I want to jump right into this and see what the Bible says. Let’s start in Jude 9-11:
“But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”
Michael the archangel did not rebuke Satan. Michael, in the world of Jehovah’s Witnesses, is the same person as Jesus. But it is significant to know that here, Michael does not rebuke Satan, but says that the Lord is to rebuke him. I think that “he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment” because only God has such an authority to do so. On the other hand, however, Jesus does rebuke Satan in Matthew 4. This not only shows that Jesus is different than an angel, but it shows that Jesus has the authority to rebuke Satan. Consider Matthew 4:8-11:
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
‘Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”
Resist Him
Jesus clearly has the power and authority to rebuke Satan. But like I said, I question if we have such power or authority. The Bible never says that we do. What it does say is that we have the power to resist Him. James 4:7-8 says,
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Satan is the accuser. That was his place of power in history. He was the accuser and brought names before God in order to accuse them before the judge (who has such authority). This is what his ancient name means… Slanderer. He would accuse people before God, and God would make judgments. I think we find a similar instance in Job 1:6-11, although God is the one who pointed out Job to Satan in this instance.
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
It seems to me that nothing in this text should be shocking to the reader, in that this seems to be semi-normal behavior, or it is a familiar pattern for Satan to be before the Lord in such a manner. It seems that the reason for this is because of what we find in Ezekiel 28:12-19.
“You were the signet of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering,
sardius, topaz, and diamond,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;
and crafted in gold were your settings
and your engravings.
On the day that you were created
they were prepared.
You were an anointed guardian cherub.
I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;
in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created,
till unrighteousness was found in you.
In the abundance of your trade
you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire.
Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I exposed you before kings,
to feast their eyes on you.
By the multitude of your iniquities,
in the unrighteousness of your trade
you profaned your sanctuaries;
so I brought fire out from your midst;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
in the sight of all who saw you.
All who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.”
Satan is the covering cherub, or the guardian cherub, which I understand as being in a sense an ornamental position in the throne room of God. It makes sense from the above text from the description of beauty that is emphasized. Some might think this is not talking about Satan, but it seems that the Prophet Ezekiel is likening the King of Tyre to Satan. In other words, Ezekiel is saying that the King of Tyre is acting or behaving like Satan and their stories are similar. So, these texts tell us some idea of Satan’s position in heaven and Revelation 12:7-17 clues us into why Satan is filled with anger and rage.
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 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. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.”[1]
This is explaining the war that went down in heaven. WAR IN HEAVEN (let that sink in). We see that Satan was defeated, and cast down, which is why he is filled with such motivated anger. See the progression of his motivated anger in the second paragraph, verses 13-17.
He is filled with fury because he was cast down.[2] He was essentially demoted from his long held position of power, and had no longer had a place. Perhaps this had an effect on how he identified. In any event, it seems that when people say that they rebuke Satan, they are saying things that they do not understand. For starters, they do not understand the authority he once had, which was the accuser, we have an example of this in Job chapter one, but also it seems that people do not seem to think that he has any authority now. This is definitely wrong.
Satan’s Authority
Something that blows my mind is when I hear of people taunting Satan. “Is that all you got?” “Come at me bro!…” I don’t think this is something we should ever entertain, let alone perform. Satan clearly still has some authority. We may not be able to place our finger on exactly what that is, but when we read that “Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour,”[3] and “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil,”[4] we find that there is something to what he can do. He is not an actual lion eating human beings. He seeks after our soul. It seems that the best place for him to do this is in our minds. This is why we stand firm in the faith, and we “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”[5] The darts are extinguished by a shield because they were leather-wrapped wood that was soaked in water. When the flaming arrows were shot, the shield would protect the soldier from the arrows and also put the arrows out from the water-soaked leather. Think about these flaming arrows for a minute. What exactly does this mean? Similarly, like a roaring lion, the arrows are not actually arrows. They are spiritual attacks that against which we have the capacity to resist. In other words, this is the power given to us. We have the power to resist him.
There is a big difference between rebuking him and resisting him. We resist him, and call upon the Lord to rebuke him, but we cannot rebuke him ourselves. I don’t think we have that authority. Satan clearly has some authority because the Bible acknowledges it. Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour… if he had no authority, he wouldn’t be free to roam around and seek people to devour.
Healthy Fear
So, I think this understanding is good, because it really shows us what we are up against. We should fear Satan. Fear is what keeps us alive. One who has never approached a chainsaw does not grab it and go ripping and tearing through the woods, because he has a healthy fear of what the chainsaw will do to him if he is not careful. He approaches it for the first time being fully alert, awake, and aware.
Satan is a scary monster in the dark. He is mysterious and evil. But on the other hand, God is all-powerful and loving. I do not think Satan has authority that is not given to him, but we do not know what that fully looks like. This is why we resist him, this is why we put on the full armor of God. The Armor of God is not a thing for little kids to play with in Sunday school. We think it is cute when they dress up as Roman Soldiers and such, and it is cute, but don’t forget what it really means. Putting on the full armor of God is written to adults, not to children. We need to be alert. We need to be awake. We need to be aware.
As the Revelation says, “salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.” Through Christ, Satan is no longer the accuser, but has been demoted. The reason is because we have been set free by the blood of the Lamb and are no longer found guilty before the Righteous Judge.
Let God be God. Don’t rebuke Satan, because you do not have that power or authority. But resist him and he will flee from you.
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
© Nace Howell, 2023
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