BY PASTOR BRANDON YOUNG
Satan, Lucifer, or the Devil, whichever name you prefer to call him, is definitely a main character in the Holy Scriptures, and he plays a daily role in each of our lives, whether we realize it or not. Lucifer, a beautiful angel that covered God’s throne, was cast out of a perfect place full of order and beauty because he sought to overthrow God and take over Heaven. Jesus said he watched Satan fall to the earth as lightning. Ezekiel writes about this event in chapter 28 of Ezekiel, “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”
Satan disrupted the order, beauty, and the holiness of Heaven, and he convinced one third of the other angels to join in a war against Michael and the angels of God. Satan and his host of angels did not prevail, and they were cast down to the earth as fallen angels. These fallen angels are the demons that were on the earth then and they are still here now and will be here until the second coming of Jesus! Satan wanders up and down the earth with his entourage of demons seeking someone to devour. In fact, the Bible gives a warning to the people on the earth because the Devil came down to the earth having great wrath! He is angry at God, and he has brought his war to each of us created in the image of God. He despises our looks because we remind him of God and Heaven!
God’s nature, God’s very being, or who God is, is beauty. In Christian thought, God is beautiful because God is holy and transcendent or above all things. When God gave his Son to die, he formed a plan to take a soul stained black with sin, wash it with his Son’s pure red blood, and make it as white and beautiful as snow. He can take a life in shambles and disarray and make it new again. The Christian life is a beautiful product of God’s love, mercy, and grace, and it has become Satan’s number one target! The life of a Christian is Satan’s new Heaven! It becomes the place he wants to reside because the most powerful and beautiful place on earth is the child of God. The Devil wants a place in the life of the Christian because there is order and he longs to bring chaos, stealing our joy and peace, all while killing and destroying our futures.
In Ephesians 4:27, the apostle Paul writes, “Neither give place to the devil.” The word “place” is the Greek word topos. It refers to a specific, marked-off, geographical location. It carries the idea of a territory, province, region, zone, or geographical position. It is from this word that we get the word for a topographical map. Because the word topos depicts a geographic location; this reference tells us the devil is after every region and zone of our lives — money, health, marriage, relationships, employment, business, and ministry. He wants it all. But to start his campaign to conquer all those areas of our lives, he must first find an entry point to begin unleashing his devilish destruction in our lives.
Let’s take a closer look at the word “devil” for a moment. The word “devil” comes from the Greek word diabolos, an old compound word that is made from the words dia and ballo. This name is used 61 times in the New Testament. The first part of the word is the prefix dia, which means through and often carries the idea of infiltration, saturation, and dispersion. Because dia is used at the first of this word, it tells us that the devil wants to make some kind of infiltration. Satan wants access into our lives! He is looking for a place of penetration. We must shut every door, close every window, and seal every place in our lives through which the enemy would try to gain access.
Apparently, he cannot come into your house and take everything from you unless you let him or permit him to do so. If you could just find out what opens the door for the enemy to come in, I bet you would stop it. I don’t think I have a complete answer to that question, but I have seen at least part of the answer. We know sin allows Satan access into our lives. We must start to determine the entry points for Satan into our lives! 1 Peter 5:8 states, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene.)