Jesus said that Satan has been a liar from the beginning. He has lied today in many ways about himself.

Satan makes many people believe that he does not exist. He has lied about his very existence!
Satan has lied about his character. He has managed to put across a counterfeit of himself. E.g. He has horns and a tail. He is really quite tame. The Bible describes him as a roaring lion looking to devour.
He has lied about his strategy. We are in open battle with Satan.
He has lied about his end. E.g. He has denied that there is a hell, judgment, etc.

In Genesis chapter three, Satan suddenly jumps onto the scene. He possesses a serpent and tempts Adam and Eve to sin. The Bible assumes that Satan had a previous history. There are six judgments that fall on Satan.

1. The fall of Satan
See Isaiah 14:12. The sin of Lucifer is that he wants to take the place of God. It is this pride that leads to his downfall. He leads a rebellion in Heaven and a host of angels join forces with Satan. God deposes Lucifer from his authority over the angelic host. The angels were created after time began as only God is from eternity.

2. God's promise of a seed
See Genesis 3:15. Satan's activity throughout the Old Testament is directed to prevent this prophecy coming true.

When Eve had Cain she thought that he was the one who was to crush the head of Satan. Satan thought so too and inspires Cain to kill Abel. It is the first effort by Satan to stop this prophecy from coming true.
In Genesis 6 he again attempts to try and stop this prophecy by corrupting the whole world at that time. God stops this by passing judgment.
Abraham is told that through him this seed would be born. Satan tries to get the line of the seed corrupted. Sarah tells Abraham to conceive a child by way of Hagar, her hand-maiden. This is Satanic influence. The realised later that this was not God's will.
Later Abraham pretends to be Sarai's brother and she is taken into the tent of the king of Egypt. Abraham does this because of fear but God prevents this corruption from happening.
In the book of Esther a decree goes out to destroy the children of Israel. God prevents this this from happening by using Esther.
In other incidents throughout the Old Testament, Satan is trying to prevent what God said would be his judgment in Genesis 3:15. For thousands of years Satan has tried and failed.
When the seed is born (Jesus), Satan uses Herod to kill every child in the area under the age of two. God warns Joseph and Jesus escapes.
The three temptations in the wilderness were designed to prevent Jesus from going to the cross.
When Jesus told his disciples that He was going to die at Jerusalem, Peter said "No, not you Lord". Jesus responds by calling him "Satan". This was a satanic attempt to prevent Jesus from going to the cross.
Satan is unable to prevent Jesus from going to the cross and so he enters into Judas. He decides that he will put Jesus to death on the cross and try to keep him in the grave. Satan gathers all the satanic forces together in a bid to keep Jesus from rising from the dead.

3. Judgment of the cross
See John 12:31 and John 16:11. The judgment of God on Satan was made at the cross. Satan was cast out from his authority over the Gentile nations. He stands now condemned. In Colossians 2:14-15 we learn that from the work of Christ there was the disarming or plundering of the power of satanic influences. A legal judgment was passed on Satan and his authority over the people of the world is broken and now people can be saved from his power.

Satan knows that he has been judged and that he is going to be thrown into Hell. He is trying to destroy what God is doing by making every Christian's life a misery and trying to prevent others from accepting Christ. Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan so the Christian does not "fight" the Devil but rather "resists" him. We have been given the full armour of God for the purpose of resisting Satan's "fiery darts". Satan is also busy with UFOs, horoscopes, false cults and ouija boards.

4. Thrown out of heaven
In Revelation 12:3 it can be seen that in the midst of the Tribulation time there will be spiritual warfare which will result in Satan being cast down from Heaven onto the Earth. MIchael and the rest of God's host will throw out Satan and his demons and they will be barred from Heaven. It is probably at this time that Satan will possess the man called "the Antichrist" who then causes havoc on the Earth.

5. Cast into a pit
In Revelation 20:2 it can be seen that Satan and his demons will be put in a bottomless pit for a thousand years. This happens at the end of the Tribulation and at the start of the Millennium. After the thousand years Satan and his demons will be released for a short while.

6. Cast into the Lake of Fire
In Revelation 20:10, we read that Satan is to be cast into the Lake of Fire which was prepared for the Devil and his demons. This is the fulfillment of God's judgment on Satan. Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ will be cast into the Lake of Fire also. They have also been condemned. God has prepared the way of salvation. There is no need to follow Satan into the Lake of Fire.


With permission.