1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
If you believe in God and if you believe God’s word,
then you must believe Satan is as a real and powerful being. Satan is anti-God;
He was created to be Satan even though he was originally created a powerful
angel. God never created any one or anything without a purpose to bring Him
glory. “The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil.” Proverbs 16:4 We must understand the reason God
created anything, it was all created for God’s personal glory, God gets glory
from everything, even from Satan. This world, man, Satan, and everything
else was created because of the glory God wanted for Jesus His Son. Without the
creation of everything there would not have been the fall of Adam, and sin
would not have entered the world. Therefore, God created evil in the person of
Satan and created Eve to sin, therefore creating Adam to sin and through Adams
sin bringing sin upon all mankind. Satan was created also as an adversary of
God; he fell from heaven by challenging to be like God. “I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isa.
14:14 This challenge from the angel Lucifer was a sin, and angels that sin
with him were cast into hell which God made just for Satan and his angels, and
for all those who die lost. God said to Satan after the fall in the garden, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent…And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” Gen. 3:14a, 15a. The word “enmity” means -hostility
and even hatred- meaning God has put hate between “the woman’s seed, and Satan’s
seed, the seed of the woman is Jesus and the seed of Satan is the non-elect.
Therefore, the real hate that exist between God and Satan is also between the
elect and non-elect or those that are saved and those that are eternally
condemned. Satan through the fall took dominion over the world in the fall of
Adam. God gave this dominion to Adam and Satan took it in the fall and Satan
became ruler over the earthly system. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul called Satan
the “god of this world”, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” In the fall Satan
through Adams fall brough spiritual blindness to the entire population of the
world. And this blindness is so powerful that only the power of God can remove
it and cause man to see, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians
4:6.
God said Satan
was, “your adversary the devil” Satan is the Christians greatest
adversary because of his power. We have already looked at how he blinded the
entire population of the world with such blinders that only God in His glorious
power can undo the damage that Satan has done. “For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts…”. People
have no power to undo the damage that Satan has done, people are helpless
without God. God said Satan is “as a roaring lion,
walketh about”, he is a wild beast and he is so dangerous God
compared him to a “roaring lion”, Vincent’s Word Study said of the word “roaring”
“it denotes especially the howl of a beast in fierce hunger.” Therefore,
he never rests to do as much harm to Christians and churches relationship to
God as he can because his time is short. Revelation 12:12 “Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the
earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Satan knows God and he
knows what his future is, but he is still wanting to cause as much havoc as he
can to God’s people. This is why God warned us all “Be sober, be vigilant….”
It is our responsibility to be watchful and not allow ourselves to be overcome
through his trickery. Satan wants the weak and those that are easily tricked
into falling. It is unfortunately that so many Christians and even churches have
failed the Lord because they are not watchful enough. God went on to warn us
that he is “Seeking whom he may devour…” and the word “devour” means “to
drink down, that is, gulp entire.” Satan’s desire is to cause all of us to be worthless,
so the Lord cannot get glory from us. He cannot steal our salvation, but he can
rob us of our service in righteousness, if we are not watchful for him.
