Is the Roaring Lion Chained or Free?

(1Peter 5:8) “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

It is one thing to understand grace by faith as that is a free gift of God; all those called and predestined to be conformed into the image of God’s own Son would understand the free gift of salvation, all would have eyes in which they are now able to see heaven. It may still be rather obscured as if one looked through glass, but nevertheless heaven is visible to all of God’s children. Their spiritual journey has begun; they have all been born again! All who now name Jesus Christ as Lord must flea idolatry? Our understanding and perceptions to life and our drives must begin to take on a different shape. We must no longer store up treasures on earth where moth and rust will destroy, but we must now look to store up perpetual treasures that will last throughout eternity. We need, I need to be constantly reminded about this truth, we do have an enemy that goes around like a roaring lion seeking whoever he may to devour. He is not bound as some suggest; he is very much alive and active and will continue to trip up believers where and when the opportunity presents itself. I agree that far too often we want to blame the devil for our own lusts and weaknesses, when we are drawn away by our own desires. However, he is still very active; yes he was defeated on Calvary, but he still receives permission from God the Father and in fact, it was never to the exclusion of consent that he was afforded the privilege of doing what he wanted whenever he wanted. Even prior to Christ coming to earth and dying on that cruel Roman cross and defeating Satan and all the bulls of Bashan, he still needed permission to inflict God’s chosen. “Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? “Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”

(Job 1:9-12)

It is very clear that Satan needed permission to come against Job. It is also very clear that Satan needs permission to come against all of God’s children. He does not have free reign, he never did have! But the Apostle Paul gives us endless warnings about this life and the warfare we are and should be involved with. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

I would love to know how something that is chained is able to wrestle with us (God’s children). There are some astute scholars that believe that Satan is already chained. I do not for one minute believe this to be true. Like I said he has been restricted to God’s ruling authority, but is very much alive and moving up and down the earth like Peter also teaches; “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8) This is written in the present tense and it was penned after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, in other words after Christ’s victory on Calvary.

Why do I emphasis this point so strongly, I see so many of us and even many of my dear friends and brothers in Christ who are being hindered in their growth inexplicitly because of this ongoing struggle, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” It is as if we have taken a stance against an enemy in battle that is armed to the hilt with modern weaponry and we naively pretend that they do not exist.

To suggest that Satan is already bound, I cannot concur! “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.”(Revelation 20:1-3)

Nation = “ethnos” the Greek word means gentile, heathen nation or people. This does speak of the victory of Christ over Satan on the cross. Neither the strength of the dragon, nor the subtlety of the serpent, was sufficient to rescue him out of the hands of Christ. Yet Satan still broke out of his prison, by permission so that when we as Christians have victory in our lives, through the testing of the devil, and come through on the other side as victors, then God is Glorified. Job lost all, but in the end God was glorified and Satan proved once again to be a liar before all the angels in heaven. This was Satan’s objective, “stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." He never did! This was Job’s response, “Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9-10)

Let us not be fooled, this warfare is real; we need the whole armour of God, why would amour be needed if we (children of God) weren’t dodging flaming arrows? Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1John 4:4)

So where is Satan, chained in the bottomless pit or in the world? You decided!

Signing off

Tyrone