“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn. You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15).
He goes by many names and titles—The accuser, the tempter, the evil one, Beelzebub, Belial, the father of lies, the angel of the Abyss, Abaddon or Apollyon—but most of us know him simply as the Devil or Satan.
He is the first one we blame when things go wrong or we mess up—“The Devil made me do it,” as Flip Wilson was fond of saying—but the reality is that Satan has limited power and is incapable of doing anything more than God allows him to do.
So who is this Satan? What does he do? How powerful is he? Can he be overcome? Does he even really exist? These are some of the questions we’ll try to answer in the coming pages, beginning with, “Does he even exist?”
The Devil Is Alive and Well as We Speak
While Satan or the Devil is a popular character in literature and music, the piece of literature that speaks most of him is the Bible. According to the Bible, Satan is very much alive and active in our world. There are those who believe he’s an allegorical figure, but a literal interpretation of Scripture leads to the conclusion that Satan is very real and very effective in his task as an accuser and instigator of trouble and woe.
According to John, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). According to John in the Revelation, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But they were not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:9). Taking these verses, we see that Satan, who was once one of the angels in heaven, was cast down due to his rebellion against God. He has been condemned to walk this earth. Peter describes him as a roaring lion—“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8b).
Any understanding of Scripture, taken literally, will conclude that there really is a devil, and that he really is active in our world in the present. As a fallen angel, his existence is eternal; hence his ability to be in the Garden of Eden and continue until the Second Coming of Christ.
Who, Exactly, is the Devil, and What Does He Do?
The verses quoted at the beginning of this paper indicate that the Devil was an angel who aspired to replace God. In the ensuing conflict, Satan was defeated and cast down from heaven. The Bible indicates that his ultimate destiny is the lake of fire created at the end of the age—“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
Until that time, it is Satan’s fate to roam the heavens and the earth. Jesus refers to him as the prince of this earth: “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31). “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on Me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what My Father has commanded Me” (John 14:30-31). When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the last temptation of that experience was for Jesus to quietly bow before Satan, and Satan would give Jesus all the kingdoms of this world. The implication is that Satan understands he has control of our world at this point in time. However, lest we think he reigns supreme in our world, look again at John 12:31—“the prince of this world will be driven out.” John stressed this truth in 1 John 4:4: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome the world, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”
Job 1-2 tell us that Satan has access to the heavenly councils. “One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming through the earth and going back and forth on it’” (Job 1:6-7). The word we translate “Satan” is from the Hebrew word that means “accuser.” According to one of my commentaries, Satan used to be referred to as “the Satan” but that later the term was simply applied as a name.
And that explains who the devil is—he is our accuser. His job is to attempt to thwart a right relationship between us and God. We see that in Job. “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ‘Does Job fear God for nothing,’ Satan replied. ‘Have You not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he has, and he will curse You to Your face’” (Job 1:8-11). A reading of Job shows that God allowed Satan to strike at Job’s family and wealth and, later, at Job’s health, yet Job stayed true to God. In the end, Job grew in his understanding of God and was blessed with more wealth.
A review of Satan’s work in the Garden of Eden as he tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit also shows that Satan’s entire task in life is to destroy our relationship with God. He does this through temptations, and he uses his skills in communication to lure us away from God’s will and toward sin. Jesus refers to Satan as a liar. “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Satan uses his lies and half-truths to paint a picture that appeals to us, seeking to lure us away to sin and destruction. His only weapon is to tempt us. He can produce illness in us—again, look at Job, the woman with a bleeding illness (cf. Luke 13:10-17). He, through his demons, can possess us—there are numerous accounts in the Bible about demon possessions and exorcisms—and he can cause calamities among and around us. He is a powerful enemy, but he is not all-powerful.
How Powerful is Satan?
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).
Satan is not so powerful that he is unlimited in what he can do. He is not the evil counterpart of God. God is omnipotent and omniscient as well as omnipresent. The Bible indicates that Satan cannot be everywhere and he is limited in his power. Notice in the above verse that Jesus says Satan has asked to sift Peter. The passages in Job 1 and 2 also let us know that Satan can only do what God allows him to do. He cannot go beyond God’s permission. This is confirmed in 1 Corinthians 10:13—God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can endure.
Satan does not have the power to compel us to do his will. He can only suggest that we do what he wants. Again, he does this through temptation. Temptation is only the suggestion to do evil, to do that which is against God’s will.
When Jesus told the disciples that He would go to Jerusalem and there be turned over to the religious leaders and be killed, Peter dismissed this. Peter’s response was, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Peter’s words are consistent with the words of encouragement we offer to people who are going through difficult times. Jesus was talking about being killed; Peter was reassuring Him that the disciples had His back and would do everything within their power to protect him.
Jesus’ response to Peter is, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man” (Matthew 16:23). Satan’s temptations may seem reasonable and appealing (in fact, that’s one of his best lures), but Jesus saw through the trick. Satan may tempt us with something that is good and reasonable, but we need to remember that God wants the best for us, not the good for us. He wants His will done in our lives so that we can continually grow in His grace and wisdom.
Can He Be Overcome?
We’ve already mentioned that the Holy Spirit within us is greater than Satan (cf. 1 John 4:4). 1 Corinthians 10:13 lets us know that there is always an escape from temptation. Jesus gives us victory over Satan (cf. Romans 7:24-25). In the Great Commission, Jesus assures us that His authority protects us, and while we may still battle Satan and fail often due to our sinful nature (cf. Romans 7:14-25), we do have the Holy Spirit within us to help us overcome Satan (Acts 1:8; 1 John 4:4).
Satan is defeated through a close walk with the Father through Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We can make a conscious decision each day to die to self in order that Christ can live through us (cf. Galatians 2:20). Jesus demonstrated the most effective way to defeat Satan is through the use of Scripture, so the way to defeat Satan is to know what the Bible says, and be accurate in what it says. When Eve was confronted by Satan about God’s commands regarding the tree of knowledge, she added more to God’s command than God had. God had said they must not eat the fruit; Eve said they must not touch it or eat it. This assisted Satan in luring Eve to partake of the fruit. When she reached for the fruit and nothing happened, she more than likely reasoned it was okay to eat it, too.
So, rely on the presence of God’s Spirit, know the Word of God and walk in obedience to Him. And realize that even the best of us often succumb to Satan’s temptations. Remember, he is very good at what he does. He’s had eons of experience in the practice of tempting, and he knows what buttons to push in us. Know the enemy and run to the Father at the first sign of danger. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:7-8). “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).
When we fail, when we sin, do not become discouraged. “But if anyone does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).
Conclusion
We do a disservice to Christ if we deny the existence of Satan. He is very real and very dangerous with one goal in mind—the destruction of our relationship with God and the effectiveness of our ministry in His kingdom. We are naïve to assume he is not real; we are delusional to think otherwise.
One of the best ways to overcome an enemy is to know the enemy’s ways and reasons. Hopefully, this will help in our fight against the one who wants to destroy everything we aspire to be.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty