The Reality of Satan: Everything You Wanted To Know About Satan, But Were Afraid To Ask: a blog about our lord and saviour satan
The story of Jesus and Satan in the desert is a classic one, and it’s well known that this is the moment when Satan tempts Jesus with three tests.
Some say the story happened because of a misunderstanding. People thought that it was Satan who tempted Jesus, but instead he was just there to help him. In fact, some scholars believe that the entire story is made up!
However, most people agree that the reason why Satan was there was because he wanted to test Jesus’ faith by tempting him with three tests. He wanted to see if Jesus would turn away from God or if he would stay true to his beliefs no matter what happened.
churchgist will give you all you ask on satan in the bible verse and so much more.
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10). This was Christ’s response to Satan after his third temptation in the wilderness.
Satan must have known Christ would not sin, and yet he tried to tempt Him anyway. Why bother? And why is this episode included in the New Testament since Satan’s attempts were useless?
The Three Temptations
Christ had not eaten for 40 days and nights. He had retreated to the wilderness to be with the Father and to pray after his cousin, John, baptized Him. At His weakest point, Satan tried to break the Savior. He urged Jesus to do three things:
1. Turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:3)
2. Jump from the pinnacle of the temple so the angels could save Him (Matthew 4:6)
3. Bow down and worship the devil in exchange for power (Matthew 4:8-9)
Satan kept upping the ante, as though he believed Jesus was only waiting for the right temptation; the best offer. Christ resisted all of these temptations because it was “impossible for Jesus to sin.” The Son was wholly obedient to the Father. Jesus used the Word of God against Satan to “clarify that God alone is God.”
Satan’s Purpose
One writer says that, as Satan tried to lure Christ away from God’s side, he “believes he will prevail.” His goal is to “somehow kill Jesus” and thereby enjoy victory over God, vengeance perhaps for being thrown into the fiery pit of Hell with his fellow conspirators following their rebellion. Since Jesus was fully God and fully man, able to sympathize with the reality of temptation to men, Satan must have believed He would succumb to the desires of the flesh.
Romans 8 says that “those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” Immanuel was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh” but did not set His mind on earthly desires.
At Jesus’ baptism, “the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him” (Matthew 3:16). Christ lived by the Spirit, so Satan could not tempt His flesh.
God’s Purpose
What is the reader meant to do with Satan’s futility? And how can one live up to the sinlessness of Christ when we know that if we were put under this much pressure, we would “probably yield to it?” The purpose is not to make us feel small, but to empower and educate the reader as to how he or she can resist temptation.
James 4:7 says that the power to resist the Devil is ours if we do what Christ did: submit to the Lord. Christ is our model: turn the Word against the evil one and worship God. Every word of the Bible is “God-breathed and useful for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16).
This episode took place because God allowed it and we can use it to learn how to stand firm against the Devil, just as God permitted Satan to tempt Job and Job worshiped the Lord. Satan tempted Job by taking everything from Him, but Christ’s temptations were the opposite. The Devil tempted God’s Son to be obedient elsewhere; to derive power from and forego the coming trials at Satan’s side.
The Almighty wanted to demonstrate how far Satan would go and what is at stake for us as believers because Satan targets the same areas in the lives of Christians today. Believers are more likely to sin when faced with hunger or fatigue.
Christians still wrestle with doubt (will God really save me?) and pride (the desire for power). As Jesus waits for God to minister to His body, He trusts the Father’s plan for eternity and submits to the Lord. As heirs of Christ, we can do it too. The serpent fails.
Straight Path in the Wilderness
Matthew 4:1-11 reminds Christians to expect and endure evil without giving in; but also shows us how to resist by using the very words of God. Even Christ quoted Scripture as His defense, rather than coming up with some new wisdom. In his farewell to the Ephesian elders, Paul said “I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).
Christ is the Word by which believers receive the inheritance of God; the grace which is our salvation and our stronghold. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” In this encounter with Satan, Christ essentially protects Himself with — Himself; the truth of who He is: the unchangeable I AM.
Twisted Truth
Christ responded to Satan with the truth and “was the first to quote scripture in His encounter with Satan,” always beginning “It is written.” Today, Satan twists Scripture to confuse and fool us which is why we must know the Bible.
We utilize the Word of God, “sharper than any double-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), and thereby invoke the power of Christ for our defense. “Satan takes his cue from our Lord’s words.” Once he understands Jesus’ defense, He “seeks to twist our Lord’s trust in the Father.” Satan tries some “subtle twisting of God’s word,” and perhaps “the adversary felt certain he could overthrow our Lord even on biblical grounds!”
Of course, Christ has the advantage. He knows the Word; He is the Word, but memorizing the Bible is not enough: we must come to grips with what God means to say and who He is. Not only the word but the speaker matters. Even non-Christians use Bible verses out of context, adopting them as devices to mold truth to their purposes and desires.
The Son “hangs on every word of God. […] Every word. Not a few words. Not the words particularly easy to accept.” What a shallow and short-lived victory that would have been: to be manipulated by Satan into taking Scripture out of context. Those who are “hostile to God” do not “submit to God’s law” (Romans 8:7).
Jesus did not turn the stone into bread because God had said: “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). He did not jump from the top of the temple because God’s people “do not put the Lord [their] God to the test.” (Deuteronomy 6:16).
Christ did not bow down to Satan in exchange for power because Satan had no power to bestow: “Fear the LORD your God, serve him only” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Jesus did not need new words; the Father had spoken sufficiently in the law He gave to Israel when they were in the wilderness. Deuteronomy literally means “Words” in Hebrew.
Self-Defense Classes
Out of context, the Lord’s words seem lifeless, powerless. But Christ always knew what the Father meant by what He said. He did not read the Word to get something out of it for Himself. “Jesus read the word in order to trust God, not test God.” “Give careful attention to proper interpretation” and “hide God’s word in your heart so you can live by it.”
This is our shield and our sword. Christ has shown us by way of His own experience with Satan’s temptations, at a time when He was weakened by hunger and thirst and isolation, how to defend ourselves when we are weak.
In the New Testament the Greek transliteration Satanas is used, and this usually appears as Satan in English translations. He is spoken of as the prince of evil spirits, the inveterate enemy of God and of Christ, who takes the guise of an angel of light. He can enter people and act through them; hence, a person can be called Satan because of his or her acts or attitude. Through his subordinate demons, Satan can take possession of human bodies, afflicting them or making them diseased. According to the visions in the Book of Revelation, when the risen Christ returns from heaven to reign on earth, Satan will be bound with a great chain for a thousand years, then be released, but almost immediately face final defeat and be cast into eternal punishment. His name, Beelzebul, used in the Gospels mainly in reference to demonic possession, comes from the name of the god of Ekron, Baalzebub (II Kings 1). He is also identified with the devil (diabolos), and this term occurs more frequently in the New Testament than Satan. In the Qurʾān the proper name Shaitan (“Satan”) is used.
Bible Verses aboutSatan
1 Peter 5:8 ESV / 784 helpful votes
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 John 3:8 ESV / 752 helpful votes
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
John 8:44 ESV / 584 helpful votes
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 551 helpful votes
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
James 4:7 ESV / 525 helpful votes
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Revelation 12:9 ESV / 427 helpful votes
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Romans 16:20 ESV / 355 helpful votes
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
2 Corinthians 11:3 ESV / 346 helpful votes
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 341 helpful votes
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
John 10:10 ESV / 316 helpful votes
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Ephesians 6:11 ESV / 305 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Luke 10:18 ESV / 283 helpful votes
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Is Satan capable of inception? Does he whisper temptations in our ear? Is Satan’s authority, power, and relationship to unbelievers the same or different from Christians?
These are all valid and, frankly, somewhat haunting questions. I am not left emotionally unmoved by the many destroyed marriages and ministries around me that Satan has devoured. I trust your experience is comparable. It is vital that you and I rightly discern and evaluate Satan. He is not to be trifled with nor buffooned, but in Christ, his back was utterly broken on Calvary’s hill.
Our entry point for discerning the person and activity of Satan will be Colossians 2:15. We will discover much there, but upon developing three guiding exegetical questions, we will unearth as many unanswered questions as we answer. Grasping a wholistic picture of Satan requires a full canonical scope. These questions force an excursion into the terrain of biblical theology. After building out a stable biblical-theological framework, we will be in position to establish a few conclusive truths—also known as dogmatics.
Using Bible Verses About Satan To Influence Our Choices
Because man made a choice to be removed from God through sin, we must now make a choice to be restored to a relationship with God through the redemption of Christ.
Bible Verses about Satan: Since we, the children, are all creatures of flesh and blood, Jesus took on flesh and blood, so that by dying He could destroy the one who held power over death—the devil. — Hebrews 2:14 (The Voice)
The good news of the gospel is that Christ paved the way for us to enter this new relationship.
Bible Verses about Satan: The Spirit then led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. — Matthew 4:1 (The Voice)
Jesus was tempted in every way, but in the end, Jesus said to Satan, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” — Matthew 4:10 (NIV)
Cunning. Craftiness. Subtlety. Guile. These are the descriptive qualifiers that paint the biblical portrait of Satan. — R.C. Sproul
When Jesus sent the disciples out to preach, they returned with great stories:
Bible Verses about Satan: Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” — Luke 10:17-19 (NKJV)