Resisting the Devil

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”  1 Peter 5:8-9

The devil is far more powerful and intelligent (as well as subtle and seductive in his malignant purposes) than any combination of human enemies we could ever face, and we would be utterly unable to defeat him with our own human resources. Yet God’s Word makes it plain that we are neither to yield to him nor flee from him. Instead, the admonition is: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

But how can we resist such a mighty foe? As in our text, we must constantly maintain sobriety and vigilance against his enticements, careful to remain “firm in your faith.” Otherwise, the pseudo-intellectualism and social peer pressure to which we are subjected daily could quickly persuade us to compromise the faith, or even to depart from the faith.

We are commanded not to yield and not to compromise. Instead we must “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:16-17).

This mighty sword with which we can make Satan flee from us, is literally “the saying of God” - that is, an appropriate individual word from the complete Word of God. This was the instrument with which the Lord Jesus Himself resisted the devil, parrying each temptation with an incisive thrust of Scripture. The result then - as it will be now with us also - was that the devil “left Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).