By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Religion, Samford University
Satan
Revelation 12:7–12
In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul instructs his readers: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). Paul’s words to the Corinthians are set in the midst of a long discourse on certain spiritual gifts. The Corinthians, always eager to seem intellectually superior, were fixated on the gifts they thought could give them deeper insight and revelation into the mysteries of the Divine. Paul charged the Corinthians to pursue instead those gifts that helped and served others, reminding them that even the most spiritually perceptive among us only sees “through a glass, darkly.” Some mysteries we will only understand fully when we see our Creator face to face.
The spiritual realm certainly falls into this mysterious and difficult category. As we read the Scriptures, it becomes evident that the biblical authors were encountering territory they could only see in part. Consider, for example, the way the Bible describes angels. They appear at times merely as humans, at other times in more menacing form, carrying swords as they guard Eden, confront Balaam or rally Joshua. Still others take much stranger forms: The seraphs in Isaiah 6 have two wings to cover their faces, two to cover their feet and two to fly. The creatures in Ezekiel 1 have four wings, feet like calves and the faces of man, lion, ox and eagle. Given these widely varying descriptions, it is difficult to know just how we should describe angels at all.
The same can be said for the malignant forces the Bible describes. In the Old Testament, Satan hardly appears at all. Job 1–2, 1 Chronicles 21:1 and Zechariah 3:1–2 are the only places in all of the Hebrew Bible where the name “Satan” is found. Most often when the Old Testament describes the malevolent forces opposed to God, it identifies them with the chaotic waters of the sea. They are the chaotic waters God controls at creation (Gen. 1), the waters He battles in the Psalms (Pss. 74, 89), Job (7:12; 9:8; 26:12) and in the prophets (Isa. 51).
Satan seeks to deceive us. (7–9)
In the New Testament, the chaotic waters still appear from time to time. More commonly though the malevolent forces that stand in opposition to God are centered in the figure Satan. Satan is described as the one who tempts and deceives God’s people in an effort to separate them from God. One passage in particular encourages believers that they have no need to fear Satan’s assaults (Rev. 12:7–12).
In the highly symbolic language so typical of Revelation, Satan is described as a dragon whom the archangel Michael must fight. It is a description that connects Satan with the language of sea and dragon from those Old Testament passages noted above.
Satan seeks to accuse us. (10)
Verse 10 draws attention to the chief assault Satan is said to launch against God’s people: He is “the accuser of our comrades,” the one who “accuses them day and night before our God.” This is the role attributed to Satan as early as Zechariah as he accuses the high priest of being unfit for office.
Satan is relentless — but he is defeated. (11–12)
What is most important in this passage is not the supposed power of Satan and the accusations he brings against God’s people. What is most important is that he stands conquered by God, by the blood of the Lamb and by the testimony of believers who stay faithful even in the face of death. The author of Revelation reminds us that though the forces of evil remain a powerful part of our world, through His Son, God has defeated those forces once and for all.
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