In the Ultimate Battle Between Good and Evil, the Winner Is Clear
For the first part of my life I assumed God and Satan were equal yet opposite forces.
I picked up this inaccurate image from culture, starting with the old cartoons of the devil sitting on one shoulder whispering bad advice into a person’s ear, with God sitting on the other shoulder whispering good.
In my memory (which may be faulty), the cartoon character, after vacillating between conflicting instructions, followed the more appealing temptation of the devil. With a smile, the cartoon character went down the evil path and did wrong.
Yes, there were consequences, but what stuck with me was this conflict between good and evil, God and the devil on equal footing, with Satan too often prevailing.
Discover What Satan Can and Can’t Do
This, of course, is wrong. Satan is not an equal to God. The devil is less than God, much less.
First, Satan is an angel, albeit a fallen one. God created angels, just as he created you and me. The creator has power over his creation. This confirms that God has power over his angels, including fallen angels.
Yes, the devil, also known as Lucifer, may have been a higher angel, an Archangel like Michael, but this is speculation. Regardless of Satan’s original angel status, he has limits. God doesn’t.
God is present everywhere. He is omnipresent. Satan is not. He can only be in one place at a time.
God knows all things. He is omniscient. Satan is not. His knowledge of the future has limits.
God is all-powerful. He is omnipotent. Satan is not. True, the devil does have angelic power, but his power isn’t all-encompassing. There are things he can do and things he can’t do.
He’s limited. We must remember that.
God Will Prevail for All Eternity
If we’re on God’s side, we’re on the winning side. If we follow Satan and obey him, we’ll find ourselves on the losing side. And we will lose for all eternity.
Some people quake in fear at the power of the devil, but they would do better to quake at the all-powerful God who created him.
In the end, the final score will be God 1, Satan 0.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.
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