The Prosecution
Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. 1 Chronicles 21:1
Satan – The Old Testament doesn’t have much to say about this character, in spite of the fact that he seems to play a significant part in our contemporary religious paranoia. In fact, satan is really just a Hebrew word that means “accuser or adversary.” You might look at Numbers 22:22. In this verse, the Hebrew word satan is used for the angel who stood in Balaam’s way! Clearly, the meaning is simply “adversary.” We have added the capital “S” to this Hebrew word and moved it into our vocabulary. We give the Accuser a lot more credit than he is due. Hollywood and mythology have convinced us that we should be afraid of him. But Scripture has a different view.
The New Testament really doesn’t give much credit to him either. The words satanas, Beelzeboul and diabolos are used only a combined 79 times. The devil’s area of influence is most apparent in the world of the unrighteous. That means he doesn’t get much leverage with followers of Jesus. Those who are righteous because of the sacrifice of the Lamb are really protected from his seductions. Of course, this doesn’t mean that followers are not tempted by their own lusts (see James 1), but the idea that the devil sits on your shoulder whispering sedition in your ear is strictly from the movies.
The Accuser’s battle plan is to disrupt God’s order and distort God’s good creation wherever possible. Why? Because he is angry, humiliated and vindictive. Even though he knows he has lost, he is anxious to take as much of God’s good work with him as he can. But he is still defeated! Jesus’ mission was to confront Satan at every level and in every arena and crush him with irresistible power. You might give that some thought when you feel a chill in the dark. You serve the God of irresistible power, and Satan can do nothing but cower before Him.
Do you wonder why we have this preoccupation with a spiritual being who has been defeated, kicked out of heaven and is simply waiting for the inevitable. The Bible places far more emphasis on human evil and disobedience than it does on the demonic. Why do we seem to think that the devil is around every corner? Perhaps there are two reasons. The first is that we really know that this is a spiritual world. The evil one really exists. Denial is useless. Since we live in a place where there really are evil beings, we fear them. Of course, that fear is irrational, but don’t tell Hollywood. They make millions playing on irrational fears.
The second reason is a bit closer to reality. Perhaps we tend to give the Accuser more credit than we should because we are disobedient and we secretly want an excuse. “I would have been obedient, Lord, but the Devil put so many obstacles in my way,” or something like that. We give the Accuser credit because he accuses us! He is the first to remind us that we are disobedient; that we fail. And we listen to him because it’s true.
SO WHAT! God knows we fail and He still loves us and forgives us. He takes us back and restores us. God’s plan is good fellowship and redeemed community. Who are you going to believe – the one who has been cast out, or the One Who rescues? Forget Hollywood’s fear mongers. Give satan the 79 occurrences and tell him to shove off! Don’t listen to the lies of the Accuser. His accusation might point out true facts about our behavior, but they don’t speak the truth about God’s intervention. Determine to listen to the Word of the Lord, not the words of an adversary.
