“So that Satan does not take advantage of us, because we are not ignorant of his plans.” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
One of the most alarming facts about life is that every human being has a supernatural enemy whose goal is to use pain and pleasure to make us blind, dumb, and miserable… forever. The Bible calls him “the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…the accuser” (Revelation 12:9-10); “the prince of this world” (John 12:31); and “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
He is our “adversary lies in wait like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Yet, in the most heinous and unconscious bondage, everyone willingly “follows the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). In his greatest success, his subjects inadvertently go to destruction, and he takes as many as he can.
The “good fight” (1 Timothy 1:18) includes daily resistance to this enemy (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7), daily refusal to give him any chance (Ephesians 4:27), and daily fighting against their machinations (Ephesians 6:11).
Satan’s leash…and his impending doom.
God is sovereign over Satan. The devil does not have all freedom in this world. He is on a leash so that he cannot do more than what God allows him to do. Indeed, he must obtain permission, as in the case of Simon Peter, where Jesus reveals to him: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has claimed you to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). And in the case of Job: “And the LORD said to Satan: Behold, he is in your hand; but he saves life from him ”(Job 2: 6).
So evidently God sees Satan’s continued role as essential to his purposes in the world, since, if God had willed, Satan would be thrown into the lake of fire now, rather than at the end of time. “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone… and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). His complete defeat is drawing near and it is certain. But not yet.
Unconscious servant of our sanctification.
God intends that part of our preparation for heaven be a life of war against hell. He calls it a “good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18) and a “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is good not because they can kill us (which they could!), but because these struggles refine the gold of our faith (1 Peter 1:7), in life and death.
God is the great general in this war. He has given us the prayer intercom to ask for help: “Take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God… pray always” (Ephesians 6:17-18).
He sees behind enemy lines and knows exactly the strategies being used against us. He has written us a wartime manual “so that Satan will not take advantage of us.” The reason for this is: “for we are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Study on the strategies of Satan.
If you need a refresher on what “schemes” are, here is a summary. May God make you a mighty warrior! He “trains hands for war and fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1).
1. Satan lies, and is the father of lies.
“When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The first time Satan appears in the Bible in Genesis 3, the first words from his lips are suspicions of the truth (“Has God said to you, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’”). And the second words from his lips are a subtle lie (“You shall certainly not die”). John says that Satan “has not held to the truth because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). We are dealing with the essence of lies and deceit.
2. He blinds the minds of unbelievers.
“The god of this age has blinded the understanding of unbelievers, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ may not shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). So he doesn’t just speak what is false; he hides what is true. He prevents us from seeing the treasure of the gospel. He lets us see the facts, even the evidence, but not precisely.
3. He disguises himself in costumes of light and justice.
In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 Paul says that some people are posing as apostles and they are not. It is explained as follows: “For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of justice ”.
In other words, Satan has servants who profess enough truth to join the church, and from the inside teach what Paul calls “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Jesus says they are like wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Acts 20:30 says that they do not spare the flock but drive the people away to destruction. Without God’s gift of discernment (Philippians 1:9), our love will be led to foolishness.
4. Satan does signs and wonders.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:9, the last days are described thus: “The coming of the lawless is by the operation of Satan, with all power, and with signs and wonders of lies.” That’s my awkward translation. Some translate it: “with false signs and wonders.” But this makes the signs and wonders look unreal. In fact, some people say that Satan can only fake miracles. I doubt it. And even if it’s true, the fake of him is going to be good enough to seem real to almost everyone.
One of the reasons I doubt that Satan can only fake his miracles is that in Matthew 24:24 Jesus describes the last days this way: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so that to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” There is no indication that these “signs and wonders” are tricks.
Let your confidence rest on something much deeper than any supposed inability of Satan to do signs and wonders. Actual signs and wonders in the service of anti-Christian claims prove nothing, even when done “in the name of Jesus.” “Lord, Lord, have we not done many miracles in your name?” To which Jesus will reply: “I never knew you; Depart from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:22-23). The problem was not that the signs and wonders were not real, but that they were in the service of sin.
5. Satan tempts people to sin.
This is what he did unsuccessfully with Jesus in the desert; he wanted him to abandon the path of suffering and obedience (Matthew 4: 1-11). This is what he successfully did in Judas in the last hours of Jesus’ life (Luke 22:3-6). And in 2 Corinthians 11:3, Paul warns all believers against this: “But I fear that, just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” .
6. Satan rips the word of God out of people’s hearts and stifles faith.
Jesus told the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-9. In it, the seed of the word of God is sown, and some seeds fall on the road and the birds quickly take them. It is explained in verse 15: “Satan comes and takes away the word that has been sown in them.” Satan snatches away the word because he hates the faith that the word produces (Romans 10:17).
Paul expresses his concern for the faith of the Thessalonians thus: “Therefore I also, when I could bear no more, sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had tempted you and that our labors would be in vain” ( 1 Thessalonians 3:5). Paul knew that Satan’s design was to stifle the faith of people who have heard the word of God.
7. Satan causes some diseases and illnesses.
Jesus once healed a woman who was bent over and could not straighten up. When criticized by some for doing that on the Sabbath, he said: “And this, who is the daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has held in bondage for eighteen long years, should not be released from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16). Jesus saw Satan as the one who had caused this disease.
In Acts 10:38, Peter describes Jesus as one who “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” In other words, the devil often oppresses people with illness. This is also one of his designs.
But don’t make the mistake of saying that all sickness is the work of the devil. True, even though a “thorn in the flesh” is God’s design for our sanctification, it can also be the “messenger of Satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7). However, there are other cases in which the disease is exclusively attributed to God’s design without reference to Satan: “Not that he sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him” (John 9:3). Jesus does not feel the need to mention Satan as the culprit of his own merciful designs.
8. Satan is a murderer.
Jesus told those who were planning to kill him: “You are of your father the devil and you want to do the wishes of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he has not held to the truth” (John 8:44). John says: “Not like Cain, who was of the wicked one, and he killed his brother” (1 John 3:12). Jesus told the spotless church in Smyrna: “Behold, the devil will throw some of you into prison…Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
To put it simply, Satan is thirsty for blood. Christ came into the world so that we might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). Satan comes to undo life wherever he can and ultimately make it eternally miserable.
9. Satan fights missionary plans.
Paul tells how his missionary plans were frustrated in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18: “We were very anxious, with a deep desire to see your face… but Satan has prevented us.” Satan hates evangelism and discipleship, and he will put every obstacle he can in the way of missionaries and people with a zeal for evangelism.
10. Satan accuses Christians before God.
Revelation 12:10 says, “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now has come the salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers, the one who accuses before our God day and night, has been thrown away.” Satan’s defeat is certain. But the accusations of him have not stopped.
It is the same with us as it was with Job. Satan tells God about us: “They don’t really love you; they love your benefits.” “Reach out now your hand and touch everything he has, see if he does not curse you to your face” (Job 1:11). “Your faith is not real,” says Satan. He accuses us before God, as he did with Job. But it is a glorious thing that Jesus’ followers have an advocate who “lives forever to make intercession for them” (Hebrews…