SATAN

Man’s enemy appeared in the garden of Eden, deceived the woman, and sin made its entrance into the world.  Not
satisfied that Eve must suffer pain in bringing forth children and that the ground would be cursed for man’s sake,
this enemy continued to exert his destructive influence on man until “every imagination of his heart was evil
continually”.  So successful was he that “all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth”.  God decreed that all who
did not enter the ark would be destroyed by the flood.  The lesson of the flood was not remembered as well as it
should have been by the descendants of the survivors of the flood, for the vile influence of man’s archenemy on the
inhabitants of Sodom made them wicked and caused them to sin grievously.  God rained brimstone and fire upon
Sodom and Gomorrah, “and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that
which grew upon the ground.”  The wicked one made deceivers of Rebekah and her son Jacob.  Filling the hearts of
Joseph’s brethren with envy, the evil one moved them to sell Joseph.  His success in deceiving the Israelites in the
wilderness was so great that most of the adults who left Egypt did not enter the promised land.  He influenced many
of the people of God to serve idols.  He caused King Saul to disobey God.  David, the sweet psalmist of Israel,
yielded to the tempter and committed adultery and murder.  Solomon, the world’s wisest natural human being,
became an idolater.  Many of those who reigned ever God’s chosen people did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord.  The evil one tempted the ten northern tribes to sin so grievously that they were carried into Assyrian
captivity.  Nor did the tribe of Judah escape the snare of the deceiver, for the people sinned and were carried into
Babylonian captivity.

The centuries pass and in “the fullness of time” God sent His Son “that he might destroy the works of the enemy of
man”.  The evil one was unsuccessful in his efforts to destroy the child Jesus; but in trying to have him killed, he
brought sorrow, sadness, and weeping to the hearts of the mothers whose young sons Herod had slain.  Years later
God’s Son began to preach.  But the tempter exhausted his means of temptation in an effort to seduce the Christ to
sin and thereby render Him incapable of becoming man’s savior.  Through the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, and
other unbelievers, the wicked one persecuted Christ.  He tried to defeat the work of Christ.  After he had stirred up
sufficient opposition to Christ, he had Him betrayed and nailed to the cross.  But he was unable to keep God’s Son
in the grave, for on the first day of the week, Christ left the dark domain of the tomb.  But the “liar and the father
thereof” found the chief priests willing to give money unto the soldiers with instructions to say, “His disciples came by
night and stole him away while we slept.”

On the first Pentecost following His resurrection, the Christ, through his apostles, established His church, having
purchased it with the blood He shed while on the cross.  But the newly established kingdom was not free very long
from the onslaughts of the god of this world.  He stirred up persecutions, filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy
Spirit and to God, caused division, enticed members of the church to become worldly and lukewarm, and had some
to deny the resurrection of the dead.  He brought imprisonment and death to some of the followers of Christ.  He
continues to deceive through false teachers, false doctrines, and false miracles.  Today he has some members of
the church become worldly, stingy, and has many forsaking the assembly.  He “walketh about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour”.  His followers are numbered in the hundreds of millions.  He has destroyed homes,
caused heartaches, distress, war, murder, stealing, hatred, sinful desires, and envy.  On the day of Christ’s second
coming, the wicked one will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false
prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

We need to know all we can about Satan that we might know how to resist him.  We need to know that he is real and
there are many who deny that he exists.  Out of a poll of over 700 preachers it was found that 48% rejected the
creation of the Bible.  33% no longer believed in the devil, 43% denied the inspiration of the Scriptures, 24% the
atonement, 12% the resurrection of Christ , 34% the resurrection of the body and 27% did not believe Christ will
come to judge the quick and the dead.  A good majority of Americans do not fear they will be lost, according to a
recent poll.  75% believe there is a heaven but only 58% believe there is a hell.  

We need to know that Satan will do everything he can to try to cause us to be lost.  He will tempt God’s people to sin
as he tempted Eve. (Gen. 3)    He will tempt and try to deceive us through the preaching of false prophets. (Matt. 7:
15; 1 Jno. 4:1)  As Satan is a liar and the father thereof, he is the author of the lie that persons who believe “not the
truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Thess 2:10-12).  To deceive people, Satan “fashioneth himself into
an angel of light and his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness.” 2 Cor. 11:14-15)  

We need to know that Satan has a great deal of ability, even quoting Scripture (Matt. 4:6).  He is subtle (Gen. 3:1; 2
Cor. 11:3).  He seeks to gain advantage over God’s people (2 Cor. 2:11).  

We need to know not only that Christ has conquered Satan, but His Word gives us the answer as to how to resist
him.  Through His death, Christ brought “to nought him that had the power over death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14-
15).    Christ was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).  God’s Word tells us how to
answer Satan.  Jesus answered Satan by saying “it is written. . .” (Matt. 4:1-11).  We can resist Satan as James 4:7
“. . .resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10:13 that there is a way of escape.  As man’s
yielding to temptation is voluntary (James 1:12-16), so he can refuse to consent to follow Satan.  Another means to
resist Satan is to be stedfast in our faith (1 Peter 5:8-9.  Last of all, it’s our choice. (Acts 13:46; Josh. 24:15).  We
can obey sin and receive death, or obey Christ “from the heart” the “form of teaching” and be “be made free from
sin.” (Rom. 6:16-18)  Choose to serve God rather “than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” (Heb. 11:24-26;
2 Tim. 3:4). Judgment day is coming and we must all stand before God and give an accounting.  I would like to close
with an illustration I heard many years ago from brother Batsell Barrett Baxter.  He said, “the story is told of two
farmers in one of the western states who had farms separated only by a country road.  One was a Christian; the
other an atheist.  When the harvest time came, the atheist goaded his Christian neighbor with the fact that his
harvest was slightly more bountiful than that of the Christian.  The Christian replied, ‘God doesn’t render his
accounts in August,’ by which we understand him to mean that the final accounting of God doesn’t come in this life.  
Rebellion against God and religious error often pass the test of this life quite successfully, but the final accounting is
yet to come at the judgment.”


Bill Young