This series of lessons was adapted, with permission, to a classroom presentation format from two articles written by Bro. Bert Thompson and published in Reason and Revelation in October and November, 1998.  These articles, and much more material on this subject may be found at www.apologeticspress.org.

 

SATAN – HIS ORIGIN AND MISSION

 

WHAT IS SATAN’S MISSION?

 

            Were Satan made of flesh and bone; we might employ the oft-used phrase to describe him as a “man with a mission.”  But do not let the fact that he is spirit rather than flesh trick you into thinking he has no mission.  He most certainly does—and has had since the day he was cast from the heavenly portals.  Simply stated, that mission is the complete destruction of all humanity in hell.

            It is definitely no accident that within the pages of Scripture that Satan is called:

 

II Corinthians 4:4 “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.”

 

As the god of this world he blinds us to the evil that is in this world by making it appear to look good and wholesome.  Just look at the advertising we see every day, booze is sold using young, athletic, people having a good time, gambling was sold originally in most states as a new source of revenue for schools and education, etc.

 

Ephesians 2:2  WHEREIN IN TIME PAST YE WALKED ACCORDING TO THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD, ACCORDING TO THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, THE SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE.”

 

Here Paul characterizes Satan as the source of disobedience, disobedience to God but disobedience that can be applied to any authority, parents, government, school, elders, etc.

 

John 8:44YE ARE OF your FATHER THE DEVIL, AND THE LUSTS OF YOUR FATHER YE WILL DO.  HE WAS A MURDERER FROM THE BEGINNING, AND ABODE NOT IN THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM.  WHEN HE SPEAKETH A LIE, HE SPEAKETH OF HIS OWN: FOR HE IS A LIAR, AND THE FATHER OF IT.”

 

Jesus called him both a murderer from the beginning, looking back to Cain and Abel and a liar, in fact the father of lies because he told the first lie ever told to Eve in the garden of Eden.

 

Revelation 12:9  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.”

 

In the book of Revelation we find Satan called a dragon or a great dragon a symbol of destruction, a serpent a symbol of deceit.

 

Matthew 12:24  “BUT WHEN THE PHARISEES HEARD it, THEY SAID, THIS fellow DOTH NOT CAST OUT DEVILS, BUT BY BEELZEBUB THE PRINCE OF THE DEVILS.”

 

In this verse of Matthew he is called Beelzebub, or as we noted in a previous lesson; the Lord of everything that is rotten or draws flies.

 

Matthew 13:39 THE ENEMY THAT SOWED THEM IS THE DEVIL; THE HARVEST IS THE END OF THE WORLD; AND THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS.”

 

In the parable of the tares Jesus simply calls him the enemy, our enemy that is sowing discord and trouble among brethren.

 

John 12:31 NOW IS THE JUDGMENT OF THIS WORLD: NOW SHALL THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD BE CAST OUT.”

 

Jesus also called him the prince of this world, showing us the relationship between Satan, his activities and worldliness.  Satan is the Lord of all that is worldly.

 

Ephesians 6:12  “FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST THE PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD, AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH places.”

 

Paul here describes him as the ruler of darkness, a fitting description as men like to commit their crimes in darkness, or hide their sin by darkness many times with the mistaken idea that it can never be seen or found out.

 

I Thessalonians 3:5  “FOR THIS CAUSE, WHEN I COULD NO LONGER FORBEAR, I SENT TO KNOW YOUR FAITH, LEST BY SOME MEANS THE TEMPTER HAVE TEMPTED YOU, AND OUR LABOUR BE IN VAIN.”

 

Paul here also characterizes Satan as the tempter and here is probably the way we see Satan most often, tempting us to do wrong, trying to entice us to participate in that which looks soooo good but is sin.

 

Revelation 12:10  “AND I HEARD A LOUD VOICE SAYING IN HEAVEN, NOW IS COME SALVATION, AND STRENGTH, AND THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD, AND THE POWER OF HIS CHRIST: FOR THE ACCUSER OF OUR BRETHREN IS CAST DOWN, WHICH ACCUSED THEM BEFORE GOD DAY AND NIGHT.”

 

Even if he cannot entice us to sin, Satan is shown here as being one who would accuse us of sin, seeking any way possible to separate us from God and His love and to make us such that God would not claim us as his children.

 

murderer  John 8:44

the enemy” Matthew 13:39

a roaring lion  I Peter 5:8

serpentII Corinthians 11:3

“Belial” or “wicked one  II Corinthians 6:15

angel of the bottomless pit”  Revelation 9:11

 

            After looking at the descriptions, we can agree with L. O. Sanderson in his observation that “These alone should make us fearfully concerned.”  Satan’s names describe his mission.  His primary goal is to alienate men from God by causing them to sin.  His main objective is to make men his slaves, thereby robbing them of the freedom that God’s Word alone can give us:

 

John 8:32 AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.”

 

HOW DOES SATAN CARRY OUT HIS MISSION AGAINS HUMANITY?

 

            The Bible makes it clear that the devil is the originator, the father, of sin.

 

I John 3:8  HE THAT COMMITTETH SIN IS OF THE DEVIL; FOR THE DEVIL SINNETH FROM THE BEGINNING.  FOR THIS PURPOSE THE SON OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED, THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.”

 

In speaking to this point, Wayne Jackson has written:  “Disease, infirmity and death are ultimately the responsibility of Satan, for by his introduction of sin into the world he brought about such woes and hence he is really the murderer of the human family (John 8:44)”

            However, is it important to recognize that while Satan is the originator of sin, he is not the immediate cause of sin.  As Ecrement has warned:

 

Satan tempts, but he cannot compel men to do evil against their wills.  A man must yield to Satan’s temptation and desire before he becomes guilty of sin.  To be tempted is not sin, but to yield to temptation is sin.  We are answerable and responsible for our own sins, notwithstanding the temptation and influence of the devil.  God endowed us with reason and a free will, therefore we have the ability to choose good or evil; in other words, we are free moral agents.  So our sins are our own, and our own responsibility.

 

 

Satan’s constant coercion and tantalizing temptation do not, and cannot, override man’s free will.  James etches this in stone, as it were, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

 

James 1:14-15 “BUT EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUSTS, AND ENTICED.  THEN WHEN LUST HATH CONCEIVED, IT BRINGETH FORTH SIN: AND SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGETH FORTH DEATH.”

 

As an example of this point, consider the disciple who betrayed the Son of God.  Overcome by the enormity of his sin Judas lamented in the presence of the chief priests and elders:

 

Matthew 27:4 “SAYING, I HAVE SINNED IN THAT I HAVE BETRAYED THE INNOCENT BLOOD.  AND THEY SAID, WHAT is that TO US? SEE THOU to that.”

 

Even in his final hours, before the guilt of what he had done weighed so heavily on him that he committed suicide, he did not attempt to lay the blame for his sin at someone else’s feet.  We might also note the attitude of the chief priests and elders when Judas came to them.  They used him and then when he came back to them in his repentance cast him off like an old, worn out tool.

            The fact that we are responsible for sinning is also taught in Acts 5 and II Samuel 12.  In Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira lied about the amount they had received from the sale of a piece of land (and the amount they subsequently professed to have donated to the church) we find Peter’s words as follows:

 

Acts 5:4 “WHILES IT REMAINED, WAS IT NOT THINE OWN? AND AFTER IT WAS SOLD, WAS IT NOT IN THINE OWN POWER? WHY HAST THOU CONCEIVED THIS THING IN THINE HEART?  THOU HAST NOT LIED UNTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD.”

 

The apostle wanted Ananias to know that he, personally, bore the guilt for his sin.  He could not claim (with any legitimacy): “The devil made me do it.”

 

            In II Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan was sent by God to convict King David of the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, wife of Urriah the Hittite.  This he did.  After hearing the evidence against him:

 

II Samuel 12:13 “AND DAVID SAID UNTO NATHAN, I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD.  AND NATHAN SAID UNTO DAVID, THE LORD ALSO HATH PUT AWAY THY SIN; THOU SHALT NOT DIE.”

 

To his credit David realized that not even powerful kings are immune to the personal responsibility that accompanies transgression of God’s law.

            If we are responsible for our own actions, how, then, does Satan influence us to sin?  Paul in his writing to the Corinthian brethren, whom he had upbraided and corrected, talks about forgiveness between brethren and then says:

 

II Corinthians 2:10-11  “TO WHOM YE FORGIVE ANY THING, I forgive ALSO: FOR IF I FORGAVE ANY THING, TO WHOM I FORGAVE it, FOR YOUR SAKES forgave I it IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST; LEST SATAN SHOULD GET AN ADVANTAGE OF US: FOR WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF HIS DEVICES”

 

The work “DEVICES” in this text is derived from the Greek noemata or noema, which brother Basil Overton writes “refers to intelligent notions, purposes, designs, devices, etc.” and this is confirmed by Vine in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.  In the vernacular of my generation they’re saying Satan accomplishes his purposes by messing with our minds.  Paul tells us again in:

 

Ephesians 6:11 “PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD; THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL.”

 

Now is this the same kind of thing?  The word “WILES” is derived from the Greek methodias the same root word from which we get our word “methods.”  Vine again defines the word as craft, deceit; the way to accomplish deceit, crafty, or as we might say today cunning.  Brother Overton (Satan: The World Evangelist) says methodias “is from the Greek verb that means to trace; to investigate, to handle methodically; to handle cunningly…The devil is a skilled artisan.  He will deceive you if you do not work at the job of fighting back at him.”

            Deceit, working on our minds, then is Satan’s most powerful tool.  Through his “devices” and “wiles” Satan works as Paul says in:

 

II Thessalonians 2:10 “AND WITH ALL DECIVABLENESS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN THEM THAT PERISH; BECAUSE THEY RECEIVED NOT THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED.”

 

Brother L. O. Sanderson, (known to some of us more as a song writer, more perhaps than as a Bible scholar, but a Bible scholar none the less) wrote in the Gospel Advocate under the title “The Devil and His Wiles” that Satan’s traits “clearly show the Devil to be a cunning, deceitful hypocrite.  He is truthless, dishonest, and fraudulent in every possible way.”  Adding to this assessment of Satan, L. M. Sweet (a denominationalist but a scholar as well) in his International Standard Bible Encyclopedia wrote “Satan’s power consists principally in his ability to deceive.  It is interesting and characteristic that according to the Bible Satan is fundamentally a liar and his kingdom is a kingdom founded upon lies and deceit.”  The New Testament supports such a conclusion.  In Reason and Revelation in April, 1998 Wayne Jackson wrote an article Demons: Ancient Superstition or Historical Reality? pointed out the following:

 

(1)  Satan delights in blinding the minds of the unbelieving that the light of the gospel should not dawn upon them.

 

II Corinthians 4:4 “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)  To accomplish this he does not hesitate to transform himself into an angel of light along with his ministers who pretend to be ministers of righteousness

 

II Corinthians 11:14-15 “AND NO MARVEL; FOR SATAN HIMSELF IS TRANSFORMED INTO ANGEL OF LIGHT.  THEREFORE it is NO GREAT THING IF HIS MINISTERS ALSO BE TRANSFORMED AS THE MINISTERS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; WHOSE END SHALL BE ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.”

 

(3)  When people are inclined not to believe the truth, the devil takes the gospel from their hearts:

 

Luke 8:12 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.”

 

(4)  He is full of trickery, he has snares:

 

I Timothy 3:7  MOREOVER HE MUST HAVE A GOOD REPORT OF THEM WHICH ARE WITHOUT; LEST HE FALL INTO REPROACH AND THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL.”

 

And employs his “wiles” – a deliberate planning or system of deceit:

 

Ephesians 4:14  ‘THAT WE henceforth BE NO MORE CHILDREN, TOSSED TO AND FRO, AND CARRIED ABOUT WITH EVERY WIND OF DOCTRINE, BY THE SLEIGHT OF MEN, and CUNNING CRAFTINESS, WHEREBY THEY LIE IN WAIT TO DECEIVE.”

 

            But what power does Satan have that allows him to accomplish his task of deceiving humanity?  How extensive is that power, and how is it used?  This is one of our subjects for the final lesson of this series.