Ephesians Part 97

INTRO: We have looked now at the crucial verse related to our enemy, Satan, and his fellow demons. We were given two ranks of angels, which indicate, as I see it, that there are more ranks. The devil was not listed and he is the first in order. Then his principalities or chief rulers, and then the authorities. These indicate to me that they have authority over other lesser demons. And there may be more ranks.

But second, we saw their character. Satan's character is well described by the names that are given to him. In the NT we have these: There is first, the name Devil, which means slanderer. We could give a message on each of these names. The name Satan means he is an adversary. He is the adversary of God, good angels and Christians. He is called the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4; the prince of this world (Jn. 12:31) the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2); the ruler of darkness (Eph. 6:12); the great red dragon, (Rev. 12:7); the deceiver (Rev. 20:10); Apollyon, which means the destroyer (Rev. 9:11); Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Matt. 12:24); Beliel, vileness or ruthlessness (2 Cor. 6:15); the wicked one (Matt. 13:38); the tempter (1 Thess. 3:5); the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10); an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14); a liar (John 8:44); a murderer (John 8:44); the enemy (Matt. 13:39); a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8). He is evil, heaped on evil. He is ruthless and merciless, and will do all he can to destroy the Christian, and yet many professing Christians live like he does not even exist