Foundations of Faith
SATAN (II)
Do you remember what you learned in earlier issues of GROWING about the attributes of God? God is self-existent, eternal, infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, holy, righteous, good, gracious, love. It is well to understand that none of these are attributes of Satan! Satan is surely powerful, but his power is limited and restrained by the All-Powerful One. For example, Satan was given the freedom to afflict Job, but was restrained by God from taking Job’s life (Job 1:12; 2:6).
Is Satan all-knowing? Satan is extremely intelligent and, no doubt with the assistance of his army of demons, has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge about man in general and each individual in particular. But Satan is not omniscient; he doesn’t know all things. People often ask the question, “Can Satan read our thoughts.” Scripture does not say one way or the other, but it is probable that he cannot, since he is not God. However, he and his demons have observed each of us so long and carefully, and with such superb memory, that they probably have a pretty good idea what is going through our mind just by the look on our face or by noting the circumstances.
Can Satan be everywhere at the same time? It may seem like it when we consider the large numbers of people around the world who seem to be falling under satanic attacks or influences. However, unlike God, Satan is not omnipresent or present everywhere (Luke 4:13). Being a cherub he is able to travel very rapidly (2 Sam. 22:11); also he has a huge host of demons who assist him in his terrible work (Matt. 12:24,43-45; 25:41; Mark 5:9; Eph. 6:12; Rev. 12:7-9). This helps to explain why Satan’s influence seems to be present everywhere.
In the next issue, we shall consider Satan’s methods. Satan’s names show us much about his methods. Satan is a Hebrew word which means “adversary” or “one who opposes.” This word is found in the Old Testament a number of times in reference to human adversaries:”They who render evil for good are my adversaries” (Psa. 38:20; see also 1 Ki. 11:14,23,25; Psa. 109:4,20,29). When there is a definite article (“the”) before this word it becomes a proper name–Satan, or The Adversary.
“Devil” is from the Greek word diabolos meaning “accuser” or “slanderer” (see 1 Tim. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:3; Tit. 2:3), or literally, “one who throws across” (that is, hurls charges at another).
“Satan” and “devil” are found together with two more names for Satan in Rev. 12:9. He is “the great dragon,” signifying his great power. And he is “that old serpent,” reminding us of the one who lied to Eve in the garden. Other names given to Satan are Apollyon, meaning “destroyer” (Rev. 9:11; the word apollyon is related to “perish” in John 3:16), and “the tempter” (1 Thess. 3:5). These several names or descriptions of Satan identify him following his fall. His title in heaven before his fall was “Lucifer [or shining one], son of the morning” (Isa. 14:12).
Running the Race
IN WHAT WAYS DOES SATAN TEMPT AND HARASS US? (II)
In Eph. 6:11 we are instructed, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Each of the pieces of armor described in this passage (verses 14-18) is designed to protect against a particular kind of temptation or harassment of Satan.
1. “Your loins [or waist] girt about with truth.” If Satan cannot keep one from becoming a child of God, he tries particularly hard to get the newborn soul entangled with a cult or false teaching of some sort (1 John 2:18-29). To prevent this, every believer must become firmly grounded in the truth of the Word of God; this is accomplished by diligently studying the Scriptures, and testing every new teaching that he/she hears or reads against the Scriptures.
2. “Having on the breastplate of righteousness.” Satan delights to remind us of our past sins–especially recent ones and those committed since we have been saved. Even though we have confessed those sins and have turned away from them, Satan may taunt our minds: “How can you call yourself a Christian when you sin like that?” When this happens to us, we must remind ourselves of the truth of our justification: “To him who works not, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5; also 3:21-28; 4:1-8). If we truly believe in Christ’s atoning work on the cross, then we can confidently stand up to Satan with the “breastplate of righteousness” when he attacks us with respect to our past sins. Another thing we can do to reduce Satan’s harassment is this: don’t sin! Of course, this is easier said than done, but the more pure and holy our lives are, the less ammunition Satan will have for accusing us.
3. “Your feet shod with the preparation [or readiness] of the gospel of peace.” Another way Satan harasses the believer is to bring conflict into his/her life. The source of the conflict may be a person in our life–perhaps a family member or a schoolmate–who is difficult to get along with. If we respond to a person’s offense by defending ourselves or trying to get even, the resulting conflict will get us “off the track” with regard to following and serving Christ. This is just what Satan wants us to do! But just as we who are “justified by faith” have “peace with God” (Rom. 5:1), let us seek to be ready at all times to bring peace into a potentially explosive situation.
Satan also tempts us to pass up opportunities to witness to others about Christ. He is always ready to whisper into our minds a thousand excuses for not sharing the gospel with others: “too busy,” “too tired,” “have a headache,” “not the appropriate time,” “might not want to be my friend anymore,” etc. If our feet are shod with the preparedness of the gospel of peace, we will not allow Satan’s excuses to hinder us from going where God sends us and speaking to those to whom He directs us.
Assignment 7: Write out three verses from Romans 10, 12, and 14 that illustrate how the Christian can have his/her “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”