Satan: the Roaring Lion

Satan is the enemy of God, his purposes, and his people

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)

There is the physical world we see and the spiritual world we cannot see. It’s like when you go snorkeling. When you look under water, it seems like you’re suddenly in a different world. Satan exists in the spiritual world, but he wields power and influence in the physical world. Satan is called the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31) and the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He retains his great power and intellect, only now it is completely twisted toward evil purposes. Make no mistake, Satan is completely evil. There is no benevolence or kindness in him. There is no goodness in him at all.

Here is where Satan’s sinful state is different from ours. We retain God’s image; fallen sinners can do good things and love even though these good things don’t merit saving grace. Satan and his demons have no vestige of goodness or beauty in them. There is no love. No mercy. They are filled with pride, hate, bitterness, and murder. Their every thought and intent is the destruction of God’s glory and God’s people and how they can tempt, influence, corrupt, compromise, divide, discourage, defame, or destroy anything intended to bring God glory. They are parasites. They don’t make anything beautiful or good. They corrupt the beautiful and the good and they twist them toward their evil purposes.

The most glorious thing God is doing in this world is redeeming sinners from darkness and the ownership of the devil and bringing them into his own kingdom of light.

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:14–15)
“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Christian, Satan hates you. He hates that his claim over us has been taken away. He hates that we will enjoy God and glory forever and hell is his forever. But it really isn’t about us. We are simply means to his ultimate goal which is to destroy God and defame his glory.

The Nazis and ISIS are good examples. Who did the Nazis really hate? The Jews. I believe this was because of their genetic connection to the promises of God and the Satanic influence over Hitler and his leaders. Satan still hates the Jews. The Nazis, under occult influence, sought to exterminate them.

The world has watched with horror as ISIS has raped and murdered Christians. They have blown up works of art and buildings of historical significance. Anything or anybody that gets in their way, they just kill and destroy. They have no apparent conscience or concern whatsoever as long as they can accomplish their goal.

Satan is like ISIS only much, much worse. The Bible calls him a lawless murderer and a liar. He is far more powerful and far more hateful than any of us begin to imagine.

Peter calls him a lion. So we come back now to 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Now these words very much get our attention. Or they should. This lion is loose in the camp.

© 2018 by Steve DeWitt. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include Bethel’s website address (www.bethelweb.org) on the copied resource.

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