The Enemy: Defeating Satan

Chapter 5: The Enemy's Weaknesses

   The enemy is very strong. He has been very successful maintaining control of his domain. But he is far from invulnerable. We have access to very powerful weapons ourselves. They are the subject of the next chapter. In order to use those weapons to their maximum effectiveness, we need to first understand his weaknesses.

He will lose

The first weakness of the enemy is that he will lose. There is no doubt that Christ will win this war. In fact, Jesus will win it easily. The book of Revelations (Revelations 19:19) paints a vivid picture of the end of the enemy. Satan masses all his forces to face off against the armies of the Lord but the battle never materializes. Instead, Christ alone destroys the enemy with the sword from His mouth.

You might think this is the most importance weakness of the enemy but it is not. It is the least important weakness because our role in this entire affair is not to win the war; it is to win the battles.

If believers do not understand this, if believers rest in the assurance of victory, then the battles are lost. Our overconfidence will rob us of the will to fight. The enemy will turn this weakness into strength by convincing us that there is nothing for us to do – it's already over.

For the truth of the ultimate outcome of the war to remain as a weakness of the enemy, we have to use it in the right way. Allow this truth to encourage you to fight on knowing that the outcome of the battle does not affect the outcome of the war. The responsibility of winning the war does not rest on us so we are free to focus all our energies and our considerable weaponry on the battle at hand. If we fail and lose a battle to the enemy all is not lost. We are in a unique position; one that rarely occurs in warfare. We can afford to lose a battle. Which really means that we are free to do our best even in situations in which we feel that our best is not enough because the final outcome does not depend on us or even our best.

He is not God

The enemy will lose because he is not God. Powerful as the enemy is, he does not have the infinite capacity of God. He is neither omnipresent nor omnipotent. He is not creative, in the sense that God is creative. That is, he cannot make something from nothing. He is crafty but not wise; active but constrained; resourceful but limited. He has dominion but no legitimate authority. He is to be respected but not feared. He can do damage but he cannot destroy what is eternal.

He has none of the qualities of God. He is not eternal since he had a beginning. He is not righteous, truthful, or holy. His word has no power. He is subject to boundaries set by God. Unlike God who never changes, the enemy is constantly changing to fit circumstances. There is nothing about him that is worthy of worship. There is nothing to trust. There is nothing to inspire awe.

If anything, 1 John 4:4 understates the obvious ". . . greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." If I were to rewrite this verse (and I don't presume to have the authority to do so) in order to make the difference clearer, I would say "He that is within you is so much greater in every respect than he that is in the word that there is no basis of comparison."

The enemy will lose because it is impossible for him to win. Not being God, not even being close to being God, means that on every possible measure of victory he comes up far short.

He doesn't understand love

Perhaps the greatest weakness of the enemy is that he doesn't understand the nature and power of love. This weakness is revealed in the third temptation of Christ as recorded in Matthew 4:8-9, "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."