What the Scriptures say about Satan PART II by Mike Scott When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road." In the world in which we live today, there are those who deny the reality of Satan. It's not "intellectually correct" to believe in Satan. Many equate the belief in Satan to belief in the tooth fairy. But the Bible sets forth the fact that there is a real personage by the name of Satan. The Scriptures use personal pronouns to refer to him in Job 1:8, 12; 2:2,3,6; Zechariah 3:2; Matthew 4:10; John 8:44 and many other passages. Satan exhibits the attributes of a person, such as: 1) Knowledge Job 1:9-10 "Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land." 2) Personal acts are preformed by him: a. He spoke with, and attempted to persuade another: Gen. 3:1 1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" b. He attempts to reason with God: Job 1:9-11 9 "Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" 10 "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 "But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." c. He attempts to influence another human being: Matthew 4:1-11 1 "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." d. He is said to have desires: John 8:44 44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. " e. He is said to have "works": 1 John 3:8 8 "the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." f. He has the capacity to argue with and attempt to reason with another: Jude 9 9 "But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" g. He is capable of waging war: Rev. 12:7-10 7 "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." Therefore, this important point must not be overlooked. The Bible sets forth the fact that there is a being known as Satan (or as the Devil). There is only one Satan (or Devil) although there is a plurality of those who are his angels. Matthew 25:41 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. . ." Satan's primary function in this world is to attempt to destroy the relationship between God and man. Satan is not omnipotent (all-powerful), he is not omniscient (all-knowing), and he is not omnipresent (in all places at once) at is the Creator of the universe. Satan cannot introduce disorder into this universe by his own will. As the book of Job clearly reveals, the powers of Satan are limited by God Himself. Jesus taught: Luke 22:31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat." Satan's greatest power consists primarily in his ability to deceive: Mark 4:14-14 14 "The sower sows the word. 15 "These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 1 Cor. 5:5 5 "Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." 2 Cor. 12:7 7 "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!" 1 Thess. 2:18 18 "For we wanted to come to you--I, Paul, more than once--and yet Satan hindered us." Rev. 12:9 9 "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." 2 Cor. 4:4 4 "in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Satan attempts to deceive man by various means, but he is not all powerful, and is limited by the Creator in his activities. He really has no other power over humans than humans grant to him themselves. Paul warns in Second Thessalonians that Satan will accomplish his deception if we refuse to love and accept the Truth of God's Word, consider the following passage, especially verse ten: 2 Thess. 2:7-12 7 "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." So, as we can see, Satan travels around the world looking for likely prospects he can cause to stumble (Job 1 & 2; 1 Pet. 5:8). He will often work through a person or institution that will appear on the surface to be working for God (2 Cor. 4:4). He attempts to clothe himself in a manner that makes him appear to be an angel of light. 2 Cor. 11:13-15 13 "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." 1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." These warnings from Scripture are serious because Satan is always seeking to separate man from his relationship to God. Isaiah 59:1-2 1 "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." Satan is the originator of sin, and is always attempting to get others to sin. He always works to separate man from man (James 3:13-17). He uses every trick in the book to try to get man to sin (2 Cor. 2:11; 1 Tim. 3:7; 2 Tim. 2:26). He possesses wisdom, cunning and craftiness in his attempts (2 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 4:14; 1 Pet. 5:8; Eph. 6:11). He will always lie, deceive and mislead (John 8:44; Rev. 12:9). He never gives up his efforts to cause man to stumble (Luke 4:13; Rev. 7:21; Mark 4:14). His most effective method has always been to attempt to get man to doubt God and His Word (Gen. 3:1-4; Matt. 4:3). This is the method he is using with most people today. He attempted to destroy the means whereby God provided for saving man, by attempted to have Jesus killed when he was born (Matthew 2:13-15). When he could not accomplish this, he attempted to cause Jesus to fail in His mission (Matthew chapter four). He constantly attempted to cause Jesus's disciples to compromise their principles (an activity that continues to this day), and to some degree, he has always been successful in causing Jesus's disciples to stumble. Satan is so deluded that he actually thought that he could destroy Jesus' purpose for coming to this earth (Philippians 2:5-12) by causing him to be put to death on the cross (John 13:27; Luke 22:53). Since that time he has sought to destroy the church of Christ (Matthew 16:18-19), and hinder it's efforts in seeking to bring men to God and keep them saved. He has been somewhat successful in doing this through persecution (Matt. 13:20,21; Rev. 2:10; Acts 8:1-4); by bringing false teachers into the church (Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 4:1-3); by causing the church to lose its focus (Rev. 3:15,16); by causing division in the church through those who will not look to the Scriptures for authority (1 Cor. 1:10). But above all, the Christian should remember the eternal destiny of Satan as described by our Lord: Matthew 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. . ." Christians need to depend on these promises in their battle against Satan: 1) If we resist, he will flee! James 4:7 "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Now here is a promise you can put your confidence in. If you will resist (sometimes difficult, actually, always difficult) he will, in time flee from you. This is God's promise. It must be accepted by faith (Romans 10:17; 2 Cor. 5:7). 2) God always provides the way out of sin for us! 1 Cor. 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." 3) He is not as powerful as our God! 1 John 4:4 "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." 4) He has no power that we ourselves do not grant him! James 1:13-18 13 "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures." 5) If we will but look to God, and walk by the Spirit, he will never have any power over us! Galatians 5:16-17 16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please."