Your Adversary, the Devil: Part 3*
1 Peter 5:8
Why Does Satan Oppose Us and Why Doesn't God Stop Him?
By Dave Redick

One of Aesop’s Fables tells the story of a scorpion and a frog. The two meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on his back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too." The frog is satisfied with that answer, so they set out. But in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp, "Why?" The scorpion replies: "It’s just my nature."

Through these words in Job 1:6-12, God gives us a glimpse into the activity of Satan. I don’t profess to understand everything that is here. For instance, I don’t know how to reconcile the Bible’s teaching on God’s holiness and separation from sin with the fact that Satan, the evil one, comes into God’s presence to present himself along with the sons of God (which I presume are angels.) There is much I don’t know about the activity of the devil. Perhaps some of the lack can be remedied by further study. Perhaps some of it will only be known in eternity.

For the last several weeks as we’ve been in a series of lessons about our adversary, Satan, focusing on what we do know about him. In the first lesson we considered the reality of the devil’s existence. In the second we looked at what Satan is and where he came from. In today’s message I want to ask two more questions: 1) Why does Satan so vigorously oppose God and man? 2) Why doesn’t God stop him?

I hope you have your Bible with you. We’ll be looking at some important passages.

That Satan has set himself up as the archenemy of God and man is no real news. Pick any characteristic of God’s nature or character and you’ll find that Satan opposes it.

Satan opposes everything God is and everything God does.(11)

Of course, given the Biblical description of Satan’s nature, it isn’t surprising that he opposes God.

One of Aesop’s Fables tells the story of a scorpion and a frog. The two meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on his back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too." The frog is satisfied with that answer, so they set out. But in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp, "Why?" The scorpion replies: "It’s just my nature."

It’s part of Satan’s corrupted nature to oppose God. Apparently he did it before he was removed from his more exalted realm in heaven and he continues to do it today. But beyond this, what is the underlying cause?

The Bible is not specific in some of these things, but I do know of one passage that may provide some hints of an answer as to why Satan opposes God with such vigor.

In the 12^th chapter of Revelation we have some statements made about Satan. Of course, interpretations of Revelation vary in some cases like snowflakes, but setting that aside for a moment, let’s read verses 7-12:

According to verse 12, Satan has "great wrath." Why is he so angry? The passage tells us: He and his angels are "not strong enough" to stand up against God and he knows that "he has only a short time."

We know that God has already pronounced Satan’s ultimate punishment in the lake of fire.(12) The devil knows he cannot win against an all-powerful God. He knows his time is short. And he doesn’t like it one bit! He can’t take it out on God directly so in his vindictive nature, he is taking it out on God’s people.

A few years ago, the NBA's Dallas Mavericks missed the play-offs by a country mile. They were defeated long before the season ended. Still, during their final game, they played with a passion for victory. Why? Because dealing a late-season loss to a rival team might affect that team's chances of becoming champions. In other words, "We may not be going to the play-offs, but neither are you!" That's the nature of competative sports.

Satan's goal is to rob those made in the image of God of our "championship bid."' He wants to take us down with him. His chances are destroyed, so out of spite and hatred for God and you as God's child, he wants to ruin your chances, too.

That, my good brothers and sisters, puts you and me right in the devil’s crosshairs.

We don’t always see or recognize Satan’s working in the things that go on around us, but in the Bible we are given enough glimpses of it to convince us that it is happening.

Clearly, Satan is about his business of opposing God by opposing the people of God at every turn. His aim is nothing less than to ruin our chances of spending eternity with God.

Don’t think that he isn’t trying to destroy you, too, or that you can resist him in your own strength or by your own wisdom. The danger is real and you need the Lord Jesus on your side to help you stand.

Satan hates God. He hates his position. He hates his destination. He hates God’s time frame. And as a result, he hates you and me because we bear the image of God, which raises another question…

 2. Why Doesn’t God Stop Him?

One would think that it would be more desirable for God to intervene and take Satan out altogether so that righteousness would prevail without a struggle. Why doesn’t He do that?

That God has the power to stop Satan we have already documented. He is all-powerful and He cast the devil out of heaven.(14) He will ultimately cast him, against his wishes, into the lake of fire.(15) So it’s not an issue of strength or ability. God could stop the devil at any time. But He hasn’t stopped him. He limits Satan, but he hasn’t stopped him. Not yet.

"Well why doesn’t God just kill him? After all, he is a murderer and the Bible prescribes the penalty of death to murderers."(16) Ah, but remember, we have already established that Satan cannot die (in the sense of going out existence.)

"OK," you say. "God isn’t going to kill him. Then why doesn’t He just lock him up, or better yet, put him into the lake of fire now?" Why wait? Why leave him free to go about the earth, wreaking havoc, tempting people to sin, and destroying lives?

At this point in history we can’t possibly know all God has in mind. Paul said in Romans 11:33-34, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?"

We can’t know everything that God knows or has in mind but we can search diligently for clues among those things that have been revealed. Deuteronomy 29:29 says,

If we’re going to learn any answers to these questions, it will only come from a diligent search of what is revealed in the Bible.

A careful consideration of the word of God brings me to the conclusion that God allows Satan, for a time, to possess certain powers and possessions for two reasons: 1) To get God’s message through to stubborn mankind and 2) to test those who want to go to heaven to see if they are really sincere.

In the Luke 4 we find one of the three descriptions of the temptation of Jesus. You might remember that when Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, he offered it all to the Savior if he would fall down and worship him. Luke’s account has an interesting phrase in Luke 4:6:

Satan has at his disposal "all the kingdoms of the world." These were "handed over" to him. For the time being, he controls them, though this will ultimately change. Who but God could have given them to him, or allowed him to have them? Surely no man has ever had all the kingdoms of the world at his disposal. Thus, Satan is allowed by God to temporarily possess certain things that can be used to test mankind. It is reasonable to me to believe that this testing is a part of God’s plan and that Satan is allowed to do it for God’s purposes.

This issue of testing by the devil comes up in other places. Peter brought it up in 1 Peter 4:12-13:

Testing is a part of God’s plan. Satan is allowed to do some of the things that test us. (That is probably why he is called "the tempter" in Matthew 4:3). Our part is to withstand the tests and remain faithful to God. Peter put it this way in 1 Peter 1:5-7:

Apparently one reason God allows Satan to maintain some degree of power and possessions is so that God can find out who really wants to live forever with Him in eternity.

"But wait a moment," someone says. That doesn’t sound like a very good plan to me. I don’t like being tested! I don’t want to suffer and difficulties or inconveniences."

One thing to consider as we search what has been revealed is the difference between human perspective and that of deity. What looks terrible from human perspective now might look entirely different if we had God’s all-knowing vantage.(17)

We see a good example of this difference in perspective in Mark 8:31-33:

And aren’t we grateful that God stuck with His perspective rather than going along with what Peter thought about it!

That God can have a greater and more important purpose in mind than what human perspective can understand is also seen in John 9:1-3. In that passage, someone asked Jesus to explain the apparent calamity of a certain man who had been blind since birth. "What a tragic condition!" we might say. "Surely someone must have sinned very badly in order that something so terrible could happen." But Jesus had an entirely different take:

As unimaginable as it might seem to the uninformed, God allowed blindness to rule this man’s life so that God could be glorified through him. That’s that Jesus said. Immediately after giving this answer, Jesus gave the man his sight. If you continue reading the rest of John 9, you’ll see that the man became a strong and convinced believer, testified to the Sanhedrin council in a way they could not refute, and if this man went on to obey the gospel after Pentecost(18) we will likely see him in heaven when we get there. Suppose he’d say today that being blind all those years was worth it?

My point here is that human vantage is often very different than divine perspective. We’re very shortsighted. I suspect that if we fully understood God’s perspective, it wouldn’t seem nearly as troubling.

One more passage along this line is perhaps the closest parallel to God allowing Satan to remain when He could just take him out. We read in Exodus 9:13-17

Pharaoh oppressed and enslaved Israel like Satan oppresses those who are in bondage to him. God let Pharaoh get away with it for over 400 years and didn’t take him out, though he could have at any point "cut him off from the earth." Why the delay? It was so that people could see God’s power over this despot and that God’s name would be proclaimed through all the earth, which, presumably, would cause many people to heed and hear the message of salvation and spend eternity with God. Israel was stubborn. Just read through the Old Testament Scripture. It took more than just a message from God to get their attention.

God’s delay in dealing with Satan (measured by our impatient timetable) is for similar reasons. Leaving Satan to do his evil bidding is God’s means for getting our attention and letting the world know about Him.

"Yeah, well I don’t like God’s method of getting His message across. Why doesn’t He just tell us straight out instead of letting Satan get away with so much evil?"

He already did that, my friends. He sent prophet after prophet to let people know. And what did people do to them? They mistreated them and killed them. Finally He sent Jesus to tell us about God and His plans for eternity. And what did we do with Jesus? We killed Him, too. He also wrote a book (the Bible) for us so that we can learn the easy way instead of the hard way. And so people are lining up to get their copy of the Bible so that they can dedicate themselves to studying it, right? What do most people do with this book? They reject it. They ridicule it. They don’t read it. The easy way just doesn’t work. God has to do more to get our attention so that we will get serious.

Satan is God’s means of testing people so that they can make the choice of whether or not they want to live with Him for eternity. His evil deeds also remind us of what life is like without God or in a world where God is not honored as God.

We began this message by reading that account of Satan securing God’s permission to put Job to the test. If you recall, God gave the devil the permission but he also limited him as to what he could do.

It is no different for you and me. We are going to be tested to see if we will really remain true to God. Satan is going to be used to do the testing. It is going to be hard at times but we have God’s assurance that we won’t be tempted above what we are able. Our part is to remain faithful to God, come what may.

Are you striving to remain faithful to God? I hope you are. You and I have the matchless privilege to be on our way to an eternity with God. Yet we have an adversary that we must deal with. Let us to everything we can to stand firm in our belief and commitment to our Creator. In just a little while it will all be worth it.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Genesis 1:1
2. Revelation 9:11 (Note: Both Apollyon and Abaddon mean "destroyer.")
3. Matthew 9:17
4. Matthew 13:19; Ephesians 6:16
5. Genesis 1
6. John 8:44
7. 1 John 4:8
8. Titus 1:2
9. John 8:44
10. 1 Peter 5:8
11. 2 Thessalonians 2:4, 9
12. Revelation 20:10
13. Genesis 3:1, cf. Revelation 20:2
14. Revelation 12:7-12
15. Revelation 20:10
16. Genesis 9:6
17. Isaiah 55:8
18. Acts 2

*Links to all sermons in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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