Luke 4:13 “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”
In this section we want to discuss the devil’s persistence in his war against the saints. Until Jesus returns and Satan is bound by the angel for one thousand years, our adversary is not going to go away, for as we have already seen, he is the god of this world and as such he has every right to be here. The saints on the other hand are citizens of heaven, and so technically speaking we are on foreign soil while we live in this world. In other words, just as our Lord Jesus is from above and not of this world, neither are we of this world (John 8:23). The point is; even though we exercise authority over the devil while we are on the earth, we do not have the authority to banish him from our lives altogether. And so what we will find is that when we do exercise our authority over the devil forcing him to depart from us, nevertheless after a period of time has elapsed he will return to test the believer once again. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that the same thing happened to the Lord Jesus when He walked the earth, for the scripture says that the devil departed from Him until an opportune time. In other words when our Lord instructed Satan to depart from Him that is exactly what Satan did, but at a later time the devil came back and once again tried to tempt the Lord Jesus. And so if Satan returned to tempt the Lord Jesus, then we are no different and we can expect that the devil will return from time to time to tempt the believer once again. Nevertheless, each time that Satan returns we are to simply exercise our authority over him and he will once again depart from us.
Jude 1:8-9 “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. (9) Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!”
In this section we want to discuss the fact that Satan is a dignitary, and how that impacts the saint’s interaction with him. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Jude refers to Satan and his angels as dignitaries. So what does that statement mean? It simply means that even though Satan is a fallen angel, he nevertheless still carries the authority that was originally given to him by God. In explaining the concept of dealing correctly with even fallen authorities, the apostle Jude teaches us how Michael the Archangel confronts the devil, by telling us that Michael dares not bring against the devil a reviling accusation, but rather says "The Lord rebuke you!”. Because believers are in Christ, they have a higher level of authority than angels. And so when believers address the devil they would not say “The Lord rebuke you”, but rather they would say “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus”. Nevertheless the main point that I wanted to address from this passage is that in context, Jude is speaking about foolish individuals speaking evil of, and reviling Satan and his angels. The apostle Peter speaks in a similar manner when he says that these people despise authority, are presumptuous, self-willed, not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries; while angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord (2 Peter 10-11). So what does it mean when the scripture says that these individuals bring a reviling accusation against the devil? For example, I have heard ministers of the gospel displaying their ignorance in this area, by referring to Satan as a worm or as an idiot. Such statements would be classified as bringing a reviling accusation against him. Satan himself has no problem with foolish individuals who revile him, precisely because it plays into his hands. Because as the accuser of the brethren, Satan then has the legal right to ask for access to the lives of those believers, and that does not bode well for them.
Romans 13:1-2 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. (2) Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is speaking about governments that exist in the natural. Nevertheless the same principle regarding authorities in the natural also applies to the spirit realm, for God has created all authorities, both in the natural and in the spiritual realm. We have already seen that believers are not subject to Satan’s authority, but at the same time we do not revile his authority. And so in that light we can read this passage by replacing the word “resist” with the word “revile”, i.e. “there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever reviles the authority reviles the ordinance of God, and those who revile will bring judgment on themselves.” And so we see that as believers, we can refer to Satan even as our Lord Jesus referred to him, i.e. a liar, a thief, a murderer, a deceiver and whatever other description is given to him in scripture. Nevertheless we do not refer to him as a worm or as an idiot, for that is one and the same as bringing a reviling accusation against him, thus opening the door for Satan to bring judgement into the life of that believer.
Michael E.B. Maher
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