The Devil is Real – 2/4/24

Whiplash is actually a medical condition resulting from forceful back-and-forth movement, often occurring in car accidents where you are rear-ended, and your head goes forward and then slams back. That movement causes whiplash, just like I moved from announcements to Matthew. Matthew does the same thing in chapters 3 to 4. Matthew moves us back and forth with narrative force, creating biblical whiplash, forceful movement from one biblical topic to another. We go from water to the wilderness, baptism to temptation, the spirit descending to the spirit leading, the Trinity, the devil, from a declaration of God regarding Jesus to questions about Jesus from the devil. Whiplash. The biggest whiplash being the devil shows up out of nowhere.

After a whiplash injury, you’re supposed to ice and immobilize. You stop the movement. So, that’s what we’re going to do today. We’re going to stop, we’re going to slow down, and we’re going to try to recover from the biblical whiplash of the devil just showing up. Our recovery plan is to investigate the devil. I want to try to fill in some of the backstory of the devil, so we understand what’s happening in the wilderness between him and Jesus.

Two cautions for today. Caution number one: any time someone teaches the Bible and quotes isolated verses, you should be curious and cautious. When a teacher only quotes one verse with little or no explanation of that verse, be curious. Does this verse, within its context and biblical context, say what the teacher is saying? Does that make sense? You’re tracking with me? Second, be cautious. Don’t immediately believe one verse proof but search the scripture to make sure it’s accurate.

Today, admittedly, I’m going to be doing a lot of one-verse quoting, so you need to be curious. Does this verse say what Ryan says? And be cautious. Don’t immediately believe me. Search the scriptures to prove that it’s accurate. I’ve listed many of the references. If you want an exhaustive list, email me at ryanf@northhillschurch.com.

Second caution: I know that, I think for me, talking about the devil— I don’t know how else to put it. It just feels weird. All of a sudden, I’m becoming one of those weird church people. It sounds a little crazy. People outside of the church, in general culture (more than likely), as I say something about the devil, I’m really setting myself up to be mocked. I think some people, even within the church itself, and I mean this church, some of us may even roll our eyes a little bit with embarrassment that we’re going to talk about the devil. So, let me clearly say the big idea we’re wrestling with today:

The Bible teaches the devil is real. Christians must understand the devil rightly to live rightly. The Bible teaches the devil is real. Christians must understand the devil rightly to live rightly. Now, I’m not talking about a fable or an allegory or a cartoon version of the devil that wears a black cape, is red with horns and a pitchfork. The scriptures actually paint a much more sinister and daunting image than that. So, let’s investigate and see what we discover and see if we can recover from biblical whiplash.

First, the devil is a created being. Genesis 2:1,

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”

Colossians 1:15-16,

“He [that’s Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things [blanket statement] were created through him and for him.”

God the Father, through Jesus Christ created our realm of earth, and he also created the realm of the heavens. Each of those realms is populated. Genesis 1 and 2 in the Bible is the story of the creation of the population of the earthly realm. Plants, animals, humanity. Throughout the scripture, we see members of the population of the heavenly realm. God created them as well. They’re described with words like cherubim in Genesis 3:24, angel in Numbers 20, seraphim in Isaiah 6:2, sons of God in Job 1:6, divine council in Psalm 82:1.

In the prophets, one section of the Old Testament, and then in the book of Revelation (the very last book of the New Testament), the heavenly realm residents are described with these fantastic images that resemble things we would see here on Earth, like lions and bears and all kinds of crazy creatures with some distinct characteristics, like having wings and some even having six wings and having the unbelievable ability to actually be in God’s presence.

The devil is from that heavenly realm, and he’s among those created heavenly beings. However, in the story of the scriptures, we discover that the devil is not content in that realm or his created position. So, number two, the devil is a rebel. 2 Peter 2:4,

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…”

Jude 1:6,

“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of that great day.”

Revelation 12:7-9 pictures this moment of rebellion.

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he [the dragon] was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven [in the heavenly realm]. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Note that progression from dragon to ancient serpent, devil, and Satan. All titles, all same heavenly being. So, we’re going to talk about all of those in a few moments. “Ancient serpent” is going to be really important in one moment.

To summarize, the devil and his crew grew discontent, desired their creator’s role, rebelled. They lose their heavenly rebellion, and now the devil targets God’s creation in the earthly realm, which is number three: the devil incites rebellion. He tries to make it happen. Genesis 3:1-6, “Now the serpent—” I’m going to stop there. Genesis 3 is another biblical whiplash. In Genesis 1 and 2, everything’s great. All of creation is made, and it’s beautiful, right up until that point of Genesis 3. Now we have this new being entering into this perfect garden, the ancient serpent. Remember Revelation, the ancient serpent. Genesis 3,

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He [the serpent] said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”‘ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Now we see the devil, the ancient serpent, here in serpent’s clothing.

Now we have a twin rebellion. We have this rebellion in the heavenly realm, the devil and his crew rebelling against creator God, and now the devil asks humanity to join the cosmic rebellion against God. The devil and his angels, not content with their creative position. Humanity, when presented with the opportunity to be like God, to change their creative position, rejected their Creator as well. So, the devil is created, a rebel, incites rebellion, and fourth, the devil is un-relational. I made up that word. The devil is completely impersonal.

Have you ever been in one of those friendships where you’re the one who instigates everything? Like you’re always the one asking the person to do something. You’re inviting them into something. They don’t really move towards you a whole lot. That’s not a real great relationship. Relationships are two-way, they’re back and forth. The devil has no relational capacity. He offers nothing. Why do I say that? As I studied this, I learned that in the scriptures, the devil doesn’t even have a proper name. What we think of as names are really titles: the devil, the satan, the tempter, the evil one. Titles, not names in the original language. There’s always an article before it. It’s the difference between knowing your neighbor’s name and calling them “the neighbor.” Even the name Lucifer, which some of you might be familiar with, doesn’t appear in either Old or New Testament. It’s part of a Latin translation later of one part of one verse that through time got attributed to the devil. To paraphrase theologian Tim Mackie, the scriptural authors do not dignify the devil with a name. The scriptural authors seem much more concerned that we know the devil’s intentions rather than know his name. No personal interaction, no relational giving away. Here’s why this is important: that is a complete, utter, stark contrast to how the scriptural authors speak of God. God reveals himself through a name. God reveals himself initially as relational. He walked with humanity in the garden. God, you could say, is over-dignified with names in the scriptures. God wants us to know who he is. He wants us to know that he knows who we are, he wants us to know him completely, and he wants to let us know he knows us completely. God is infinitely personal and relational. The devil, nothing. He offers you nothing. Impersonal, un-relational, not interested in knowing or being known.

Number five, the devil is anti. We’re going to look at basically every mention real fast. Not every mention, every title and description and image of the devil and see if we can understand why I’m using the word “anti.” So, here are the titles of the devil as found in the scriptures. Number one, “the Satan.” That word means adversary, one who stands against opposition. It’s used 54 times in both testaments. “The devil.” That means the slanderer. It’s used 34 times only in the New Testament. Slander is the act of making damaging statements against another. “Did God really say…?” That’s slander. “The evil one.” It means sick, diseased, wicked. That’s used ten times.

“The tempter” is used two times, and that means “put to the test.” But in the context, it’s “put to the test, hoping you fail.” Parents give their kids opportunities to succeed, even when they’re very little at simple tasks. Imagine if a parent put something in front of the kid—like, you can make your bed on your own—and their hope was the kid fails. That’s the type of testing we receive from the devil, hoping for failure.

These titles as well:

“the God of this world”

in 2 Corinthians.

“The ruler of this world”

three times in the book of John.

“The prince of the power of the air”

in Ephesians.

“The deceiver of the whole world,”

Revelation 12:9. The devil’s realm is the world, and we learned in our study last fall in 1 John that “the world” is the systems, actions, and desires on earth that are anti-Jesus and His claims.

Peter describes the devil this way, 1 Peter 5:8,

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary [the one who is against you] the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Their descriptions of the devil: John says the devil has been “sinning from the beginning.” Jesus says the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in 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.”

One more important description: Paul says this, 2 Corinthians 11:14,

“Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

So, from the beginning of his rebellion, the devil behaves singularly. There’s only one focus: sin. He stays out of truth. He lives in the realm of lies and creates more lies. He is a master of disguise, disguising himself as light to hide darkness. I’ve used the word “created spiritual being” or “heavenly being,” and I want to be clear: that doesn’t mean that the devil and his crew are not corporeal. Fancy word. Just look at the front of the word and see the word corpse, body. They can have a body; they can be physically real. Two angels came to Abraham and ate food. Mary Magdalene spoke to an angel in a tomb like a real person. The author of Hebrews actually tells people, don’t stop being hospitable to people because some people have entertained angels unawares. They’ve had people in for coffee not knowing they were angels. “Spiritual being” doesn’t mean “never physical” being. What does this all say about the devil? Let’s see if we can wrap it up.

The devil is a created, active, spiritual being rebelling and inciting rebellion against God. The devil is anti-life and pro-death, anti-truth and pro-lie, anti-right and pro-evil. Whatever God stands for, the devil is against. Whatever God creates, the devil wants to tear down. Whatever God loves, the devil hates. Whatever represents God, the devil wants to deface. Where there is love, the devil desires hate. Where there is joy, the devil desires despair. Where there is freedom, the devil desires slavery. Where there is truth, the devil desires deceit. Where there is order, the devil desires disorder. What God made beautiful, the devil desires to turn ugly. Where God desires unity, the devil wants division.

As a tempter and slanderer, the devil questions God’s character, God’s promises, God’s truthfulness, God’s kindness, God’s intentions for good, God’s commitments to his people, and he questions all of God’s ways and paths. Whatever God is, the devil is anti. Therefore, Peter’s words in 1 Peter 5 ring all the louder: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Don’t be drunk-minded when you consider the devil. Don’t be unaware. Be watchful.

That is who Jesus is facing in the wilderness. Matthew 4:1,

“Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

The Bible teaches the devil is real. Christians must understand the devil rightly to live rightly. To understand the devil rightly, we MUST understand Jesus rightly.

I want to remind you of who Jesus is just from the book of Matthew and only the chapters we’ve already covered as a family. This is what Matthew says about Jesus, Matthew 1:1, Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham. What does that mean? Son of Abraham. That means Jesus is the promised one who will crush the head of the serpent. There’s this moment after Adam and Eve sinned. God curses the serpent and tells the serpent, hey, your days are measured. At some point, there’s going to be offspring of Eve come along and he’s going to crush your head, and you’re done. It’s over. Jesus is now face to face with that ancient serpent in the wilderness. Jesus is the Son of David. Jesus is the forever king of God’s people. Will the forever King be able to defeat the devil in the wilderness?

Matthew 1:18, Jesus is the perfect human. Jesus did not inherit sin nature like you and I did because he was not fathered by a human. Jesus was virgin born of the Spirit of God. Adam, the first human, did not inherit a sin nature and he fell. Will Jesus, the perfect human, succeed in the wilderness where Adam fell? Matthew 1, 2, and 3 all say that Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He is the great deliverer of God’s people. Will the deliverer succeed in the wilderness? Is this story in the wilderness way bigger than we give it credit? Is this a moment of deliverance?

Then in Matthew 3:17, Jesus is declared by the Father while being covered by the Spirit, the Son of God. So, Jesus, the son of Abraham, the son of David, the Son of God, the supernatural, sinless, perfect deliverer and rescuer of humanity and creation comes face to face with the leader of the twin rebellion in the heavenly and earthly realms. The devil, the Satan, the tempter who lion-like wants to devour Jesus.

I’ve been a believer since I was eight years old, been in the Church for that long, and I’m 51. I probably should do this with all of scripture, but this is a story I wish I could read as if I’d never heard it before in my life. Like, no Sunday school lessons floating in the back of my head about what this story means. Maybe some of you, like me, grew up in church—and that is a make-up of a large part of our body. We have been in church for a while—maybe some of you have heard that the point of this story is that Jesus quoted Scripture when he was tempted so you need to memorize Scripture so you’re ready whenever you’re tempted. I see some of you smiling. I’m not minimizing that at all. Hear me clearly. Please hear me clearly. That is very important. I’m not at all saying that Jesus’ example isn’t great. I am, though, going to boldly say that this story has cosmic implications well beyond whether or not you know a verse so that you don’t get angry or you don’t lust or you don’t steal.

If Jesus doesn’t win in the wilderness, we have no hope. It’s over. It’s a done deal. Adam and Eve already failed, plunging all of us into this mess of not being able to measure up to God’s standard. We’re not righteous. So, Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect deliverer, the perfect human, he’s got to succeed here. Because if he doesn’t succeed in temptation, what in the world am I going to do? I don’t have a shot on my own. If he can’t win, there’s no way I’m going to win. This moment is life and death. It is rescue or slavery. It is of the highest stakes. Matthew has not stopped at this point in his gospel to tell us a neat little moral lesson. If Jesus gives in, the cross means nothing, the resurrection doesn’t matter, salvation slips away. Jesus, the great hero, must endure and succeed where Adam and Eve failed, where all humanity failed, where Israel failed, where the prophets failed, where the judges failed, where the kings failed, where I fail, and where you fail. So, the Bible teaches the devil is real. Christians must understand the devil rightly to live rightly. To understand the devil rightly, Christians must understand Jesus rightly. I think if we understand Jesus rightly, it empowers us not to give the devil too much credit or too little credit. Understanding Jesus rightly empowers us to not give the devil too much credit or too little credit.

Too much credit: remember, this is really important. The devil and other fallen angels are created beings. The devil and the other fallen angels are not God and do not possess God’s attributes. They do not know everything. They do not have all the power and they are not everywhere at the same time. They are created. Only God can do those three things. So, not everything that happens in your life is immediately attributed to the devil or one of his fallen crew. Just because you stub your toe at night as you’re walking to the bathroom and you swear, it’s not the devil (every time). It might just be pain and you need to work on your language. If we understand Jesus rightly and we don’t have to give this realm too much credit, we can understand things like 1 John 4:4 that remind us we’re not powerless, we’re unprotected. 1 John 4:4,

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Remember whose realm is the world? The devil’s. Greater is he that is in us than he that rules that realm. John also says that through Jesus, we

“have overcome the evil one,”

one of his other titles. And not to give the story away, but in the book of Revelation, the devil loses. Badly. But Church—and I think specifically North Hills and churches like us (if you want to call that a denomination or our church history, whatever you want to call it)—I think we’ve got to be very careful of giving too little credit. We can’t treat the devil like a children’s story. I actually don’t want to believe in an allegory. I don’t want to believe in a story that’s just meant to teach a lesson. I want to believe in a real God who has all the power and a real rebellion in heaven on earth, a real enemy, and a real rescuer who can save me. To believe in reality, I must believe that Jesus is who he claims to be. We learned that in 1 John. You have to believe Jesus is who he says he is. Just like Matthew claims about Jesus, this is who Jesus is. And I think we have to believe that the devil is who the Bible says the devil is. So, the question I wrote out is, are we treating the devil like a purring kitten or a roaring lion? Peter told us, be sober-minded. Sobriety. I said it earlier. Don’t be drunk. When it comes to the devil, don’t be in your brain, clouded and foggy and muddy and unable to think. Be watchful. Look. Be watchful, look.

Look around you. If we give the devil too little credit, then we’re just going to kind of meander our way through life and not consider the influence of the spiritual realm on issues like greed and consumption. Is there really nothing more behind that than people wanting more money? What about injustice? What about institutional evil systems that are set up to do wrong? Do we believe that there’s no power at all behind racism and sexism? Think of it. God is the one who created race. God is the one who created gender. So, when those things are trying to be destroyed, the image bearers the idea of sexism, that one gender puts down another, is unbelievable before the face of God. That’s the devil’s territory because he can deface what God made. Is there nothing behind the abuse of women? Is there nothing behind the insane percentage of childhood abuse? Is there nothing behind homelessness? Is there no power behind that? It just is what it is. It’s an economic, political problem. Is there nothing behind adultery? Is there nothing behind the notion of modern slavery? Church, we’ve been involved in India for years trying to get kids out of rock quarries. There’s no force behind that? What about war? If the devil has been murdering from the beginning, then war is his playground. He loves it.

If we give the devil too little credit, we will lazily peruse the internet and social media and not recognize there are forces behind algorithms and search engines, and their purpose is not to make you more like Jesus. We’re going to be unable to imagine the record-high statistics of loneliness, isolation, anxiety, and depression among teenagers, especially teenage girls. We will not be able to imagine that that is an all-out attack to destroy God’s young female image-bearers if we give the spiritual realm too little credit. “Oh, it just is what it is. We just got to get off Instagram.” Maybe. Or maybe there are forces behind that that are larger. So, brothers and sisters, I think it’s kind of a simple question: where do you stand? Too much credit, too little credit. Land on the biblical narrative: the devil’s real. Understand him rightly, understand Jesus rightly.

When I preached to you in December, we were in the three Wisemen story of Jesus and I mentioned to you all that I realized through that story I have too little a view of Jesus, or that my view of Jesus had become normalized because I’ve been in church forever. I got there because there’s this moment where the wise men worship Jesus, but Jesus is a toddler in a diaper. That wrecked me. Their faith is so strong that that’s the Messiah that intelligent men laid down on the ground in front of a baby. And so, I wrestled, and I told you that 2024 is going to be a year for me to raise my view and value of Jesus. I invited you to join me in that. Well, Matthew’s once again hit me with another reality that I often live like a fool. I often don’t think there’s a roaring lion out there. I’m often a purring kitten guy. The bad things I do, the bad things that are done to me, the bad things that happen out there that I don’t like. You know what Paul 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.” I’m not fighting anybody like this. So, in my December sermon, I stated my view of Jesus is too low. Now I’m telling you, my view of the devil is too low, and I realize that is a recipe for disaster. But it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance, right? Good. Just help me not feel alone up here. It’s God’s kindness that reveals where I need to grow. Am I in recognition of those two things? I want to invite you to join me in both: raise your view of Jesus, raise your view of the evil one. Let us possess a sober, watchful view of the devil that’s informed by the scriptures. And more importantly, let us have a limitless view of Jesus. Limitless view of Jesus. Cautionary, watchful, sober view of the devil in line with the scriptures. Unlimited view of Jesus. I think that will place us on the path of wisdom.

One practice the church possesses to raise our unlimited view of Jesus is the Lord’s Supper. This moment where we can come together. This is how Paul describes this moment,

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

We have this moment where bread is the body of Christ of Jesus, and wine is the blood of Jesus. We consume both of those recognizing our need for Jesus, our unlimited view of Jesus who sacrificed himself. His real body and blood. So that that distance, that relational distance between us and God, could be solved. This is not a practice that the Church enters into lightly. Paul warns us about eating this meal. Paul warns us that we should examine ourselves and discern the body. We consider other worshipers in our family. It is inconsistent to remember the body and blood of Jesus, while we disregard brothers and sisters around us. The practical application of that is, in what space are you with your brothers and sisters in Christ in this gathering? Be careful. Examine yourself. Think of the body. This is in an isolated moment. Every story of heroic sacrifice in all of time is an attempt to mimic this. There’s no better heroic story than the life, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus the Christ. So, in a few moments after these elements are passed out to you, I’ll come back up and we’ll partake together.