The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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What do Satan and Fletcher Reede have in common? Haven’t heard of Mr. Reede? He’s the fast-talking lawyer whose habitual untruths built a remarkably successful career for himself – and ruined just about everything else, including a relationship with his young son, Max. Actor Jim Carrey plays the strangely lovable louse in the 1997 film Liar Liar.

Reede undergoes a miraculous transformation when Max makes a wish. As he’s blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, Max wishes his dad would tell the truth – and nothing but the truth – for just twenty-four hours. Max’s wish comes true, and the ensuing scenes take Reede through an agonizing journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, a restored relationship with his son. 

Redemption rarely looks this sweet, or funny. Throughout the story, Reede realizes he is incapable of telling the truth. His pathological behavior suits him, and benefits him, until he realizes it destroys nearly everything he loves. Reede lies because he is a liar. It is his nature to lie. And it takes a miracle to set him free.

Fletcher Reede and Satan are incorrigible liars. But that’s where the similarity ends, for the California lawyer finds redemption, while the evil one remains true to himself as the father of lies. Jesus uses that very term – the father of lies – to describe Satan during an encounter with the religious leaders of his day. Jesus exposes their plot to kill him, and then he contrasts his Father (God) with their father (Satan). While the scribes and Pharisees claim to be descendants of Abraham, Jesus tells them their father is the devil. A key passage in this exchange is John 8:42-47:

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God” (emphasis added).

John 8:42-47

Jesus not only presents the truth; he is the truth (John 14:6). The eternal Son of God leaves the portals of heaven to redeem us. He declares the truth of the Father because he and the Father are one (John 10:30), and because the Father sent him (John 20:21). If Jesus’ listeners believe in him, his Father would be their Father, too. But because they reject the truth, they prove they are neither the children of God nor the true sons of Abraham. Rather, they are children of the devil. As such, they seek to suppress the truth and kill the one who is truth incarnate. Murder and lies are their tactics – precisely the wiles of their father, the evil one.

The fact that Jesus refers to Satan as a murderer and a liar in the same context exposes the truth that Satan is a liar with a murderous intent. He targets the first humans in an effort to kill them. Then sin and death take the stage (Rom. 5:12; cf. Gen. 3:19, 24). The beginning of which Jesus speaks – “he was a murderer from the beginning” – likely is a reference to Satan’s first appearance on the stage of human history: his temptation of Eve in the garden. 

The serpent’s subtlety

So, let’s go back to the first recorded human encounter with the father of lies. God has finished his work of creation and declared everything “very good indeed” (Gen. 1:31). He has set Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and given them the privilege of tending it. He has made available to them the garden’s abundant produce, restricting only their access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2 ends with a depiction of innocence: “Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame” (v. 25).

We pick up the story in Genesis 3:

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” 

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:1-7

Satan appears suddenly in the garden as the serpent. We addressed this in more detail in previous chapters, including the possibility that the evil one, a fallen spirit being, breaks into the physical realm as an anointed guardian cherub. This remarkably beautiful member of the divine council comes for the express purpose of deceiving Eve (2 Cor. 11:3). As we begin to explore Satan as the father of lies, let’s look at several tactics that flow from his evil nature.

First, Satan comes disguised. The evil one is a beast, a dragon, an insidious monster who inhabits the spiritual realm. Yet when he breaks through into the physical world, he wears seductive costumes that appeal to our flesh. This isn’t lipstick on a pig; it is a transformative disguise that attracts us to him and masks his wiles. The evil one possesses great knowledge of the truth, but he holds no affection for it. Making himself a beautiful friend, he is nevertheless a sworn enemy of the truth, and he wishes to make us his allies. 

Second, Satan catches us alone. Since God has yet to create Eve when he gives Adam the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17), Adam likely relays this warning to his wife, for she is well aware of it. While Eve has no reason to doubt Adam’s truthfulness, the serpent approaches her because she’s in a more vulnerable position than her husband, having received the Lord’s instructions second-hand. Further, the serpent catches Eve when she’s by herself (Gen. 3:1). 

Satan often lies to us when we are alone, away from the spiritual support of fellow believers. He tempts Jesus when the Savior is alone in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). He privately stirs up David’s heart to number his troops (1 Chron. 21:1). And – we all know this – he comes to us when we’re alone, and especially when we’re tired, hungry, or lonely. The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-21 isolated many Christians and made them more vulnerable to the evil one’s fiery darts.

Third, Satan casts doubt. Note the question he poses to Eve: “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). It’s a misquote of Genesis 2:16-17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.’” 

Satan’s subtle turn of a phrase is sufficient to cast doubt in Eve’s mind, for she replies, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die’” (Gen. 3:2-3).

Eve responds correctly to the serpent, with one caveat: she tells the serpent she is forbidden to eat of the tree or touch it. Lois Tverberg offers insight into Eve’s exaggeration of God’s Word:

Eve was probably trying to be faithful to God in her conversation with Satan, but when she told the serpent God’s regulations regarding the tree, she overstated what God had said by saying that they must not even touch it or they will die. She was exaggerating for God’s sake, by making his rule more strict than it really was….

We must be ever mindful that our own zeal does not cause us to go beyond God, as we put words in God’s mouth. We need to always speak to let God’s truth be known.¹

Lois Tverberg, “Eve’s Error”

Eve’s well-intended overstatement opens the door for Satan’s next tactic.

Fourth, Satan caters to falsehood. When Eve stretches God’s prohibition regarding the tree, and then truthfully reports the penalty of death, Satan pounces: “No! You will not die” (Gen. 3:4). The serpent craftily tells Eve she will not die for touching the tree. Eve knows this, but now she’s caught in her exaggerated statement. If the serpent confirms she won’t die for touching the tree, maybe she won’t die for eating from it, either. “At that point, [Satan’s] temptations gained credibility in her mind because he corrected her own misstatement,” writes Tverberg.

Fifth, Satan caricatures the truth. With a foothold in Eve’s mind, the serpent convinces her there are no consequences for disobedience – at least not drastic ones. What’s more, he sells her on the notion that rebellion holds great advantages. Look at what Satan says next about the fruit on the forbidden tree: “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). 

God certainly knows Eve’s eyes will be opened, and he knows she will gain the capacity to explore good and evil. The Lord is omniscient; that is, he knows all things perfectly. But God also is omnipotent and immutable. That means he is all-powerful and unchanging. He is beyond reproach, unable to sin, perfect in holiness, and, by his very nature, he remains this way forever. Eve, on the other hand, isn’t God, and the knowledge of sin is bound to wreck her. 

There is more truth than falsehood in the serpent’s words. Yet the father of lies spins such a subtle web of deception that the first humans are about to plunge themselves, their descendants, and the whole world under a curse. It doesn’t take long.

Eve sees that the tree is good for food, delightful to gaze upon, and desirable for obtaining wisdom. So, she takes some of its fruit and eats it. She also gives some to Adam, and he partakes. The consequences are immediate and dramatic: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Gen. 3:7). 

Truly, the eyes of Adam and Eve are opened, but their first vision is not divine omniscience. Rather, it’s a revelation of their nakedness, which they find necessary to cover with fig leaves. They have lost the radiant perfection of glorified bodies and must look with shame on their corruptible flesh. It must have horrified them, for they sought to cover their bodies as if trying to deny the effects of the Fall.  

As Kurt Strassner notes, “Adam and Eve were promised liberation, but instead they received shame. They were promised that they would become like God, but instead they found themselves hiding from God.”

The Lord confronts Adam and Eve, who are quick to confess – and equally swift to pass the buck. Adam blames Eve, and Eve pins it on the serpent. God then curses the serpent, as well as the ground, and he announces the consequences of human rebellion against their creator (Gen. 3:14, 16-19). But the Lord also comes in grace, delivering a message of doom (for the serpent) and hope (for mankind): “I will put hostility between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15).

This is the first of more than four hundred messianic references in the Old Testament.⁴ God promises that a future male descendant of Eve will “strike” – that is, crush, smite in pieces, greatly injure – the head of the serpent, while the serpent strikes the deliverer’s heel. As John Ankerberg writes, “God is saying the male seed of woman will be victorious over Satan – because he (the serpent) will be mortally wounded.”⁵

Many additional Old Testament prophecies paint a more complete picture of a virgin-born redeemer who is God in human flesh. Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of these prophecies. In fact, Jesus makes it clear he has come to destroy the works of the devil (John 12:31; 16:11; 1 John 3:8). Because of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection, he delivers the fatal blow to Satan’s dominion over mankind (Acts 10:38; 26:15-18; Eph. 4:8; Col. 2:15; Jas. 4:7). At his future return, Jesus permanently defeats the father of lies and casts him into hell, a place prepared for him and his angels (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10).

A final thought before moving on: We might consider the sight of God, walking in the garden in Genesis 3:8, as the first recorded appearance of the angel of the LORD – also known as a Christophany, or a manifestation of Jesus prior to his virgin birth. If this is the angel of the LORD, then the preincarnate Christ delivers the very first prophecy about his own future mission to earth to rescue fallen people from the ravages of sin.

He will give his angels orders concerning you

One other example may help illustrate Satan’s subtlety as the father of lies. In his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, which we examine in more detail in Chapter 7, the evil one quotes Psalm 91 in an effort to get Jesus to take a header off the temple’s pinnacle. We pick up the story in Matthew 4:

Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”

Matthew 4:5-7

Satan quotes from Psalm 91:11-12 and applies it to Jesus. Psalm 91 ultimately is a messianic psalm, but not exclusively so. And it’s certainly not an invitation to double-dog-dare the Son of God. Some understanding of this psalm’s context may help. 

David and other men write psalms while under the old covenant, God’s binding relationship with Israel. The psalmists often express what God did and would do for Israel (e.g., Ps. 68; 78; 105; 106; 135; 136). Sometimes, these writings narrow the focus to God’s work on behalf of Jerusalem, or David and his descendants (e.g., Ps. 2; 18; 22; 45; 48; 72; 79; 87; 89; 110; 122; 132; 147).

As Kenneth Boa and Robert Bowman point out:

The focus in these psalms is typically on the physical miracles God did for Israel and the physical blessings God gave to Jerusalem and to David. This focus was appropriate because the purpose of the old covenant was to create and sustain a physical nation from which the Messiah would come.

Sense & Nonsense About Angels & Demons

So, in context, the psalm generally lays out the physical protection Israelites enjoy when they trust completely in the Lord. We see this many times in God’s deliverance of his people from a variety of dangers. It is not, however, a proof text that guarantees every Israelite a problem-free life. 

More to the point, Psalm 91 seems to speak most directly of David, while alluding to the coming Messiah, as verse 13 notes: “You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the young lion and the serpent.” This is a reference to Scripture’s first messianic promise (Gen. 3:15). After Adam and Eve succumb to temptation, the Lord promises to send one who will crush the serpent’s head. 

In addition, Isaiah offers prophetic visions of a future under the Messiah’s reign in which the serpent is subdued (Isa. 11:8; 65:25). Isaiah also pictures a future world in which the lion is completely tamed (Isa. 11:6-7; 65:25).

Therefore, Psalm 91:13 offers a glimpse of the day when the Messiah is victorious over the devil and his minions. Jesus tells his disciples he is granting them authority over “snakes and scorpions” – a reference to evil spirits, whom the disciples cast out (Luke 10:19). 

We know Jesus suffers and dies – and this is prophesied in other psalms, as well as in Isaiah 53 – so Psalm 91 does not guarantee the Messiah a care-free path to the kingdom. Rather, the psalm explains that God’s protection over the Messiah ensures that no harm comes to him until his appointed hour of death arrives. 

This is fairly easy to see. An angel protects Jesus from assassination attempts early in his life (Matt. 2:13, 19-20). Jesus evades death threats and murderous mobs throughout his earthly ministry (Luke 4:28-30; John 8:59; 10:31-39). And the Lord makes it clear that when the time of his death arrives, no one takes his life; he voluntarily lays it down, only to take it up again in resurrection (John 10:17-18).

Satan’s choice of Psalm 91:11-12 is a calculated effort to short-circuit Jesus’ role as the messianic Son of God. The father of lies quotes from the psalm but craftily misapplies it. Christ’s purpose in the Incarnation is not to entertain audiences, compensate for his human frailties, or reign as a puppet king under the authority of the god of this age. No, Jesus comes to earth to die, and to rise again, in order to redeem sinful and fallen people. His role as Messiah is fulfilled only when he cries from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). An angelic rescue from a death-defying plunge would no more convince hardened unbelievers of Christ’s deity than would his resurrection from the dead (cf. Luke 16:31). 

What does all this mean to us? Boa and Bowman summarize:

The message of [Psalm] 91:11 is that God has acted through Jesus Christ to deliver us from the Devil and all spiritual harm, and he promises us that in the resurrection we will enjoy an eternal life free from all harm of any kind. In the meantime, God can and does send his angels to protect people when and as he chooses, but only as a foretaste or glimpse of the perfect life to which we look forward.

Next: Horns and a pitchfork?