THE EXTENT OF SATANIC OPPOSITION
“Stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11).
Satan opposes everything God does.
The believer’s conflict with the forces of darkness is rightly called spiritual warfare since Satan and his evil world system are hostile toward everything God does. By nature they are anti-God and anti-Christ.
Satan is the antithesis of every godly attribute. God is holy; Satan is evil. God is love; Satan is the embodiment of hatred. Jesus reveals grace and truth (John 1:17), but Satan “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
God gives life, whereas Satan breeds death (Heb. 2:14). God produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). Satan produces “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these” (vv. 19–21).
God uses trials to prove the genuineness of your faith and to increase your joy and spiritual endurance (James 1:3). Satan uses temptation in an attempt to destroy your faith and silence your testimony.
Jesus is your “Advocate,” pleading your cause before the Father (1 John 2:1). Satan is an “accuser,” blaming you incessantly for things God has already forgiven (Rev. 12:10).
Because Satan opposes everything God does, he’ll also oppose God’s children. When he does, don’t be overly concerned or think of it as odd or unfair. Expect trials, be prepared, and rejoice, because they show you’re a threat to Satan’s system and an asset to Christ’s Kingdom.
For Further Study: Read Romans 14:17 and 1 John 2:16–17. What characterizes the Kingdom of God? The evil world system of Satan?
Excerpted from John F. MacArthur Jr., Drawing Near—Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith (Crossway Books, 1993), p. 263.
It seems our culture has become very skilled at renaming what is wrong, excusing what is destructive, and dismissing truth as intolerance. We often judge an idea by whether it feels affirming rather than whether it is true. But lies do not become truth simply because the crowd embraces them. This is why spiritual discernment matters so deeply. The enemy’s work is not always loud or frightening; sometimes it simply sounds reasonable, compassionate, and popular. We must stay close enough to God’s Word to recognize the difference.