What Does the Devil Know?
Posted by: biblenotes <biblenotes@...>
From: Martin Overfield
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000
What Does the Devil Know?
"Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the
inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
(Revelation 12:12)
Some might be concerned about the knowledge that the Devil and his
cohorts possess. Here are some Biblical observations on the subject.
The Devil is NOT omniscient. Only God knows all things. This means
that the Devil cannot necessarily read our thoughts, though he may be rather
good at making educated guesses. Only God and the individual himself can
really know one's innermost thoughts. All arguments to the contrary not
withstanding.
The Devil has more knowledge than man. He was created on a
higher plain in terms of his natural powers.
Here is a simple comparison (not original with me) of the abilities of
man, of Satan, and of God.
/
|
|
___ |
___ | |
| | |
Man's Satan's God's
Ability Ability Ability
This has been used to illustrate the fact that Satan is but a created
being with greater power than man, but that God, our Creator, has unlimited
power. So may this also represent the limitation of knowledge in created
beings and the unlimited knowledge of our all-knowing Creator.
The Devil knows that he will lose in the end. How else could he know
that he has but a short time than to know that God will some day put him in
his place (the Bottomless Pit, temporarily; and the Lake of Fire,
permanently)?
There are some things that God keeps secret from the Devil:
He does NOT know WHEN the Rapture will take place, because not even the
holy angels of God know that, much less the fallen angels.
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but
my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
He apparently did not fully realize that Christ's death on the cross
(coupled with Christ's resurrection) would be the greatest possible victory
for the human race, which the Devil desires to utterly destroy. "But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this
world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory." (1 Corinthians 2:7, 8)
"The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them
his covenant." (Psalm 25:14). There are some things the Devil will never be
able to comprehend. I mean that some of the very things with which the
children of God may be so thoroughly acquainted are things that may only be
experienced and known within the family of God. Thus I conclude that Satan
CANNOT fully understand the joy, peace, love, and gratitude of the redeemed.
Nor could he know the peculiar privilege of mankind to bear the basic
likeness of God, though now marred by the Fall. How much greater is the gap
between his understanding and the actual experience of one soul who has had
the spiritual restoration of God's image! Oh, just think how foreign to the
Devil's fallen existence of thousands of years is the reality of a soul made
white in the blood of the Lamb and sanctified wholly! When the heart is
made holy through and through, the child of God can say with Christ, "The
prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14:30)
What does the Devil know? He knows quite a bit; but we may rejoice that
he knows he is a defeated foe. We may also revel in the thought that WE may
have the "knowledge of the holy" because of the blessed atonement, and that
we have One on our side Who is able and faithful to reveal to us all we need
to know to land us safely on the shore of His everlasting kingdom.
Yours In Christ,
Martin Overfield
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