(Satan, Our Enemy - Part 1 | Part 2)
What comes to mind when you hear the name, Satan? A cartoon character dressed in red pajamas, with horns and a pitchfork? A personification of evil? A kind of malevolent force? Or do you seriously believe the Bible's teaching on this evil being, and the opponent of everything belonging to God.
I hope you picked the final statement. Today, a shocking number of people, including Christians, do not believe in an actual devil. Rather, they assign him to the annals of superstition and fantasy.
That's exactly what Satan wants us to do. Such a belief leaves him at liberty to bring his evil and destruction into the world, enabling him to oppose and harass the followers of our Lord.
Have you ever wondered why life is so difficult, why so many of your desires are thwarted, why trouble seems to follow you around like a dark cloud? There's a good reason for this. Much of the New Testament is written against the backdrop of a fierce war raging between two kingdoms—Christ's kingdom of light and Satan's domain, the kingdom of darkness. Satan is out to make life as difficult as possible for you.
We're not talking about a physical war between two nations here. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that it is a spiritual war.
The Scripture: Ephesians 6:12
"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm."
1. Who is our struggle not against?
2. Who is it against?
The forces named here belong to Satan.
And what is our part in this war?
The Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:3
"Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus."
3. What does Paul call Timothy?
Yes, our part is to be a good soldier in the Lord's army. In a very real sense we are members of an occupational army. Not only are we here to maintain peace, we must also be prepared to keep the former rulers and citizens of the world from regaining control. It is an intense struggle. This is not a war for cowards.
The Scripture: Matthew 11:12 (The Amplified Bible)
"From the days of John the Baptist until the present time the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize]--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with most ardent zeal and intense exertion."
4. How is this assault described?
5. How is it fought?
But who is Satan and where did he come from? To learn about his origin, it is necessary to go back to the Old Testament.
The Scriptures: Isaiah 14:12-14
"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 make myself like the Most High";...
The Scriptures: Ezekiel 28:12-19
"You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty;...You were anointed as a guardian cherub... You were on the holy mount of God;...You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.…You were filled with violence, and you sinned.…Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom....I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."
6. Describe Satan before he sinned.
7. Describe him after he sinned.
8. What did he want?
Yes, although Satan was an anointed cherub, the model of perfection, he wanted more. He wanted his throne to be higher than God's. A fierce war in heaven resulted.
The book of Revelation describes this war.
The Scripture: Revelation 12:7-9
"There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was 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.”
9. What is pictured here?
10. Who are the participants?
It is believed that as many as one-third of the angels sided with Satan.
11. What is the end result of this war?
The Bible has much to tell us about our enemy. He is known by many different names and titles: Beelzebub, the prince of demons, the devil, the prince of this world, the god of this age, the ruler of the kingdom of the air, your enemy.
Other names include Lucifer, Abaddon, and the satanic angel of the bottomless pit. His Greek name is Apollyon. Yes, we face a formidable enemy. Scripture in no way indicates that Satan lost any of his powers as an angel when he was cast out of heaven. The Bible also tells us much about the character and powers of Satan and his demons. Let's look at a few instances from Scripture which describe them.
The Scripture: Matthew 12:22
"Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see."
12. What was wrong with the man?
13. What did Jesus do?
The Scripture: Matthew 13:19
"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart."
14. What power of Satan is revealed in this verse?
One Sabbath day, Jesus encountered a crippled woman. When he healed her the Pharisees were filled with rage. This is Jesus' response:
The Scripture: Luke 13:16
"Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"
15. What had Satan done to this woman?
On one occasion, in explaining to the Thessalonians why he had not come to visit them, Paul said:
The Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:18
"We wanted to come to you--certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan stopped us."
16. Why did Paul say he hadn't come?
In the familiar story of Ananias and Sapphira's deceit, in holding back money from the early church, Peter confronts Ananias.
The Scripture: Acts 5:3
"Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?"
17. What does Peter say Satan has done?
Satan's ability to overcome a person does not necessarily happen all at once. We see these steps of progression in the life of Judas Iscariot. At a dinner given for Jesus, Mary of Bethany took a pint of expensive perfume and poured it over Jesus' feet. Judas objected.
The Scripture: John 12:5, 6
"'Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages.' He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it."
18. What was Judas' pretended complaint?
19. What does this scripture reveal about Judas?
Before he betrayed Jesus, Judas had opened himself up to Satan by stealing from the disciples' funds.
Not too long after that, we see the next step in Judas' downfall.
The Scripture: John 13:2
"The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus."
20. What had Satan done to Judas?
Later that same night, at the occasion we know as The Last Supper, we learn:
The Scripture: John 13:26-17
"Then, dipping the piece of bread, He (Jesus) gave it to Judas....As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him."
21. What did Satan do next?
Here are a few more scriptures revealing some of the powers and characteristics of Satan and his demons.
The Scriptures: Genesis 3:1
"The serpent (Satan) was more crafty than any of the wild animals."
The Scriptures: Daniel 10:12, 13
"Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I (an angel) have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom (one of Satan's angels) resisted me twenty-one days."
The Scriptures: Matthew 12:22
"They brought Him (Jesus) a demon-possessed man."
The Scriptures: Luke 8:29
"Jesus commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains"
The Scriptures: 1Timothy 3:6, 7
"But I (Paul) am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited...He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap."
22. List the characteristics/powers either stated or implied in the above scriptures:
If defending ourselves against Satan were all up to us, we would have reason to be afraid, but that is not the case. In Part 2 of this study, we will learn how Jesus, as our commander-in-chief, has equipped us to be victorious over Satan.
(Satan, Our Enemy - Part 1 | Part 2)
The Answers
- Flesh and blood
- Ruler, authorities, powers of this dark world, spiritual forces of evil
- A good soldier
- As violent
- With most ardent zeal and intense exertion
- An anointed cherub, the model of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, blameless in his ways
- Full of violence, proud, corrupted
- To be like God
- A war in heaven
- Michael and his angels (God's forces) and Satan and his angels
- Satan and his followers were defeated and thrown out of heaven.
- He was demon-possessed, blind, mute.
- He healed him so he could talk and see.
- He can snatch away the word of God from people's hearts.
- Kept her bound (crippled) for eighteen years
- Satan stopped him.
- Filled Ananias' heart (with evil)
- That the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor
- That he was a thief
- Prompted him to betray Jesus
- He entered into Judas.
- Craftiness, delays the answer to prayer, causes demon-possession, causes illness, can cause great strength in possessed people, deceives, can entrap people by causing them to become conceited
All scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version
(unless otherwise indicated)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, New International Bible Society
Copyright © 2000 by JoAnne Sekowsky