SATANIC ACTION
SATANIC ACTION
The existence of an active evil spirit no one with any conscience will deny, but it is important to determine when the work of the flesh becomes the work of Satan. As a rule we may say that the act of the flesh merely, as such, is simply gratification, and is marked more by eagerness to be pleased, than by the energy that works for some definite end.
The flesh properly has only the immediate before it, seeking to please itself in any and every way. In satanic acts there is purpose and design from the commencement, though it is not always disclosed to the tools;
[p. 149] eventually it is disclosed to them when they are in the net, and it is too late to draw back; and this, in order that they may harden their conscience and thus be thoroughly defiled with the guilt.
Let us examine some of the instances in scripture respecting the kinds of satanic action there spoken of.
The first occasion of Satan’s influence discloses to us the great marks by which we can ever discover it. The serpent in its subtilty assails the simple and unsuspecting Eve, insinuating an idea by a remark that does not awaken alarm, unless you are walking in the Spirit of holiness. If the remark interests you, and you give heed to it, the word of God is perverted; it is not denied, but explained away; the qualifying of the word of God is first entertained and then it is perverted. When this is gained, then an immediate gratification is offered to the carnal mind. Eve saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. When Satan’s counsel is accepted, he lends his dupe energy to act according to it. In every satanic agency there is a distinct opposition to God, be it His way or His word. Whatever is the revealed and leading desire of God for His saints at any time, is always the great object of Satan’s opposition, and this I call the first class of satanic action.
Thus Noah’s downfall, through drinking of the fruit of the vine, though not properly satanic, was made by Satan an opportunity for defeating the favour of God to man, and he used Canaan, Noah’s own son, to be the minister of the exposure.
Now the building of the tower of Babel was satanic, and of this class. Men bound together by a common object, and with the one purpose, systematically and definitely to be independent of God, and of His judgment on the earth, which was in direct contravention to His goodness and favour to man who had just been reinstated on the earth on new and greatly improved terms.
Man is a powerless creature; hence, whenever he is in [p. 150] a strait, if he has not God and His power to turn to, he is glad of support from any quarter. Satan avails himself of this sense of want, whenever it occurs, because of the assertion of the claims of God, or the manifestation of His mercy. Thus the magicians, in Pharaoh’s time, offer their help, when Pharaoh is helpless before the power of God for His people, and they continue their opposition until entirely baffled by Moses.
Whenever there is an opportunity for distinct opposition to God, though at first concealed, Satan readily lends his aid; he will entrap not only the Pharaoh, the one who rebels most against God, but the one most responsible for maintaining the truth. No eminence can preserve me from Satan’s influence, when once I am disposed to adopt a departure from the divine course for which I am responsible. Hence when Aaron was inclined to pacify the people, by something outside the divine way, Satan readily made a tool of him to construct a golden calf.
The Lord’s temptation in the wilderness is also of this class. Satan’s attempt is to set aside and overthrow the most singular and wonderful manifestation of God’s mercy to man. There are three heads in this temptation, and under one or other of these, every temptation to the saint now can be placed. The first is to act independently of God when you are in need. Secondly, to gain the world by means not of God; and thirdly, to seek eminence among men by the interposition of God on your behalf.
Whatever is the special thing with Christ at any time, that is the thing, be it great or small, which Satan attempts to contravene. Hence the Lord calls Peter “Satan” when he rebuked Him for announcing His death. The termination of man in the death of Christ was the very thing which would provoke all the opposition and force of Satan; so much so, that the man most endowed of God, as was Peter (see Matthew 16: 18,19), is the one guilty of this great mistake, and this with the kindest natural feelings, out of simple personal affection to the Lord.
In a like way Satan would turn aside and spoil the [p. 151] assembly at the very start, by inducing Ananias and Sapphira to make an untrue representation of their surrender, in order that they might obtain a position and a name on false grounds, without being detected; and thus virtually and practically to deny the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is necessarily a main effort of Satan to this day. The principle of his opposition is the same under every circumstance. In Corinth he succeeded in leading the assembly to refuse the cross practically, adopting the doctrine of Peter, when he rebuked the Lord for speaking of His death; and thus, notwithstanding all the gift and knowledge they possessed, they were overrun by every carnal enormity. Now when the word of the Lord had awakened the conscience of the assembly to a sense of the defilement they were implicated in, because of the sin tolerated in their midst, and they in zeal and faithfulness had cleared themselves of it by excommunicating the wicked person, Satan then was ready to make them too severe and unyielding. Of this the apostle warns them in the words, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices”. That is, he would urge them not to be unduly strict, as before they were unduly lax and indifferent.
In this first kind of satanic action must be reckoned the continued and unceasing opposition of Satan against those who claim their right to possess and enjoy the heavenly places. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. (Ephesians 6: 12.) This is never relaxed, and only experienced as one is practically insisting on being a dweller in heaven like the children of Israel in Canaan, and it is known by the varied and systematic way one is hindered and checked from occupying one’s heavenly position.
We must not leave out the way Satan wrought in the latter times and works in the last days. In the former, he attempts to set aside the true faith and holiness by [p. 152] instituting another, - one of exaction and bodily exercise. Exaction acknowledges the existence and continuance of man here; while godliness insists on Christ only, and therefore man in the Adam condition must be superseded and buried. In the other it is imitation.
The second kind of satanic action is more personal, and refers to one’s predisposition for it; such as natural forwardness in acting for the Lord. Satan desired to sift Peter as wheat; he had got possession of Judas. He had influenced man generally against the Lord, and now he attempts to lead the faithful ardent Peter into the pit. Grace from Christ preserves him, but it is important for us to note how Satan deceives and beguiles him. First, he leads him to act in an apparently brave, but really a rash way, in cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant; and then, led on in his desire to see the end, gratified through the intervention of a friend; and now, when his feet are made fast in the net, he exposes himself, and denies his Master. Then, convicted by the Lord’s word, he retires in shame and sorrow of heart. It is amazing the craft and subtilty of Satan, and the insatiable nature of his malice. It was not enough for Satan that he had fatally duped Judas, that he had influenced all classes of men against Christ, but he must lay toils for Peter, in order that through one deeply attached to the Lord, he might exhibit the contrary, and make it appear that there was no reality in the heart. Thus, while most opposed to the setting aside of man in the cross, he does the most to disparage man, by leading him into evil and disgraceful conduct.
Satan goeth about as a roaring lion “seeking whom he may devour”, so that when any one affords him an opportunity, if damage can be done to the truth, he helps him to effect his purpose; for this is the most successful device of Satan. Hence it is said, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil”. When I am enraged, and allow [p. 153] enmity to work, I am ready to accept Satan to effect revenge, and he revels in the opportunity to lend his help.
David numbering the people is another example of this kind (1 Chronicles 21: 1). It is individual and connected with one’s own state at the time. The way of escape is resistance. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”. “Whom resist stedfast in the faith”.
The third kind is when God allows Satan to be His scourge; first, not for actual failure, but for progress and blessing. Thus it was with Job. Satan was allowed to afflict him in everything, but not to take away his life. Perhaps nothing can disclose more the nature and malice of Satan, than the readiness and severity with which he uses his liberty towards Job; but it was allowed of God, though fearful to the saint for the time, and calculated to overwhelm him in unbelief, which was what Satan mainly desired, for he sought to prove that Job served God because of His favours to him.
In a like way, but more continuously, Paul suffers from a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him. Could anything be more grievous or humbling, than to be exposed to the constant personal interruption by a foe, of one’s desires and efforts to serve the Lord? This Paul required in order to preserve him from vain-gloriousness; and Satan was made the instrument, by afflicting him thus grievously, of effecting this great good.
There is one more class or order of satanic action which I must notice. It is when a “wicked person” is handed over to Satan, as in 1 Corinthians 5, for the destruction of the flesh; and in 1 Timothy 1, “That they may learn not to blaspheme”. It is not easy to pronounce the nature and character of the afflictions to which a saint would be subjected who was consigned, though certainly with a limitation, to Satan’s cruelty; only this we may be assured of, that though the process is a severe one, yet the object intended to be effected by it shall assuredly be accomplished, because it is the remedy prescribed by God Himself.
[p. 154] As to the violence and wickedness of Satan with the ungodly, or as to the power which he exercises over the unbelieving, or as an angel of light, I say nothing here, save that it is of a universal systematic character. He labours to prevent anyone from accepting the grace and knowledge of God. “If also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost; in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ... should not shine forth for them”.
The Lord bless the attempt I have made to draw His people to the consideration of this great subject, for His name’s sake.