“Your Adversary, the Devil”
“BOOK on Devil Banned for Catholics in Rome.” Thus read the heading of a Rome news dispatch in the New York World-Telegram and Sun, January 4, 1954. The book Il Diavolo, by Papini, was banned by the Vatican because it expounded the thesis that eventually Satan himself may win God’s forgiveness and that man could help the Devil to return to his original standing among the angels.
Papini’s book is in striking contrast with the one entitled Satan, which was published early in 1952 (in English), presenting the views of thirty Roman Catholic theologians, and which holds that the Devil and his demons are doomed to live eternally apart from God. This work contains many illustrations of the hideous conceptions of Satan as entertained by various religions from the distant past to recent times.
A still different theory regarding the Devil was expounded by a Jewish rabbi, Bernard J. Bamberger of New York city, who stated that according to the Hebrew Scriptures “Satan is not a rebel, but a servant of God with an unpleasant duty” to perform: a combined district attorney, detective and hangman, a bit overanxious perhaps, but never on the side of wrong.
In centuries past most professed Christians have had very vivid ideas about who Satan is and what he looks like. He was an evil angel, they said, whom God had put in charge of the lake of fire to torment the wicked and he wore a red union suit and was equipped with horns, a tail and a pitchfork. However, in modern times most of those living in Christendom seem to have divested the Devil not only of his red union suit, horns, tail and pitchfork, but even of his very existence. They are inclined to agree with one James Douglas, who once wrote in the Scottish Daily Express that “the devil is simply our personification of the wickedness we find in our own hearts and in the hearts of men from age to age. Man is the devil and the devil is man.”
What is the truth about the Devil? In view of the absence of any scientific evidence as to his existence, is there any way by which we can learn the facts about him? Yes, there is, for as Christians we follow the example of Christ Jesus, who always appealed to the Scriptures to settle any controversial point regarding teaching. He stated to his God, “Your word is truth,” and his formula was “It is written.”—John 17:17; Mark 7:6-8, NW.
What does the Bible reveal regarding Satan the Devil? Briefly it tells us that he is an entity, an invisible spirit person; a wicked creature who, in the final analysis, is responsible for all the suffering and wickedness the human race has ever experienced; that he made himself a devil; that God has had good reasons for allowing him to live until now, and that in God’s due time the Devil will be destroyed.
It should not be difficult for us to accept the Bible’s teaching regarding a personal invisible Devil. We know that God exists, even though we have not seen him; he always has existed and always will exist. (Ex. 33:20; Ps. 14:1; 90:2) And does not the Bible tell us that he has invisible creatures who serve him? Certainly it does. Jehovah himself told Job that these “morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” at the time earth’s foundation was laid, and so before ever man was created. (Job 38:5-7) Daniel spoke of seeing thousands of thousands ministering to Jehovah and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him. (Dan. 7:9, 10) At God’s command spirit creatures materialized and appeared to Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Samson’s parents, Peter, John, Cornelius and others. Additionally, in this our day God’s servants have repeatedly had evidence that “the angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”—Ps. 34:7, AS.
PERSONALITY OF THE DEVIL
Since the testimony of the Scriptures is unequivocal as to the existence of invisible creatures who co-operate with Jehovah God, it should not prove difficult for us to accept the Bible’s teaching that some of these invisible creatures rebelled and became wicked, should it? And that is just what the Bible tells.
In the Hebrew Scriptures the earliest mention of Satan is in the first two chapters of the book of Job, where he is shown holding a conversation with Jehovah God and admits having gone to and fro upon the earth and having observed God’s friend Job. Surely Jehovah was not here holding a conversation with an imaginary person, a mere principle, nor could a mere principle have afflicted Job the way the account shows that Satan did. Incidentally, that Job was a historical and not an allegorical figure is apparent from his being linked with Noah and Daniel, both of whom Jesus referred to as having existed. (Ezek. 14:14) Also James 5:11 points him out as an example of endurance. Had Job never existed the example would be meaningless.
Satan is also mentioned at 1 Chronicles 21:1 as the one who influenced David to number the children of Israel, for which Jehovah sent a plague upon the nation; and at Zechariah 3:2 (AS) he is further shown to be a person, in the following words: “And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.”
Regarding Satan Jesus said that he saw him “already fallen like lightning from heaven.” He saw falling an idea, or an evil principle? Plainly indicating the Devil’s personality are the remarks Jesus addressed to the clergy of his day: “You are from your father the Devil and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him.” Was the principle of error at one time the same as the principle of truth?—Luke 10:18; John 8:44, NW.
Those religious leaders in Jesus’ day knew there was a Devil and so they accused Jesus of doing his work by the power of the prince of devils, to which Jesus replied, not by denying the existence of a Devil, but by showing he had personality: “If Satan expels Satan, he has become divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand?” (Matt. 12:26, NW) And further, regarding Jesus’ being tempted in the wilderness, is it reasonable to conclude that the perfect, loyal and ever-obedient Son of God would have been so tempted by thoughts originating in his own mind? And if the Devil were merely an evil principle or the personification of wickedness in ourselves, how could he have said to Jesus, “All these things [the kingdoms of the world and their glory] I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me”? Do an act of worship to a principle? No, it simply does not make sense to rob the Devil, Satan, of his personality.—Matt. 4:9, 10, NW.
Besides, Paul tells us that Satan has the power of death and that Christ Jesus will destroy him; Peter tells us that “Your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone.” Jude tells us that Satan had a disagreement with Michael regarding the body of Moses; and John tells us that Satan has misled all the nations, that he and his angels warred against Michael and his angels, that Satan and his angels were cast out of heaven, that they will be sealed in an abyss for a thousand years and that they will be loosed for a short period of time and finally destroyed in the lake of fire, the second death.—1 Pet. 5:8; Heb. 2:14; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7-9; 20:2, 3, 7-10, NW.
PERSONALITY OF THE DEMONS
Not only is the Scriptural testimony so clear and convincing as to the existence of Satan the Devil, but it is likewise unequivocal regarding the existence of demons, or lesser devils. From Genesis 6:1-4 we learn that certain angels, “sons of God,” joined Satan in his rebellion by coming to earth and cohabiting with the daughters of men, whose offspring were hybrids, human but of angelic fatherhood, and giants. Peter refers to these as “the angels that sinned,” and they, together with their giant offspring, were, no doubt, largely to blame for the fact that the earth was filled with wickedness and violence.—2 Pet. 2:4; Gen. 6:5, 11, NW.
Thus we read at Daniel 10:12-21 that an angel whom Jehovah had sent with a message to Daniel was held up for three weeks by an evil angel, until Michael, one of the chief princes, came and rescued him, permitting this messenger to proceed to Daniel with his message. That angel brought to Daniel a prophetic message. Certainly all this was not just so much imagination! The Israelites who offered their sacrifices to false gods were said to have been sacrificing to the demons and the apostle Paul makes the same point regarding sacrifices offered to idols. Jesus recognized the existence of Beelzebub, the ruler of devils, thus indicating that there were other demons.—Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37; 1 Cor. 10:20, 21; Matt. 12:27.
As regards Jesus’ contact with these demons, while many books have been written endeavoring to explain demon obsession as being merely psychiatric cases, insanity, epilepsy or fits, yet a careful Biblical examination allows for no such construction.
If demon-possession was merely lunacy or insanity (Matt. 4:24, NW), then one insane person after another could not have testified to Jesus’ Messiahship, as was done by these demon-possessed individuals; neither can we conclude that Jesus himself did not know any better or that he deliberately perpetrated a fraud and fostered a delusion for the sake of effect. The demons within those persons were themselves personalities, even as we read: “He expelled many demons, but he would not let the demons speak, because they knew him to be Christ.”—Mark 1:34, NW.
Consider the account of the demon-possessed man who lived among the rocks and whom no chains could restrain, who, in reply to Jesus’ question, said: “My name is Legion, because there are many of us.” The record then goes on to say: “Now a great herd of swine was there on the mountain feeding. So they entreated him, saying: ‘Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.’ And he permitted them. With that the unclean spirits came out and entered into the swine, and the herd rushed over the precipice into the sea, about two thousand of them, and they drowned one after another in the sea.”—Mark 5:6-13, NW.
How can this account be explained without admitting that demons exist? Were Mark, Matthew and Luke, all of whom recorded this, all deceived? Was it all a mere coincidence and did Jesus perpetrate a fraud? Or can we imagine the insanity of one person entering into two thousand swine and causing them to rush into the sea and drown? No, to deny the plain testimony of the Scriptures in regard to the existence of the Devil and the demons is not only to impugn the authenticity of the Scriptures but to raise more problems than the denial would seem to solve.
Where did Satan come from? Surely God did not create him as Satan, for all His work is perfect. (Deut. 32:3, 4) Satan was at one time a perfect angel and served as a guardian of the first human pair in Eden. Concerning him we read: “Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; . . . Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; . . . Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee. . . . Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.”—Ezek. 28:13-18, AS.
And what caused him to corrupt his wisdom? His ambition to be like the Most High, Jehovah God, which was betrayed thousands of years later in these words of his: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” (Isa. 14:13, 14, AS) By taking the foregoing scriptures with the well-known account of what took place in Eden, we have the picture of an angel appointed as guardian over the first human pair, who let his appointment go to his head and became ambitious to be like Jehovah God and began by estranging the first human pair from their Maker. He made himself into a deceiving, opposing, devouring Devil.—Gen. 3:1-19.
Thus, it is no myth that “Your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone.”—1 Pet. 5:8, NW.