Satan: The Defeated Foe

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In subsequent pages we will learn much about Satan: his ways, how he works deception on the whole world, his role as the accuser, his vicious, murderous nature, his role as God's servant, his power, his weaknesses, and his drive to survive even after he has been condemned to eternal suffering by God in his own created pit of hell. Although Satan has been limited by God in what he can and cannot do we must not forget that he is very real and very dangerous to both the believer in Christ and to all inhabitants of the earth. After Christ's resurrection, Satan became a defeated foe and his outcome made certain (see Revelation 20:1-10). However to this day he rages in anger seeking who he may devour. 1 Peter 5:5 says: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour". Satan is not the enemy of God he is the enemy of man

Some think that Satan was inert during the years comprising the Old Testament and only made his appearance fully known at the time of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. Satan was at work from the inception of the matters recorded in the Old Testament. He was at work in every nation on the earth from the beginning. Every nation that worshipped pagan gods and was at odds with Israel was ruled/inspired by Satan. This began with the Sumerians (the first civilization) to Babylon, Egypt, Chaldea, Philistines, Persians, Greeks/Macedonians, Rome, The Roman Church, to name just a few. John wrote in the First Century a verse of scripture that could easily be applied throughout history: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father;" (1 John 2:22-23). Since the entire Old Testament wrote of Christ this scripture applies both to the New and Old Testaments. Christ said to the religious leaders of the day: ""You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). The entire Old Testament was written about Christ the Savior and Messiah who was to do away with sin and would banish Satan forever.

There are two scriptures in the Bible which clearly define Satan. In Isaiah 14:12-17, which began as a taunt against the King of Babylon, he speaks of Satan showing the close tie between Babylon and Satan. He starts the taunt referring directly to the King of Babylon then mid-way through he changes and begins speaking of Satan directly. By doing this he is not distinguishing one from the other showing that God saw Babylon and Satan as one in the same (a subject that will be discussed in detail below). Isaiah speaks prophetically of Satan: "You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, [Heb Helel; i.e. shining one] son of the dawn!, [Dan 5:22, 23; 8:10; 2 Thess 2:4] And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself LIKE THE MOST HIGH.' "Nevertheless [says God] you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?" (Is 14:12-17). In the end Satan is shown to be no more than a man.

The "Mount of Assembly" probably refers to Mt. Sinai where God had all the Israelites assemble as Moses received the Laws of God. It also may be an allusion to a probable Babylonian legend relating to the dwelling of the pagan gods (cf. Jb. 37:22; Ezk. 28:13f.) In pagan mythology the uttermost part of the north was the home of the false gods. What are "the recesses of the north", mentioned by Isaiah (above)? The Babylonian empire attacked Israel from the north. However, the operative word "north", as used in Isaiah14, is "saphon", pronounced "saw-fone'" and indicates generally the direction north. However, the word is derived from "sapan" (Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 4, page 451) which means a hidden or dark place, gloomy and unknown, to hide, hidden, secretly, secret place, lurk, private, the hidden ones and laid up (Strongs, 6828, 6845) In other words, Isaiah tells us that Satan wanted to set up his own rule and kingdom, in order to receive adoration and worship, like God, and to call the shots, like God. But he wanted to (or had to) do it as far away from God as he could. The "recesses of the north" is the hidden, "dark", gloomy and secret place, away from the "light" of God. In the light of God everything is laid open and bare, and nothing is hidden from His sight (Hebrews 4:13).

In Ezekiel 28:12-19 the prophet also spoke about Satan while rebuking the King of Tyre, who he considered one and the same as Satan "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. "You were the anointed cherub who covers, [guards] And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you...You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you. "By the multitude of your iniquities...You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you. "All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever". Satan was brought down by pride the enemy of humanity as well.

All of the nations of the earth were Satanically possessed and/or influenced by Satan. These were polytheistic nations, with many gods, worshipping things of the earth and the physical heavens. Many of the nations were astrologers and worshipped the heavenly bodies. This was by design. God constantly differentiated Israel from all other nations. Israel was His favored nation. He told Israel in Deuteronomy the following: "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven" (Deut 4:15-19). What He was saying was that He had allotted to the other nations to be soothsayers, stargazers and astrologers but that Israel was not to adopt these practices. He said the heavens were reserved for the godless: Those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven". Israel was to worship the one true God as soothsayers and astrologers could easily be led astray since Satan ruled all occult practices.

Thus is an overview of Satan from God's perspective written centuries before Christ. It is obvious from the words that Satan had an influence far before the time of Christ's appearance on the earth. As we read on we will discover the extent of his influence on the earth from the beginning to the present day. He was the originator of sin from the time of the Garden. He is responsible for the subjecting of creation to futility. He originated greed, pride, deception, violence, murder, the destroying the concept of family and all else that was good about mankind. He caused man to have a sin nature that was not present in the Garden. He created war and the devastation of the nations. People say "How could God cause such evil in the world?" The truth is that God did not create evil but man himself created evil by listening to the deceiver rather than God. It is said that "the wicked destroy themselves". In combination with Satan mankind today is on the brink of total annihilation which is not God's fault. Today we must enforce Christ's victory over the devil one and put him away forever.

To elaborate on this subject, and to clarify, Christ's resurrection defeated Satan as certainly as if he were thrown into the pit at that moment. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the defeat of the devil, among other things. However His victory must now be manifest, here on earth. In other words by faith we know he is a Satan is a defeated foe but we don't yet see it with our physical eyes. God could at any time have wiped the devil from both earth and heaven. But He chose to do it another way. He wants to use His people to accomplish this for Him -- His Sons, His Saints. He wants to humiliate Satan by defeating him through the agency of the weakest part of his creation - mankind. He has spoken the Word of Satan's defeat but is up to the faithful to finish the job. Satan himself rages on the earth to prevent this but everything he does is not effective because God has already spoken the Word of his defeat and sent his Son to "crush the head of the serpent". We, His believers, must appropriate what is a potential in the Spirit realm and make it a reality on the earth. And we must do it in a hurry. Matthew 24:21-22 says: "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect [chosen ones] those days will be cut short" (Mt 24:21-22). We are in a life or death struggle with the evil one but we know we are the winners because God, who is stronger that Satan, has predetermined it. But this does not make the battle any less lethal as we set about to put Satan into the pit of hell.

We will examine all aspects of Satan's moving in the following pages so that we can fully know our battle and the adversary who opposes us. We must know our enemy. As Paul said: " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). It is a spiritual war in which we are engaged.