Editor's note: Enjoy today's devotion from The Battle for Your Soul by Dr. David Jeremiah.
*
In Luke 10, Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to minister in pairs for a time. When they returned, they were overjoyed by their success, saying,
Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. — verse 17
They were amazed at their ability to win the battle for souls even when confronted by demonic power.
Replying to His followers, Jesus made a striking statement:
I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. — verse 18
In that moment, Jesus described one of the most consequential events not just in human history or even in earth’s history—but in the history of all creation. That event was the rebellion and fall of Satan. The prophet Isaiah also described that moment:
How you are fallen from Heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
“I will ascend into Heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.”
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit. — 14:12–15
Lucifer was a wise, beautiful, and powerful angel within God’s heavenly court (Ezekiel 28:12–16). Yet pride rose in his heart—so much so that he attempted to challenge God’s supremacy in heaven. Incredibly, Lucifer was apparently so persuasive that many other angels joined his cause, all of them seeking to usurp the place of God. We don’t know how that rebellion took place, but we know the result:
Lucifer and his forces were expelled from Heaven.
Think about that for a moment. Before the fall of humanity through the sin of Adam and Eve, the first iniquity we know about in all of creation is Lucifer’s sin of pride (1 Timothy 3:6). This gives us a helpful window into the devil’s personality. He is buoyed and bloated with pride.
Beyond that central flaw, we can learn a great deal about the devil from the names, titles, and descriptions given to him throughout God’s Word. For example, “Satan” is actually a title rather than a personal name. It means “accuser” (Revelation 12:10), which is what the devil does—he scours our lives for evidence of sin so that he can hurl legal accusations against us before God. The apostle Peter described Satan as “your adversary the devil,” who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He is the evil one (John 17:15). The destroyer (Revelation 9:11). Jesus declared the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
Lucifer the mighty angel became a lowly serpent in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1–4). He remains a tempter (Matthew 4:3), seeking to lure as many people as possible away from God’s plan of redemption and into a counterfeit kingdom leading directly to hell.
Satan’s Positions
There are three positions Satan has been given authority to fulfill at our present time: prince, ruler, and god. All three are influential in the battle for your soul, so let’s look more closely at each one.
First, Satan is a prince in the cosmic hierarchy of God’s created order. The Bible calls Satan “the prince of this world” three times (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11 NIV). He is also called the “prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2. As the prince of this world, Satan is in charge of evil people. As the prince of the power of the air, he is in charge of evil spirits. In other words,
- Satan is the leader of evil whether in the physical or spiritual realms.
Next, Satan is a ruler. Scripture tells us, “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). The devil rules over the world system in which we live—the world of power, lust, ambition, greed, and lies. He has both influence and authority over that system, which is how he pushes it to harass and persecute those who believe in Jesus.
Kingdoms involve more than physical or geographical boundaries. In a practical sense, a kingdom is simply the authority to rule within a given boundary. And Satan has a kingdom he rules—a kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13) in which he reigns over demonic beings (Matthew 25:41) and some human beings who have given themselves over to the powers of darkness. The principalities, powers, rulers, and hosts to which Paul refers in Ephesians 6:12 represent hierarchical levels of authority within Satan’s kingdom—perhaps as many as a third of the created order of angels who rebelled against God and went with Satan to earth (Revelation 12:4).
As we’ve seen, every member of Satan’s kingdom is actively seeking your annihilation as a Christ-follower. Every member of that kingdom is intent on diluting, distracting, and ultimately destroying your soul.
Finally, the Bible describes Satan as “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Specifically, the passage declares that the message of the gospel is veiled for those “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (verse 4). We normally associate a “god” with a religion, and that is perfectly appropriate here. Satan definitely has his own religion. He has his own church (Revelation 2:9; 3:9), his own gospel (Galatians 1:8), his own ministers (2 Corinthians 11:15), his own doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1), and his own communion table and cup (1 Corinthians 10:20–21). His desire is to counterfeit everything God does so as to lead many astray—and his religion serves that goal.
To be clear, I’m not talking about what we often refer to as “Satan worship,” although that certainly is part of the devil’s kingdom. Instead, this religion managed by Satan includes any religious system that presents itself as a genuine alternative to Christianity. Meaning any religious system that claims to provide reconciliation between God and humanity without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is part of Satan’s diabolical system.
Satan’s Purposes
We’ve learned a lot about the devil’s personality and the various positions he operates within creation. Now let’s get to the “why?” question. Why does the devil do what the devil does? What are Satan’s purposes in pursuing his ongoing rebellion against God?
As we saw earlier, Satan’s ultimate goal is to usurp the rightful place of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. That’s what drove the rebellion in Heaven. That’s what Satan attempted to accomplish when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:9). Similarly, that’s what Satan attempted when he arranged for Christ to be killed on a cross.
Our enemy has never given up on his blasphemous dream. He still pursues it, and he does so primarily through what we might call three sub-purposes, or three strategies.
One of those key purposes is deception. Satan is the great deceiver. He is a liar and the father of lies. In Revelation 12:9, he is identified as “that serpent of old... who deceives the whole world.” Again, his primary goal is to deceive humanity about Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel, but he will engage in any form of deception that causes distance or separation between people and their Creator.
Satan always mixes enough truth with error to make it attractive and enough error with truth to make it deadly.
He knows the Bible well and can misquote it or take it out of context at will. He loves to ask us,
Has God indeed said...? — Genesis 3:1
That’s why the greatest defense against Satan the deceiver is a thorough, working knowledge of the Word of God.
Division is another of the devil’s key purposes. He is the great divider in both heavenly and human history, and he especially loves to sow dissension wherever God is at work. Think about it. The first thing Satan did after rebelling against God was divide the angelic hosts of Heaven into two camps: those who followed him and those who retained their loyalty to God. He instigated separation between God and humanity in the garden of Eden. He was involved in the division of Israel after the reigns of David and Solomon; we know that because the division was largely based on the practice of idol worship. Even at the launch of the early church, Satan was there to corrupt the thinking of Ananias and Sapphira, who lied about a donation they had laid at the apostles’ feet. Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?” (Acts 5:3).
- Satan is still sowing seeds of division in the body of Christ through lies, jealousy, pride, power, and finances.
He desires division in your family and your community. And he uses that division as a way of damaging your souls.
Finally, destruction is a third motivating purpose of the devil. He wants to destroy anything good, pure, noteworthy, or noble.
Sometimes his method of destruction comes through direct attack, which are the “fiery darts of the wicked one” Paul mentioned in Ephesians 6:16. Other times Satan is more indirect, using adversity as a way of striking out against his enemies. Paul referenced that type of adversity when he wrote,
Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. — 1 Thessalonians 2:18
Either way, Satan wants to discourage our efforts to serve God and be useful in advancing His Kingdom throughout this world. He pushes us by any means necessary to lose hope and lose faith—both of which are deeply corrosive to our souls.
The Secret to Winning the Battle
Martin Luther was one of the great stalwarts of the Christian faith. Most people know him best as a theologian and a preacher, but he was also a songwriter. His most famous work is the beloved hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” I recently came across a quote from Luther that offers helpful insight on why he loved to write and sing songs. The reason was that he wanted to defeat his enemy! Here’s what he said:
Music is a fair and lovely gift of God which has often wakened and moved me... Music drives away the Devil and makes people [happy]... Next after theology I give to music the highest place and greatest honor... Experience proves that next to the Word of God only music deserves to be extolled as the mistress and governess of the feelings of the human heart. We know that to the devil music is distasteful and insufferable. My heart bubbles up and overflows in response to music, which has so often refreshed me and delivered me from dire plagues.1
Whether we use music or prayer or reciting the Word of God, there is a secret to dealing with Satan and his efforts to damage our souls: We must resist. Peter wrote,
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. — 1 Peter 5:8–9
James told us,
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. — James 4:7
This is not a passive form of resistance in which we hunker down and hope things will get better. After all, you can’t hunker down when a lion is after you with fang and claw! No, our only option is to stand. To fight. To be sober and vigilant in the choices we make each day and in our reliance on God to fill us with strength for the battle.
Don’t miss the promise from God’s Word: When you stand against Satan, “he will flee from you.” Grab that promise with both hands. Hold it in your heart as truth. The devil’s future is written in stone, just like yours and mine. We can resist him because Christ has already won the battle.
The Secret:
Remind yourself each day that you have an enemy who is deceitful, divisive, destructive—and defeated!
1. Roland Herbert Bainton, Here I Stand (Hendrickson Publishers, 1950), 351–52.
Excerpted with permission from The Battle for Your Soul by Dr. David Jeremiah, copyright David P. Jeremiah.
* * *
Your Turn
We don’t have to be afraid of the devil. He’s a lying snake who is after us, but remember, he is already defeated! Worship the Lord for that today! ~ Devotionals Daily