Who Does What?
Dearly beloved of God, in the last article I addressed who God is, and what He is like. The Word of God reveals who God is, and what He is like: His nature, His characteristics, His purposes, His Will.
God addresses someone else in His Word who is antithetical to God, and His Will. He is addressed by different names that describe him. He is called the devil, Satan, and the adversary. He is the fallen Lucifer.
Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, but he is darkness, and there is no light in him.
The Word of God identifies Satan or the devil as the serpent, the father of lies, a murderer, the tempter, the deceiver, a hinderer, a beast, a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this world, the god of this age, among others. He is our adversary.
The Lord Jesus Christ called him the tempter, Satan, and the devil. He said that the devil is a liar, and the father of it. There is no truth in him. He said that he was a murderer from the beginning. He said that the thief comes not for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. The devil holds the power of death.
Satan is darkness, not light, and he blinds the minds of those who do not believe. He is the deceiver, and he deceives the whole world. He is the accuser of the brethren.
This spirit being first appears in the Word of God in Genesis.
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
Who is the serpent?
Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The serpent is identified as the devil, and Satan. He deceives the whole world. He was more subtle, or crafty than any beast, that is, any living creature of the field.
“The serpent” and “the great dragon” are the figure of speech, Hypocatastasis, the strongest figure of comparison.
II Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The serpent beguiled Eve through his craftiness. He works to deceive us and corrupt our minds from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The serpent’s primary sphere of attack is to distort God’s Word, and to undermine its integrity.
If the devil can deceive a person to the end that he/she does not believe what God says in His Word he can manipulate him/her without detection.
II Timothy 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
If we accurately know the Word of God we will have the Word of Truth. God is not holding out on us. God would have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. [I Timothy 2:4]
We can know the will of God by knowing the Word of God. We must always take what anyone says about spiritual matters, and hold it up to the truth of the Word of God to see if what they are saying is true.
Who holds the power of death, and kills, steals, and destroys people? Who oppresses people? Who leads people into bondage? Who is behind disease and mental sickness, poverty, division, wars, environmental catastrophes, and devastating storms? The devil is evil, and he is behind these things according to the Word of God, not the One True and Living God.
God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ so that he might destroy the works of the devil [See I John 3:8].
Hebrews 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he [Jesus Christ] himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.
John 1:18
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him.
Jesus Christ made His Father known by the words he spoke and the works he did at God’s direction. Jesus Christ always did his Father’s will. You could say, like Father like Son. If you had seen the Son of God, you had seen what His Father was like.
Jesus Christ never killed anyone, or made them sick, or possessed them, or made them mentally ill, or caused devastating storms, or other environmental catastrophes. He ministered God’s deliverance to people.
When he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness he responded, “It is written…” He responded with the truth of God’s Word.
Jesus Christ said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
He gave his life to deliver us from the power of darkness. He delivered us from the reign of sin and death orchestrated by the adversary.
By the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ we have been redeemed, saved, justified, and forgiven, sanctified, and we will be glorified with him when he returns for us.
The gospel of the grace of God reveals who we are in Christ because of his accomplishments. God wants us to know what is available to us in the new birth, and the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe. He wants us to understand spiritual matters, not to be ignorant of them.
Be sure you know who does what, dearly beloved.