To Hell with the devil

A. W. Tozer raises an interesting thought at the outset of his essay I Talk Back to the Devil: “Why doesn’t the old devil, Satan, give up and bow out of the picture when a person becomes a believing Christian?”

It’s a good question. The Bible underscores the fact that the devil is not stupid, but instead highly intelligent (e.g., Ezek. 28:12-15) and smart entities don’t spend time spinning their wheels on fruitless activities. Satan has to know that believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and adopted into God’s family (Gal. 4:5), and thus eternally safe from him (1 Pet. 1:3-4).   

And yet, Scripture says: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). How do you eat up someone who God protects as His child?

The Bible showcases a few ways this can happen, but lately one has stood out to me more than all the others.

The primary fear of the devil

Author and journalist Randall Sullivan was an atheist most of his life until he had spiritual experiences that rocked him out of that worldview, all of which occurred during his coverage of the Bosnian war in 1995. He chronicles what happened in his latest book, The Devil’s Best Trick in which he describes witnessing an indisputable exorcism and meeting multiple people who attested to the fact that the devil is real.  

“Satan exists”, one woman whose family had been tormented by demonic entities told him. “Evil is inside us, as you believe, but it’s also out there, and believe me, it is very real and very pervasive.”

Such stories can quickly creep a person out and invoke a lot of fear, which is why so many horror movies utilize the devil or demons as their terror source. But that’s not the primary kind of fear the Bible speaks about when it references Satan.

The writer of Hebrews tells us what kind of fright we all have of the devil, even if we’re not aware of it. Referencing Jesus’ incarnation and work on the cross, Hebrew’s author says: “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14–15).

Satan’s primary fear factor, according to Scripture, is holding the power of death, which he uses to shake our world when we think of it. But exactly how are we caged by such fear – why are we afraid to die?

The Greek philosopher Epicurus answers by saying: “What men fear is not that death is annihilation, but that it is not.”

In other words, if atheists are right, and God does not exist, there is nothing to be afraid of when the Grim Reaper knocks on your door with his sickle. Other than being sad about not continuing to exist, death holds no worries about what comes next, because nothing comes next.

But if a holy God does exist — one that will morally call everyone to account — that’s a different story. And being mistaken about that isn’t something to be taken lightly; eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong. And that can be a scary thing to think about. Even for Christians.

It especially hits those who haven’t gotten past the worry that somehow, in some way, we’ll still be called to account for our transgressions before God. Tozer asks: “Are you still afraid of your past sins? God knows that sin is a terrible thing — and the devil knows it too. So, he follows us around, and as long as we will permit it, he will taunt us about our past sins.”

However, the Bible tells us that, as believers, we shouldn’t be shaking in our boots when we think about our past/future sins or if the subject of death comes up. Now redeemed by Christ and in possession of God’s Holy Spirit, “[we] have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”” (Rom. 8:15).

That’s pretty great news. It’s news that can evaporate any fear of death or judgment.  

We’re also told “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). And this comes from knowing that God loves us, because as John says: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18).

So unlike atheists who don’t fear death because they think it’s annihilation, we don’t fear death because “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

All these truths are what allow us to thumb our nose at the devil and any fear of death he tries to throw our way. Our victory in Christ over the enemy is stated this way in King & Country’s song, To Hell with the Devil:

Rise, reach up for the sky
Your wings were made to fly
This is your time to rise, there's fire in your eyes
You're Heaven in disguise
Let this be your battle cry
To Hell with the Devil
To Hell with the Devil

And, of course, we sing that because of what Jesus has done for us. Tozer puts it like this: “There He [Jesus] sits at God’s right hand — a living man, our representative and advocate and great High Priest. Believing this, we ought to be the most fearless, the most relaxed, the happiest and most God-assured people in the whole world!”

Agreed. That being true, to Hell with the devil.