"This is just the work of the enemy!" So believers often say in adverse circumstances. Implied is the notion that a certain (generally undesirable) outcome represents the advance of Satan's plan and the thwarting of God's. When a marriage is in jeopardy, when a church is in crisis, or when a culture is crumbling, we greet fresh evidence with this phrase. It seems a fitting piece of punctuation for some spiritual hand-wringing!
There is no doubt that Satan is hell-bent (literally) on defying God. In the OT, the word commonly used for an adversary or opponent is adopted as a title for a supernatural being in three passages: Job 1-2; Zech. 3:1-2; and 1 Chron. 21:1. To call him "the satan" is to call him THE ADVERSARY. So I want to be plain and up-front about something (here in part two) before I say something shocking (in part three). When you read part three, don't go all knee-jerk on me. Just remember that what you read below is an essential counterbalance to what is posted in part three. If you can hang on to both, your spiritual outlook WILL NOT BE THE SAME!
Okay, let's get down to business. CS, here's some NT data for you. There are many verses, especially in the NT, that speak to your question. Here are a few selected passages that are quite pertinent.
- Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). It doesn't get any more pointed than this. We are not just imagining there are monsters under the bed. There really is someone out to GET YOU! Notice that this warning is issued to believers and the intent of our adversary is to "devour" us. We are not talking about mere heckling or harassment. We face a foe who is intent on nothing less that our demise.
- But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes (2 Cor. 2:10-11). It is possible to yield the high ground to our enemy, to become his unwitting accomplice, by refusing to grant forgiveness to a repentant brother.
- But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Matt. 16:23). This verse is especially scary. If anyone was gung-ho for God, it would be Peter. And Peter had JUST SHOWN himself capable of gifted perception. But then we read this! Peter is acting (and being rebuffed by Jesus) as Satan's PR man! If a spiritual giant like Peter can become the enemy's mouthpiece, what hope is there for midgets like us? By the way, notice that Peter let the enemy in the door by having a man-centered agenda.
- “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). While we are on the subject of Peter, here's a depressing prospect! Satan's plan for Peter on Good Friday was nothing less than running him through the ringer, putting on the pressure to squeeze from his heart every last vestige of devotion to Jesus. Ouch!
- But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). Paul is talking to believers. What I want you to see from this verse is that Satan can do an inside job. He is capable getting inside my head (and yours) and making devotion to Jesus something that is complicated and compromised. We will not be able to wrap our brains in tin-foil to defeat his alien mind-probe.
- And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Our adversary is sneaky, too. He goes to church, he hangs with the saints, and he sounds good. This guy is good! (You understand me, right? He is good at LOOKING good, even though he is BAD!)
There are plenty more verses, but these are enough. Anyone who takes walking with God seriously knows enough to take Satan seriously. At every turn, "the satan" is to be opposed, resisted, and denied even the least advantage. He is the sworn enemy of our souls. Don't forget this!
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