God’s Devil - Part 14: The Serpent Strikes Back

An important factor in the spiritual conflict we study is that angels are created individually and they fell individually. They have no mother or father. There is no difficulty in believing that one third fell but we must remember that two thirds remained loyal to Jehovah God. But in the case of mankind, the entire race is descended from Adam and Eve. Therefore when they sinned, they took all of their descendants with them into sin and from their fallen moment onward, all humans except Jesus were born with their sin virus passed downward.

When Satan learned he would be crushed by the seed of the woman, he began the effort to kill anyone who appeared to be possibly the redeemer that was promised. So his next step was to strike against the family and to divide it. 

Adam and Eve had a firstborn son who brought them hope and they named him Cain, which means “the gotten one”. We have no scripture that teaches us that Cain was anything but a contented child. However, when his brother, Abel, was born, rivalry began, which would end in murder. As the two grew and began to make offerings to God, Abel gave as his offering from the firstborn of his flock while Cain made his offering from the fruit of the ground. The offering of blood was accepted by God while the plant offering was not. Much later, we are taught in Hebrews 11:4 that by faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice. Cain grew in resentment toward his brother. God rebuked Cain and reminded him that when he offered a better sacrifice it would be accepted, while if he did not, sin was close by. Rather than repent and seek to please the Lord, Cain decided to take matters into his own hands and murdered his brother. Additional scripture teaching in 1st John 3:12 tells us that Cain slew Abel because he was of the evil one. Satan saw a chance to use Cain's hard heart as an instrument to rid himself of a possible redeemer who was clearing pleasing to God. Satan thought his work was done.

God brought Adam and Eve another son, Seth, meaning “substitute”. Satan then realized that even if he continued killing possible redeemers, God could and would continue to bring more. God confronted Cain about his murder and Cain, like his father Adam, deflected his responsibility and was therefore condemned to a life of useless wandering. Satan's (the serpent) first attack was against the family. In modern times Satan has surely come to know that the redeemer did arrive and set about salvation work for mankind through grace. But the attack on the families of man continues.

The descendants of Seth began to call on the name of the Lord. From Seth would come Noah and Abraham, people who were found to be faithful to the Lord as they were chosen by Him. Through him also would come the final promised redeemer.

So if the family attack did not succeed, the next step for Satan was to corrupt society. As humans began to multiply on the earth, wickedness increased. The wickedness was so full that God saw that all hearts were becoming evil (except one, Noah), and the Lord brought the flood to end this evil and start man's creation again. One family was spared in the ark and the seed of the woman would come from that family. God's promise was eternal and He would not change it. Here we see that no matter how much evil seems to prosper, God will prevail if He so chooses.

As evil returned in idolatry and false worship over time, God chose one man, Abraham, to bring forth His chosen people. Abraham was not chosen because he believed. He believed because he was chosen.

God proved that he can, if He wishes, multiply the race to fulfill His promise and that He can, if he wishes, preserve the seed, and that He can, if He wishes, choose the seed bringer out of idolatry into faith.

Certain methods of Satan are becoming clear. His primary strategy is against God's people. In the OT these were the people of Israel, through whom the seed would arrive. In the current age, the efforts of Satan are against the church which is his enemy. He used the pagan Roman empire against the early church and the persecution was strong. But as we are taught in the NT, the blood of the martyrs was the food of the faith.

We see that all Satan's victories are short lived and are actually illusions. He does appear to win some battles but those are allowed by God and are overturned by the work of God. 

Abel was dead, then there was Seth. The earth was corrupt, then there was Noah. The nations turned to pagan idols and then there was Abraham. The male children of Bethlehem were slaughtered but Jesus had gone to Egypt. The final defeat of Satan is sure as evidence proves. Our final victory is in Christ and His redeeming work on the cross.