6. Satan's Boss

Chapter 6 Satan’s Boss God Used Demons To Remove And Install Kings

Imagine during the middle of a war, just walking over to the enemy side and asking them to come over and help you plant your garden or help you build your house or some other work. Silly, isn’t it? You wouldn’t possibly think of doing that! Your enemy doesn’t want to help you at all! They just want to kill you. Now consider this: Satan is God’s enemy, but he actually helps God sometimes even though he is not a willing helper. Yes, as strange as it may seem, the Bible shows us that God has used Satan and his demons for certain jobs and will continue to do so until the Last Days. Let’s look at two kings in the Old Testament: King Saul and King Ahab. These will show us some ways God has used demons to do his work.

King Saul Turns His Back On God

Long ago, God had appointed a man named Saul to become king and lead Israel. At first the Spirit of God helped him carry out his responsibilities. But after a while Saul turned his back on God, so God said he was going to remove him and make David the new king (1 Samuel 13:14). But David was not the kind of man that people would seek out as king because he was not an influential leader or powerful army general at first. He was just a young shepherd. And besides that, the custom in those days was for the king to choose one of his own sons to become king in his father’s place. But God is all-powerful, even over kings. So he can choose anyone to be a king. So the first thing God did was make a way for David to begin working in the king’s house so that people began to get to know him and respect him. Then later they would want him to take Saul’s place as king. God used an evil spirit to accomplish this.

God Used An Evil Spirit To Remove Saul And Promote David

1 Samuel 16:14-23 says: “Now the Spirit of the LORD had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. Then Saul’s servants said to him, "Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!" Let our lord instruct his servants who are here before you to look for a man who knows how to play the lyre. Then whenever the evil spirit from God comes upon you, he can play the lyre and you will feel better." So…David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him a great deal…So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone.” (NET)

Here we see how God actually allowed an evil spirit (a demon) to come bother Saul and make Saul very upset and distressed. This happened often, so Saul’s servants suggested that Saul should hire David to come play music for him to calm him down. In this way God was using the demon to open an opportunity for David to come and help, and he helped Saul whenever he was needed. David played his music for Saul and it would calm him down. The Spirit of God helped David write many songs during his life which we enjoy reading today in the book of Psalms. He may have played some of those very same songs for king Saul. Maybe the demon didn’t like hearing Spirit-filled songs or maybe the Lord just told the demon to leave Saul alone for a while. Whatever the cause, Saul and everyone who worked with him were very happy with David’s service. David worked for Saul whenever he was needed but he also helped his father with his sheep. (1 Samuel 17:15).

God Used Goliath To Make David A Hero

Sometime later David was still a young man and not very famous in the eyes of the people, but God allowed their enemies the Philistines to come for battle. Then God helped David kill the Philistine giant, Goliath, so David became a national hero. Now everyone knew about David and loved him because he had saved them from their enemies. Saul’s son Jonathan became best friends with David and Saul gave David a high-ranking position in his army, so the people loved him even more. God was working to make the people love David more and more and Saul less and less. But later, when King Saul began to see that the people loved David more than him, he became very jealous and he considered David as his enemy from then on.

God Used An Evil Spirit To Upset Saul In another story we see that God again used an evil spirit to really upset Saul so that Saul became furious with David.

1 Samuel 18:10-11 says: “…an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul…Now David was playing the lyre that day. There was a spear in Saul’s hand, and Saul threw the spear, thinking, "I’ll nail David to the wall!" But David escaped from him on two different occasions.” (NET)

God himself sent this evil spirit to Saul and when the evil spirit controlled Saul, he threw a spear at David. So, do you think God wanted Saul to kill David? No way! God made sure that David was able to jump out of the way and be safe. But God was using this evil spirit to make the people of Israel dislike Saul. They thought that Saul had gone totally crazy and was angry at David for no reason. The people loved David very much. So later when Saul died, the Israelites wanted David to become their king.

God Is Sovereign And Can Use Many Ways To Change Rulers

God himself had chosen Saul to be the king (1 Samuel 10:24) but since he rebelled and disobeyed God, then God removed Saul and installed David as new king. And unbelievably, he used evil spirits to accomplish some of this change in kings. Of course, he doesn’t always use demons to change government leaders. God is all-powerful and has many ways to install new governments and kings. He can choose good kings or bad kings—whatever he desires for the time and depending on his plan. If he wants to help the people, he can install a good king. If he wants to punish proud and rebellious people, he can choose a bad king, so they will suffer under that king and repent. We don’t know all of God’s thoughts, but we do know that God alone is sovereign over all kings.

Daniel 4:32 says: “…the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes." (Jeremiah 27:5)

Again, we see that God is head over all governments of people and of angels and all the evil spirits including Satan. He is Lord of all.

Now let’s look at a story about another rebellious king and we’ll see how God used demons to punish him and remove him as king. The Story Of King Ahab

King Ahab was another king of Israel, but he was a very evil man who didn’t want to follow God. Although he was king over God’s people Israel, he was like an enemy to God, so God wanted to punish him and remove him as king. One day Ahab decided to take his army to fight with the people of Ramoth Gilead, and he asked Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, to come and help him. Jehoshaphat said he would help him, but he first wanted to consult the prophets to see if their armies would win or not. So Ahab called his prophets to come so they could both hear what would happen. Ahab only liked to listen to false prophets that said nice things about him and never criticized him. He didn’t want to listen to God’s true word and he didn’t want the prophets to rebuke him. So Ahab had 400 false prophets that just told him things he wanted to hear. But there was one prophet whose name was Micaiah, who told the truth that he received from God. He wasn’t afraid of the king and he often rebuked Ahab for his evil ways. So of course Ahab didn’t like him. As we’ll see, God wanted to punish Ahab so that he would die during this battle. So when all of Ahab’s false prophets came, they said that Ahab should go and fight and win the battle. When the kings brought in Micaiah and asked him what God had said, he knew that Ahab didn’t really want the truth, even though he said he did. So Micaiah mocked the king by saying the same thing that the false prophets did, because he knew that Ahab only wanted to hear good things. But when King Ahab pressed him to tell the truth, Micaiah told him exactly what God had revealed to him. Let’s look at the story:

1 Kings 22:15-35 says: “When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or not?” “Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.” The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’” The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?” Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’ “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.” … The king of Israel then ordered, “... Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’” Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.”... So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead…and went into battle. …someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. ...and that evening he died.” The Liar Died Because Of His Own Lies

Ahab was a liar. He thought the truth was a lie and lies were the truth. He loved lies, so God let his lying ways destroy him. Micaiah told Ahab the truth, but Ahab didn’t want to hear it. So he listened to the lies of the false prophets instead, and went into battle. But he did indeed die just like Micaiah had predicted, and this is how God used this man’s lies to punish himself.

Let’s consider Micaiah’s prophecy. He talked about something that had happened in the spiritual realm. God chose to use a spirit to punish Ahab and have him killed. But he didn’t use a good angel to lie to Ahab—He used an evil spirit! God is all-powerful and he rules over the demons too. Of course God wouldn’t use a good angel to do this type of work because they don’t lie. But the demons love to tell lies and deceive people, so God allowed this evil spirit to go and deceive the false prophets and this evil king, Ahab. Does God Tempt People Or Promote Sin?

Some people are quite surprised when they hear this story because they think that God would be wrong to trick Ahab and make him believe a lie. But think about it. Did God actually make Ahab believe a lie? No, God didn’t trick Ahab to believe a lie. Also, he didn’t put that thought into the evil spirit’s mind. When God talked to the angels and demons, he asked them who would like to lure Ahab into the fight so he would die. And the demons themselves responded with their ideas. It wasn’t God’s ideas—he just listened to their ideas. When one of the evil spirits suggested using the false prophets’ lies to tempt Ahab, God allowed him to go ahead and follow up with his plan. Look at verse 22 again. It says,

“‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’” So here we see that God didn’t do any wrong. He didn’t sin and he didn’t tempt Ahab to sin. The evil spirit had the idea and God allowed him to carry it out, because he knew that Ahab loved to listen to the false prophets and lies, so he knew that Ahab would believe the lies. God had every right to punish Ahab anyway. God is the true judge of right and wrong. But consider this: Does God like demons and false prophets to lie? Does God like sin? No! Look at these verses in James:

James 1:13-15 says: “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticedby his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.” (NET)

God doesn’t tempt people to sin. He is holy and hates sin. But God can use people’s own sin to punish them. So he allowed that evil spirit to deceive the false prophets of Ahab. God can use people’s own lies to punish themselves, and he can use people’s own sin to destroy themselves. God is always perfectly truthful, and liars cannot ever deceive or trick him. So we see in this story that God used Ahab’s evil and deceitful ways to punish himself.

Galatians 6:7 says: “Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. Fora person will reap what he sows…” (NET) God Uses Satan To Punish Unbelievers And To Correct Believers

God has the right to punish sin and he can use Satan and demons to punish unbelievers that follow Satan. We also see in the New Testament that apostle Paul asked God to also correct some believers who had become rebellious. So he put them in Satan’s hands in order to correct them (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20).

God is amazing. He has all wisdom and power and can even use his enemies like Satan and demons to do his work. We will see much more of this right up to the end times (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). The Kingdom Of God Is Above All Other Governments

Now that we have looked at all these stories of Saul and David and Ahab, we see that God is above all other kings and governments. Yes, even Satan’s kingdom. Here’s the order of authority:

God’s Kingdom or Government Satan’s Kingdom or Government Man’s Kingdoms or Governments God Can Use All Governments—Even Ungodly Ones

Romans 13:1; Romans 13:4 says: “...there isno authorityexcept that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God… Forthe one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” Did you notice the word servant in these verses? It says that all those in authority are God’s servants. Does that mean all authority is good authority and all leaders are godly people? No. But God can still use human governments or kingdoms—even ungodly men—to bring some order and discipline into a world that would otherwise turn into anarchy and chaos if left by itself. God can use those governments “for your good” or to “bring punishment on the wrongdoers.” Otherwise wicked men would soon take over the world under Satan’s rule. So since God can even use ungodly men and their corrupt governments for his purposes, what about Satan’s government? The verse says “…there isno authorityexcept that which God has established.” Although these verses are specifically talking about human governments, we know that Satan’s authority and power also came from God originally, and he is still under God’s authority so he too can be used by God. Satan rules over a very large government (which he stole from man). He’s the “ruler of this world.”

God Uses Satan Without Satan Knowing The Plan

Even though Satan is God’s enemy and doesn’t like to help God or us, sometimes God will use him anyway—without Satan even realizing it, because God is over all authority and knows the future.

Summary: In this chapter we saw that God used Satan’s demons to accomplish God’s plans for Israel and specifically the kings Saul, David and Ahab. Satan didn’t know what God was doing, but God had a plan, and he used Satan and his demons to accomplish it.

God truly is the BOSS! He has all wisdom and power and he can even use his enemy Satan and his demons to enthrone or dethrone kings and governments. And God can use him to punish proud people too. God deserves our praise! He is the true King of kings!

“…Praise the name of God forever and ever, for He has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; He removes kings and sets up other kings.”(Daniel 2:20-21) (NLT)