Satan’s Strategy and the Role of Self

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

If you are a believer who takes your relationship with Jesus seriously, you’ve no doubt had days where you simply feel as though you are not only not making headway, but you are going backwards. It’s frustrating and emotionally taxing to be in that position. Anyone who has never experienced this might simply be playing religion. I’m simply pointing out that since we are in the world (but not of the world), we are in a daily battle to keep from sinning. Believers who do not experience the frustration of living with the pressures that can rain down on us may be too aligned with the world to understand the difference.

We also know that the Bible clearly defines three enemies of the Christian. They are the world, the flesh and the devil himself, not necessarily in that order. Attacks against the Christian can come from any of those enemies and are often successful because of our sin nature: SELF

Self is at the very core of the reason we sin. Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate…” (Genesis 3:6 ESV). Eve focused on the fruit itself after Satan via the serpent pointed out certain things that began to pique her interest. She found the fruit “delightful” to her eyes. It was already causing a response from her SELF. Eve’s Self then did the heavy lifting by making her rebellion feel palatable. She then ate of the tree and gave to her husband who also ate.

Self is at the very root of why we do the things we do. Those angels who never fell by rebelling against God (1 Timothy 5:21), do not have the capacity to sin, unlike their fallen counterparts. Everything they do, think or say is not governed by their selfish interests. Self in those beings does not exist. Those angels that did fall were guided by the same passions that guided Eve. Their “self” image caused them to break with God to do their own thing.

We see an example of this in Genesis 6 when the “sons of God” saw the “daughters of men” and found a way to procreate with them. The result being a hybrid creature called “Nephilim.” The Book of Enoch fleshes this out more clearly by noting that these particular angels were called “Watchers” and were originally sent to earth to keep an eye on humanity, but certainly not to become attracted to women and then procreate with them. Jude points this out in Jude 1:6, when he says, “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” The apostle Peter also noted the same situation, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4 KJV).

In both of those portions of Scripture, it seems clear that Jude and Peter were referring to a specific group of angels who fell through transgression. Obviously, what they are saying does not apply to all fallen angels because many of them still roam the earth as demons (though some commentators believe demons are the disembodied spirits of the original Nephilim). Only a specific group of angels who feel were captured and sent to hell, are chained so they cannot escape. They must have done something very serious. It also seems clear that if they found a way to procreate with human women, there was a reason for this apart from the fact that they simply found human women to be attractive. It likely has to do with the fact that when Satan heard what the Lord God said to Adam and Eve and also to Satan, about putting enmity between the woman’s seed and Satan’s seed, Satan must have decided that he could do something to counter what God was going to do.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15 ESV)

Satan isn’t stupid. He understood what God was saying to a point, so he attempted to throw a huge monkey wrench into the works to derail what God was promising to accomplish. Segue to Genesis 6 and we see Satan’s plan in action.

There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:4-9 NKJV)

The giants (or Nephilim) came into existence because of the fallen angels and the evil and wickedness throughout the earth became very great. Humanity’s every thought and action was borne of evil, all the time. The LORD looked and said essentially that this was not what He had originally intended so He decided to destroy humanity because humanity had become completely unsalvageable…all except Noah who was “…perfect in his generations.”

Noah being “perfect” here does not mean he was sinless. It likely means he was wholeheartedly devoted to God and his moral fiber had not been sinfully affected. It could also mean that his ancestry had not been corrupted by Nephilim. If you’re visual like me, this video might help flesh out the details and I’m not saying everything about it is 100% correct. I’m simply saying that it provides possibilities as to what may have occurred with the Nephilim and Noah.[1] While the content draws a good deal from the Bible, the producers also rely on the Book of Enoch to fill in the blanks.

So clearly, even though Satan was trying hard to keep God’s promises to Eve and Adam from coming to fruition, he ultimately failed to do so. God never loses. His promises never fail to come to fruition.

In essence, God started over with Noah and his immediate family, eight people. In spite of this new beginning, the same old problem of SELF continued to exist with Noah and his family. We simply cannot escape the fact that we are too often guided by selfish intentions that may at times even seem “noble.”

In the book, The Gospel for Disordered Lives, the authors expose the way Satan works to defeat the believer. In chapter 8 titled, Battling Satan and His Demons, they discuss biblical counseling and how it involves spiritual warfare against evil forces that hate us and who are stronger than the folks counselors counsel. This actually applies to all Christians, whether it is recognized by them or not.

The authors discuss the trifold way the enemy seeks to wreak havoc in our lives and it’s what is mentioned above: the world, the flesh and the devil. They then break things down so that we understand how each area works to create failure within us. They note that both the world and the devil are external to us and attack us from the outside. This can be seen in situations that assail us at home or work or as we simply walk through our daily lives. Both the world and the devil can create temptations that make it difficult for us to ignore. However, these temptations come from outside of us and can only gain a victory if we cooperate. The situation with King David eyeing Bathsheba as she bathed is a case in point. That came from the world/devil. However (and unfortunately), it wasn’t long before David’s internal lust was activated and we can truthfully say that it was his own inner lust that brought him down, not the temptation from without.

The authors also point out that “The flesh refers to that lingering sinful impulse or principle of sin that remains within the believer until death. While the believer has a new, regenerate heart, it remains a not-yet-glorified heart, leaving every true Christian longing for Christ’s final work of perfecting us (1 John 3:1-3).”

After defining the means of Satan’s attacks, as well as how to overcome them, the authors then address determining the difference between demonic attacks and the sin that remains within us. This can be helpful to believers who at times may feel overwhelmed by temptations and frustrated because they have no clue where those temptations are coming from. King David, had he taken the time to focus on his temptation, might have realized where it came from and could have responded differently to it than he did. But sometimes, it simply feels as though an attack is underway that has seemingly come out of the blue with no warning. These can be seriously frustrating because it can tend to make the believer think he/she is going a bit crazy. This is made more difficult by the fact that Satan will often camouflage to us where these attacks originate.

There are also times when it appears to us that the attacks are more prevalently coming from Satan and his demons as opposed to coming directly from within us (the flesh). We cannot forget though that as long as our sin nature with its tendency toward fulfilling SELF remains within us, the world, the flesh and the devil will always have an avenue to gain victory over us.

The authors of “Disordered” reach back to the seventeen-century in quoting English Puritan pastor, Thomas Watson, who offers an explanation in how to distinguish the origin of a temptation.

Motions to evil that come from our hearts spring up more leisurely and by degrees; motions from Satan arise more suddenly. [2]

This actually makes sense to me and Watson further states, “Motions to evil that come from our hearts are not so terrible; motions from Satan are more ghastly and frightful…Motions that come from our hearts are less loathsome; motions from Satan are loathsome to us and we strive against them and flee more quickly from them.”

I’d have to agree with Watson’s sentiment. Often, temptations that arise from within me, due to SELF attempting to assert itself, are, to some degree, much more palatable. It’s easier to embrace them versus running from them. Those that come from outside myself seemingly out of nowhere at times, are easier to notice and my reaction is often to at least want to push them away, though I still might find myself doing what they are trying to dictate because of feeling overwhelmed by them.

In the end, all temptations are bad, but the ones that come from within us (like David’s lust for Bathsheba), are often much easier to embrace. The temptations that come directly from Satan or one his hordes of demons often cause some sense of anger or other negative emotion.

It is absolutely tragic that we continue to live with our sin nature, a nature that cooperates with SELF to derail us from fellowship with God. While it can be helpful to understand where specific temptations come from, the truth is that in all cases, if we do not resist the devil’s attempts to cause failure in our lives (so that he will flee from us (James 4:7), we will end up succumbing to the temptations he throws our way.

[1] https://youtu.be/ZGm6Q_NhXuM

[2] The Gospel for Disordered Lives, page 101

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective