Answers to 9 Questions About the Devil and His Demons: Part 2

Some years ago there was an insightful line from an intriguing movie called The Usual Suspect which said, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”

The Scriptures, from Genesis 3 to Revelation 21, make it clear that Satan and his demons are real, and this truth wasn’t widely questioned by professing Christians until the last couple hundred years. Largely influenced by the atheistic philosopher David Hume and the subsequent era of modernity, liberal Bible “scholars” dismissed the supernatural, from miracles to demons, as mythical, outdated, and primitive. Such things didn’t fit into their modern view of the world as a closed, natural system.

Question 3: What do I need to know about this Enemy who wars against me?

To believe the Bible, belief in Satan, demons, the supernatural, and miracles is required. We can’t take the parts of the Bible we like and discard the rest as God is seeking students to learn from Him and not editors to correct Him. Satan is real, and since he’s a real enemy, it’s important to know as much about our enemy as possible. If you don’t know your enemy, you can’t know how to defend yourself. Knowing your enemy is the key to victory in any war (2 Cor. 2:11).

There are twelve key truths regarding the devil and his demons that you need to know, believe, and highlight in your Bible so that you can revisit them often.

1. The Scriptures consistently present Satan as an enemy of God and his people. He’s named in a variety of ways, including the devil, the dragon, the serpent, the enemy, the tempter, a murderer, the father of lies, our adversary, the accuser, the destroyer, and the evil one.

2. Satan and demons are your foes and not in any way friends (1 Pet. 5:8).

3. Satan and demons are actively at war against you (Eph. 6:10–13).

4. Satan and demons want you to die because Satan is a murderer; he wants to bring death to everything in your life, including your love, joy, marriage, business, ministry, and legacy (John 8:44).

5. Satan and demons have no claim to you if you are a Christian, because you have been delivered forever from Satan’s kingdom of darkness to Jesus’ kingdom of light (Col. 1:13).

6. In Jesus there is for your personal protection from and authority over Satan and his demons (Luke 10:18–20).

7. Because you are in Jesus Christ positionally and all things are under his authority, you too can command Satan and demons to depart from you by the authority delegated to you from Jesus (Eph. 1:18–2:8). Practically, this simply means that if as a Christian in Jesus’ name you command a demon to leave you alone, it must.

8. Satan and demons are in no way equal to God. Unlike God, they are created beings with finite limits. They are not all-present, all-knowing, or all-powerful like God. They are, however, very real and very powerful. They have been observing human behavior since the beginning of history and are keenly aware of how people live, and they have been continually perfecting their tactics on how to destroy us.

9. The motivation for all of Satan’s work is pride and self-glory instead of humility and God-glory (Ezek. 28:2; Jam. 4:6–7). And one of his most powerful allies in opposing us is our own pride. Some have speculated as to why the serpent continues in his war against God even though Scripture is clear that Jesus has already won the war and the devil will be ultimately defeated and painfully judged. It may be that the devil t is indeed so proud that he has deceived himself and now believes that God is a liar who can be beaten. It is this deception that he whispers into our ears every day, telling us we aren’t victorious in Christ and also telling us lies about ourselves and about God.

10. Unlike human beings, for whom Jesus died and rose, Satan and demons have no possibility of salvation. Practically, this means that only judgment and torment await Satan and demons (2 Pet. 2:4).

11. In his war against God, the devil not only has demons but also people who are allies in his army, either by demonic possession, demonic influence, or simply by living according to their sinful rebellious nature and what the Bible calls the “flesh”. Such people include false prophets (2 Pet. 2:1), counterfeit apostles (2 Cor. 11:13), phony Christians (Gal. 2:4), and deceptive teachers who teach heretical doctrine for the devil (2 Pet. 2:1). This sometimes includes powerful and tyrannical political leaders who are worshipped like gods and rise up to bring death and destruction by a demonic power that is evil.

12. Satan’s ultimate goal for those of us in Christ is a compromised and fruitless life beset by heresy and sin (1 Tim. 4:1–2; 1 Jn 3:7–10)—and ultimately, death (Jn. 8:44; 1 Pet. 5:8).

If the enemy can’t tempt us with sin and error, he will simply try to exhaust us into surrender. This demonic opposition is increasingly pronounced for those who serve God most faithfully. The closer you get to God, the tougher the battle becomes.

Question 4: How do Satan and his agents tempt us today?

The great Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote one of my favorite books on spiritual warfare, Precious Remedies against Satan’s Devices. Brooks uses a wonderful illustration that explains why Jesus rejected Satan’s simple offer of bread (Luke 4:2–4; Matt. 4:2–4). Brooks says that our enemy will bait our hook with anything that we find desirable. This means that he will gladly give us sex, money, power, pleasure, fame, fortune, and relationships. Satan’s goal is for us to take the bait without seeing the hook, and once the hook is in our mouth he then reels us in to take us captive like a dumb fish. His gifts are often very good things offered for sinful uses. That is the essence of the trap. The gift may be good, but the giver is evil. In this way, the devil and his demons are akin to a dangerous person who seeks to earn your trust so that they can get close enough to harm you.

When we take the gifts that the devil and his demons give, we are in essence biting down on the bait. As a result, the hook of sin is in our mouth, and Satan reels us in as his captive so that, as Jesus says in John 8:34, we become slaves to our sin. Satan baits the hook for each of us in various ways. Having taken the bait, we’re reeled into darkness and sin, which, apart from Jesus, inevitably leads to death. Without Jesus our lives would continue to descend into darkness until we would ourselves with Satan, in hell, forever. Just remember, when you see the tempting bait do not forget the deadly hook.

Portions of this blog post were adapted from Who Do You Think You Are? (2013, Thomas Nelson), by Mark Driscoll, Death By Love (2008, Crossway), by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, and Doctrine (2010, Crossway), by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears.