Luke 4:2
"Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered," Luke 4:2. Lord willing, today, we will do a brief study on the devil. Who is the devil; what is the devil; where did he come from; has he always been the devil; what does he do; and what will be his end? It is also very comforting to know that the devil is God's devil. What do we mean when we say that the devil is God's devil? It is common for us to compare opposites. For example: we say the opposite of light is darkness, the opposite of cold is hot, the opposite of soft is hard, the opposite of strong is weak, and the opposite of good is evil. In these examples one can overtake the other. If you ask someone who is the opposite of God, usually the reply is the devil. People picture a great struggle between God and the devil. Some even view the devil as gaining ground and getting victories over God. It is views like these that prove people have been influenced by this world system, and not the Scriptures. In case you do not already know, God has no opposite. There is only One Who is Sovereign, and He is not in competition with anyone. Turn to Isaiah 44:6-8, 24; 45:5-7, 21-22; 46:9-10. "To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?" Isaiah 46:5.
For God to have an opposite, that opposite must be just like God, only opposite. That opposite must also be sovereign; and have all the attributes of God, and ultimately must be eternal, uncreated, yet has created all things. Nothing that is created is equal with God. God is eternal, which means He has always been. Is the devil eternal, or was there a time when he was not, and then he was created? Let us start by going to Ezekiel 28:12-19. Verse 12 tells us the devil was perfect in beauty. This means he was complete in beauty. There was no other created being more beautiful than the devil. He was full of wisdom in a good sense. He had skill, had wisdom in administration, and prudence in religious affairs. These descriptions are why many believe the devil led worship in heaven. Being full of wisdom also means he was shrewd. Shrewd has two definitions, depending on how it is used. You can be shrewd in making good decisions, or you can be good at tricking people. A term we are familiar with in regards to the devil is subtle (Genesis 3:1).
In Ezekiel 28:13, we are given an outward description of the devil. Picture the devil walking up and down in the midst of the stones of fire (verse 14). Picture the brightness of God's glory as it lighted heaven (Revelation 21:23), and all that was in heaven giving God praise. Then walks in the devil, created to give God glory, in all his created beauty and sound. We would have been awe struck with his beauty. The devil was blameless in what he was ordained to do, until iniquity was found in him. "Iniquity" in verse 15 means unrighteousness. This word refers to anything that deviates from the right way of doing things. What did the devil do that was unrighteous? The devil was filled with violence, wrong, sin. The devil sinned. One of the consequences was being cast out of his role, losing his place, destroyed, and reduced to some degree of disorder.
What was the devil's sin? His heart was lifted up. This means his heart soared, it was lofty, he was haughty. He exalted himself. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," Proverbs 16:18. Turn to Isaiah 14:12-15. In these verses we see the five "I wills" of satan. Before he was known as satan, he was known as Lucifer, "heylel" in the sense of brightness; the morning star:-lucifer. The devil was lifted up with pride. He wanted to be worshipped above God. In his heart he wanted God to worship him. The devil did not start out as the devil. God did not create Lucifer as the devil. God did not put sin in Lucifer, and God did not create fresh evil in Lucifer. God allowed satan to become prideful, God did not make satan sin. "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure," Isaiah 46:10. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," Ephesians 1:11.
As we continue to learn these truths, more questions come up. Is the devil a rogue creature? Does he go around creating havoc, unchecked? The answer to both of those questions is, No. The devil can only do what God allows or ordains. Turn to Job 1, 2:1-10. The devil is limited, and is restrained by God. Turn to Luke 22:31-32. The devil is not able to overpower or outsmart God. The devil is not omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. The devil is a created being, and is nothing in comparison to God. The devil is God's devil. The devil is not our devil. Please understand, we do not control the devil. One of the deceptions of the devil is for people to think that they can control him. A deceived person thinks they can bind, rebuke, and command the devil to do something. They think they have some special power with God, and therefore are more spiritual than others. They do not realize how prideful, and just like the devil, they really are. No where in the Scriptures are we told to bind the devil, but we are told to resist the devil (James 4:7). It is important that we know who the devil is according to the Scriptures. Knowing who the devil is according to the Scriptures means we know that he is our enemy, he is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), he sows discord, division, bitterness, covetous, etc. "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices," II Corinthians 2:11. Picture satan sowing seed. Is your heart cultivated as to receive his seed? We are known by our fruits. Fruit is what the tree produces. The tree started out as a seed. It grows, and may look like a good tree, but ultimately it is known by what it produces.
Last time, we talked about how deceptive our own flesh is. We want what we want, when we want it, and how we want it. Our own pride will cause us to blind ourselves about hard truths about ourselves. It sure is easy to act like the devil. How do we keep from falling into this trap? "Submit yourselves therefore to God." James 4:7a. In submitting ourselves to God we are obeying Scripture. We don't just quote it, we submit to it. We will see in the coming weeks that even satan quotes Scripture when trying to convince Jesus to sin.
If you struggle with these things that is a great sign that you are a child of God (Romans 7). If you do not struggle with these things, then you should really question if the Lord has truly saved you. I want to encourage you to examine yourself according to the Scriptures to see if you are truly saved. For those of us in this warfare, I want to remind us that our help comes from the Lord (I Peter 5:5-11). The devil is God's devil.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
