I was doing some internet research this week, and I came upon an article by Clayton King about spiritual warfare. In the article, he said, “It strikes me as odd that we say we believe in Satan yet we live and act as if he is nothing more than a figment of our imagination or a comic book character.” Unfortunately, most Christians I have met fall into two extremes when it comes to classifying Satan: either they attributive every mistake or slightly inconvenient circumstance to the Devil, or they act as if he were non-existent.
But one of the most important parts of forming a spiritual battle strategy is knowing your enemy. One of the major problems we face in life is that we spend so much of our time fighting unnecessary battles with the people who are not our real enemy, that we do not have enough strength left to win the spiritual battles we should be fighting instead. In any fight, knowledge about the enemy’s character, motives, and go-to tactics can help in devising a plan of defense, and an understanding of the enemy’s weaknesses makes victory possible. As the old saying goes, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”. While I certainly don’t advise getting close with the Devil, the principle remains the same- We must take the time to know who we are up against.
So what does scripture say about our enemy?
In Ephesians 6:12 it says “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Already in that one verse, we know that we are dealing with an enemy who is powerful, evil, and unseen.
In 1 Peter 5:8-9, scripture gets even more specific in it’s description of the leader of the heavenly forces of evil: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
Our enemy goes by many names (The Satan, the Devil, the Prince of Darkness, Lucifer) but his character is well known to us. Diametrically opposed to God and his chose people, Satan is like a lion who waits to devour us, destroy our dreams, and bring us to the worst state of existence possible. During his ministry, Jesus said that the devil is a thief whose mission is “to kill, steal, and destroy” (John 10:10). In John 8:44, Jesus also attests that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
I don’t know about you, but when I picture this “father of lies”, the image that comes to my mind is that of Jafar, the maniacal Disney villain from Aladdin. (And not the new, watered-down, live action Aladdin. Yet again, I am talking about the classic 1992 animated version.) While the image of Jafar doesn’t do justice to the pure evil of Lucifer, their behaviors and motivations are surprisingly similar.
To understand what I mean, let’s take a look at the Story of Aladdin: Somewhere in the deserts of Arabia was a city called Agrabah, which was ruled by a Sultan and his Vizier, Jafar. The Sultan has a strong and independent unmarried daughter whom he is legally required to marry off to an eligible prince. However, he is a caring father and cannot bear to have her marry any of the many suitors that seek her hand, only to be rejected by her. Jafar does not want Princess Jasmine to be married, as his intentions are to seize the Sultan’s throne, a plan that would be ruined if the sultan had an heir. Escaping from the palace, Jasmine gets into trouble in the market and is saved by the cheeky but kindhearted street urchin, Aladdin, whom she immediately falls in love with. Aladdin is then arrested by palace guards for “Kidnapping the princess”, and sent directly to Jafar, who offers to free Aladdin in exchange for him retrieving a magical lamp of power from the cave of wonders. While in the cave of wonders, things go wrong and Aladdin is trapped. However, Aladdin accidentally rubs the lamp and finds a genie, who promises to help him escape from the cave and become a prince so that he has a chance to marry Jasmine. Aladdin returns to Agrabah to court Jasmine, and succeeds in winning her hand. In the meantime, Jafar realizes that “Prince Ali” is actually just a street urchin, and he had been using the magic power of the Genie to masquerade as a prince. Jafar steals the lamp and attains control of the genie. Through the genie’s power, Jafar takes over Agrabah, reveals Aladdin’s true form, and exiles him, enslaving both Princess Jasmine and the Sultan. However, true to form, Aladdin finds his way back to the palace and challenges Jafar, who uses his second wish to become a sorcerer. During their fight, Aladdin taunts Jafar for still being second best, as the genie has the most power. Jafar falls for the trap, and wishes to become a genie, thus unintentionally reducing himself to a slave of men. Jafar’s lamp is discarded, the genie is freed, and the Sultan and Jasmine were returned to their rightful status. In thanks, the sultan changes the law so that Jasmine can still marry Aladdin, and they live happily ever after.
So what are some connections we can make between our adversary and Jafar?
#1: Our Enemy hates being second to anyone.
One of the driving characteristics of Jafar is that “His lust for power does not stem from a mere desire for authority (though this is a motivating factor), but rather an intolerance for subordination.”1 In the same way, the devil craves authority and cannot stand being subordinate. In the beginning of time, Lucifer was originally an angel, but he rebelled against God (for reasons unbeknownst to us) and was thrown out of heaven, along with a legion of other “fallen” angels who participated in the rebellion. Ironically, even though he rules his own kingdom of darkness in Hell, he is still subordinate to God when it comes to his activities on earth. As we see in passages like Job 1:6-12 an Job 2:1-7, even Satan must present himself to God, and he cannot touch one of God’s children unless God allows it.
#2: Our Enemy places no value on the lives of people.
Part of what made Jafar so sinister was his complete disregard for human life. Not only did he show no remorse at sending an innocent man to his death in the cave of wonders (a failed first attempt to get the lamp), he tortured the former Sultan, and used Princess Jasmine as a pawn to attain the power he wanted. In a similar fashion, the devil has no love for humanity, and will always try to discredit the value God places on their lives.
#3: Our Enemy uses deception and manipulation to achieve his goals.
Just like Jafar, Satan’s default mode of speech is lying, and deception runs in his blood. He is a master manipulator, and has the ability to twist any situation to fit his agenda. From the very beginning of scripture, when he said to Eve “Did God really say….” to his misquotation of scripture during Jesus’ temptation, Satan has been trying to deceive the world.
#4: Our Enemy has already been defeated.
Jafar’s lust for power ended up being his downfall, as he was eternally trapped by his ambition to gain the cosmic powers of a genie. Satan’s rebellion has gained him the same fate. Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, the power of sin and death has been taken away, and thus the Devil’s strongest weapon has crumbled like sand. This is why he fights so desperately against God’s people: he knows his defeat has already been decided, but he wants to drag as many people down with him as he can.
I could go on and on, but I think we have gotten enough of a glimpse of who our enemy is and what he stands for. With this knowledge in mind, we will continue on in our series next week to take a look at some of the specific tactics Satan uses to bring us down, and what we can do to fight them.
Soli Deo Gloria 