Spiritual Warfare Series

We live in a rationalistic age. We live at a time when a purely materialistic view of the world is the one commonly accepted, a time when talk of the supernatural is dismissed as nothing more than fables and legends, myths and superstitions; the archaic remnants of a medieval world view. Our society is modern and enlightened, and believes in Science with a capital “S”. There is no room for anything which cannot be seen and heard and touched, anything which cannot be measured and quantified. This attitude is summed up in the words of the astronomer Carl Sagan, who wrote, “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be”.

However, that materialistic world view, which rejects the idea of supernatural beings, is in conflict with the Bible, and specifically with what the apostle Peter wrote in chapter five of this letter we’ve been studying, 1 Peter. Because here, he is warning us against an evil creature, the devil, who is our enemy; one who is constantly on the prowl, “looking for someone to devour”; an enemy who must be resisted with sober-minded alertness. And so our challenge is to accept what the Bible teaches and to reject what our culture tells us. Our challenge is to see the world the way Peter sees it, and to follow his instructions on how to successfully defend ourselves against this powerful and malevolent supernatural foe.

Who is this devil? Let’s start there. Peter mentions him but doesn’t tell us much about him. Let’s look at what the Bible tells us about his past, his powers, and his purposes. Then we’ll look at what we must do in order to prevail against him.

First of all, Satan, or the devil, is a real being. He is not just a metaphor for evil, he is not merely the personification of abstract ideas, like corruption or wickedness. Satan is a real, personal being. So where did he come from? The answer may surprise you. God made him. According to the Bible—and this has been the traditional understanding of the church since the time of the church fathers in the second and third centuries—Satan was a powerful angelic creature who fell victim to pride and rebelled against God. As a result, he was cast out of heaven. We’ll look at a couple of key passages:

12 How you have fallen from heaven,

morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

13 You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,

to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

This prophecy, like many prophecies, has a dual reference. Historically, it was written against the king of Babylon. But it has also been understood as referring to Satan, the power behind the king. What was the cause of Satan’s downfall? Pride, a desire to make himself “like the Most High”; that is, like God. You may remember that this was also how Satan tempted Eve in the garden, to eat of the forbidden fruit. What did he tell her? “You will be like God”. (Gen. 3:5).

Let’s look at another passage:

“7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9)

Here we see that Satan, also called the devil, or “the great dragon”, rebelled against God, leading a cohort of angels. There was a great celestial conflict; Satan and his angels were defeated and were cast out of heaven and down to the earth. Those fallen angels are what we know as demons, and Satan is their ruler.

But again, God created Satan, just as he created all the angels and everything else that exists.

“15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:15-16)

Was Satan, then, created evil? No, he was created good, but freely chose to sin against God. As the prophet Ezekiel writes: