Satan like a lion but defeated - by Dan McCartney
Yet these were beings able to overpower a man and compel him to live in tombs, break chains, and cut himself with rocks. These were angelic creatures whose power is so great the Bible sometimes refers to them as “gods” (Ps. 82:1). And Satan’s more subtle modes pose far greater danger than the blatant ones, for he often goes unrecognized as he entices people to their destructions and blinds them to their own foolishness. Reading about the demonic in a Stephen King thriller may give us an adrenaline rush of fake fear, but the demons in Stephen King’s stories are probably a cause for much laughter in hell. All the fakery is a great mask for the real danger and power.
So if the Devil and the devils are so powerful, should we be afraid of them?
Jesus tells us that he has tied Satan up and brought us out of his “house.” So although Satan still makes a lot of noise and roams around looking for someone to devour, Christians are no longer on his side of the glass wall. He can no longer get at us directly; he can only get to us indirectly if we let him. Therefore 1 Peter tells us, “Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.” (1 Peter 2:14–15, NRSV). We are to fear God alone, because He alone truly has the disposition of all things.
But didn’t Jesus say we should fear the one who can kill both body and soul in hell? (Matt. 10:28). Some have thought that Jesus was referring to the Devil, since Hebrews 2:14 says that the Devil has the “power of death.” But in Matthew 10 Jesus is actually telling the disciples they should fear only God. The context says there is nothing to fear in preaching the Gospel (v. 30) because only God has power over the soul, and He is a loving Father who doesn’t let even a sparrow fall to the ground unless it is His will (v. 29).
Satan may have the ability to inflict suffering and even death, but he can do so only with permission from God (Job 1–2). Further, Hebrews 2 is not saying the Devil has sovereign disposition of death, but rather that death is the Devil’s “power-base.” Satan uses the fear of death to hold people captive, because when you fear death rather than God you fall right into Satan’s hands. You end up doing things to avoid death that you ought not to do. But Satan is not the one who controls death, or determines when or how a person dies. And of course the main point of Hebrews 2 is that angels generally are subject to Jesus, and that the mightiest of angels, the Devil, has been destroyed, because Jesus conquered death. Though the non-Christian may fear death and the Devil, the Christian has no need to fear them.
Indeed, the more one fears God, the less one fears anyone or anything else. There is no power in earth or heaven which can do the Christian the slightest true harm. What may appear to us to be harm can only happen if God has purposed it for our good. And the mightiest angel himself cannot cause our death one second before the time set by our loving Father.
No, we need not fear Satan for all his fury and cunning.
Nevertheless, though we ought not to fear Satan or his angels, we had better respect them. When I go to the zoo, I have no desire to get in the cage with the lion and taunt it. I respect that lion. In the Middle Ages, people thought that ridiculing Satan was a good way to minimize his effectiveness (hence the silly images of a red suit and pointy tail). But this is a very foolish thing to do. Jude tells us even the angels do not ridicule the Devil (Jude 9). Every creature of God, especially every sentient creature, no matter how depraved and wicked, is worthy of respect because of his Creator.
My tennis instructor told me two rules about the psychological part of the game: 1) Do not fear your opponent. 2) Do respect your opponent. You should not fear your opponent because his efforts to intimidate you can only work if you let them work. You should however respect your opponent, because although ridicule may have an affect on an inexperienced player, an experienced player (Satan has plenty of experience) will simply use your own lack of seriousness against you. Many a match has been lost to an inferior player because the better player did not take the challenge seriously. And Satan is not an inferior player. Many a Christian has temporarily fallen prey to the Devil’s schemes because he or she has not taken seriously his subtlety or deceitfulness.
But if we truly fear God, we stand in no danger from a million devils. Indeed the devils now have reason to fear us, just as they feared Jesus, because as we are in Christ we shall judge even the angels (1 Cor. 6:3). Satan and his angels fear God in an unrepentant way because they know very well their coming condemnation (cf. James 2:19).
Indeed, the more one fears God, the less one fears anyone or anything else. There is no power in earth or heaven which can do the Christian the slightest true harm. What may appear to us to be harm can only happen if God has purposed it for our good. And the mightiest angel himself cannot cause our death one second before the time set by our loving Father.
No, we need not fear Satan for all his fury and cunning.
Nevertheless, though we ought not to fear Satan or his angels, we had better respect them. When I go to the zoo, I have no desire to get in the cage with the lion and taunt it. I respect that lion. In the Middle Ages, people thought that ridiculing Satan was a good way to minimize his effectiveness (hence the silly images of a red suit and pointy tail). But this is a very foolish thing to do. Jude tells us even the angels do not ridicule the Devil (Jude 9). Every creature of God, especially every sentient creature, no matter how depraved and wicked, is worthy of respect because of his Creator.
My tennis instructor told me two rules about the psychological part of the game: 1) Do not fear your opponent. 2) Do respect your opponent. You should not fear your opponent because his efforts to intimidate you can only work if you let them work. You should however respect your opponent, because although ridicule may have an affect on an inexperienced player, an experienced player (Satan has plenty of experience) will simply use your own lack of seriousness against you. Many a match has been lost to an inferior player because the better player did not take the challenge seriously. And Satan is not an inferior player. Many a Christian has temporarily fallen prey to the Devil’s schemes because he or she has not taken seriously his subtlety or deceitfulness.
But if we truly fear God, we stand in no danger from a million devils. Indeed the devils now have reason to fear us, just as they feared Jesus, because as we are in Christ we shall judge even the angels (1 Cor. 6:3). Satan and his angels fear God in an unrepentant way because they know very well their coming condemnation (cf. James 2:19).
Christians however should fear God repentantly because they know that although they deserve condemnation they have escaped it by grace. The fact that we are forgiven ought to put us even more in fear of God. As the psalmist said, “with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared!” (Ps. 130:4). If the devils’ unholy terror is so great, ought not our holy fear of God be all the greater?
McCartney, D. G. (1996). Devil Fearing, and Fearing the Devil. (R. C. Sproul Jr., Ed.)Tabletalk Magazine, October 1996: Fearing God, 13–52.
McCartney, D. G. (1996). Devil Fearing, and Fearing the Devil. (R. C. Sproul Jr., Ed.)Tabletalk Magazine, October 1996: Fearing God, 13–52.
