Tags
Accuser, Angels, Bible Study, Deceiver, devil, faith, Holy Spirit, reality, Satan, Scripture, sin, Spiritual Warfare, video games
I’ve got this great idea for a new video game where armies of angels and their leader battle demons and Satan for the souls of poor unsuspecting people. Wait, I think someone already patented this idea, and it is not a game. God is the author of Spiritual Warfare. He created all things and planned them all for His purpose. In Ephesians 6, where we are exhorted to put on the armor of God, we are told of the reality of Spiritual Warfare. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”(12) To quote my husband’s famous phrase to our kids “This is the real thing.” It is not a game, but reality that demonic power exists. We can wonder, how much power does Satan have? What can he do to us today?
Satan is also called the Accuser. When we see him in Job, he is standing before God, looking over humanity with him. He brings charges of sin against people, much like a prosecuting attorney. Satan reminds God that He declares a death penalty for sin. This is the spiritual death, the eternal separation from God. And before Christ paid the penalty for our sin on the cross, this was a real threat. Old Testament saints lived by faith in God and His promise of redemption, which because of God’s eternal perspective was true. But we can imagine that the threat of this eternal death was strong and evoked much fear.
It seems that when Christ took on human flesh, Satan mustered his forces for a flurry of demonic activity to oppose the coming of The Kingdom of God. The gospels are full of demon possession and Jesus and the disciples casting them out. The demons recognized and feared Jesus. When Jesus confronted the demoniac in Mark 5, the man cried out “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”(7) And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.(10) This demon both recognized exactly who Christ was and the power that He had over him.
Jesus stated before his crucifixion “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31). In Paul’s letter to the Colossians he tells us that Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”(2:15) Satan is the one described as the ruler of this world.
And in John’s vision of Christ’s triumph at the cross in Revelation we see Satan stripped of his power to accuse the brethren before God. “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”(Revelation 12:9-10) Because Christ took on human form and lived a perfect sinless life as our representative, then took the punishment for our sin on the cross, Satan is a defeated foe. He has no basis to accuse us before God. And from this passage, we see the devil and his angels thrown down from heaven, no longer able to accuse us before God because of Christ’s intercession for us.
God is still perfect in His justice, because Jesus paid our death penalty. We are freed from slavery to fear of eternal punishment. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”(Hebrews 2:14-15) All who call on Christ as Lord and Savior are seen as righteous before God. There is no longer a charge that can be brought against us.
This does not stop Satan and his army of demons from hating and opposing God and His chosen people, but their powers are limited. They cannot overcome the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers, nor can they defeat God’s plans. Instead, God’s glory is ultimately advanced as His people contend with the deceptions and discouragements from the devil and his minions. Martin Luther said “the devil is God’s devil” and John Calvin stated demons “drag their chains wherever they go”, indicating their defeat by Christ.
Satan accuses us of our sin and seeks to shame us. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, but it also brings to mind the promises of forgiveness and assurance of the new people we are in Christ. This subtle but all important difference is why Paul reminds us to be active in equipping ourselves to battle Satan. Even a defeated foe can wreak havoc and destruction if we are not on the watch and trained for warfare. In this image of armor in Ephesians 6, we are pictured as standing firm with the strength and righteousness of Christ, empowered to “extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one.” (16b) And as James reminds us “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”(4:7)
I surely am grateful that I don’t have to rely on my prowess at a video game for this victory.
soli deo gloria,
Diane