Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.
Have you ever wondered what the devil looks like? Maybe you are thinking, “Do I know what he looks like? He lives two doors down from me!” or “I work with him every day!” When it actually comes to the devil, there is a difference between who the devil really is and how he passes himself off to you and to me. As to his essence, the devil is called a dragon in Revelation 12:3. There is a story here about a woman, her man child, and a dragon. There is a message here, but what I want to focus on is one of the players, the devil. In his essence he is a dragon. He is powerful enemy, and he is after us.
What is the result of the devil in his essence? The answer is war. Verse 7 says, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.” All the unhappiness and conflict in the world is caused by sin, and the devil is an advocate of sin and rebellion against God.
As to the devil’s method, this is what I want you to see. Verse 9 says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” So, this dragon in his essence is fearsome, but as to his method, he is a deceiver.
He is also an accuser. In verse 10 it says, “For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” He uses things that are totally appealing and likeable to us to entice us to rebel against God. He is a deceiver and he is an accuser. He accuses me to God. He says to God, “You see Wil Rice? He says he belongs to You, but look at what he has done, said, and thought!”
Then the devil accuses God to me. He says, “You think God is good? Well, look what He has done and allowed!” That is why there are so many cantankerous atheists. I do believe there are people who do not believe in God, but for the most part I think that if you see an angry atheist it is because he does believe in God and doesn’t like what he sees. He feels like God has let him down in some way. He can’t reconcile what we claim to be good with what he believes God to be. Incidentally, how you even define “good” without some absolute standard against which to judge? So the devil accuses me to God and he accuses God to me. He is a deceiver and an accuser.
Here is the kicker: you can’t beat the devil, but the devil can’t beat God. Verse 17 says, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed.” The devil hates the nation through whom God sent His begotten Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah. And the devil hates people in general, certainly people who know and love God, because he “knoweth that he hath but a short time.” So, you can’t beat the devil, but the devil can’t beat God. The Bible says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”
The bottom line is that the devil is not your friend. God will not desert you, and you can be an overcomer when you trust in God, obey God, and flee the devil.