SATANS AUTHORITY

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Lesson 2 SATANS AUTHORITY Part A HOW MUCH
AUTHORITY DOES SATAN HAVE? In the Scriptures
references to Satan are both scattered and
incidental. In an understanding of the
sovereignty of God, it is of paramount importance
to have a true biblical understanding of Satans
character, his capabilities, his methods and
limitations.
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• - The word Satan appears a total of twenty four
  times in the Old Testament
• - In eight of these of these appearances, the
  name means ENEMY or ADVERSARY (Numbers
  2222 1 King 54, 1123)
• is also used in the sense of ACCUSER as in
  Psalms 1096.
• Satans name is mentioned in Job 16,
• When the sons of God came to present themselves
  before the Lord and SATAN came also among them.

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• The passage tells of an opposition between
  God
• and Satan, and the latter is permitted to
  bring
• severe temptations against Job.
• - The narrative shows two truths
• a. That Satan is an accuser
• b. That he is not an independent rival of God,
  but is
• able to go only as far as God permits
• In the Old Testament Satan never openly appears
  as the ENEMY of God. However in the New
  Testament his malevolent character is well known
  and he is consistently portrayed as the opponents
  of both God and man (Matthew 1325, 28)

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• i. His power is strictly limited.
• ii. Leader of the anarchic order of evil.
• iii. Operates in conjunction with a plurality
  of other evil spirits.
• He is called the
• prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 22)
• prince of this world (John 1231, 1430)
• god of this world (2 Corinthians 44)
• prince of the devils (Matthew 1224)

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• The characteristic of Satan is FALSEHOOD (John
  844) and this would indicate that his kingdom is
  more limited than appears.
• Satan nonetheless continually seeks to defeat the
  divine plans of grace toward mankind
• (1 Peter 58).
• Satan causes spiritual blindness (2 Cor 44)
• Satan may also inflict physical infirmities (Luke
  1316)
• He is subtle (2 Corinthians 113)
• A tempter (Matt 41, 1 Cor 75, 1 Thess35)
• A liar and murderer (John 844)
• A thief and destroyer (John 1010)
• He masquerades as an angel of light, and his
  servants as servants of righteousness (2 Cor
  1114-15)
• He is prideful and conceited (1 Tim 36)

• A. IN THE BEGINNING
• God is the ORIGIN of all things and all things
  belong to Him and are subject to Him.
• God being SOVEREIGN everything is absolutely
  dependent on God for its existence, meaning and
  well-being.
• God Himself is the centre that makes the world a
  COSMOS rather than a chaos and the entire
  creation was intended to show Gods glory.
• God created all things out or NOTHING and His
  word alone sustains the universe.

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• Satan is referred to by Jesus as the wicked one
  (Matthew 1319, 38) in other words, one whose
  nature and will are given to evil. appears.
• Satans power consists principally in his ability
  to deceive (Rev 203, 8).
• Satan is fundamentally a liar and his kingdom
  therefore is founded in deception.
• He operates by direct suggestion (Luke 223 John
  132, 27) Human agency (2 Cor 211)
• Misrepresentation (2Cor 1113, 15 1 John 41-2
  2 Thess 28-9 Rev 129, 1920)
• A persons own weakness (1 Cor 75)

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• The scripture is quite clear in its teaching that
  Christ DEFEATED Satan completely at calvary (Col
  215) and Christians have been freed from his
  power (Col 113)
• Satan is a conquered enemy (John 1231, 16919
  1 John 38, Col 215)
• Satan is bound (Rev 201-3)
• Satan is already judged (John 1611)
• Satan is to be cast out of this world
• (John 1231) and into the lake of fire
• (Matt 2541 Rev 2010)

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• Satan is not a RIVAL of equivalent
• power to good and god, he is totally
  SURBORDINATE.
• Satan in his true nature is just a fallen angel,
  a created being who has chosen to disobey God.
• There is no biblical foundation for ascribing to
  him such superior intelligence and power as to be
  almost equal to those of God Himself.

IDENTITY
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• Questions
• Can he do anything he wants or are there
  restrictions?
• What about differences between Christians and
  non-Christians?
• Can he hurt Christians, or only non-Christians?
• 1 John 519
• The whole world is under the rule of the Evil
  One.
• Do we all know what Satan wants to do?

• A. IN THE BEGINNING
• God is the ORIGIN of all things and all things
  belong to Him and are subject to Him.
• God being SOVEREIGN everything is absolutely
  dependent on God for its existence, meaning and
  well-being.
• God Himself is the centre that makes the world a
  COSMOS rather than a chaos and the entire
  creation was intended to show Gods glory.
• God created all things out or NOTHING and His
  word alone sustains the universe.

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5. The thief (Satan) comes only to KILL, STEAL
and DESTROY. John 1010. To do this Satan
does whatever he can within the parameters of
his authority. - This authority according to
Hebrews 214 may include the ability to bring
about death though still within the limits God
sets for him. - Knowing what Satan intends to
do, while noting that there are still many
people alive in the world, suggests that much of
the time Satan does not get his way. - The
reason he cannot destroy those still alive must
be because they are, at least for the present,
protected by a greater power, the power of God.

• A. IN THE BEGINNING
• God is the ORIGIN of all things and all things
  belong to Him and are subject to Him.
• God being SOVEREIGN everything is absolutely
  dependent on God for its existence, meaning and
  well-being.
• God Himself is the centre that makes the world a
  COSMOS rather than a chaos and the entire
  creation was intended to show Gods glory.
• God created all things out or NOTHING and His
  word alone sustains the universe.

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• All who are alive, whether Christian or
  non-Christian, are alive because they are
  PROTECTED by God.
• Some people, however, seemed to have greater
  protection than others.
• Job 110
• You are like a wall protecting not only him, but
  his entire family and all his property.
• You make him successful in whatever he does,
  and his flocks and herds are everywhere.
• Satan complained that God has always protected
  Job and his family.
• God agrees to relax His protection, allowing
  Satan to do anything, but take Jobs life.

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• From Jobs story we learn at least two things
  about authority.
• Satans authority is limited by God and in, some
  cases at least strictly limited.
• Job seems to have been granted special protection
  beyond that available to the rest of mankind.
• Thus, in Jobs case and probably in many other
• cases down through history to this day, God sets
• even stricter limits than normal on Satan.
• Under certain circumstances, God grants greater
• authority to Satan than is ordinarily his. Satan
• requested special permission to launch a special
• attack on Job and was granted.

• A. IN THE BEGINNING
• God is the ORIGIN of all things and all things
  belong to Him and are subject to Him.
• God being SOVEREIGN everything is absolutely
  dependent on God for its existence, meaning and
  well-being.
• God Himself is the centre that makes the world a
  COSMOS rather than a chaos and the entire
  creation was intended to show Gods glory.
• God created all things out or NOTHING and His
  word alone sustains the universe.

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• If Satan is to be able to exercise the authority
  he wants to, he needs HUMAN COOPERATION.
• In Exodus 18 we learn that an Egyptian pharaoh
  came to power who did not know about Joseph and
  felt no obligation to keep the agreement of his
  predecessors to treat the Israelites kindly.
• As long as the pharaohs kept their agreement to
  treat Israel well, Satan could do nothing to the
  Israelites.

• A. IN THE BEGINNING
• God is the ORIGIN of all things and all things
  belong to Him and are subject to Him.
• God being SOVEREIGN everything is absolutely
  dependent on God for its existence, meaning and
  well-being.
• God Himself is the centre that makes the world a
  COSMOS rather than a chaos and the entire
  creation was intended to show Gods glory.
• God created all things out or NOTHING and His
  word alone sustains the universe.

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Another possible area of satanic authority is
WEATHER. It is not clear from the Gospels what
Satans attempt to kill Jesus in the storm
indicates concerning his authority over weather.
Matthew 823-27, Mark 435-41, Luke 822-25) Is
weather one of the areas Satan gained authority
over at the Fall? Or did he gain authority in
that case by special permission?
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Another problematic area concerns DEATH. Hebrews
214 speaks of Satan as the one who HAS (present
tense) the power over death. Does this mean
Satan is the agent of death all the time or some
of the time?
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Part B WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR
CHRISTIANS? I had fewer problems in life
before I became a Christian. Can you tell me
why?
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• If you were the enemy whom would you attack
  your friends, those who are on your side and
  doing your bidding, or your enemies, those
  committed to Jesus, who could hurt you.
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• People ask, if they get into spiritual warfare
  are their families in danger?
•  YES! We are at war whether we like it or not.
• And we are in war
• - if we are not fighting
• if we are simply standing around, or hiding
• from the reality of war, or actually running
• from it we are being DEFEATED.
• THE POINT IS SATAN HAS REAL AUTHORITY TO HARASS
  AND EVEN ATTACK US.

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In 1 Peter 58 (a letter written to Christians)
Satan is our enemy and is roaming around like a
roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. And
since we are at war, we should expect harassment
and attack. Satan also has authority to blind
peoples minds to the truths of God. Paul says
with respect to unbelievers 2 Corinthians
44 They do not believe, because their minds have
been kept in the dark by the evil god of this
world And not only unbelievers it would seem that
Satan is able to blind certain Christians too,
leading them away from Christ and making it
impossible for some of them to return.

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In 1 Peter 58 (a letter written to Christians)
Satan is our enemy and is roaming around like a
roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. And
since we are at war, we should expect harassment
and attack. Satan also has authority to blind
peoples minds to the truths of God. Paul says
with respect to unbelievers 2 Corinthians
44 They do not believe, because their minds have
been kept in the dark by the evil god of this
world And not only unbelievers it would seem that
Satan is able to blind certain Christians too,
leading them away from Christ and making it
impossible for some of them to return.

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Hebrews 64-6 (CEV) What about people who turn
away after they have seen the light and have
received the gift from heaven and have shared in
the Holy Spirit?   What about those who turn away
after they have received the good message of God
and the powers of the future world?   There is no
way to bring them back. What they are doing is
the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and
insulting Him in public.