What is Satan?

Satan means adversary

First of all, Satan is God’s adversary

Satan‘s main objective is to oppose God’s will. The activities of Satan are always directed against God, His plan, and His people. Satan also opposes the work of the Holy Spirit in the world which is to guide men and women into the truth of the Word of God.

When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the LORD, Satan was there among them. (Job 1:6 GNB)

the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One; and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. (Mat 13:38-39 GNB)

He is also man’s adversary

Satan is always trying to keep the Word of God from influencing the hearts and lives of men and women. He will attack them in the areas of worship of God, the Word of God, their Christian walk, and their work for God.

In another vision the LORD showed me the High Priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD. And there beside Joshua stood Satan, ready to bring an accusation against him. (Zec 3:1 GNB)

Satan is a spiritual being

Even though Satan is a spirit, he is a real person and displays a real personality.

The characteristics of Satan:

He is deceitful

I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ—in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake’s clever lies. (2Co 11:3 GNB)

He is angry and vindictive

The dragon was furious with the woman and went off to fight against the rest of her descendants, all those who obey God’s commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus. (Rev 12:17 GNB)

He is as wily as a wolf and full of evil tricks

Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks. (Eph 6:11 GNB)

He is as terrifying and aggressive as a hungry lion

Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1Pe 5:8 GNB)

He is deceptive and sneaky

“Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!” (2Co 11:14 GNB)

He blinds the minds of the unbelievers

But also if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those being lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving ones, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ (who is the image of God) should not dawn on them. (2Co 4:3-4 MKJV)

He forces his will upon unbelievers

And then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will. (2Ti 2:26 GNB)

What Satan is not…

Satan is not omniscient. He is limited in knowledge.

Unlike God, if Satan could foresee the future, he never would have allowed Jesus to die on the cross. He would have known that the death of Jesus would overthrow his power and provide a way of escape from the bondage of sin for all mankind.

He is not omnipotent. His power is limited by God.

You have always protected him and his family and everything he owns. You bless everything he does, and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country. But now suppose you take away everything he has—he will curse you to your face!” “All right,” the LORD said to Satan, “everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself.” So Satan left. (Job 1:10-12 GNB)

But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world. (1Jn 4:4 GNB)

His reign is not going to last forever. His rule will be overthrown

Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. (Joh 12:31 GNB)

Satan’s domain

Satan deceives the world through “spiritual wickedness in high places.” This is how he works in the religious structure of the world. He deceives through false doctrines, ministers, teachers and religions.

Satan is the ruler of the spiritual powers in space

At that time you followed the world’s evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. (Eph 2:2 GNB)

He is the ruler of the world

We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One. (1Jn 5:19 GNB)

He is the deceiver of the whole world

The huge dragon was thrown out—that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him. (Rev 12:9 GNB)

He is the deceiver of nations

The angel threw him into the abyss, locked it, and sealed it, so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that he must be set loose for a little while. (Rev 20:3 GNB)

Satan is at war against believers

Satan wars against the mind, the tongue, the spirit, and the bodies of believers. He attacks through family, friends, associates, finances, and circumstances. Satan also tempts through the worldly atmosphere and the social environment around us. He encourages a love of the world in the hearts of men and women. He is only able to overcome believers who yield control to him.

He is the accuser of the believers

The huge dragon was thrown out—that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now God’s salvation has come! Now God has shown his power as King! Now his Messiah has shown his authority! For the one who stood before our God and accused believers day and night has been thrown out of heaven. (Rev 12:9-10 GNB)

Satan puts believers to the test

Don’t be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory. (Rev 2:10 GNB)

Satan plants doubt in the minds of believers.

Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the LORD God had made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?” (Gen 3:1 GNB)

He tries to prevent the believer from effective Christian service.

We wanted to return to you. I myself tried to go back more than once, but Satan would not let us. (1Th 2:18 GNB)

What is Satan’s domain?

Satan works in and with worldly systems. He uses the appeal of the world to entice believers to sin.

Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father. Everything that belongs to the world—what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of—none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. (1Jn 2:15-16 GNB)

That is why I had to send Timothy. I could not bear it any longer, so I sent him to find out about your faith. Surely it could not be that the Devil had tempted you and all our work had been for nothing! (1Th 3:5 GNB)

Satan incites the world to persecute believers.

Don’t be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory. (Rev 2:10 GNB)

How does Satan operate?

Satan is predictable. He works through the flesh. If he cannot “blind your mind” and keep you from accepting the truth of the Gospel, then he will try to keep you in bondage to the flesh.

The body, soul, and spirit of man are closely related. Because of this, Satan accesses the soul and spirit through the flesh. This strategy is evident in the first temptation of man. Satan used fleshly senses and desires to gain access to Eve’s soul and spirit.

The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it. (Gen 3:6 GNB)

Satan attacks in various ways

- Satan uses our fleshly lusts to war against our souls

I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul. (1Pe 2:11 GNB)

- He uses the flesh to affect our minds and spirits.

But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. (Rom 7:23 GNB)

All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God. (2Co 7:1 GNB)

- He also uses the flesh to corrupt our lives.

If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death; if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life. (Gal 6:8 GNB)

Be on the alert! Satan is quick to grab an opportunity.

God warns us against Satan

Don’t give the Devil a chance. (Eph 4:27 GNB)

Continued willful indulgence in fleshly sins can result in bondage to Satan.