that we have being tested in an area that God wants to refine us and strengthen us in. Let us prove to be genuine in our faith and firm in our resolve, trusting that God knows what is best for us.

For more resources, please refer:

Exercising our spiritual authority
How Satan camouflages his deceptions
Satan’s dangerous web of “advice”
Common themes in spiritual deceptions
When to agree or disagree with Satan

 

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