Spiritual Warfare Know Your Enemy! 22-02-2009 1 2 Cor. 2: 5-115 I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt your entire church more than he hurt me. 6 He was punished enough when most of you were united in your judgment against him. 7 Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise he may become so discouraged that he won t be able to recover. 8 Now show him that you still love him. 9 I wrote to you as I did to find out how far you would go in obeying me. 10 When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive him (for whatever is to be forgiven), I do so with Christ s authority for your benefit, 11 so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are very familiar with his evil schemes. (NLT) This phrase is simply describing a reality that we should take serious note of when it comes to our enemy! We must never become unfamiliar with satans devices, nor ignore the devil. This was never Paul s teachings or God s intention. Don t be ignorant of satans devices. The word ignorant comes from the Greek word agnoeo ; meaning not to know (through lack of information or intelligence); by implication, to ignore (through disinclination) 1 Pet 5:8 Be careful-- watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart. (TLB) If we are going to be vigilant, we need to know whom our enemy is and what his devices are! There are seventeen names, symbols and types for the devil through out the old and New Testaments. Each reveals a different facet of the devils twisted, perverted nature as well as his mode of operation. All serious scholars of the Church, in both the past and present ages agree that we have an adversary who hates the gospel, detests the presence of the church, and is working around the clock to discredit the message of Jesus Christ. Rather than to hide from this foe, we need to turn to the scriptures to see what the Bible has to say about him. He is known as: Abbaddon - Rev. 9:11: Accuser - Rev. 12:10 : Adversary - 1 Peter 5:8: Angel of light - 2 Cor. 11:14: Apollyon - Rev.9:11: Beelzebub - Math. 10: 25 ; 12: 24 Belial - 2 Cor. 6:15 Devil - Eph. 6:11; 1 Peter 5: 8 ; Rev. 12:9 Dragon - Rev. 12:9 Evil One - Math. 6:13 Murderer - John 8:44 Prince of this world - John 12:31 Prince of Demons - Math 9:34 Prince of the power of the air - Eph. 2:2 Roaring lion - 1 Peter 5:8 Satan - Luke 10:18 Serpent - Rev. 12:9
The expression of who the Devil is, as revealed to us in these scriptures, can be divided into four categories. 1.) Satan s destructive bent 2.) Satan s perverted nature. 3.) Satan s desire to control 4.) Satan the mind manipulator 1). Satan s Destructive Addiction. Of these 17 Names, symbols, and types, two are devoted to the Devils insatiable desire to destroy. Revelation 9:11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. (NKJV) This verse in reference to Satan describes the destructive aspect of who the devil is.the names Abaddon which is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name Apollyon are very descriptive as they both mean Destroyer. One can be sure that demon spirits are sent forth with their masters same destructive nature. Your enemy wants to destroy you, your marriage, your children etc. 2). Satan s Perverted Nature Five of the titles for the devil mentioned have to do with his perverted Nature. a) Beelzebub. This name was initially used by the Philistines to describe the god of Ekron. It literally meant Lord of the flies. They viewed demon spirits in the same way one would view nasty, dirty, flies. It was originally spelt Baalzebub. The Jews altered this name to Beelzebub which brought a new idea to this particular name of the devil. This new name now meant Lord of the dunghill, or Lord of the manure. The suggestion is that both the devil and his evil spirits like, nasty, dirty, flies, are attracted to dunghills, or if you will, environments where you find rotting, stinking carnality abounding. 1 Cor 3:1-3 1And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (NKJ) When we live lifestyles of carnality and flesh it lets off a foul rotting aroma that attracts demons like flies. This is where the devil thrives best. b) Belial The word Belial means worthless. This name is always used in connection with filthiness and wickedness. 1 Sam. 2:12 tells us that Eli s sons were sons of Belial. 2
They were fornicators, thieves and were full of idolatry and rebellion. This behaviour was obtained from Satan. Your enemy wants to pervert you and your families to become his image and representation. c) Dragon Rev. 12:9 And the huge dragon was cast down and out-that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him. (Amplified Bible) By employing both these pictures interchangeably (serpent ; dragon) he is presented as a deadly, poisonous, ready-to-strike-and-kill creature. d) Evil One Matt 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (NKJV) Jesus was more familiar with Satan than anyone and labelled him the Evil One. e) Murderer It was also Jesus who told us that Satan was a murderer. John 8:44You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (NKJV) This murderous nature of Satan was first manifest in Genesis 4:8 when he inspired Cain to slay his brother Abel. It was this murderous nature that inspired Herod to kill all the babies in Bethlehem Ephrata. His nature is revealed to us in the deaths and murders of millions of early Christian Martyrs. The Devil would murder you if he could. 3). Satan s Desire to Control Satan has a strong desire to control the spirit realm, the world as well as every human government and human institution. This is evidenced by the fact that the Bible calls him the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this world and the prince of demons. a) The prince of this world By calling the devil the prince (ruler) of this world, Jesus reveals to us that even He recognized Satans temporal control over certain things in this earthly sphere. 3
The devil himself personally offered Jesus the Kingdoms of this world during Jesus forty days and forty nights of testing in the wilderness. Of course Jesus resisted the devils power until he fled. Luke 4:1-7 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of god. 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours. (NKJV) Jesus spoke from personal experience. b) The prince of Demons Matt 9:34 But the Pharisees said, He casts out demons by the prince of demons. (RSV) The word prince is taken from the Greek word archontas and refers to One who holds the first place One who hold the highest seat of power. This reveals to us that the devil holds the highest-ranking seat among many diabolical spirits. The suggestion also reveals that there is some kind of rank and file and organization to Satan s system of things. We will do a later study on this out of Eph. 6:12 c) Prince of the power of the air The Apostle Paul called the devil the Prince of the power of the air. This is in complete agreement with Eph. 6:12 which reveals that there are evil spirits in the spiritual reality under the devils control who shape society s mood and manner as they exercise their influence globally and within differing cultures. 4). Satan As The Mind Manipulator This is our last and largest category of the names, symbols and types of the devil in the Bible. There are six of these that specifically have to do with his ability to twist, deceive and lie to the mind. Here we discover that the devil is truly the master of mind games! a) Adversary This is a very important title to understand when attempting to discern the devils mode of operation. The word adversary is taken form the Greek word antidikos It is a compound word of two Greek words anti and dikos. 4
The word anti simply means against. However in the more older and classical Greek it was used to describe someone who was mentally on the edge of insanity, a person who was dangerous and could do great harm if they were not restrained. The second part of the word adversary Dikos is the root for the word righteousness - It refers to justice, rightness, fairness, and righteousness. When these two Greek words are compounded together the suggestion is One who is adamantly opposed to righteousness. Because of the idea that anti carries the suggestion of hostility, it is safe to say that the devil is one who is hostile toward righteousness or if you will he is one who desires to destroy and obliterate righteousness. 2 Cor 5:16-21 God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We re Christ s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God s work of making things right between them. We re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he s already a friend with you. How? you say. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God. (The Message) 2 Cor 5: 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (KJV) In other words, the devil is not just passively opposing us as the righteousness of God He is actively pursuing us and doing all within his power to wipe us out. The devil hates righteousness! He usually tries to mentally devour us with temptations of the present, or with memories from the past. He does this as our adversary to assault our sense of righteousness hoping that we will be left feeling like we are no good failures and in so doing affecting our confidence before God, devil and man. But, we have been made the righteousness of God, therefore you cannot be unmade. b) A roaring lion 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (NKJV) This title tells us that although the devil has been stripped of authority and been made a public spectacle, this does not stop him from trying to sound terrifying. Just as the lion has the ability to command fear from the heart of a frail man, so the devil attempts to be like one.this constant roaring is manifest though his continuous hassling of our thoughts, his insinuations about failure, his concoction of unrealistic fear in our soul. It is this constant onslaught against our minds, produced by this roaring like a lion that beats believers down into defeat. He is not a lion, he is like one. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. If the devil can convince you that his roar is from the threat of real danger then he will swallow you up. The adversaries object is to seek those whom he may devour. The word seek implies that not everyone will fall prey to these tactics. He is not seeking anyone but rather those whom he may. He is looking for: those who are weak in faith ignorant of the word of God who are isolated unto themselves, and are not mature enough to stand in the face of his constant hassling allegations. 5
He wants to devour them. Devour-comes form the Greek word = Katapino-It literally means to swallow up completely. c) Angel of light In second Corinthians, Paul, dealing with the problem of false prophets false teachers false apostles and deceivers who were trying to Slither their way into the Corinthian church, says.. 2 Cor 11:14 And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into and angel of light. (NKJV) This reveals yet again that by distinguishing himself to be something that he really is not, he gets the title of master-mind manipulator. This title is a vivid portrayal by Paul of the devils deceptive power to twist ones thinking. This attack normally comes against the mind. d) The Devil This title is referred to over forty times in the New Testament. Devil is taken from the Greek word diabolos. It is a compound of two Greek words dia and balos. Dia = through ; and carries with it the idea of penetration. Balos = is taken from the word ballo, which means I throw. When compounded together the word diabolos depicts the act of repeatedly throwing something against something until it penetrates that barrier, and breaks though on the other side.this name reveals to us his mode of operation one who continually strikes, strikes and strikes again. e) Satan and Accuser Satan = this word is taken form the Hebrew word Shatana and means to hate and accuse. It is used more than fifty times in the Old and New Testament and carries the idea of slander and false accusations. Eph 12:10-20 A final word: Be strong with the Lord s mighty power. 11 Put on all of God s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.13 Use every piece of God s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.* 16 In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.* 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. 19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God s secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too.* 20 I am in chains now for preaching this message as God s ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should. (NLT) 6