In my book, 10 Lies Satan Loves to Tell, I go over many different lies that Satan likes to whisper and the truth that God tells you. Before we can begin to dig into these lies, it’s important to know who Satan truly is. I thought it would be beneficial to answer these five frequently asked questions about Satan so you can have a better understanding of the enemy to your faith and how Christ defeated Him for you.
1. Who Is Satan?
Satan is God’s enemy. He is a created being, an angel who was holy when he was created, but who later rebelled against God.
2. Is There a Difference between Satan and the Devil?
Satan goes by many names. In Revelation 12, the apostle John lists out numerous names Satan goes by. John writes, “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (v. 9).
John wants us to know that, as we read through the Bible, when we see the actions of a being called the dragon, serpent, devil, deceiver, or Satan, that is the same evil entity.
One name that John leaves out in this list that Jesus frequently uses for the devil is simply “the evil one.” The devil, Satan, the evil one are all one and the same.
3. What Does Satan Do?
In the above list of names from Revelation 12, John brings together a variety of biblical stories, identifying the antagonist in each story as the same entity. Satan is the ancient serpent who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1–15). In Matthew 4:1–11, Satan is referenced as “the tempter”; Satan is the devil that tempts Jesus in the wilderness. Satan is the enemy that sows weeds into God’s kingdom field (Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43). Satan is the one who snatches the Word of God sown on the path (Luke 8:4–15). Satan is the one who urges Simon Peter to intervene and prevent Jesus from going to the cross (Matthew 16:21–23). Satan is the one who prompts Judas to betray Jesus (John 13:21–30). Satan is the Accuser who causes calamity to Job (Job 1–2) and the Accuser of Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3). Satan is the great dragon who appears in apocalyptic sections of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation. Satan is the deceiver of the whole world and the father of lies (John 8). He is a liar and a murderer. Satan deceived Cain into murdering Abel (1 John 3:4–15).
In all of these examples, we see that Satan tempts, accuses, and lies to God’s people.
In Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve fall into sin, we see temptations, accusations, and lies are mixed together in Satan’s first words of Scripture, “Did God actually say …?” (Genesis 3:1). When we see Satan show up, we should expect him to be lying to and accusing us, God, and all of God’s people.
A more obscure action of Satan that we see in the Scriptures is that Satan is the commanding general of a host of demonic forces. These demonic forces are a vast number of formerly holy angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God. They follow Satan’s lead in lying and accusing God’s people.
What we see in the New Testament is that these forces are also capable of possessing human beings. They are called various names in the New Testament. Sometimes they are referred to as unclean spirits, demons, unclean demons, or evil spirts. Whatever they are called, these evil forces are led by Satan. They seek to harm God’s people spiritually and physically. The examples we see in the New Testament show that these forces often possess extraordinary physical strength (see Mark 5:1–20 and Acts 19:13–20).
4. Why Does Satan Do What He Does?
Satan accuses, lies, and tempts in order to draw God’s people as far away from God as possible. That is Satan’s goal for us: distance from God. Satan will seek to do this through lies, fear, accusation, apathy, and demonic possession. Whatever Satan is up to, his goal remains the same: cause God’s people to fall away.
Satan wants all of God’s people to turn away from the image we were made in, the image of God. Satan wants us to take on a new image, the image of Satan himself. Satan wants us looking like himself. He wants us in open rebellion against God and the rest of God’s people. Satan wants us to follow him.
5. What Does Satan Look Like?
Satan has been depicted in a variety of ways throughout history, but the Scriptures give us little to no idea how Satan looks. He may be described as a serpent or dragon, but even those terms don’t tell us a lot. We often see Satan in a cartoonish fashion, a mustachioed, smiling, red-skinned fiend with horns, a pointed tail, and a trident. These are not biblical depictions.
The truth is we do not know what Satan looks like. The most we get from the Scriptures is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:14: “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
In this verse, we see that even in his appearance, Satan seeks to deceive us, disguising himself as the opposite of himself. Satan acts as though he is our best friend who wants to improve our lives, but he actually seeks our eternal destruction as a stab against God, who loves us.
Read more about the lies Satan tells in Andrew Jones’s book. Bring home your copy below.
