Christian Living

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BY COMMENTING
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE As A Member OR Visitor
Message Writer
Hire Writer
Report Article

Track Writer

Add to Favorites

by GLENN PEASE
01/18/18
Free to Share

Based on Gen. 3:1-7

William Congreve said, “If I were a painter I would draw the devil like an idiot, a driveller with a bib and bells.” All I can say to that is that I am glad he is not a painter, for he would only serve the devil’s cause by painting him as a driveling idiot. I agree with Thomas Lodge who said, “Devil’s are not so black as they are painted.” The Bible pictures Satan as extremely capable, and never as a mere dunce only good for laughs. Satan would be delighted if we thought of him as an idiot, for this would give him another advantage in his perpetual plot to deceive. Degrade the devil and you deceive yourself. This does not mean we are to exalt the devil, but we are to recognize the facts about his capabilities and subtlety.

       We can no more follow the devil is dead nonsense then we can the God is dead nonsense. It is true that he is a defeated foe, and those in Christ can resist him and make him flea in retreat, but it is also true that if we are dreaming that the devil is a dimwitted demon devoid of dynamic deceptive ability, we are asleep to reality. We can only defeat him and escape his subtle deception by being fully aware of his abilities. This will drive us to dependence upon Christ whose guidance and wisdom can outwit the subtle serpent.

       Satan would like us to have our guard down, and have the attitude toward him as expressed by the 17th century poet Dryden toward a certain Shadwell. He wrote The rest to some faint meaning make pretense, But Shadwell never deviates into sense. Some beams of wit on other souls may fall, Strike through and make a lucid interval; But Shadwell’s genuine night admits no ray, His rising fog prevails against the day.

       This is the way Congreve wanted to paint Satan, but it is a great mistake, for as long as men think of Satan as stupid, ugly and repulsive they will never recognize him. It is this negative attitude that has cause many to doubt his very existence, for they never confront him in that image. If you picture Satan as the subtle serpent that he is, however, then you can see his trail winding all through history. If you recognize his ability to become an angel of light, and recognize, as the temptation of Christ reveals, and as Shakespeare said, “The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose,” then you can see his subtle slithering even among the very elect. In other words, the first step in recognizing the reality of Satan is to become aware of his amazing abilities. Heine tells us in poetry of his surprise at discovering the real nature of Satan:

I call’d the devil, and he came,
and with wonder his form did I closely scan;
He is not ugly, and is not lame,
but really a handsome and charming man.
A man in the prime of life is the devil,
obliging, a man of the world, and civil,
A diplomatist too, well skilled in debate,
he talks quite glibly of church and state.

      The Christian must forget tradition and art, and build his concept of Satan on the only reliable source of information, and that is the Bible. It is obvious that Shakespeare knew the biblical view, for he wrote, “The prince of darkness is a gentleman.” A Dutch proverb also catches the biblical image-“Never was hood so holy but the devil could get his head in it.” I am convinced that the reason God has preserved the account of the fall of Adam and Eve is that so all who follow His Word might be fully aware of the cunning enemy that seeks their downfall. The most practical value we can get from the study of the fall is awareness of the methods of Satanic deception. We want to see how he succeeds so that by not being ignorant of his devices we can counter his attack with the wisdom of Christ, and so stand where others have fallen. The first thing we see is

THE SUBTLETY OF HIS APPROACH.

      One of the ideas in the definition of subtlety is the ability to make fine distinctions. We see it here in Satan’s choice of approaching the woman rather than the man. It is just good sense to strike at the weakest point. By this I do not mean that Eve was the weaker sex, for that is irrelevant, for strength has nothing to do with this temptation. Eve was the weakest point simply because she had been in existence only a matter of hours. She had far less knowledge and experience than Adam. Even the command from God not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil came to her second hand through Adam. These might seem like minor points, but Satan must have thought them to be significant. So did Luther, and he gives full credit to Satan’s wisdom in choosing to approach the woman. He said, “I believe that had Satan first tempted the man, Adam would have gained the victory.” We can never be sure of this, but we know that Satan made the wisest choice from his point of view, for he succeeded.

      The fact that Satan approached by a talking serpent sounds quite far fetched to our modern ears, but nothing could have been more appropriate for the circumstances. Let us not read our experience back into Eden, for there is no comparison. The devil would never attempt to tempt anyone today in such a manner, for he is not so stupid as to think he could get anywhere that way. If a snake spoke to any woman today, it is highly unlikely she would reply with anything but a scream and a burst of speed in the opposite direction. Eve, however, stood and talked to it calmly, but why shouldn’t she? As we said, she had only been alive a matter of hours, and there was nothing unusual about a talking serpent. There was noting unusual about anything. How could there be? She did not even know of any such distinction between what was usual or unusual. She only knew what was.

       If any animal, or even a tree, would have spoken it could hardly have been a shock. This is why it seems so strange to us. We know serpents don’t talk, and if Eve would have known it, she would have thought it to be fantastic too. This just demonstrates the subtlety of Satan, for he would not likely have been able to fool Adam. He had been around longer and had contact with all the animals of the garden. A speaking serpent would have aroused his suspicion immediately, and Satan would have gotten nowhere. Therefore, he approaches the one who was most innocent, and took full advantage of Eve’s limited experience. You can be sure he has not forsaken a method that was so successful. He continues to strike at the weak points.   When Satan tempted Christ he struck at the most opportune time, and he directed his appeal to the weakest points.

        Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, and at this point the strongest desire of His body would be for food, and that is why Satan suggested that He turn a stone into bread. Let us never think that Satan is against us fulfilling our desires and ambitions. He is not only for us succeeding, but he will suggest many ideas to help us succeed. He knew Jesus wanted to win people to Himself, and so he encouraged Jesus to jump off the temple and thereby bring a flock of people to Him. He knew Jesus came to regain the lost world, and so he offered it all to Him if He would bow down and worship Satan. He knew Eve would want to get all the knowledge she could and be as great as possible, and he was willing cooperate and see that she got it. He knows that all of us desire some degree of importance. He knows we long for power, possessions and popularity. He knows that we can count on him for giving suggestions for success. The catch, of course, is that he does not tell you the consequences of being successful by his methods.

        The anticipated sweetness of following Satan’s suggestion turns to bitterness in the actual experience, for we soon recognize that the cost is the loss of God’s favor.   It is extremely important that we recognize our weak points, for you can be sure that Satan does, and it will be there that he will apply pressure. Everyone has a weak spot.   The fool and the wise man both have this in common, but the difference is that the wise man sets a double guard at that point, while the fool leaves it unguarded all together. A Christian needs to know himself and recognize his weaknesses. He needs to recognize that it is where he is ignorant, or where he has his greatest ambition, that Satan will make his approach.

        A wise New England farmer knew his weak spot, for he said, “Whenever I say the Lord’s Prayer I add ‘don’t let a five thousand dollar temptation come my way.’” He was honest enough to know where he could fall, and so he knew where to keep guard. So often people dismiss their weaknesses as if they were not accountable for falling where they are weak. But Milton put it well when he said, “If weakness may excuse what murderer, what traitor, parricide, incestuous, sacrilegious, but may plead it? All wickedness is weakness; that plea, therefore, with God or man will gain thee no remission.” We are responsible for our weakness, and since we see Satan is subtle in his approach, and will surely strike at the weakest point, we have an obligation to know what our weak point is, and make full use of God’s provision to guard it well. Eve did not have the advantage we have of knowing this. She was altogether ignorant of the existence of the subtle deceiver, and so her guilt is less than ours if we too are ensnared by his subtle approach. The next thing we see is

THE SUBTLETY OF HIS ATTACK.

       We have seen how he approaches in such a way as to make sure there are no barriers set up between him and the victim. Now we need to see how he attacks the Word of God in such a way as to bring a barrier between the victim and God.    He begins with a question and asks, “Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” He is expressing surprise that they would think God has really forbidden them to eat of any tree. “You certainly must be kidding to say God has imposed some limitation on your freedom.”   This is subtle attempt to break down respect for the command of God. It is a very common and successful method of creating rebellion.

       A young person, for example, is given orders not to go to the mall after school, but to get right home. His companion wants him to go, however, and is not interested in parent-child relationships. So he seeks to shake the youths respect for his parents command. He says, “Don’t tell me your old man said you couldn’t go to the mall, just like you were a baby or something, you must be kidding, aren’t you?” This makes one wonder if the command is somehow unjust. It puts doubt in the mind as to whether it is legitimate and worthy of respect and obedience.

        This was Satan’s purpose to create some doubt as to God’s goodness. Another aspect of the subtlety of his attack with this question is that it centered Eve’s attention on the forbidden. If Satan can get you to concentrate on the forbidden his chances are good of getting you to experiment with it. He is only doing what any smart salesman does. They know you have to get your product before the people and get them to thinking about it in order to have any hope of getting them to use it. Eve probably would never have thought about the forbidden tree if Satan had just carried on a general conversation. But he knew how a simple question to direct a conversation toward the forbidden could capture her interest.

       We can learn even from the devil and fulfill the command to be as wise as a serpent. Satan’s method of leading men to evil work as well in leading them to concentrate on Christ and that which is good. Each of us who wants to be an effective witness for Christ must learn how to ask questions in such a way so as to lead men's thoughts to concentration on spiritual matters. If you can get people to think about anything, their curiosity often leads them to pursue it. This works both for good and evil.   Someone said, “Too much curiosity lost paradise.” This could well be true, for as Burke said, “The first and simplest emotion we discover in the human mind is curiosity.”

        Satan knew that if he could get Eve’s mind on the forbidden fruit it would be like getting a child’s mind on a freshly frosted cake. There is bound to be some kind of action, and the chances are that it will be in favor of an evil action rather than a good one. Rev. Harold E. Kohn has written about the power of curiosity. He told the story of the severe tough-minded woman who called the county sheriff and complained about several boys who were swimming in the nude in a stream, which she could see from her porch. It was a disgrace she claimed, and she demanded he put a stop to it. The sheriff told the boys to move up stream, and they did. A few days later the woman called again and the sheriff asked, “Haven’t they moved up stream yet?” “Yes they have,” she said, “But if I go upstairs I can still them from my bedroom window.” This, of course was silly, but it is no laughing matter when Satan can get us to be curious about the forbidden. The compulsive power of curiosity led Eve to fall, and through history has done more damage than just killing the cat, as the proverb tells us.

        It is the responsibility of each of us to constantly examine ourselves in the light of what we know in Satan’s subtle approach in aiming at our weak points, and in his subtle attack of creating doubt about God’s commands, and in his stimulating curiosity toward the forbidden. Pride goes before fall, and the worse pride is that of thinking we can outwit the subtle serpent on our own. The more we learn of satanic subtlety, the more we ought to commit our lives to Christ and let His mind and Spirit guide us.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR

Reader Count & Comments

Date

Read more articles by GLENN PEASE or search for other articles by topic below.

Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)

Read more by clicking on a link:
Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You

...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19

Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38

LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE

FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.