Two myths about Satan:
Satan cannot go where he wants to, God is in control. Can Satan make your life a living hell if he wants to? No God is in control. Satan is not beastly, but beautiful. Satan is a angel -an incorporeal being. Satan is not all powerful, Satan is limited by God to what he can and cannot do. Satan must ask God's permission before he can do anything! God determines whether Satan's request will be granted. "This is why Martin Luther is alleged to have said, the devil is God's devil". Make no mistake : Satan is evil, he is powerful , he seeks to do us great harm .
Satan is a powerful being who is scheming to outwit humans , he is a spiritual force of evil
That prowls around like a roaring lion , seeking someone to devour. In light of this we should do our best to know just who this enemy is. The Biblical Satan has a much more ambitious goal than doing us bodily harm. Satan is pouring all his energy into one grand out come: the cursing of God. That's his end game. He makes this clear in Job 1: 11. If Satan can lure us into a place where we curse God, then he has won. The Apostle Paul summarizes Satan's aim as" keeping us from seeing the light of the gospel of the Glory of Christ, who is the image of God" ( 2 COR.4:4). In its context, this verse is describing Satan's work among unbelievers, but it is certainly a safe application to say he does not want Christians to think glorious thoughts of Christ. Satan is working with all his might to block our view of God's awesome beauty and Glory, his righteousness and justice. Satan roars like a lion, to drown out our praise and adoration of God. It would be bad enough if Satan accomplished this vial mission of getting us to rob God of Glory. But the devil does not stop with inflicting that spiritual harm. His supreme delight appears to be rubbing our face in the very mess he helped to create! In fact, the word devil means "THE ACCUSER". When the bible shines god's searchlight on Satan, we find him in the courtroom. Three piece suit with black leather briefcase takes his place before the judge's bench and calmly points at the defendant (yes, that's you and me). In his hand is a legal pad with line after line of our infractions against god neatly spelled out. And Satan skillfully makes his case. After all, he has been studying human behavior for millennia, and he has no trouble furnishing ample evidence of our guilt before god. Sounds too contrived, take a look at Zechariah 3:1. The devil delights in adding insult to injury. And oh, how all those accusations sting! Satan is like the terminator, he can't be bargained with, he can't be reasoned with. He is pitiless and always laser focused on his two fold mission: 1) to lure us into a place where we turn against God, and then 2) to accuse us of our guilt for the very rebellion he's help engineer. For the Christian, no enemy could be more serious. How can we frail humans stand up against such an adversary? In the sobering words of writer R. Kent Hughes: "Satan has had multiple millennia to study and master the human disciplines, and when it comes to human subversion, Satan is the ultimate manipulator." No mere human is a match for such an opponent. that realization can lead us to despair- or, it can lead us to the place it lead Martin Luther when he penned his most famous hymn "A Mighty Fortress": for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great; and armed with cruel hate; on earth is not his equal, did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, the man of GOD'S own choosing. God choose Me and that is why the Devil hates Me. In the ongoing battle between GOOD and EVIL, when does GOOD WIN and the Devil gets his payback. You would think at the end of the story and there is a payback moment found there. "And the Devil who had deceived them was thrown into the LAKE OF FIRE AND SULFER...tormented day and night for ever and ever". (Rev. 20:10) What a fitting end for the great adversary of God. The serpent that slithered through human history for one grand purpose-to keep people out of God's presence- finally will be contained in an inescapable prison forever. Never again will he tempt, afflict, or accuse God's people. Satan will be carried out to the eternal landfill and dumped their. In light of this "END OF THE STORY", would it surprise you, then, that Jesus says the Devil's true payback moment came thousands of years earlier? Does Satan actually run the world? In John's gospel, Satan is called "the ruler of this world".(John 12:31) While it is true that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one"(1John 5:19), the phrase "the whole world" has a unique meaning here. John tells us that all that in the world- "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life [in possession]- is not from the Father but is from the world."(1John 2:16) Thus, pride, evil desires and base lusts compose the world over which the Devil presides. That is why in the verse just before this description we are commanded, "DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD".(1JOHN 2:15) The world that Satan runs is not a reference to PLANTS, PEOPLE, or PLACES. "Viewed as a PEOPLE, the world must be LOVED", writes John Stott. "Viewed as an EVIL system, organized under the dominion of Satan not of God, this world is not to be LOVED." THERE IS A KIND OF ENVIRONMENT THAT EXIST IN THE WORLD THAT IS SIMILAR TO AIR. WE LIVE AND BREATH IN A THOROUGHLY ANTI-GOD ATMOSPHERE THAT SATAN ENJOYS MANAGING. How did God's wicked adversary come into such a position of power? Isaiah offers an answer to this question, shedding light on how the world Satan rules came into being. "The earth lies defiled under it's inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and it's inhabitants suffer for their GUILT'. (Isa.24:5-6) BECAUSE MANKIND HAS BLATANTLY DEFIED GOD'S LAW, GOD HIMSELF ORDAINED THAT "THE CREATION WAS SUBJECTED TO FUTILITY."(ROM.8:20) IN OTHER WORDS, THE EVIL WORLD WE INHABIT IS A WORLD OF OUR OWN MAKING, AND GOD IS ALLOWING SATAN TO RULE IT FOR A TEMPORARY PEROID. THIS IS A PROFOUND TRUTH AND IT IS CRUCIAL THAT WE UNDERSTAND IT: ANY POWER THE DEVIL HAS IS ONLY BECAUSE GOD GIVES IT TO HIM FOR A SEASON. ONE DAY SATAN'S POWER WILL BE TAKEN AWAY. The HOUR has come, millennia before the day Satan's final payback is carried out, whenever that day will be (WHICH ONLY GOD KNOWS), Jesus made a cosmic announcement: SATAN IS ALREADY FINISHED "NOW IS THE JUDGEMENT OF THIS WORLD, NOW WILL THE RULER OF THIS WORLD BE CAST OUT".(JOHN 12:31) The Greek word translated "NOW" occurring twice in John 12:31 is vuv, and is a word used to indicate THE PRESENT MOMENT. Jesus speaks of Satan's expulsion from power as something just about to happen, so Jesus could not have been speaking about the Devils plunge into the LAKE OF FIRE. The SAVIOR saw something happening in his own ministry that would, in effect, SEAL THE EVILONE'S DOOM. Jesus knew the difficulty he would face at his trial and CRUCIFIXION, and despite a desire to avoid it, Jesus endured it knowing that it was "THE PLAN" for the REDEMPTION OF HUMANITY.(Luke 22:42) A PLAN THE TRIUNE GOD MADE FROM ETERNITY PAST. THE CROSS WAS THE KEY TO "THE RULER OF THIS WORLD BEING CAST OUT". Jesus saw his death looming large in the hours before him, and while it would be VICIOUS IN IT'S BRUTALITY,JESUS COULD SEE THROUGH TO THE VICTORY. IT WOULD BE JESUS HOUR THAT FINALLY BROUGHT SATAN'S HOUR TO AN END. The APOSTLE PAUL makes this point clear when he says that, " JESUS DISARMED THE RULERS AND AUTHORITIES AND PUT THEM TO OPEN SHAME, BY TRIUMPHING OVER THEM."(Col. 2:15) THE "RULERS AND AUTHORITIES" are those DEMONIC FORCES that get their PAYBACK AT THE CROSS. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS DONE EVERTHING FOR HIS PEOPLE, FOUGHT THEIR BATTLE, WON THEIR VICTORY, AND, ON THEIR BEHALF, CELEBRATED THE TRIUMPH IN THE STREETS OF HEAVEN, "LEADING CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE." We await Satan' condemnation not only for our freedom from Satan attacks, but because Satan's destruction coincides with the ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF GOD WITH HUMANITY. Many see the CROSS as a temporary setback and the RESURRECTION as the delayed victory. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION IS THAT IT CONFIRMS THE SOUL-SAVING, SATAN CRUSHING WORK OF THE CROSS. John Stott says it concisely: "THE CROSS WAS THE VICTORY WON, AND THE RESURRECTION THE VICTORY ENDORSED, PROCLAIMED AND DEMONSTRATED. MY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST'S VICTORY SHEILDS ME FROM THE DEVIL'S ACTIVITIES. AS I DRAW CLOSER TO GOD THRU THE WORD OF CHRIST THE DEVIL MUST FLEE FROM ME.(James 4:8) GOD HAS GRANTED ME REPENTANCE THRU THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, I HAVE COME TO MY SENSES AND I HAVE ESCAPE FROM THE TRAP OF THE DEVIL, WHO HAD TAKEN ME CAPTIVE TO DO HIS WILL.(2Tim.2:25-26)
Thank you, to pastor Greg Dutcher for the spiritual insights I received from his book :Living Free in Enemy Territory: Christ's Triumph Over Satan.
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