WHO’S WHO IN THE COSMOS
PART 1: ENEMY NUMBER ONE: SATAN
PASTOR CHARLES PRICE
If you have a Bible with you, I’m going to read some verses from Ephesians, Chapter 6,
and I’m going to read from verse 10 to verse 13: Ephesians, Chapter 6, and verse 10.
I’m going to take these verses out of their context really. It’s always good if you’re
studying a passage to do so in its context, but I’m going to run around the Bible tonight,
and I want to read this as the springboard for the theme that I want to bring to you.
Ephesians, Chapter 6, and verse 10, Paul writes,
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armour
of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that
when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your guard, and after you
have done everything, to stand.”
That’s as far as I’m going to read. I have a book here in front of me, which I picked up in
the boardroom upstairs here in this church, and it’s called, “Who’s Who In Canada?” It’s
about thirty years old so there won’t be anybody here in this book, I’m sure, though Dr.
Oswald Smith, who was the founder of this church, is in the book. There’s about two and
a half thousand people, and these are sort of distinguished, significant leaders in
Canadian life. And browsing through it has been interesting. But I want to talk to you
over these next few Sunday evenings about who’s who in the cosmos. You see, there’s
more going on in this world than we can see with our eyes, or hear with our ears, or even
smell with our noses, or taste with our tongues, or feel with our hands. There’s more than
the tangible world that is going on.
There is an invisible world, the Bible tells us, which is just as real as the visible world,
and we need to take it into account every bit as much as we take into account the visible
world that we see and hear and feel and touch every day. That’s the language of the
verses that we read together, in Ephesians 6. Not only that, but that indicates that there is
a state of war that exists between much of the intangible world and the tangible world.
That’s why Paul writes there, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against
rulers, against authorities, against powers of this dark world, against spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly realms, spiritual realms.” And there is a world which consists of
angels and of demons. There’s a world which consists of God but also of Satan. There’s
a world which consists of good, but alongside that there is evil in our world.
Now, the popular notion is that people are pretty well neutral, that the world is neutral.
We can create evil; we can create good. It’s just unfortunate, is the popular notion, there
are folks around who create evil. But that is a very superficial understanding of what is
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
1
going on in the world. Behind evil is not just people who are being corrupted. There are
evil forces.
I remember talking to Preston Manning on one occasion, in his years in parliament in
Ottawa. He said that it wasn’t until after September 11, 2001, that he heard people stand
up in parliament and talk about evil as a reality in itself. He said, “I never heard that in
all my years in parliament.” But there was no other explanation that people had for what
was going on and so they began to describe [it] in terms of evil.
Now, we don’t know a lot about the behind-the-scenes going on, and we’re unwise to try
and speculate about the things we don’t know about. We’re told in Deuteronomy 29, and
verse 29, that the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which are
revealed belong to us and to our children. There are certain things which God has
revealed, and what we know about the behind-the-scenes issues are things which God has
revealed to us. We may see symptoms of it in all kinds of ways, and those symptoms
teach us a lot. But there are things which are not revealed, and those things which are not
revealed, we’re told, do not belong to us. They belong to God. And maybe one day in all
the time of eternity – though eternity is not based on time, but throughout eternity – we
might know some things we don’t know now. But there are things that we do know now.
And we would be wise to understand that we live in a battlefield. We’d be wise to
understand that we have an enemy in the field.
Sometimes when we talk about the Christian life, we talk more about it being like a
holiday camp than we do about it being like an army barracks. We talk about all the
wonderful things available to us. And there are, and we thank God for that. But we don’t
enough talk about the fact that we are to be like soldiers in the field. That is what the
Scripture teaches us.
I remember hearing somebody use an illustration, which I will steal from him, when he
said that so much evangelism is like inviting people to go on a cruise. And we describe
this ocean going liner. We call it maybe something romantic like the Caribbean Princess,
and it’s a beautiful white ship. It’s got fifteen swimming pools on its different decks.
There’s entertainment all the way. There’s fantastic food. There’s exotic sights to see.
And the best thing about this Caribbean cruise is that it’s free! And we say to people,
“Come and join the cruise!” And people say, “Sure, I’ll join the cruise.” And a lot of our
evangelism, he says, is like that – this person was saying is like that. But when they
come down to the docks to join this ship for the cruise, they don’t see a great white ship
with a name Caribbean Princess on the side. All they see is a huge gray ship. There’s no
name on the side; there’s a number on the side. There are not swimming pools on the
decks; there are guns on the deck. And he says you discover you’ve been hoodwinked
into joining the navy. But he said a lot of Christians never realize they’re in the navy.
They’re just on the cruise. A lot of us think we’re on a holiday camp rather than in an
army.
It’s been great tonight. And those of you watching on television, earlier in this service,
we have commissioned many, many folks who are training to be involved in “Evangelism
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
2
Explosion,” which is a ministry which will take them into homes around this area. It’s
been going on for many years here. And they are foot soldiers. They are saying, “We
recognize the urgency of the situation that we’re in, and we want to enlist in the army.
We want to be soldiers who are equipped for the task that we have been called to.”
Now if we say that we’re in a battle as we are, how do I identify the enemy? What are
we fighting against? In the Book of James, Chapter 4, James identifies three areas of
battle. And these areas are the world, the flesh, and the devil. In verse 1 of James 4, he
says,
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires
that battle within you?”
Because the first battle is taking place within your own heart. The devil doesn’t need to
get involved in that because you and I ourselves are corrupt enough for that to be a battle
between the spirit and the flesh, as Scripture elsewhere describes it. There’s the flesh.
Then in verse 4, he says,
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred
towards God?”
Now the word “world” is used differently in Scripture. God loves the world, but at the
same time, there is a world that God does not love. And that world is the spirit of
worldliness, which John in his epistle describes as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, the pride of life. This, he says, is from the world. And we fight against the spirit of
the world. And in verse 7 of that chapter, he says,
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
So he identifies, behind the flesh and the world, this prime agency of the devil. And
enemy number one is the devil, Satan. He’s known by different names. And I want to
talk to you about the devil tonight, about Satan, about what Scripture tells us about him.
You know one of the big philosophical questions in the world surrounds the existence of
evil in a world that God created as good.
You remember God’s verdict on His creation was, “It was good, very good.” And yet
there is the existence of evil. There’s the existence of pain. There’s the existence of
suffering. We have witnessed the awful devastation of an earthquake which has
destroyed thirty thousand people in Iran in the last ten days. And we say, “How can there
be a God when this kind of thing is going on?”
I don’t know if you saw the news that last night, after ten days of being under the rubble,
they pulled out a ninety-seven year old lady! Did you see that on the news? On the news
I saw it said there’s only one word to describe this: it’s a miracle. That’s what the
journalist said. And then they talked to a worker with the Red Crest who said there’s
only one word: it’s a miracle. Then they talked to an American service person, or an
American doctor rather, who was working in that area. He said there’s only one word to
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
3
describe it: it’s a miracle. Incredible! And when they pulled out this ninety-seven year
old lady, the first thing she said was, “Can I have a cup of tea?” Apparently she had no
access to water. She was in a cavity that was created. No water. No food. But she was
alive. Tough lady, I tell you!
But we look at these kinds of things and we were excited by the miracle of a lady
surviving like that, but we say, “Where is God in all of this?” And evil is a very obvious
present reality in the world in all kinds of ways.
So who is the devil? Is he a negative image of God? A negative mirror image of God?
There’s God one side, the devil the other? We know God is slightly stronger. He’s going
to beat him, but there’s this kind of dualistic view of the world, these two forces fighting
it out. Is that how we should understand it? Is the devil simply a hypothesis to explain
evil? We personify the reality of evil in the world by saying, “Well, there’s a person
called Satan, but it’s really a hypothesis. It’s not real.” Or is he a literal, living, active
being who is interested in what’s going on here tonight?
And the Bible leaves us in little doubt that it intends us to understand the devil is a literal
being. He is mentioned in twenty-six books in the Bible, seven of the Old Testament
books, nineteen of the New Testament books. Jesus referred to him on fifteen occasions,
plus on many other occasions He spoke about demons and evil spirits as does other parts
of Scripture as well. But you know, there are many who don’t believe in a literal devil.
There are many Christians who don’t believe in a literal devil.
George Barner is a researcher in America. He asked a number of people this question:
“Do you agree strongly or agree somewhat or disagree somewhat or disagree strongly
with the statement, ‘The devil or Satan is not a living being but a symbol of evil.’” Of
those who identified themselves as born again, thirty-two [percent] agreed strongly:
Satan is not a living being but a symbol of evil. Thirty-two of those who said they were
born again believers in Christ. Eleven percent said, “I agree somewhat that the devil is
not a living being.” And five percent of those born again said they don’t know if the
devil is a living being or not. Put those figures together, that’s forty-eight percent of
Christians – that’s almost half of Christians – either regard Satan as only symbolic or
they regard him as nonexistent or they don’t know whether he exists or not. Well, the
Bible speaks about him as a person who acts, who thinks, who makes decisions, who is
independent of any other force in terms of what he does.
Now I heard about two six year old boys on one occasion who were talking about the
existence of Satan. And one boy said, “There isn’t any devil.” And the other boy said,
“What do you mean there isn’t any devil? It talks about him all the way through the
Bible.” I don’t know how six year olds knows that, but apparently this one had a good
Sunday school background. And the first replied, “No. It’s not true! It’s just like Santa
Claus. The devil turns out to be your dad!”
Well, he’s not your dad. He might have a foothold in your dad, but he’s not your dad. I
want to look at several things tonight. We’ll see how much time we’ve got. We may not
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
4
complete everything I’d planned to say tonight. But I want to talk first of all about his
origin. If Satan exists, where does he come from?
Let me go back to the first question. If God is such a good God and He created
everything well, and created everything with a verdict, “It was good,” how is it that evil
does come into existence? That’s a huge question. I won’t answer it tonight, of course,
but I want to answer just one aspect. How does a good God become responsible for
creating an evil devil? And the answer is an interesting one.
The answer is this: God did not create an evil devil. What He did create was a beautiful
angel, an angel who surpassed the beauty of every other aspect of His creation. He was
called the Morning Star, which literally translated in Hebrew means Lucifer. Morning
Star meaning the most beautiful star in the sky, the brightest star in the sky. Let me read
you two passages in the Old Testament Scripture that we recognize are a revelation of the
origins of Satan. First of all, in Ezekiel, Chapter 28, and I’m going to read from verse 12.
You have a lament here that begins against the King of Tyre, begins actually in the
beginning of the chapter. And then it goes on to speak in ways that are clearly not simply
about the King of Trye. The King of Tyre was a man who was born, lived and died.
Tyre was a city, north of Israel. And it begins to talk about somebody who was in
existence long before this. Let me read you from verse 11.
“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, take up a lament concerning the
King of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“ ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You
were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you …’”
And he lists the whole catalogue of these precious stones.
“ ‘Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created
they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained
you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked amongst the fiery stones.
You were blameless in all your ways from the day you were created until
wickedness was found in you. And through your widespread trade you were
filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount
of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your
wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle
of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated
your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I
reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the
nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have become a horrible end and
will be no more.’”
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
5
Now there’s intermingling there, as prophesy sometimes does: some things about the
King of Tyre and then he’s a projection, he’s a picture, of someone else. And you find
coming out of this picture someone who was in the Garden of Eden, he says.
Do you know, some years ago I was talking to a group of about two hundred teenagers,
and I read some of these verses to them. And I said, “I want you to tell me who you think
these verses are describing.” And I was selective in the verses I read to them. I read
these verses:
“You were the model of perfection. You were full of wisdom, perfect in beauty.
You were on the holy mount of God. You walked amongst the fiery stones. You
were blameless in all of your ways.”
I said, “Who do you think that’s talking about?” And one of the kids put his hand up and
said, “Solomon.” Well, probably because it says “you were full of wisdom.” I said,
“That’s an interesting one. That’s a good one. Anybody else?” Somebody else said
David. I said, “Anybody else?” Somebody put his hand up and said, “Jesus.” I said,
“Let me pause at this moment. There are three options we’ve been given there:
Solomon, David, Jesus. Who do you think it is? Is it one of these men? ‘You were the
model of perfection, perfect in wisdom, perfect in beauty, blameless in all your ways.’”
I said, “Put your hand up if you think it was Solomon.” About twenty put their hands up.
“Put your hands up if you think it was David,” and about three put their hands up. I said,
“Put your hand up if you think it’s Jesus,” and about one hundred and fifty hands went
up. They said, “This sounds like Jesus. ‘The model of perfection.’” I said, “I’m going to
surprise you. This is describing the devil.” When God created him in perfection and
beauty, but He says, “Your heart became proud so I threw you to the earth.”
Let me read you from Isaiah, Chapter 14, and we have another similar kind of
description. This time it’s talking about the King of Babylon. Isaiah, Chapter 14. But
once again, it leaves the King of Babylon and clearly begins to talk about somebody very
different. Verse 12:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have
been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your
heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I
will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred
mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the
Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.
Those who see you stare at you, they wonder at your fate …”
And he describes his downfall. That’s where he’s described the Morning Star. If you
have a King James’, it will say, “O Lucifer, son of the morning …” I’ll tell you a very
interesting thing. The description, “Morning Star,” was also given to Jesus; in
Revelation, Chapter 22, you’ll find that Jesus there is described as the Morning Star.
Here Lucifer, the devil, is described as the Morning Star. The most beautiful, but he said,
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
6
“I’ll raise my throne above the stars of God.” As we’ll see on another occasion, it seems
to me that there is a hierarchy amongst the angels. There are angels, there are arch
angels, there are cherubim, there are seraphim. These have different functions, different
beings. There’s different hierarchies there, but it seems supreme above them all, the arch
angel – there’s only one arch angel that’s spoken of Scripture; his name is Michael – it’s
seemingly above the arch angel Michael, was Lucifer. But he said, “I want to be like
God.”
By the way, if Satan has an agenda, it is that. It is to be like to God. He said to Eve in
the Garden of Eden, “If you eat of the tree, you’ll be like God.” If Satan has an agenda to
give people an agenda to be like God, to act like God – that’s his agenda – in order to
replace God’s role.
If you look at Isaiah 14, there are five “I will’s” that the devil says in verse 13 and 14. “I
will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned
on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend
above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Do you notice
those five “I will’s” are all about going up, up, up, about ascending, being on top, being
above. Isn’t it interesting how then in verse 12, God says,
“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star … you have been cast down
to the earth.”
Verse 15,
“You are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.”
Satan’s ambition is up, up, up. The result is down, down, down. You compare that with
Jesus in Philippians, Chapter 2, by the way, when we have that beautiful description,
“Being in very nature God, He did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made Himself nothing. He humbled Himself and became obedient, even
unto death on a cross.” There you’ve got a picture of Christ. Although He was in every
sense co-equal with His Father, He did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped. He made Himself nothing by becoming a human being, put Himself down,
down, down, and interestingly it says in that passage, “therefore God exalted Him to the
highest place, gave Him that name that’s above every name; at the name of Jesus every
knee shall bow.” It’s the total reverse. Do you notice that? Satan says, “I want to go up,
up, up,” and God pushes him down, down, down. And when Jesus in His humility came
down, down, down, God exalted Him up, up, up.
Many years ago, Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse, who was a preacher in Philadelphia, he
came to England and preached at an event called, the Ceza (Spelling?) Convention – this
is sixty years ago. He’s been dead a long time. But he said something which has often
been quoted since. He said, “The way up is down, and the way down is up.” If you want
to learn something from the devil, you try to push yourself up, and God will make it His
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
7
business to pull you down. But you humble yourself, He will exalt you. You walk
humbly with God, and leave God with the consequences.
So the key behind Satan is pride. “Your heart became proud,” Ezekiel 28 says. And if
the devil’s agenda to be like God, and everything he does is to supplant God with other
forms, human form, human activity, then the driving force is pride. “Your heart became
proud.”
Do you know in the early centuries of the church, the church fathers in their wisdom tried
to consider the relative seriousness of various moral faults that they saw in people and
saw around them, probably saw in themselves. And they came up with a list that they
called, “The Seven Deadly Sins.” And these seven deadly sins still have an important
place in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Roman Catholic teaching. But they are wise.
We’d be wise to know these seven deadly sins because we face them all the time in our
own hearts. And they placed in first place pride. It was the sin by which Satan fell. Do
you want to know the others? It was covetousness, was number 2; Satan was covetous as
well. Lust was number 3. Envy was number 4. Gluttony, number 5; anger, number 6;
and sloth, laziness, number 7.
So God never created an evil devil. He created a beautiful angel, but God could have
created a robotic angel who did exactly what He wanted because God programmed him
to do so. But He didn’t create a robotic angel any more than He created robotic people.
He created him with freedom to say, “I will obey.” And inherent in that freedom to say,
“I will obey,” is the freedom to say, “I will disobey; I will rebel.” And Satan rebelled.
And as a result, as we will see the implication of this later, he was cast out of heaven, and
we’re told he was cast down to earth. Earth is where Satan lives. Not hell. He will one
day move on, but right now he lives on earth. That’s where he operates.
So that’s his origin; the second thing I want to talk about is his personality because Satan
has a personality. He’s not just an evil force, as I mentioned earlier, that some have
suggested and many seemingly born again Christians are prone to believe. He’s just an
evil force in the world. No, he’s a person. Actually, we’re told that he has physical form.
There’s no record of that physical form being seen by human eyes or by physical eyes,
but 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, verse 39 to 40 says,
“All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another,
birds another and fish another.”
By the way, that gives you a problem if you’re an evolutionist. Different kinds of flesh.
But then he goes on to say,
“There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of
the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.”
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
8
Now, there are heavenly bodies. Now if Satan was created as an angel, the greatest in all
the angels, we know that there have been times in history and times in Scripture when
angels have made physical appearances. There’s actually no record of demons making
physical appearances. Demons possess people and express themselves through
somebody else’s body and personality. Angels never do that, but there is record of angels
appearing in physical form. And we can assume from this that the devil has a physical
form. But when I speak of him, his personality, I’m thinking more of the fact that he has
a mind, he has emotions, he has a will. These are the three components of personality,
the ability to think, the ability to feel, and the ability to choose. We’re told he has a
mind; he has intelligence. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, says,
“I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds
may also be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
Now he talks there about the serpent’s cunning. The serpent is another name for the devil
as he appeared in that form. And if you have the devil appearing in any physical form in
Scripture, it is as the serpent, but he thinks. He has a mind. He’s cunning.
He also possesses emotions. We’ve already seen that pride was the motivation that drove
him in his rebellion against God. But we’re also told he has anger. Revelation, Chapter
12, verse 12, says,
“Rejoice you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the
sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he
knows his time is short.”
“Filled with fury.” Now interestingly, there are negative emotions attributed to Satan:
pride and fury. There are no positive emotions ever attributed to Satan: love, joy, peace.
These are not emotions that are ever part of his experience now in his state of being
rejected out of heaven. Instead, he is consumed with negative emotions of anger and fury
and pride and jealousy and destruction.
But he also possesses a will. And I want to read you what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2
Timothy, Chapter 2 and verse 24, where he talks about the Lord’s servant – speaking
about Timothy there who was leading the church in Ephesus:
“The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able
to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him …
Because that’s part of life.
“Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant
them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come
to their senses …”
Listen to this.
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
9
“ … and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his
will.”
Now Paul says to Timothy, “You’re going to find those who will oppose you in Ephesus
as you seek to lead the church of God there. They will oppose you. You’ll find this, he
says. But you deal with them gently and trust that God will bring to them repentance,
will bring them to a knowledge of the truth because otherwise their senses are being
trapped by the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.” Because the devil has a
will.
Jesus said to Simon Peter just before Jesus was arrested, he said, “Simon, Simon. Satan
has asked to sift you like wheat.” There’s some interesting things there we’ll talk about
another time. But Satan needs permission. “He’s asked to sift you like wheat.” And
don’t forget that when you think of what happened that same day when Peter, or earlier
the following morning, Peter denied Jesus three times and cursed and swore and lied,
ended up in tears. Don’t forget that Jesus said, “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.”
And presumably, permission had been given, and the devil had attacked him … because
he has a will.
We are protected. The devil does need permission. We are told no temptation is taken
you that is not common to man, but God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted
beyond what you are able to bear, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape
that you might be able to endure. But God does allow us to be tempted.
Now if that’s Satan’s origin and his personality, thirdly, his location. Now he was
originally in heaven. We have already seen that, as one of the angels of God, but he was
cast to earth. Ezekiel 28:17 says, “I threw you to the earth.” Isaiah 14:12 says, “You’ve
been cast down to the earth.” Jesus, in Luke 10, verse 18, when He addressed the
seventy-two who returned surprised that demons submitted to them in His name, Jesus
said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. I saw him driven out.”
Revelation, Chapter 12, verse 3, talks about the dragon, which is a description of Satan,
one of the other pictures of him. Let me just read these verses to you actually.
Revelation, Chapter 12, and verse 3 and 4. It says,
“Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven
heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the
stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.”
We’ll talk about that, probably next week, what that implies. But he talks about them
hurling these stars to the earth. Actually, it’s probably the origin of demons. Stars is a
word used to describe angels, and when the devil rebelled, a third of the angels joined
him in his rebellion, would seem to be what it indicates. But verse 9 says,
“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
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
10
angels with him.”
The devil has been hurled to the earth, along with those angels with him. And this is the
place where he operates. This is the place where he works. This is the place where he
lives. Now he gets hauled back into heaven once in a while, by the way. We know that
from some insight in the Book of Job. And we only know what we discover in Job,
Chapter 1, because God must have revealed it because it tells us that God in heaven
called His angels before Him. Job 1, verse 6, says,
“One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also
came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan
answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth and going back and forth
in it.’”
Because that’s what he does. He roams throughout the earth, but once in a while it seems
God grabs hold of him by the scruff of his neck and hauls him up heaven, sits him down
and says, “Hey! How are you getting on?” Then He picked on Job: “How are you
getting on with Job? Hey, there’s nobody like Job! He’s righteous, he fears God, he
shuns evil.” And Satan said, “Yes. But the reason why you asked me about Job is
because you know everything has gone well for Job. You built a hedge around Job. I
can’t get at him! You’ve made life so good for him because he’s rich and prosperous,
and he has a lovely family.” And God said, “Alright. We’ll take the hedge down, but
these are the limitations. You can touch his possessions; you can even touch his children,
but you can’t touch his body. And don’t touch his life.” There’s some interesting
insights just from that one event.
One is that Satan is accountable to God, and God sets the boundaries around Satan. And
God can change those boundaries whenever He chooses to. “Satan, you can attack Job.”
And you remember how Satan attacked Job. Job knew nothing about it, but he suddenly
one day found that his livestock had all been killed and stolen and taken away. And then
his children all were killed when a hurricane hit the house where they were having a
party. They were all dead.
And then in Chapter 2, Satan’s hauled back to heaven again. “How are you getting on
with Job?”
“Well, you knew when you said that I could touch everything but his body, the man’s so
selfish that as long as he doesn’t feel any physical pain, he couldn’t care about his kids
and everything else!” And God said, “Alright. You can touch his body.” See, God
changes the boundary again: “Okay. You can touch his body. Don’t take his life.” And
Job got sores from the top of his head to the souls of his feet. He found nowhere
comfortable. He went and sat in the ash heap and scratched himself with broken pottery.
At least the ash heap was sterile. And his wife turned nasty and said, “Curse God and
die.” And you probably know the rest of that story, how that God took him through this
experience. When I say God took him through, God permitted it; it was Satan who did
the attacking on him but with God’s permission.
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
11
And Satan, although he is on earth and although, as we’re going to see on another
occasion, he is prince of this world – we’re told the whole world is in the power of the
evil one. I hear Christians say that the world is in God’s … that God is sovereign across
the world. The Bible tells me the devil has power over the world. Now, God is
ultimately sovereign of course, but there are things that are going on which are not the
will of God in our world. You can be sure of that. They’re the devil’s work. But he gets
hauled up to heaven, sat down before God, interrogated.
We’re told in Revelation 12, “The accuser of our brothers accuses them before God day
and night.” He has access to God, where he accuses us before God. We spoke …
Ephesians 6, of that term “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” He operates in
the heavenly realms.
Now don’t get the idea … I think we’ll go this far, and we’ll stop in a few moments.
Don’t get the idea that God and Satan are two equal forces. One is evil, one is good.
Maybe God is slightly stronger. They are totally different. Satan is not the antitheses of
God. It’s very important we understand that.
You see, God had no beginning. Satan was created. We don’t know when he was
created. We don’t know when the angels were created. But he was created. Ezekiel 28
says that: “In the day you were created …” God is omnipresent. He’s in all places, all
the time. Satan is not. He is local. He goes to and fro across the earth. There’s a very
interesting verse in Revelation 2, verse 13, which talks about Pergamum, in present day
Turkey. And it says,
“I know where you live – it’s where Satan has his throne.”
It’s sounds as though there’s some satanic headquarters in Pergamum. That’s where
Satan has his throne, but he moves around. He’s not in all places at the same time. Now
this raises some questions about the scope of Satan’s activity. I mean, can Satan be in
Mongolia tonight and in Canada tonight? Presumably not … if he goes to and fro. Is it
correct to say, “Satan is tempting me,” when we come under temptation?
Well, let me give you two possible answers to this. It is true that angelic beings have
powers beyond ours. And although angelic beings are not omnipresent, that is in all
places all the time, they may be able to be multi-present, that means present in more than
one place at the same time. And multi-presence is not omnipresence, and maybe amongst
angelic beings and satanic and demonic beings, there are multi-present capacities, but not
omnipresent ability. That’s one possible thing.
But of course, when the Scripture speaks of Satan, attributes things to Satan, sometimes
that is attributing them to demons who operate along with Satan under his control, very
much as you might say Nelson beat Neapolitan at the Battle of Waterloo while Nelson
commanded the navy. Or we say Hitler invaded Poland. Hitler was sitting back in Berlin
when they invaded Poland. But we say Hitler invaded. What we mean is that it was his
army; it was his decision. Or we say Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, or we say George
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
12
Bush invaded Iraq. What we mean is not that these individuals were actually doing the
invading, but they’re the ones who were the strategists and the decision makers behind
the invasion. So when we talk about Satan attacking and Satan tempting, often what
Scripture means is that under his direction, demons are active and working. We’ll talk
about demons another day because there are many demons who work alongside Satan
Scripture tells us.
But God is omnipresent. The devil is local. God is omnipotent. That means He’s allpowerful. Satan is restricted. We saw that in the Book of Job. We saw that he had to ask
permission to sift [Simon Peter]. And God gave permission for Job to be attacked. He
gave permission presumably for Simon Peter to be sifted. And God does give
permission.
And by the way, let’s be realistic about that. I was once in a prayer meeting when
somebody in the prayer meeting began to – it was before I was going to preach actually;
we were praying before the service I was going to preach at – and somebody was
praying. And they suddenly stopped praying to God and began to pray to Satan as people
do from time to time in prayer meetings. And this is what this person said. They said,
“Satan, you have no right here tonight. I command you in the name of Jesus to leave this
building and do not be involved in this meeting and do not touch any life of anybody in
this meeting.” And they spoke very forcibly to Satan. At the end of that meeting, before
the main service, I said to this person, “I was interested in your prayer. How do you
know Satan doesn’t have permission to be here tonight?” And she said, “Well, we’re to
refuse him permission.” I said, “Well, sure. We are to resist the devil, but resist him
right here on the spot. It may be he’s been talking to God in heaven and said, ‘Can I go
to that meeting tonight?’ and God said, ‘You can go.’” Because God gives permission.
That’s the point I’m making. I’m not being trivial about this.
The point is not the luxury of saying, “Satan, clear out of this building so we can just, you
know, not be bothered by you.” Our job is to resist him in the battle, this is where we are.
We’re told to resist him. And by the way, he is restricted. He is limited. And you can
resist him. We’ll see that another time.
The other thing is that [God] is omniscient. That is, he knows everything there is to
know. Satan is not omniscient. He doesn’t know everything. Satan seems to be ignorant
of some things. When we’re told that Satan entered Judas, when Judas betrayed Jesus –
and we’re told specifically Satan entered into Judas – he presumably thought that was a
smart thing to do. To get the Messiah crucified was smart. He did not know that of
course would be his own downfall. Now of course, to get Judas to betray the Lord Jesus
Christ in that way was in itself a corrupting thing, but there are all kinds of things to
indicate that Satan doesn’t understand the end time, doesn’t understand the end result.
And that he is therefore battling in ignorance in some cases.
Let me just give you one last thing which I think I should. And that is we’ve talked about
his origin, his personality, his location. Let me talk about his destination because you
need to know and be sure of that. His destination is unambiguous in Scripture. He is
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
13
heading for hell. Hell was created specifically for Satan and his angels. Matthew 25,
verse 41, says,
“He’ll say to those on his left …”
Talking about separating the sheep from the goats.
“ ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the
devil and his angels.’”
And in Revelation, Chapter 20, we’re told that when Christ returns … let me read you
Revelation, Chapter 20, and verse 1:
“I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the keys to the Abyss and
holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who
is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the
Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations
anymore until the thousand years were ended.”
Well, that’s a thousand years in which he’s going to be bound in this pit. But after that, it
says he must be set free for a short time. And verse 7 says,
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and
will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth – Gog and
Magog – to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of
God’s people, the city He loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured
them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning
sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be
tormented day and night forever and ever.”
And that’s the devil’s last mention.
One of the things the devil does is accuse us of our sin. You know, he’s the accuser of
the brethren. I saw a T-shirt once that said this: “When the devil reminds you of your
past, you remind him of his future.” He’s beaten. Destined for eternal destruction.
Somebody asked me the intriguing question one day, “Could the devil get converted?
Could we pray for that? Would there be any point in that?” Well, we’re told that when it
comes to salvation, angels look into this and would long to experience the joy that we
experience with salvation. Angels are not accessible to salvation.
Although the devil is active now, he is under the authority of a sovereign God. When we
talk about the fact that he is the god of this world, he is the prince of this world, he is the
prince and power of the air – several of the descriptions about him – it is under that
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
14
sovereignty and so he comes to God: “Can I have permission?” And I’ll tell you this.
When God gives Satan permission to attack, it’s not because God is interested in your
destruction, though Satan is; it’s because God is interested in your perfection. And it is
again and again the attacks from the devil that bring about our perfection. That’s partly
why I said the devil is ignorant.
That’s what happened to Job. Job looked back: “My ears had heard of you before all of
this, but now my eyes have seen you. Something’s happened because out of this attack,
I’ve experienced something I’ve never experienced before.” Simon Peter was a better
man after he broke down in tears. I believe that was a turning point in Peter’s life. God
gives the devil enough access to break you, and when you’re broken, that’s the time God
begins to reveal to you. So don’t be scared when the devil is attacking. You have the
opportunity for growth.
Well that’s all we’ll talk about tonight. I don’t know how to finish except to say, “That’s
it!”
Let’s pray together. Lord Jesus, we thank you so much that you have given us enough
information to not be taken by surprise that there is evil in our world and not be taken by
surprise when we find evil in our own hearts. But you’ve given us enough information
too to know what it means to be victorious. Thank you that when the Lord Jesus was
raised from the dead, He put everything under His feet. And Satan is under His feet.
And we may share the victory, even in those heavenly realms, because your Word tells us
you have seated us in Christ in the heavenly realms, far above principalities and powers.
And although we face them, we recognize we are in the navy; we’re in an army. We’re
in a battle. Help us to be realistic about that. Help us to remind ourselves of that again
and again. This week some of us will experience that very specifically, but help us to rest
in the victory that is ours in the Lord Jesus. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
NOTE: On page 8, Pastor Price refers to the “Ceza” Convention. I don’t know the
correct spelling.
Who’s Who In The Cosmos, Part 1, 2004
15