Satan and Revelation

There is one verse in the Bible that overloads us with Satan. It describes who he is, what his function is, and what his fate will be. This verse, as you might expect, is found in the Book of Revelation in chapter 12 verse 9. To give clarity as to what is actually being said, the definition of each name and title follows this verse. This alters our understanding and perspective of the passage. It also enables to better understanding what we are dealing now in our everyday lives.

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:9)

Dragon: A name for the devil

Serpent: The serpent was an emblem of cunning and wisdom.

Devil: A calumniator, one who makes false and personal attacks, a slanderer

Satan: The prince of evil spirits, long established adversary of God and Christ, incites apostasy

Deceiveth: To cause to stray, to lead astray, lead aside from the right way. Which by the way, is almost the exact same definition as for sin.

World: The inhabitants of the earth, men

Angels: Messengers, can be either good or bad. “Angels are always spoken of in the masculine gender, the feminine form of the word does not occur." (Vines Expository Dictionary)

Satan is a wise and cunning deceiver. He attacks us personally with lies. He is anti-God and anti-Christ with the goal to cause us to stray out of God’s way, the path of righteousness, to sin and finally, to cause us to apostatize.

The devil would be a lot easier to identify and fight if he came at us head on and fought us toe to toe. He doesn’t do that. Since Satan is a cunning liar and master deceiver he will only come at us in a way that we do not expect or even realize. There is nothing more powerful than the word, so the devil will use words to hurt us, trick us and to move us in a direction away from God.

Doubt and guilt are wounds created by Satan. Words are the arrows and fiery darts that cause the wounds. Left unattended, guilt and doubt fester into anxiety, frustration, anger, depression, anxiousness, burn-out, paranoia and more.

There is no happiness, joy or peace with the devil. Pleasure and self-gratification at first, maybe. Jesus said that He will leave us with His peace. The devil will only ever leave us with death, destruction and misery.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Jesus at the Sermon on the Mound said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Ethically speaking, “pure of heart” means free from sin and guilt. The devil wants you to sin and he wants you to feel guilty about it. Why the guilt? Because the devil can control and manipulate you with guilt. Those who feel guilty feel like they are not worthy and make themselves fodder for the prince of evil. Jesus frees us from sin and guilt thus freeing us from the grip of the great Dragon.

We have to understand that we are not presentable to God in the clutches of the devil. Jesus must be our mediator and savior. We aren’t washed clean so much as we are covered by the blood of Jesus.

The devil knows you. He knows where there isn’t any armor of God and that’s where he strikes. And like any contagion the devil’s virus spreads quickly upon contact. The only defense against the devil is God and His word. Rebuke the devil with God and His word and the devil will flee.

Don’t think you can defeat or withstand the devil on your own. The devil, more than anything else in the world would love for you o believe you can take him on without Jesus. Remember, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world”. Satan deceives “the whole world”.

Now, are we sinand guilt free after accepting Jesus Christ into our life? No, we will stumble and we will fall. But we are also forgiven and we are saved with Christ.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

If we accept Jesus as our Savior and stay focused on Him, those fiery darts of the devil will be of no effect and we will come unto the Father by Christ!

Bill Hitchcock