We have been considering what the Bible has to say about our enemy, the devil. He is more than a myth; he is a created angel. In Ezekiel 28:14 he is called “the anointed cherub that covereth.” He was the highest ranking angel in heaven. God called him Lucifer, which means, “Light Bearer.”
Isaiah 14:12-15 tells how that soon after creation, Lucifer led in a rebellion against God. He and one third of the other angels were cast out of heaven. In Matthew 12:24, the Pharisees refer to him as the “prince of the devils.”
Satan, a powerful, though fallen, celestial being, also exercises a degree of power in the earth. Before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, He warned, “the prince of this world cometh. (John 14:30).” Later, Paul referred to him as the “Prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). He and his minions became the open and declared enemies of God and man. John tells us, “…he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44).” We are told that sometimes, he even appears as “an angel of light” (2Corinthians 11:14).”
Being without Christ, the natural (unsaved) man is no match for the devil. Many who are impressed with his strength have chosen to worship him—unaware that he blinds them to the truth (2Corinthians 4:4), oppresses them with all manner of evil (Acts 10:38), and inflicts them with sickness, injury or disease (Matthew 9:32-33; 12:22; Luke 9:42). Others he possesses, and leads to destruction of both body and soul. (Luke 8:30; John 13:26-27).
But God never intended for us to be prey for the devil. Everyone who has accepted Christ’s forgiveness, has victory over sin, death, hell, and fear. To them, Satan is a defeated foe, and has no authority where they are concerned (Colossians 1:13). Though they still live where sin abounds, they are by faith, citizens of another realm, and know experientially that “greater is He that is in them, than he that is in the world. (1John 4:4).”