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Just as the Bible speaks about God and man, it also speaks about Satan. We should not forget that immediately after man was created, God put him in front of two trees: one was the tree of life, and the other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have mentioned repeatedly that the tree of life denotes God and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil denotes Satan. Therefore, in the very beginning of the Bible we see these three characters: God, Satan, and man. The entire Bible is a record of the things concerning these three characters. Therefore, in reading the Bible, we should not only know the things concerning God and the things concerning man, we should also know the things concerning Satan. If we have a good grasp concerning these three lines—the line of God, the line of man, and the line of Satan, the Bible will become crystal clear to us. Now we will look at the line of Satan. In this line the points that require our attention are numerous and somewhat complicated.
Originally, Satan was created and anointed by God.
Cherubim have the highest position among the angels in the heavens, and in particular, Satan was an anointed cherub (Ezek. 28:12-15); thus, he was unquestionably the highest among the angels. Jude 9 says, “Michael the archangel, when he contended with the devil and disputed concerning the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a reviling judgment against him but said, The Lord rebuke you.” From this we can see that even Michael’s position was lower than that of Satan. Therefore, Satan’s position was very high. Ephesians 2:2 also says that Satan is the ruler of the authority of the air.
According to the Scriptures, the anointed cherub, the archangel, was originally set by God to be over the universe, the preadamic universe. In Luke 4:6 Satan said to the Lord Jesus that the glory of all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth had been delivered to him. We should realize that Satan could not deceive the Lord Jesus, nor did the Lord Jesus refute his word. What Satan said was a fact. Therefore, we should ask, “When was this glory delivered to him?” The Bible does not speak of it being delivered after Adam was created, because Satan fell before Adam was created. Therefore, this delivery must have occurred before Adam was created.
Satan was once a created and anointed cherub, appointed by God to rule over the former universe. At one point, however, he rebelled against God and became Satan, God’s adversary, due to his pride. This is clearly shown in Ezekiel 28:15 and 17 and Isaiah 14:13-14.
Revelation 12:4 shows that when Satan rebelled against God, one-third of the angels under him followed. Ephesians 6:12 says that these rebellious angels are forces of evil in the heavenlies. Furthermore, Ephesians 2:2 says that Satan is the ruler of these evil spirits, these forces of evil in the air. Therefore, when Satan rebelled, some of the angels under him also rebelled; these rebellious angels became the evil spirits in the air, the rulers and authorities of the air, with Satan as their leader.
According to the record in the Bible, the unclean demons and evil spirits who are upon the surface of the earth and in the waters of the sea must be a group of living creatures who were under Satan in the preadamic world. When Satan rebelled against God, they followed him and also rebelled against God; thus they came under God’s judgment of destruction by the flood and became the unclean demons and evil spirits, who today are on the earth and in the sea. Matthew 8:32, Mark 5:9-13, and Luke 8:2 all speak of the demons on the earth.
We need to see these three groups: Satan, the fallen angels under him, who became the evil spirits in the air, and the demons on the earth and in the water. We should not regard demons as angels, nor as humans who died. They are something different. According to the Scriptures, we can infer that they must have been a group of living creatures under Satan in the preadamic world, who became demons through their rebellion and God’s judgment.
The preadamic universe was delivered into the hands of the cherub, the archangel. But the universe was defiled and destroyed because of his rebellion. This can be seen in Job 9:5-6 and Genesis 1:2.
Satan’s nature is sin, and it results in sinning (1 John 3:8). Sin is Satan’s nature. Just as the nature of a table is wood and the nature of a microphone is steel, the nature of Satan is sin. Satan is a constitution of sin; thus, sin is his nature.
Just as sin is Satan’s nature, lying is also his nature (John 8:44). Sin is an inward condition, whereas lying is the outward expression. Satan not only lies with words, he also lies with actions. Whatever Satan does is a lie and false. Just as Satan’s nature is sin, it is also his nature to lie. There is nothing but lies in his nature, so he is the father of liars.
Murder is also in Satan’s nature. In God’s eyes Satan is fully related to sins, lies, and murder. Satan’s work on man has one principle—to murder man. The Lord Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning (v. 44). He not only murders those whom he persecutes, he even murders those who follow him so that in the end even they are doomed to destruction and perdition.
The great dragon signifies Satan as the cruel one (Rev. 12:9; 20:2).
The ancient serpent signifies Satan as the crafty one (12:9; 20:2).
In Greek the name devil has two meanings—“accuser” and “slanderer.” Satan accuses men before God and slanders God before men (v. 2).
Satan means “adversary.” As God’s adversary, Satan opposes God (v. 2).
The Lord Jesus said that Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). The whole world is in subjection to Satan’s authority and is ruled by Satan.
On the one hand, Satan is the ruler of this world, the ruler of the system on the earth, which is a systematized world (2 Cor. 4:4). On the other hand, Satan is also the god of this age. Originally, there was only God, but in this age Satan has actually usurped God’s position in man. He took over God’s position and replaced God to become god to men; thus, he is the god of the present age.
Being the ruler of the world speaks of Satan ruling over man, and being the god of this age speaks of man worshipping Satan. Today not many on the earth are free from his rule, and not many can avoid worshipping him. On the one hand, men are ruled by Satan, and on the other hand, men worship him because he is the ruler of this world and the god of this age.
The Bible speaks of “the evil one” in a number of places (1 John 3:12; 5:19). The evil one can also be translated as “the evil.” Satan is evil. In the universe there is something called the evil, and this evil is Satan.
God is a Father, and Satan is also a father (John 8:44). God is the Father of lights (James 1:17); everything of Him can withstand the shining of light and is true. Satan, however, is the father of lies; everything of him is a lie and a falsehood. All lies come from Satan; he is the source of lies.
In the Chinese Bible, in some places tempter is translated as “the deceiver.” To tempt is to deceive, to turn falsehood into truth and truth into falsehood, thereby confusing truth and falsehood (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thes. 3:5).
The authority of the air refers to the angels who followed Satan to rebel against God (Eph. 2:2). Satan set them as the authority in the air, and he himself is their ruler.
The Jews reviled the Lord Jesus by saying that He cast out the demons by Beelzebul, ruler of the demons (Matt. 12:24). This Beelzebul, ruler of the demons, is another name for Satan. Beelzebul is Greek; its Hebrew equivalent is Baal-zebub, which is spoken of in 2 Kings 1:3. Both names mean “the lord of flies” or “the lord of the dunghill.” This is a description of Satan’s filthiness. There is nothing clean in him; the filth of the entire world is concentrated in him.
He is the enemy of God and also the enemy of God’s people (Matt. 13:39).
Belial means “base, filthy, and lawless.” As Belial, Satan is mean and low, filthy and squalid, lawless and godless (2 Cor. 6:15).
Satan has at least these thirteen titles in the Bible. We will know the kind of person that Satan is if we consider all these thirteen titles.
In Matthew 12:26 the Lord Jesus clearly speaks of Satan’s kingdom. In Acts 26:18 and Colossians 1:13 the apostle also speaks of Satan’s authority. According to these verses, we know that Satan has a kingdom and authority.
Ephesians 2:2 says that Satan is the ruler of the authority of the air. John 12:31 says that he is the ruler of this world. He is the ruler of the air, and he is also the ruler of this world. The sphere of his kingdom includes the air and the earth.
Satan’s subordinates can be divided into five categories: fallen angels serving at a higher level as his authorities; a group of angels serving as his army in the air; numerous angels serving as his messengers; people on the earth serving as his ministers; and countless unclean spirits and demons serving as his subordinates.
Ephesians 6:12; 2:2; and 1:21 speak of Satan’s authorities in the air. These authorities are also called princes, such as the prince of Persia and the prince of Javan spoken of in Daniel 10:13 and 20. These evil princes are the authorities in the air. According to the Bible, the authorities in the air are a group of angels who had authority under Satan when he was anointed to rule over the universe. When Satan rebelled against God, they followed him in his rebellion and became a group of authorities under him.
In the kingdom of Satan there are not only authorities in the air but also an army. Isaiah 24:21 says, “In that day Jehovah will punish / On high the host on high.” A careful reading of the context of this chapter shows that the host on high refers to Satan’s army in the air. Revelation 12:7 also clearly shows us that Satan has an army; the host of Satan is in the air.
Satan also has angels. Matthew 25:41 indicates that Satan’s angels will be cast with him into the lake of fire in the future. This shows that there are many angels under Satan. These angels are the ones who rebelled with him, as indicated in Revelation 12:4 and 9. These verses indicate that the tail of the great dragon dragged away the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth; stars refers to the angels. From these verses we can conclude that at least a third of the angels followed Satan when he rebelled against God. Of these angels, some are the authorities in the air spoken of in Ephesians 6, who are on high, and some are common angels.
In 2 Corinthians 11:15 the apostle Paul says that Satan has ministers. These ministers do not refer to fallen angels or to unclean spirits; they refer to people who are used by Satan. When the apostle spoke this word, he was referring to false apostles. False apostles are sent by Satan into the church to do a damaging work; they are ministers of Satan who serve him by running errands for him.
According to the four Gospels, the demons cast out by the Lord Jesus when He was on the earth were unclean demons and evil spirits. Many who read the Bible confuse unclean demons and evil spirits with angels, thinking that the demons are fallen angels. Actually, these are two different groups. The fallen angels dwell in the air. Even though they have no physical body, they have a spiritual body. However, unclean demons and evil spirits dwell on the earth, as seen in the Gospels. They particularly dwell in the sea and in the water; they are a group of disembodied spirits. They must have had a body in the past, but they became disembodied spirits because of God’s judgment; this is the reason they love to enter into man’s body and dwell in it. If they are unable to possess the body of a man, they will possess the body of an animal. When demons came out from the two demon-possessed men in Matthew 8, they went into the hogs and rushed into the sea; this shows that they also can possess animals. Their dwelling place is different from the fallen angels, and their nature is also different from the fallen angels.
Those who have seriously studied the Bible have concluded that the unclean demons and evil spirits must be from a group of living creatures who were on the earth in the preadamic world. It is hard for us to say what they were exactly, but they must have been a group of living creatures, and when Satan rebelled against God, they followed in the rebellion and were judged by God.
The Bible clearly shows us that God judged the earth by flooding it with water. The living creatures on the earth were judged by God and drowned in the water. During God’s six-day re-creation, He said that all He had created were good except for two things: one was the air and the other one was the water upon the surface of the earth. This is because the evil power of Satan and his authorities were in the air, and the unclean demons and evil spirits were in the water upon the surface of the earth.
Concerning this matter, we can say that all the attacks in the Bible against God’s children come either from the air or from the sea. This can be seen in the four Gospels. When the Lord Jesus crossed the sea, the wind came and the waves in the sea also rose. We should not assume that this was merely a natural phenomenon. The wind came from the air because Satan’s authorities were in the air; the waves rose up from the sea because Satan’s unclean demons were in the sea. These two parties cooperated and stirred up a storm. This storm did not occur naturally; rather, Satan’s evil powers were causing trouble in order to hinder the Lord Jesus’ journey because He was preparing to cast out many demons after He crossed over the sea. The Lord Jesus came to the earth to purge Satan’s kingdom of its power. This is the reason the Lord encountered resistance from storms everywhere.
The citizens of Satan’s kingdom are the fallen people in the whole world. First John 5:19 says, “The whole world lies in the evil one.” According to the sense of the word in John 3:16, world refers to the people in the world. All the people in the world lie in the evil one; all of them are citizens of his kingdom. There are five categories of Satan’s subordinates, together with all the fallen people in the whole world as his citizens.
Ever since Satan seduced man to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and caused man to have his nature of sin (Gen. 3:1-7; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14), he has been at enmity with all who belong to God, all who stand on God’s side (Gen. 3:15).
Satan caused man to reject God’s way of salvation through Cain and his descendants (4:3, 5-12; 8, 1 John 3:12; John 8:44).
The angels under Satan joined with man through marriage and corrupted the earth during Noah’s time. Genesis 6:4 says, “The sons of God came in to the daughters of men.” Many say that the sons of God spoken of here refer to the godly descendants of Adam—Seth and his descendants. However, if we read carefully, we will see that sons of God refers to the fallen angels. The angels under Satan came to corrupt man, mingling with man, corrupting man to the uttermost and bringing in God’s judgment.
The most prominent person who was utilized by Satan was Nimrod (10:5-11, 32). He was the first person on the earth to reign as a king; he became the first king. He also was the first to establish a nation. He took the lead to overthrow the authority of God’s rule, to set himself up as a king, to rule over others, and to establish a kingdom. This was Satan’s work.
The story of Babel involves the collective rebellion against God (11:3-4). Archaeologists and historians tell us that when the city of Babel and the tower of Babel were being built, the names of idols were inscribed on all the bricks. This was Satan’s effort to blot out the name of God from the face of the earth.
Whenever man exalts his own name, he exalts idols. At Babel, Satan’s instigation among men reached a peak. They collectively rebelled to abolish God’s authority from the earth; in other words, they intended to force God from the earth to the heavens. It was as if Satan were saying to God, “Since You will not allow me to exercise my authority in the heavens, I will not allow You to exercise Your authority on the earth. Go back!”
The condition of today’s world is the same, especially in totalitarian nations, whose intent is to push God from the earth to the heavens, to eliminate God from the universe; this is Satan’s work. This work began by him injecting man with his poisonous nature, his evil nature, and eventually led to him instigating man to collectively overthrow God’s authority and to force God from the earth. This is Satan’s corruption of man.
According to the Bible, Satan’s work in the universe also involves attacking those who fear God. He is always trying to attack those who fear God. This can be seen in the book of Job.
In the book of Job, Satan falsely accused the God-fearing Job twice before God (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6). In his false accusations he did his best to find fault with Job. However, he could not find any fault, so his accusations became slander. First, he accuses (the name devil means “accuser”), and if he cannot find any fault, he slanders. He said, “Does Job fear God without cause? Have You not set a hedge around him and his household and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his possessions are spread throughout the land. But stretch forth Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face” (1:9-11). This is slander.
Not only did Satan falsely accuse Job before God and slander God, he greatly assailed Job when God gave him the permission, launching an assault on the environment around Job and then inflicting great harm to Job’s body. These are different ways in which Satan attacks those who fear God.
Satan’s attacks are always from the circumference to the center; he also calls upon his subordinates. For example, the wind came from the air (v. 19), the Chaldeans came (v. 17), the Sabeans came (v. 15), and his ministers came (2:11). When Satan attacked Job, he called upon nearly all his subjects.
Exodus shows that after God’s chosen people went down to Egypt, Satan ill-treated them, usurped them, detained them, and tried to annihilate them through Pharaoh’s hands. This is revealed in Exodus 1:8-18; 5:2-23; 8:25-28; and 10:10-11 and 24-27.
God spoke to the children of Israel through Moses, yet Pharaoh placed work more heavily upon them so that they would labor and have no heart to listen to the words which Moses spoke to them. This is revealed in Exodus 5:9 and 6:9.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt and reached the foot of Mount Sinai, Satan still followed after them to damage them.
After the children of Israel came to the foot of Mount Sinai, the first thing Satan did was to cause them to reject God’s grace. God seemed to be saying to them, “As an eagle bearing its young on wings, I have brought you out of Egypt. You did not have to do anything, to make any move, or to do any work; rather, My grace accomplished everything for you. Now I will bear you to the land of Canaan.” However, at this point, Satan caused the children of Israel to become proud. Not knowing themselves, they rejected God’s grace and wanted to keep God’s commandments by themselves. As a result, the law was inserted. Without Israel’s rejection of God’s grace, there would have been no need to give the law.
At the foot of Mount Sinai, Satan’s most corrupting work among the children of Israel was to cause an idol to be brought into their midst; it was not an ordinary idol but a special-made idol. They made a golden calf to worship as God; moreover, they made the calf with the gold that God intended to use to build the tabernacle, thereby making God jealous (Deut. 32:21).
After Mount Sinai they went on their journey in the wilderness. Even then Satan followed them, constantly doing a corrupting work.
Throughout their journey in the wilderness the children of Israel frequently murmured against God, as recorded in Numbers 11:1, 4-6, 33-34; 16:41-49; and 21:4-6.
Satan caused the children of Israel to not believe in God’s promise to bring them into the land of Canaan with His great power. This greatly offended God, and they were struck by God, as recorded in Numbers 13:28—14:12 and 26-45.
Moses and Aaron were the authority God established among the children of Israel, but at one point they rebelled against this authority, overthrowing the order ordained by God among His people. This is recorded in Numbers 16:1-35.
These three matters caused the children of Israel to suffer God’s smiting. In one instance God consumed them by fire, in another instance He destroyed them with a severe pestilence, and in the last instance God caused the ground to open its mouth and swallow them. These were God’s smiting.
After they arrived in Canaan, Satan corrupted them even more.
The children of Israel were defeated at Ai because of the hidden sin in Achan. This is shown in Joshua 7:19-26.
After the children of Israel entered into Canaan, Satan caused them to forsake God, worship idols, and do evil things so that they were constantly defeated by and put under the bondage of their enemies. This is seen in the entire book of Judges. Some important passages are 2:11-23; 3:6-8, 12-13; 4:1-3; 5:8; 6:1-6; 8:27, 33-34; 10:6-9; and 13:1.
The last sentence in the book of Judges says, “There was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25). Satan caused them to do what was right in their own eyes and to cast off God’s restraint; in other words, he caused them to be lawless and godless. This is revealed in Judges 17—18; 19:1; and 21:25.
The story of the house of Eli shows the corruption of the priesthood. Eli’s two sons, who served as priests, were utterly corrupt and caused the sanctuary of God to become desolate to the point that even the Ark of the Covenant was captured; this was Satan’s work. Satan corrupted God’s dwelling place among the children of Israel. This can be seen by reading 1 Samuel 2:12-17, 27-34; 3:12-14; and 4:1-22.
Satan first corrupted God’s dwelling place among them, and then he took a further step to deal with God’s authority by causing Israel to reject God as their King over them. This is spoken of in 1 Samuel 8:4-21 and 12:12-19.
In 1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan moved David to number Israel and thereby offend God.
God established the priesthood among them, but Satan came and corrupted it. God then established the kingship among them, but Satan came and corrupted them. God finally established the prophethood among them, yet Satan came to corrupt again, causing them to kill the prophets of God. This is seen in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22; Jeremiah 7:25-26; 20:1-2; 26:8-9; 33:1; 37:14-16; 38:1-6; and Matthew 23:29-33 and 37.
Satan corrupted not only the priests but also the kings and the prophets established by God. In the end he corrupted the children of Israel to the point that they completely forsook God to serve idols. Consequently, God delivered them to their enemies to be carried away to the nations. Satan’s corruption of the children of Israel reached its peak after they came to Canaan. This is revealed in 1 Kings 14:15-16, 23-26; 2 Kings 17:1-23; 21:1-17; 24:1-4, 10-20; 25:1-25 and 2 Chronicles 36:5-20.
Even in the land of captivity Satan did not let go of the children of Israel; he continued to corrupt them.
In the land of captivity Satan destroyed the worship of God among the children of Israel, turning them to idolatry; he even caused the Babylonians to take the vessels in the holy temple that were for the worship of God and put them in the temple of idols in Babylon from which they drank wine and made merry. Satan did these things to destroy the relationship between the people of Israel and God and to have them establish a definite relationship with the idols. This is shown in Daniel 1:2; 5:2-4, 22-23; 3:8-15; and 6:4-18.
Daniel prayed before God concerning God’s people, and his prayer was answered; yet Satan withstood the answer through the princes under him and would not allow it to come to the children of Israel. This is shown in Daniel 10:12-13 and 20-21.
Throughout the book of Esther, Haman plotted to annihilate all the Israelites in the Gentile lands.
After they returned from their captivity, Satan continued to corrupt them.
After returning from their captivity, the children of Israel restored the worship of God, but Satan stood before God as an adversary to those who served God among them. This is revealed in Zechariah 3:1.
When they rose up to rebuild the temple, Satan came to frustrate them through a party of adversaries. Chapter 4 of Ezra covers this point.
This point is covered in Ezra 9:1-2 and Nehemiah 13:23.
Satan not only frustrated the building of the temple, he also frustrated the building of the holy city as seen in Nehemiah 4:1-11 and 6:1-13.
Daniel 11:28-32 says that a king of the north would come to profane the temple Ezra had returned to rebuild and that he would remove the sacrifices and set up idols in the temple. History shows that the king of the north was Antiochus Epiphanes the king of Syria.
After they came back from their captivity, Satan’s work of corruption continued to increase, to the point that demon-possessed people were everywhere among the nation of Israel. This was close to the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus first came among the Israelites, He encountered demon-possessed people everywhere; in every place there were demons needing to be cast out. This is revealed in Matthew 8:28; 9:32; 12:22, 27, 45; and 17:18 and 21.
According to Matthew 23:15, the Jews made people proselytes of Judaism, but in the end they were really sons of Gehenna. Satan’s corruption was so great among them that he used God-worshipping religion to make people the sons of Gehenna.
This religious hierarchy was composed of the Great Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrins, and the synagogues under the Sanhedrins. This religious hierarchy was altogether against God. This is revealed in Matthew 21:23; 26:59; John 9:22; 11:47 and Acts 5:27, 33 and 40.
This point is revealed in Matthew 10:25; 12:24, 34; 13:55-58; 21:38-39, 46; 23:37; 26:3-5, 14-16, 47-50; Luke 4:28-29; 6:11; 11:53-54; 19:47; 22:53; John 19:6, 15-18; Acts 2:23 and 3:13-15.
This matter is covered in Matthew 22:6; 23:34; Acts 4:1-3; 5:17-18, 33, 40-41; 6:9-14; 7:57-60; 13:45-46, 50; 14:19; 21:27-31; 23:12-15; 25:2-3 and 28:23-29.
According to John 16:2; Acts 8:1-3; 9:1; 22:4 and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, Satan not only killed the Lord Jesus and the apostles, he also persecuted and killed the believers.
Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 say that Satan’s corruption of Israel, God’s chosen people, reached the point that their entire hierarchy was a synagogue of Satan. After the Israelites returned from the land of captivity, Satan brought corruption into their midst, ultimately causing every synagogue among them to become a synagogue of Satan.
According to the prophecy of the Bible, the Israelites will restore their nation and rebuild the temple. At that time Antichrist will be raised up, and Satan will rise up to oppose God through him, setting up an idol in the temple, the idol being the image of Antichrist. This is revealed in Daniel 8:11-12, 25; 9:27; 11:36-37; 12:11; and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
According to Daniel 7:21-25; 8:23-25; and Revelation 12:15-17, Satan will particularly destroy and afflict Israel, God’s elect, at this time. At this point Satan’s damaging work on the chosen people will end temporarily.
When Herod heard the report of the birth of the Lord Jesus, he murdered all the boys in Bethlehem and within its borders who were two years old and younger. However, in His wisdom God took the Lord Jesus to Egypt; after He was brought back He fled again to dwell in Galilee. This is revealed in Matthew 2:1-8, 13-16, and 19-22.
See Luke 4:1-13.
Even though Satan left the Lord Jesus after the forty days of temptation, he followed Him constantly, spying on Him, and waiting for any opportunity to attack Him. This is seen in Luke 4:13.
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was troubled by demons wherever He went. This work of Satan is revealed in Luke 4:33-34, 41, and 8:28-29.
Satan entered into Judas, and Judas became the embodiment of Satan to betray and kill the Lord. This is revealed in John 6:70-71; 13:2, 27 and Luke 22:3-6.
In the end Satan bruised the Lord Jesus through the cross. Genesis 3:15 says that the serpent would bruise the seed of the woman on the heel. We all know that a bruise on the heel is very painful.
The Lord Jesus came into the world through incarnation so that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Wherever the Lord went, He cast out demons; this is the Lord’s victory over Satan (Matt. 8:31-32; 9:32-33; 12:22-28; Mark 1:25-26; 9:20-29).
The Lord Jesus’ work on the earth was to bind Satan. Matthew 12:29 says that the Lord first bound the strong man before plundering his goods. The strong man is Satan.
Luke 10:17-20 says that the demons were not only subject to the Lord Jesus; they were also subject to the disciples because the Lord Jesus gave this authority to the disciples.
Satan was always spying on the Lord Jesus, working with all his heart and might; however, the Lord Jesus did not give Satan the slightest opportunity (John 14:30).
See Hebrews 2:14.
The Lord stripped off the rulers and authorities in the air, including all the angels under Satan, triumphing over them (Col. 2:15).
Satan, who captures people, has capturing power. But when the Lord Jesus gained the victory through death and resurrection, He captured the capturing power of Satan. Using today’s terminology, we can say that He disarmed Satan. This is the meaning of Ephesians 4:8.
In His ascension the Lord not only overcame all rule and authority, He was far above them (1:20-21).
Satan causes the believers, like Ananias and Sapphira in the early days of the church (Acts 5:3), to deceive the Holy Spirit.
Satan sows unsaved, false believers into the midst of true believers (Matt. 13:38-39).
The woman spoken of in Matthew 13:33 refers to the Catholic Church. She takes leaven, which is all kinds of heresies, and puts it into the Lord Jesus’ truth of life, leavening the whole lump.
See 1 Thessalonians 3:5.
Second Corinthians 11:13-15 and Galatians 1:7 speak of false apostles as ministers of Satan.
Second Corinthians 11:3-4 speak of “another Jesus,” a “different spirit,” and a “different gospel,” and Galatians 1:6 speaks of a “different gospel.” This refers to the Judaizers mixing things of Judaism with the gospel of the Lord Jesus, causing people to be partly in Christianity and partly in Judaism, partly in grace and partly in the law, and partly relying on the Lord Jesus and partly relying on themselves. This is Satan’s work of using Judaism to corrupt the gospel.
Based on Revelation 2:24 and 1 Timothy 4:1, we should never assume that only teachings of God are spoken in Christianity. Even in Christianity Satan works to cause people to speak his teachings, and not just ordinary teachings but also his deep things.
The main thought in Colossians 2:2-4, 8-9, and 16-23 relates to Satan using people to bring Greek wisdom into the church. The preaching of another Jesus spoken of earlier refers to Satan’s corrupting work of using people to bring Judaism into the church and mixing it with the gospel. Here we are referring to Satan’s causing people to not hold the Head, Christ, but to follow the wisdom of the world, bringing Greek wisdom, Greek philosophy, into the church. This philosophy includes matters of worshipping other deities and angels, and causing people to practice self-imposed worship, thus corrupting the church.
Second Timothy 3:5 refers to people who feign godliness.
Satan stirred up the Judaizers to kill the believers and caused them to think that they were faithfully offering service to God. Then he instigated people in the Roman Catholic Church to do the same thing. History tells us that the Roman Catholic Church was more vicious in killing Christians than even the nation of Rome. Rome openly persecuted Christians but did not kill nearly as many Christians as the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church killed Christians and thought that she was serving God. This was Satan’s work. The Lord Jesus clearly speaks of this matter in John 16:2.
See 1 Peter 5:8.
Satan brings all kinds of afflictions to the believers (Rev. 2:10).
In Luke 22:31 the Lord Jesus spoke of Satan sifting the believers as grains in a sieve; this is not easy to bear.
In 2 Corinthians 12:7 the apostle Paul speaks of a messenger of Satan buffeting him.
Sometimes Satan accuses the believers before God, sometimes he accuses them in other believers, and sometimes he accuses the believers in themselves. This is indicated in Revelation 12:10.
The apostle Paul said that he had delivered an unrepentant sinner to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. Therefore, sometimes when we are troubled by physical illness, we might have committed a sin that we are unwilling to repent of, thus falling into Satan’s hand to be destroyed by him. This is revealed in 1 Corinthians 5:5 and 1 Timothy 1:20.
See Ephesians 6:11 and 2 Corinthians 2:11.
See 1 Timothy 3:7.
Another work of Satan is to hinder the Lord’s workers. When God’s workers, commissioned by God, go out to work, Satan raises up various environments to hinder them. This is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 2:18.
Demas was a worker of the Lord, but he loved the present age and abandoned Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). This also is Satan’s work.
See Revelation 3:15-17.
See 1 Corinthians 1:11-12 and 3:3-4.
In Christianity there are many doctrines and teachings that are pleasant to the ear but detached from Christ. Although the doctrines and teachings are neither bad nor wrong, they are like winds that toss people back and forth, preventing them from holding Christ, from learning to live in Christ, and from taking Christ as life. This is also a work of Satan that damages the believers.
Teaching in Ephesians 4:14-15 does not refer only to heretical teachings but even to good and correct teachings that cause people to not hold Christ; like the wind, they blow people away from Christ as life. This is a very insidious, damaging work of Satan.
Paul says, “All who are in Asia turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). This turning away from Paul mainly involved the rejection of his teaching. Most of the churches in Asia were established through the apostles’ preaching of the gospel; however, all the churches eventually rejected the apostles’ teaching. As soon as the churches rejected the apostles’ teaching, they began to walk in error. Second Timothy 1:15 and 4:16 speak very clearly about this matter.
This is the condition in today’s Christianity. If we tell people in Christianity about Christ being our life and living in Christ, they feel that such topics are boring and uninteresting, much like the children of Israel who tired of eating manna in the wilderness. They want to hear things that are interesting, such as parables, stories, and jokes; they cannot tolerate healthy teaching. As a result, according to their own lusts, they hire many speakers to speak to them and to be their teachers. This is revealed in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
See 2 Peter 2:1-3, 2 Timothy 2:17-18, and 1 Timothy 6:3-5.
Those who preach beyond the teaching of Christ, that is, those who, in their teaching, deny the divinity of the Lord Jesus, the redemption of the blood of the Lord Jesus, and the resurrection of Christ are all antichrists. First John 2:19-20, 22; 4:3-6 and 2 John 7-10 all speak very clearly about this matter.
See Acts 20:29-30.
Balaam was a prophet of unrighteousness who preached for wages and taught for reward; moreover, some actually held this kind of teaching. This is recorded in 2 Peter 2:13-15, Jude 11-13, and Revelation 2:14.
In the Bible the word fornication includes two aspects: one aspect is fornication of the flesh, and the other aspect is spiritual fornication. For instance, the bringing of Gentile religions into Christianity by Roman Catholicism is a kind of spiritual fornication. Satan causes both the fornication of the flesh and the spirit and idolatry to be brought into the church. This is revealed in Revelation 2:20-25.
The fathers, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope in Catholicism and the pastors, overseers, and bishops in Protestantism are examples of the clergy system. This kind of human organization should not be in the church of God. Among the children of God there should be the spiritual order in the Body but not the clergy system according to man. These things are also part of Satan’s work (v. 15).
The church in Pergamos was fully in union with the world and lost her separation from the world. The church should be like a boat, which is on the sea but not of the sea; however, at the time of Pergamos, seawater came into the boat. The result of the union of a boat and the sea is that seawater fills up the boat, and the boat sinks into the sea. The world fills up the church and causes the church to sink into the world. Originally, the church was set apart from the world by God, but Satan caused the church to go back to the world and be in union with the world, losing her separation from the world. See Revelation 2:12-13.
The mysterious Babylon the Great spoken of in Revelation 17:1-6 refers partly to the Roman Catholic Church and partly to the Roman Empire. On the religious side, she is the Roman Catholic Church; on the political side, she is the Roman Empire (which includes the former Roman Empire and the Roman Empire that will be revived in the future). God sees the mysterious Babylon the Great as a great harlot because she has fully mixed religion with politics. This is Satan’s work.
Satan not only caused the church to be changed in nature, becoming degraded Christianity, he also caused degraded Christianity to become part of the mysterious Babylon the Great. At this point we can say that Satan’s corruption reached an irrecoverable state. This fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ word in the Gospel of Matthew concerning the woman who took leaven and hid it in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened (13:33). The Roman Catholic Church has added many heresies into the truth of Christ as life and changed the nature of all the truths. Everything in the mysterious Babylon the Great is in confusion. What is of God and what is of the demons have become confused; what is of the Old Testament and what is of the New Testament have become confused; what is of the Gentiles and what is of the Jews have become confused; what is of the law and what is of grace have become confused; what is of the spirit and what is of the flesh have become confused; and what is of heresy and what is of truth also have become confused. Everything is in confusion.
The holy woman spoken of in Revelation 12:3-4, 13, and 17 signifies the church; the man-child signifies the overcomers in the church; and the red dragon signifies Satan. Satan comes to oppose the woman and her man-child, persecuting them and ready to devour them. On the one hand, Satan mixes with deformed Christianity to change the nature of the church; on the other hand, he opposes those who keep the nature of the church, persecuting them and devouring them.
The above thirty-four items are Satan’s damaging work in the church and in the believers.
Although Satan has done some damage to the believers and the church, the believers and the church have victories over Satan as well.
See Colossians 1:13 and Acts 26:18.
See 1 John 2:13-14 and 5:18.
See Matthew 6:13, John 17:15, and 2 Thessalonians 3:3.
See Luke 10:19 and Romans 16:20.
See Revelation 12:11.
See Mark 16:17.
See Ephesians 4:27.
See 2 Corinthians 2:11.
See 1 Peter 5:8-9 and James 4:7.
See Ephesians 6:11-20.
See Matthew 16:18.
In the future, before the great tribulation, after the overcomers are caught up to the heavens, they will cast Satan down out of heaven. This is revealed in Revelation 12:5 and 7-11.
See Revelation 12:9 and 20:3.
The whole world lies in the evil one, being manipulated and abused by him; this is like a surgical patient on the operation table, lying in the hands of the surgeon, being operated on by him as he wishes. See 1 John 5:19.
See 2 Corinthians 4:4.
Satan is behind all the idols. All idol worship is the worship of Satan. See Revelation 9:20 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 and compare with Matthew 4:9.
The Bible clearly says that those who practice sin are the children of the devil. The Lord Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44). The devil’s sinful life and evil nature are in his children. This is clearly spoken of in 1 John 3:8, John 8:44, and Matthew 23:33.
Satan’s most prevailing strategy against man is to cause him to practice sin. In today’s dazzling world of sensual pleasures, everything that man does is sin. This is Satan’s work. See 1 John 3:8.
See Matthew 13:19.
See Acts 13:10.
See 2 Timothy 2:26.
Satan binds people with illnesses, demons, the environment, riches, position, fame, and knowledge. See Luke 13:16.
See Mark 5:2.
The afflictions that are brought to the whole world include wars, natural disasters, man-made calamities, and all kinds of diseases. Revelation 12:12 says, “Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you and has great rage, knowing that he has only a short time.” When Satan is cast down, great tribulation will begin on the earth; Satan will do all that he can to bring afflictions to the world. His heart delights in the hardships and the sufferings of man. Whereas God loves man, Satan does evil toward man.
Revelation 20:3 says that when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be loosed for a little time. His final work will be to deceive the nations of that age to war against God.
Satan has done much work in the universe. Of these works, six are quite important, and every Christian should memorize them. After these six great tasks Satan’s destiny will come to an end.
See Isaiah 14:13-14.
See Genesis 3:1-4.
See Matthew 4:1-11.
See Acts 3:15 and 7:52.
The Bible shows us that one day Satan will also become flesh to be the Antichrist. The coming Antichrist will be the embodiment of Satan, just as Christ is the embodiment of God. As Christ is the proper mingling of God and man, Antichrist will be the illegitimate mixture of Satan and man. See Revelation 12:9-12; 13:2; and 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9.
See Revelation 20:7-10.
Satan was originally God’s anointed cherub, who stood before God upon the holy mountain where God dwelt. When he rebelled against God because of his pride, he was cast out by God from the holy mountain. This is recorded in Ezekiel 28:16-17.
On the cross the Lord not only bore man’s sins, He also destroyed Satan. Through death the Lord Jesus destroyed the devil, who has the might of death. See Hebrews 2:14, John 12:31, and 16:11.
As soon as the overcomers are caught up to heaven, Satan will be cast down from heaven to the earth. See Revelation 12:8-10 and 13.
See Revelation 20:1-3 and compare with Isaiah 14:15.
See Revelation 20:10. The ultimate end of Satan will be to be cast into the lake of fire.
