Satan Was Arrested... But He's Out On Bail!!

By John Stallings


It was sometime in the evening, maybe six p.m, & hot as blazes. A wild Friday night booze party was in full swing.

This was a “knock down drag out” affair, the kind that lasts all night. There’s loud music, & plenty of liquor. Off color jokes were being told, & raucous laughter echoed down the halls.

The host of the affair rises to speak now & then & his words are received with cheers by the teeming, screaming group. He carries himself with confidence & to look at him you’d never think he ever had a moment of self-doubt.

Why the celebration? Good question! Everyone had heard the news; the news that set this party off. There is much to be happy about, that is if the news is true. They aren’t sure just yet. If the word coming in is correct, then the host has pulled off his greatest coup. This will be one for the books.

After all, this “transaction” had been hard- fought to be sure. For awhile it seemed as if it might not happen but it did. The host, -- let’s use a Mafia term here; the host was a “made man.” He now knows the victory is his.

All Friday night into Saturday morning the gaiety is in full swing. You’d have expected the crowd to thin out a little bit but it has actually grown larger & louder. If anyone left the party you couldn’t tell it because someone else was there to take their place.

The host was sticking around to party it up with the crowd. His magnetic personality assured him the loyalty of this group. All day Saturday the party goers stay with it, partially drunk on booze & partially drunk with power because of what their leader has accomplished. By Saturday night people from all around the area had gathered to join in the merry-making, making it an even happier celebration. In the dark corners, unbelievably wild behavior was taking place.

Then it happened. The music stopped. The precise moment isn’t known but in the early hours of Sunday morning, a messenger/courier arrived with news. He walked up to the host, bent over & whispered something in his ear. You could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet. What was happening? The host seemed to grow faint but quickly recovered & ordered some of his top aides to check the story out. Within minutes it was confirmed. The worst fears of the host had become reality.

I don’t believe I mentioned that this party was going on in hell & the host was Satan. Due to this latest bulletin the party that started on Good Friday was called to a halt on Easter morning.

What Satan thought was going to be his greatest victory had been turned into a defeat. The reason for this wild party was Christ’s death on the cross on Friday. The reason the party ended so abruptly was the news that Jesus had risen from the grave on Sunday morning & was now alive. How could this have happened? Exactly how will this news affect Satan? The question I’d like to answer is this;

WHAT WOULD THIS NEWS MEAN TO SATAN?

I’d like to suggest five answers to that question.

1. Satan’s head is crushed.

In Genesis 3:15 God had told Satan;-I will put enmity between you & the woman & between your offspring & hers; He will crush your head & you will strike His heel. These words actually constitute the first gospel sermon & it was preached in The Garden of Eden, by God to the devil. We see by this that our God wasn’t non-plussed by man’s failure, as always He had a plan.

Although you may not see it at first, Christ is in this verse because He’s the ultimate Seed of the Woman of whom God spoke who would one day crush the ugly serpent’s head. Although Satan delivered a terrible blow to Jesus on Good Friday, all he really did was strike Jesus on the heel. Painful as it was, it was nothing compared to what Jesus did to Satan on the cross.

2. At Calvary, Jesus destroyed the works of Satan.-1 John 3:8

The word destroy here doesn’t mean to annihilate, but to “render powerless.” Like a large machine that runs on electricity is useless without power, when Jesus died He “pulled the plug” on Satan. Perhaps we might see Satan as possessing great power but in truth he can do nothing without God’s permission. The day will come when Satan’s utter impotence will be revealed to the universe & those who followed him will discover they were following a toothless lion.

3. When Christ died on the cross Satan’s power was broken forever.

Hebrews 2:14 says;…that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Of all the fears man has, the greatest one is death. In a church I pastored, we were having more funerals among the membership than I’d ever seen in one place. I started to think the whole church was going to die. Toward the end of this seemingly endless string of deaths, I conducted the funeral of a precious woman who’d been in the church along with her family for decades. After the service while we waited for everyone to pay their last respects to this dear lady a young man came up & stood beside me. He was visibly shaken, probably because most of the folk who’d passed away were his kinfolk. He leaned toward me & whispered two words in my ear; -- “Death Stinks.” This young man had managed to succinctly sum death up as honestly as I’d ever heard it described.

Because of Adam’s sin, death entered the human family but after Christ’s death on the cross, we have His promise-if you believe in me you’ll never die.

4. At his death Jesus set Satan’s prisoners free.

The death of Christ brought some startling changes in the spirit world, some of which remain a mystery. We don’t have a complete understanding of it all yet, but we do know enough to know something monumental happened “behind the scenes” as a result of Christ’s death.

Many theologians believe that Christ, between His crucifixion & resurrection went into the regions of darkness & proclaimed His victory over the devil & his demons. 1 Peter 3:18-21.

There are differences of opinion here. As I often say, ---we see through a glass darkly. These of course are the words of Paul. I would reject any teaching that suggests that there’s some kind of post-death salvation offered to people in hell. The following passages make it clear that isn’t the case. - 2 Corinthians 6:1-2/Hebrews 9:27. There’s nothing in the Bible that offers a single ray of hope to a person who dies outside of Christ. However, there’s one thing we can be sure of, the death of Christ shook-up the spirit realm if not the whole of the universe.

5. When Christ died demons were disarmed.

Colossians 2:15 declares—Having disarmed the powers & authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

To disarm someone means to take from them the means by which they might hurt you. If a man has a gun pointed at you he’s not disarmed until you take the gun away from him. As long as he has the gun you’re in trouble. When Jesus died on the cross He took the guns & ammo out of the hands of the demons and He publicly humiliated them. Picture an army returning home having beaten an enemy & behind the returning soldiers march a long line of weary, dirty, emaciated men, prisoners with their hands tied being displayed as proof of the victor’s supremacy.

Again, when Jesus died, something stupendous happened in the spirit realm. Although it was invisible to the naked eye, it was seen by all the angels & the Old Testament saints. They watched as Jesus like a conquering Old West hero, entered the infernal regions & disarmed the “bad guys” one by one. Then He marched them in full view of His heavenly Father so that every created being would know the He had defeated hell & all its denizens.

This means that although demons have power, they have been disarmed & can’t hurt us. If we will use the “shield of faith” provided for us, every fiery dart can be quenched. The one exception to that is if you & I dabble with evil & play with sin. If we do that it’s like handing the devil a loaded gun & saying, “Go ahead & shoot me.” He’ll always be glad to oblige us.

Paul tells us to be on guard or Satan would take advantage of us. 2 Cor.2:11—One of the keys Paul gave to being victorious over Satan is not to be ignorant of his tricks & devices. Informed Christians however, full of the Word of God & The Holy Spirit & exercising vigilance & sobriety need not be in a position to be caught off guard.

In Revelation 20:10 we learn of Satan’s final end when he’s thrown into the lake of burning sulfur & tormented day & night for ever & ever.

THERE IS ONE BIG QUESTION LEFT UNANSWERED!

If Christ defeated Satan, & He did, why is there so much evil in the world? Like Hal Lindsay said in his excellent book, “Satan is alive & well on planet earth.” The devil seems to be having a field day & he certainly doesn’t seem to be defeated does he? How else can you explain a woman killing her own children? How can you explain a human being, being dragged to death behind a truck? How do you explain evil in the White House, Satanism on the rise, & porn flowing like a filthy river in the streets of America?

SATAN IS OUT ON BAIL

When we are told on the one hand that Satan is defeated, and then on the other hand we’re told to be vigilant because the devil goes about as a roaring lion, is this not a contradiction? The answer is no!! In legal terms what happened at the cross found Satan guilty & he was sentenced to ultimate eternal destruction. However the sentence hasn’t been executed yet, although there’s no way for Satan to escape.

Satan is currently out on bail, wreaking havoc left & right waiting for the day he’ll be cast into the Lake of Fire once & for all. Until then he’ll be doing what he does best, destroying lives, breaking up homes & disrupting God’s work where & when he can. He is angry because he knows his time is short.

Another way we could put it is; - The cross was D-Day in World War 11. Once the Allies landed at Normandy the defeat of Germany was certain. Much fighting would ensue & many soldiers would die, but the Allies won the war on December 6, 1944. Satan’s D- Day happened when Christ died on the cross. Since then his defeat has been a “done deal,” his ultimate surrender guaranteed. Meanwhile he fights on in his desperate battle, a defeated but still dangerous foe.

DEFEATED BUT STILL DANGEROUS, HOW SHOULD WE DEAL WITH SATAN?

First of all, we should make sure we don’t confuse “dealing with the devil” with “making deals with the devil.” We should also keep in mind that Satan isn’t “Omni anything.”

He isn’t omnipresent—Job 1:17---1 Peter 5:8
He isn’t omnipotent—or all powerful—Rev. 12:7
He isn’t omniscient—He doesn’t know everything—Job 1—1 John4:4

We should also remember the fact that Satan only has so many demons to use & they can’t multiply. He has imposed limits.-Luke 22:31

Here’s a short list of some of the powers Satan has;

Disappointment
Discouragement
Despair
Doubt
Disbelief
Distraction
Double mindedness
Dishonesty
Deceit
Dullness
Delay
Discord
Defilement
Defame &
Disobedience

Here are some of his titles or descriptions;

The evil or wicked one
The tempter
The Prince of this world
The god of this age
Prince of the power of this world
Accuser of the brethren
Prince of the demons
Deceiver of the whole world
Adversary
Enemy
Father of lies
Murderer
Serpent
Dragon
Leviathan
Angel of light
A roaring lion

Here’s the scriptural plan to defeat Satan;

1.Expect satanic evil

Peter tells us; -Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though some strange thing were happening to you.—1 Peter 4:12

Satan’s on a leash its true, but it’s a very long leash so always be on guard.

2.Stand & fight

Ephesians 6:11-17 tells us; --finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord & in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against & blood but against principalities, against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wicked in heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day & having done all, to stand.


3.Resist the devil & he will flee from you. James 4:7

Isn’t that interesting? All we have to do is resist & Satan will leave. Now this should give us some idea as to just how brave Satan really is. If a lady was walking to her car & a man came up & demanded her purse & car keys, & the lady said, “NO! You aren’t getting my purse,” do you think even the most cowardly crook would say, “O.K. That’s fine, then turn around & run?

No way! Even the most cravenly crook would press the issue since he’d already put himself at risk. If no one was around to see it, you can believe the crook would probably get that purse. But with Satan, according to the Bible, & I might add, according to our personal experience, all we have to do to get old split-foot to turn tail & run is to resist him. Satan has nothing that will work against us if we have our armor on & resist him in Jesus’ name.

I love the story the late Lester Sumrall used to tell about being in Panama City, Panama preaching. One night a demon entered his room & as he came in the room shook violently. Sumrall was sitting on his cot, leaning up against the wall reading his Bible. The room shook so hard that the cot he was sitting on moved out into the middle of the room with him on it. Sumrall didn’t flinch, but just stood up & rebuked the evil spirit & commanded him to leave. He could feel the evil spirit making his departure, going out the same window he came in. But Brother Sumrall looked at his cot out in the middle of the room & rushed to the window & shouted, “ hey devil, come back here.” He could feel the demon entering the room again & Sumrall said, “Devil if I’m not mistaken, when you came in awhile ago, my cot was up against the wall. Devil, you put it back like it was.” He stood & watched as the cot slowly moved back up against the wall.

It’s high time we Christians quit allowing Satan to come into our lives & disrupt them when all we have to do is take authority over him in Jesus name.

4. Hate evil

Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good.—Romans 12:9.

Let me share with you a method we used when rearing our children. If music which we didn’t approve of was played either on the radio or T.V, or if something would pop up on a T.V program or in a movie, right on the spot we’d express our disapproval of it in the hearing of the kids.

You might say—“Well you shouldn’t have been in a position for that to assault your ear & eye gate,” & you’d be right. However how realistic is it for us who aren’t Amish to be totally insulated from things of which we don’t approve? I’m just saying—when you’ve done your best to shelter your progeny from the evils of the world & something slips through, make it a teaching moment & right then & there speak out loudly & clearly about how obnoxious the thing is & counter it with your standards & beliefs. Let it be well known that you “abhor evil.”

If we just remain silent, too often “silence means consent” & our kids could be confused as to what their parents truly believe. As a father I’ve seen times when right in the middle of an otherwise wholesome variety program, up would pop a group of half-adorned leggy dancers. I’m not a prude nor am I naive, but certainly half-dressed women doing a “leg-show” don’t meet my standards, so if I didn’t pull the plug completely, I’d certainly switch channels, & maybe check back later. I’m sure you understand the problem there. But maybe you had or have a better plan than we had, if so I applaud you.

5.Use the weapon of prayer.

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing that the weight of the sin of the world would soon be on His shoulders. He prayed with such agony that actual blood popped out of His skin. So great was His abhorrence of sin that He even asked God to take the cup from Him. Finally He prayed,-Not my will but thine be done.

Jesus won the victory because He poured out His soul to God. Let us not think that our battles will be won any other way. If the Son of God must agonize in prayer, how much more must we cry out to God?

6. Renounce & expose the devil & confess Jesus Christ openly.-

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.-Matt.6:13

Jesus made it clear that if we’ll confess Him before men, He’ll acknowledge us before the Father in heaven, & if we deny Him He’ll deny us before the Father. Matt. 10:32-33

7. Overcome evil with good.-Romans 12:21

In these days when Christianity is being pushed back into the shadows & people are in many instances ashamed to speak the name of Jesus, you & I as Christians should be bold in our proclamations that Jesus is still the Door of heaven.

Remember this. The Captain of our Salvation has already won the battle.
Satan can harass you but he can’t destroy you.

Satan is out on bail but his fate is sealed & his doom is sure. Jesus has defeated him at the cross.

Listen to the words of Jesus;

The thief comes to steal kill & destroy; I have come that they might have life, & have it more abundantly.. John 10:10

Blessings,

John