Satan: The Most Evil

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

Who would you say is the most evil person in history? Leading candidates include:

Adolf Hitler, Germany’s chancellor from 1933 to 1945 and Fuhrer of the Nazi Party. Intelligent and creative, this talented young artist became the figurehead of a brutal regime whose actions, including the Holocaust, resulted in the deaths of more than fifty million people.

Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953. The former robber and assassin reigned with terror and violence, killing friends and enemies with impunity. He once said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is simply a statistic.” Even so, he was twice nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula. He reigned as prince in Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1462, and he managed to kill one in every five persons he was sworn to protect, mostly through sadistic means that ended with impaling.

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This Same Jesus

This is the 13th in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com. 

Reading Acts 1, it’s hard to imagine the apostles’ thoughts as they gaze upward, watching Jesus ascend from the Mount of Olives and then vanish from view. Jesus had come unassumingly, born to a teenage mother in a Middle Eastern village. He lived his life humbly, refusing to be crowned king on numerous occasions, hiding his identity as Messiah until just the right moment, and then surrendering his life on a Roman cross. 

Jesus’ resurrection three days later proved his messianic claims and sealed his identity as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). He culled dozens of disciples until there were only twelve close followers – one of them a betrayer, as Jesus well knew. And he sought to prepare them for just this moment, when he returned to the Father and passed the gospel torch to his newly commissioned apostles.

But now he’s gone, his glorified body rising into the air, enveloped in a heavenly cloud, to assume his place at the Father’s right hand. The apostles still have questions, doubts, and apprehensions. They aren’t ready to be left alone. And that’s how it must have felt – left alone – with Jesus bidding them farewell. 

They know it isn’t quite like that. Jesus had assured them he would always be with them (Matt. 28:20). And he promised to send the Holy Spirit – another counselor, comforter, and advocate just like him. But would they really see him again? If so, how soon? And how would they carry on an earth-bound ministry with Jesus in heaven?

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Satan: Chief of a Global Enterprise

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

The apostle John writes: “So the great dragon was thrown out ​— ​the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him” (Rev. 12:9).

Finally, we see the scope of Satan’s work as deceiver. John watches the cosmic battle between Michael the archangel and the great dragon. Michael prevails, and the dragon and his angels are cast down to earth (Rev. 12:7-12). We addressed this passage in greater detail in Chapter 2. For our purposes now, however, we focus on Satan’s role as chief executive of a sinister global enterprise. John writes that the evil one “deceives the whole world.” But what does the apostle mean by this?

As we explore in future posts, the Greek word often translated “world” (kosmos) may be interpreted in a number of ways, from the planet Earth to the world system under Satan’s control. But John uses a different Greek word here: oikoumene, which occurs fifteen times in the New Testament and, for the most part, refers to the entire inhabited earth.

In this sense, the gospel is to be proclaimed to all the world (Matt. 24:14; Rom. 10:18). Christ is to judge the world at the end of time (Acts 17:31). Other general references to the world as the inhabited earth include: Luke 2:1 (Caesar’s whole empire); Luke 4:5 (kingdoms of the world Satan shows Jesus); Acts 19:27 (the world that worships the goddess Artemis); Hebrews 1:6 (the inhabited world into which Christ is born); and Revelation 3:10 (the whole world that faces a time of testing). 

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Satan: The Original Usurper

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

The apostle Paul writes to Timothy: “I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed” (1 Tim. 2:12-14).

Satan is a usurper by nature. That is, he seizes authority not rightfully his. He rises up against God in an effort to displace his creator as the object of worship. He’s also a usurper by proxy, acting through intermediate means to attack God and God’s people. For example, he incites David to number his troops (1 Chron. 21:1; cf. 2 Sam. 24:1). He fills the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to seek undue credit for an otherwise good deed (Acts 5:1-11). He takes control of Judas Iscariot, inspiring him to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3; John 13:27). And he gives the antichrist his power, throne, and authority in the last days (Rev. 13:2). 

But the earliest example of Satan operating as a usurper by proxy is his temptation of Eve in the garden. Paul alludes to this tragic event in his instructions to Timothy, urging the young pastor not to grant women authority over men in the local church. Paul is not prohibiting women from speaking or praying publicly in the church, for we see women like Phoebe, Priscilla, and the virgin daughters of Philip taking active roles in the community of faith. 

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Christ’s Second Coming in the Psalms

This is the 12th in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com. 

The second coming of Christ often is linked with the moral struggle between God and his creatures. Psalm 2 is a good example. The psalmist describes the world’s rejection of God’s sovereignty, and then declares God’s purpose: 

“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will declare the LORD’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”

Ps. 2:6-9

God fully intends to respond to the nations’ rebellion against him. He installs his Son as king of the earth. Consequently, the kings of the earth are exhorted: 

So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling. Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.

Ps. 2:10-12

Another prophecy of the second coming is Psalm 72, likely a coronation prayer used when one Davidic king dies and another comes to power. But it’s more than that. It looks forward to the ultimate Davidic king – Messiah – and his reign on earth. Messiah’s dominion is “from sea to sea” (v. 8). Kings and nations serve him (v. 11).

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