Satan -
adversary
We need to know how satan works...although not at an
intimate level. In the old testament, God told Moses to have some
spies scout out the land of Canaan. Were the spies to go in and live
with the people already there and forget to report back? No, they
were to report back to their people what they found. And likewise,
we need to know...at least at a scouting level who our enemy
is.
Satan first appears as the snake in Genesis.
Gen 3
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 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 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
How could this have ended up different? Adam and Eve could have just walked away from the snake and the fruit. They could have said, "Nope. This smells like trouble. Not gonna do it." Who knows...things might be a lot different even today if he had. Maybe some person would have messed up eventually and eaten the fruit. But anyway, Adam doesn't flee the scene of temptation as Joseph did in Genesis 39 when he fled from the captain of the guard's wife. Instead, Adam sticks around and talks to Eve and. Like a child putting his hand up to a flame to see if he'll get burned. What do we see of satan here? He's deceptive. "You will be like God." Satan hides the consequences and tries to gloss over them. There will be consequences if Eve eats the fruit. The serpent says nothing about that.
God had said in Gen 2
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
And that's what happens. Adam and Eve are told that they will eventually return to the dust.
Satan
is closely involved with temptation. Many times, even the most
faithful give in to him. Look at David.
1 Chron 21
1 Satan
rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go
and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to
me so that I may know how many there are."
3 But Joab replied, "May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?"
4 The king's word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.
6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king's command was repulsive to him. 7 This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.
8 Then David said to God, "I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."
9 The LORD said to Gad, David's seer, 10 "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' "
11 So Gad went to David and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Take your choice: 12 three years of famine, three months of being swept away [a] before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD -days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.' Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me."
13 David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD , for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."
14 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah [b] the Jebusite.
16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
17 David said to God, "Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O LORD my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people."
18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD .
How could this have
ended up differently? David could have just said, "We have won
battles because God was with us." and left it at that. But
nooo...like a rich man wanting to count his gold coins, David wants
to count how many men are in the armies...as though it was by the
force of men that Israel was victorious. David wants to see how
powerful he is. Satan enters his heart and he gives in to the
temptation of greed.
We see that phrase "Satan
entered his heart" several times in the bible. Satan entered
Judas' heart and caused him to betray Jesus. He filled Ananias'
heart and he lied about sellng his land for a certain amount. He
paid for it with his life.
That wasn't the only way
he worked In biblical times. Satan sometimes had a very physical
presence. Satan was in control of the demons that possessed people
in the bible. Satan even appeared to Jesus as we'll read.
Satan
tempts Jesus
Mat 4
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[a]”
5Then
the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest
point of the temple. 6“If you are the Son of God,” he
said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He
will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up
in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.’[b]”
7Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[c]”
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[d]”
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Here we have an example of someone doing everything right. Jesus has scriptures on the tip of his tongue. He knows them forward and backward and how they apply to everything satan says to him. Although he was probably physically weak from hunger, he was stronger than any of us spiritually.
Satan is closely related to temptation. He is always there looking for an opening to tempt us. He just knew he could find an opening in Job's armor and was given free rein to do so.
Job 1
6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD , and Satan [b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD , "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 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."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "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. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD .
We know how this story ends up. Satan overturns everything in Job's life except his faith. But Job reacts in the right way. He takes it with faith and patience.
[continuing]...
20 ... The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
How will he work
today?
Hebrews 2:14 says
that the devil has the power of death but that Christ has greater
power. James 3:15 says that the devil is the source of earthly
wisdom. A lot of earthly wisdom can sound good to people but
ultimately leads to a worse situation. Take, for example, freedom of
speech. Many would say it's one of the most important freedoms.
And, yes, it's nice that we don't have to live in fear of our
government. But look what things freedom of speech is used as a
cloak for. You can pretty much do any wildly offensive thing you
want and claim it's your freedom of speech to do so. Spit at
someone's feet...freedom of speech. Speak evil of anyone you
want...freedom of speech. And so, what seems like a reasonable thing
is taken and almost worshipped in the world to the point where it
becomes twisted and unpleasant. A similar thing happened to
tolerance. At first it amounted to saying that we shouldn't act
badly toward anyone because of their race. But now it's grown to
envelope things that are evil. You should accept everything anyone
does with an open mind. And if you dare to quote God about any sin
someone commits, then you're a bad person in this culture. Since the
world is under satan's control, evil becomes good and good becomes
evil.
There is often this feeling from what we've read that satan is subtle. That can be true, but he can also be a roaring lion.
1 Peter 5
8 Be selfcontrolled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Satan was certainly
a roaring lion at the time he said this. Christians were being
killed for their faith at the time. And that's still true today in
some places. And more and more, it may be that we ourselves will
face open hostility for staying with God's teachings in the bible.
Satan can pull us into
being consumed by greed, lust, anger and anything else. He can just
come out and say, "Do this. Yes, you know it's wrong and a
terrible idea, but it'd be great fun. Forget about the
consequences." He tries to get us to crash through our
consciences and do what we know is wrong.
Conclusion
A few things we've learned about satan. He's a liar. He presents something that seems pleasant but in the end leads to death. If he were a car salesman, he'd be selling nice shiny car bodies with no engines. He's the source of earthly wisdom. He's closely associated with the world. Evil becomes good and good becomes evil. But while this may be true on earth, we see a different thing in the future in heaven.
Paul said to the church in Rome...
Rom 16
19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
We know Jesus has the victory in this battle with satan. We know who's side we should be on.
We read that Jesus has victory over satan:
Luke 10
17The seventytwo returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
The only way to win in the battle against satan is to draw closer to Jesus. If God is for us, who can be against us?