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Satan |
The
origin of Satan
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Satan
is an evil and powerful spiritual being. The word Satan comes from the Hebrew
satan which means ‘adversary’.
Satan is “the enemy” (Luke |
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As
far as his origin is concerned, the Scriptures teach us that originally he
was a holy heavenly being, but because of pride he became corrupt and was expelled
from the paradise of God. Here is what the prophet Isaiah and the prophet
Ezekiel say about his fall: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer
[literally ‘Day Star’], son of the morning! how art
thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast
said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be
like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit” (Isaiah |
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The
character and works of Satan
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Satan
is very wicked and thus his works are wicked. Let’s examine his character and
his evil works in the light of the Holy Scriptures. |
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Deceiver
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Satan
is “that old serpent”, he who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9),
because he deceives people all over the world into believing all kinds of
lies. “He is a liar and the father of lies” (John |
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Why
does Satan want people to believe lies? Because he hates people and wants
them to go to perdition. God desires men to be saved from the everlasting
fire, while Satan wants them to go into the everlasting fire. This is
confirmed by what Jesus said in the parable of the sower concerning those who
are by the way side: “Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh
the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should
believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). Think of this! Satan takes away the Word
of God from the heart of some people because he wants to keep them from
believing and being saved. |
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Obviously,
Satan desires to deceive even the children of God. This he tries to do using
false ministers of the Gospel, who transform themselves into ministers of
Christ and are called by Paul ‘ministers of Satan’ (2 Corinthians |
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Sometimes
Satan confirms his lies through signs and wonders, therefore, in these cases,
the signs and wonders are performed through occult powers. There are many
false prophets who work these signs and wonders, both in the Eastern
countries and the Western countries. Didn’t Jesus say: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24)? They are dressed in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly they are ravenous wolves ready to devour the children of God. Furthermore,
remember that both the man of sin (or the antichrist) and the false prophet,
who will appear before the coming of Christ, will perform great signs and
wonders, as it is written: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of
Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10); “And he [the
false prophet] doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the
earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of
the beast [the antichrist]; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they
should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did
live” (Revelation 13:13-14). |
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He who blinds the minds
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We
have seen that Satan deceives people into believing all kinds of lies, and he
takes away the saving Word of God out of the hearts of many of those where it
has been sown, in order to keep them from believing and being saved, so that
after death they might go to hell and in that day they might be thrown into
the everlasting fire. However, he does another thing to keep people from believing
and being saved: he blinds their minds. Here is what Paul says to the
Corinthians: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In
whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). This is why many people all
over the world don’t accept the Gospel of the grace of God, because their
minds have been darkened by the wicked one. On the other hand, however, the
Lord opens the minds of some of those where the Word has been sown, so that
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ might shine on them. To Him be the glory now and forevermore. Amen. |
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Tempter
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Satan
is the tempter (Matthew 4:3). He tempted Jesus, the Son of God, to sin, but
he did not manage to make him sin (Matthew |
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The
devil works what he wishes in those people who don’t submit themselves to God
and don’t resist him, inducing them to commit all kinds of sins. That’s why
he is called “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Therefore, the reason why men
are slaves of all kinds of vices and sins is that there is a wicked spirit
called Satan, and men are under his power; he controls them, he rules over
them, so they are given to all kinds of sins. John says that “he that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1
John 3:8), and also that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked
one” (1 John |
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Slanderer or accuser
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Satan
is the Devil, that is, the accuser of the children of God, for he accuses
them before God day and night (Revelation 12:9). The word ‘devil’ derives
from the Greek diabolos which means
‘slanderer’ or ‘accuser’. The Scripture confirms clearly that Satan is a
slanderer; here is what the prophet Zechariah saw and heard in a vision: “And
he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD,
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him [the NIV reads ‘to accuse
him’]. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke
thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen |
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We
who are the children of God, however, have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1), who defends us against the accusations of
the devil confessing before God the Father that we are clothed with the
righteousness of God, which is through faith in Christ, and His blood
cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). That’s why we are not afraid of his
accusations. |
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Murderer
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Satan
is a murderer (John |
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It
was Satan who induced Cain to kill his brother Abel, for the apostle John
says: “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we
should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered
his brother” (1 John |
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Satan
is our adversary and as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may
devour (1 Peter 5:8). Therefore, don’t give place to the devil (Ephesians |
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Other works of Satan
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Let
us see some other works of Satan. |
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Satan moves people to rebel against God: he stood up against |
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Satan afflicts people with sickness: he struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the
crown of his head (Job 1:1-22; 2:1-7), and he kept bound for eighteen long
years that woman who had a spirit of infirmity (Luke |
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Satan puts wicked purposes into the
hearts of men and may personally enter into them:
he put it into the heart of Judas, who was numbered among the twelve
disciples of Jesus Christ, to betray Jesus (John 13:2), and he entered Judas
Iscariot, who went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains,
how he might betray Jesus to them (Luke 22:3-4). And he filled the heart of
Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land
for himself, and for that sin Ananias was put to death by God (Acts 5:1-10). |
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Satan hinders Christ’s servants in the
carrying out of their desires: he hindered
Paul and his fellow-workers from going to visit the saints of Thessalonica (1
Thessalonians |
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Satan casts Christ’s servants into
prison: Jesus said to the angel of the |
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Satan sows his children among the
children of God: Jesus, in explaining
the parable of the tares of the field to His disciples, said: “The tares are
the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil ….”
(Matthew 13:38-39 – NKJV). |
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Satan lays snares for believers: in the days of the apostles, Satan took Hymenaeus and Philetus
captive to do his will, for they strayed concerning the truth saying that the
resurrection was already past (2 Timothy 2:17-18, 24-26). So, let us pray God
that He might deliver us from the evil one, as Jesus commanded us to do
(Matthew |
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Satan
wants to be worshiped
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The
Scripture teaches us that only God is worthy to be worshiped. The devil knows
this; however, since he is wicked and presumptuous, he also wants to be
worshiped by human beings. The fact that he tempted Jesus to worship him
(Matthew 4:8-10) shows very clearly that Satan desires to be worshiped. And
he has deceived many people all over the world into worshiping him, who are
called Satanists. During their services dedicated to the devil they perform
many diabolical acts – sometimes they even offer human sacrifices to their
master – and Satan himself appears to them and speak
to them. |
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Satan’s
limitations
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The
Scripture teaches that even though Satan is free to act all over the world,
and he commits and causes people to commit a great many evil works, he has
some limitations. First of all, he is not omnipotent, therefore he can’t do
all things, his power is limited because he is a created
being. Second, he is not omniscient, therefore his knowledge also is limited;
third, he is not omnipresent, therefore he can’t be everywhere at the same
time. Last but not least, he does only those things which God allows him to
do. The story of Job shows this very clearly, for he could not touch Job
without God’s permission. Bear always in mind these things. |
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Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, destroyed Satan
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The
Scripture states that Satan is judged (John 16:11), and that he was destroyed
by Jesus Christ, as it is written: “Forasmuch then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Therefore, Jesus triumphed over Satan
through His death, that is to say, through His precious blood He shed for our
sins. And thus Jesus Christ is able to deliver those who are under the power
of Satan. In other words, He can turn the earthly subjects of Satan’s kingdom
“from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18). We
are of those whom the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed from the hand of Satan,
and we rejoice at His great victory over Satan and all his wicked hosts.
Blessed be the name of Jesus Christ now and forevermore. Amen. |
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The
destiny of Satan
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During
the period of time which will precede the coming of the Lord, and during
which God will strike the wicked people with many plagues, Michael the
archangel and his angels will fight against Satan and his angels and Satan
and his angels will fight back, but Satan and his angels will not prevail and
they will be cast out of heaven and hurled to the earth, as it is written: “And
there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;
and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their
place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation
12:7-9). |
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Afterwards,
when Jesus Christ returns from heaven, Satan will be bound for a thousand
years and cast into the bottomless pit, so that he will not be able to
deceive the nations any more till the thousand years are finished, and after
that period of time he will be released for a little while, he will deceive
the nations who are on the earth, but he will be cast into the everlasting
fire, which was “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Here
is what the Scripture says: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold
on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him
a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the
thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little
season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given
unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of
Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast,
neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in
their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the
rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This
is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And
when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the
earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom
is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and
compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation
20:1-10). As you can see, one day Satan will be punished for all his wicked
works; God will not annihilate Satan – as some believe -, but He will condemn
him to an everlasting torment into the everlasting fire. |
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Paul,
concerning the punishment which God will inflict on Satan, says to the
Romans: “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans
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