Satan: The Defeated Foe - Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon

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3:1), as seeking to uphold his influence among men by bringing false charges against Christians, with the view of weakening their influence and injuring the cause with which they are identified. He was regarded by the Jews as the accuser of men before God, laying to their charge the violations of the law of which they were guilty, and demanding their punishment. The same Greek word, rendered “accuser,” is found in John 8:10; Acts 23:30, 35; 24:8; 25:16, 18, and in each case it is used in the context of one bringing a charge against another.

      The Book of Job is a perfect example of how he operated when he had access to God in heaven: “Now there was a day when the  sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan [“the accuser”] also came among them…. The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But put forth Your hand now and  touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face” [an accusation] (Job 1:6, 8-11). Note that Satan could not operate independent of God as he had to seek permission from God to harass Job. We know the end of that story. Job remained faithful no matter what Satan did to him and he was given a double portion of blessing.

      Our first introduction to Satan came in Genesis 3 in connection with the fall of man. Genesis 3:1 says: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made”. The serpent was actually Satan disguised. Revelation confirms this: “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him”. The “serpent of old” is referring to the serpent in the garden who deceived Eve and Adam, causing the fall of mankind from Paradise. Being Satan he was much wiser than the humans who had only been recently created and were babes with respect to many spiritual things. They were like recently saved Christians who, although saved, were only at the start of the unfolding of the salvation experience. Satan already knew both the things of heaven and the earth, having been the wisest angel in heaven and the closest to God. Just as in the expanding knowledge of salvation, Adam and Eve would have been taught by God many things such as knowledge of evil when they became mature enough to handle the knowledge. They were protected by a wise God from knowledge that might cause them to stumble and to be defeated by evil. However Satan was able to play on their immaturity and deceive them.

      How the serpent (Satan) appeared in the Garden is not explained in the scriptures but he was there to test the first divine humans. He craftily deceived Eve by lying to her and speaking against God’s instructions with respect to the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (also called the “Tree of Knowledge”). Satan told the woman: “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” [a lie]. And the woman said [correctly] to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! [2nd lie]. Satan knew of course that “the wages of sin was death” (Rom 6:23). But Satan said: “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil [3rd lie]” (Gen 3:1-5). It is the inner desire of every human to be “like God”, in the inner circle of those who are perceived to be the most knowledgeable and the “elite”. Satan himself wanted to be worshipped like God (Matthew 4:9).

      So the woman gave the forbidden fruit to Adam and he ate also. They were immediately cast out of the garden into the world of futility. Whether or not God had to build a new creation of futility or there was already an existing such world is not known. We do know that after God’s creation (Genesis 1-2) He looked at all He had done and: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). In other words there was no futility, sin or defect in creation. When Adam and Eve fell, immediately there was toil, hardship and death, none of which existed in the world originally created by God. He said to Adam of the world to which he was banished:

      “Cursed is the ground because of you;

       In toil [sorrow] you will eat of it

      All the days of your life.

      both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

      And you will eat the plants of the field;

       By the sweat of your face

      You will eat bread,

      Till you return to the ground,

      Because from it you were taken;

      For you are dust, And to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:17-19). This was the introduction of death into the world.

      “To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you” (Gen 3:16). Evidently before the fall the female had no pain in childbirth. Also, by implication, man and women were equal in the garden but in the banished world the husband was superior to the wife and he ruled over her.

      It was to the serpent (Satan) that the harshest words were spoken by God. However those words offer mankind the greatest hope that the world of futility to which mankind was banished will not last forever. God said to the serpent of old: “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life” (Gen 3:14). The serpent is punished as a serpent for allowing itself to be possessed by Satan and used by him to defeat God’s plan. God has more words for the serpent but they appear to be directed to Satan, as opposed to the woman only.

      God said: “And I will put enmity Between you [Satan] and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He [seed of the woman-Christ] shall bruise [crush] you [Satan] on the head, And you [Satan] shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen 3:15). The hope of mankind rests on this very scripture. The seed of the woman (Mary or Israel) Jesus Christ shall crush the head of Satan killing him. Satan will put up a fight and will bruise Christ and those that are His on the heel but it is not a fatal blow. It is because of this hope that Paul is able to say: “For the creation was SUBJECTED TO FUTILITY, NOT WILLINGLY, BUT BECAUSE OF HIM who subjected it, in hope that the CREATION ITSELF ALSO WILL BE SET FREE from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). It is Christ and His Sons who will set creation free from its God imposed curse. This was what God intended all along after the fall.

      It is the Sons (plural) that will free creation from futility. Paul says: “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the SONS OF GOD”… For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves  groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:19, 22-23). The Lord intends to bring forth many Sons like unto Himself who will release creation from the curse of futility. We know this from Romans 8:29-30: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, so that He [Jesus] would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also  called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also  glorified [with Christ’s glory]” (Rom 8:29-30).

      We become adopted Sons but with His nature. Paul said: “For we know that the whole creation groans

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