““Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:23, NKJV)
Starting in the teachings of Day 1056 and 1057, we’ve diverted from the master narrative of Elijah, but in the process learnt a lot about the related themes of calling, purpose and mantles. We then took a further detour, following 1 Kings 18:1’s “And it came to pass after many days …”
Once your mantle has been formed, it is incredibly important that you are correctly positioned so that God can manifest his Kingship (Matt. 6:13) through you. One of the ways in which HE can anchor you in your spiritual authority WITHIN HIM is to expose you to your opponent.
In the original language the word for opponent is ‛âr, which, according to Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions means “enemy, adversary, foe”. But the root word for this is‛ûr, which amazingly enough means “to rouse oneself, awake, awaken, incite”! God uses the adversary with the specific purpose of rousing those “that sleep in the dust of the earth” (Dan. 12:2), in other words the dust of carnality (Gen. 3:15; Job 34:15; Ps. 90:3), awakening those who do not yet have the enlightened “eyes of your understanding” (Eph. 1:18): “Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’” (Eph. 5:14). Remember – you can only know, for instance, “what is the hope of His calling” (Eph. 1:18) if your spiritual eyes have been opened.
The term “satan” in Hebrew interestingly enough also means adversary: “to be or act as an adversary, resist, oppose” (BDB). A beautiful example of it being used that way, is in 1 Kings 11:14: “Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom.” In the Hebrew the word for adversary is satan. Take note – God “raised up” this satan or adversary! And realise – this satan is Hadad, a flesh and blood person.
It is only then in this light that one understands the strange event in the gospels of Peter, just after Jesus had given to him the greatest revelation about the Christ (Matt. 16:17-20), where He reprimands a few moments later: “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’” (verse 23).
We know of course that Peter is not Satan (and if he is, we know according to Roman Catholic tradition that he is pointing believers through the wrong eternal gates). Only four translations offer the correct translation of satan:
- “But he turning, said to Peter, Get you thence, adversary, you are an obstacle in my way; for you relish not the things of God, but the things of men.” (Living Oracles New Testament 1835).
- “and he having turned, said to Peter, ‘Get you behind me, adversary! You are a stumbling-block to me, for you do not mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” (RYLTNT-r 1898)
- “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Adversary; you are a hindrance to me, because your thoughts are not God’s thoughts, but men’s.’” (WNT)
- “and he having turned, said to Peter, `Get thee behind me, adversary! thou art a stumbling-block to me, for thou dost not mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” (YLT)
From this follows what is, for me, the most beautiful definition of satan: the person who thinks about the things of people and the flesh, and not about the things of God and the spirit. The thoughts and behaviour of this person is “earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15). Verse 16 says it is generated in a person through “envy and self-seeking”, and brings forth “confusion and every evil thing”.
This immensely important understanding of who satan truly is, explains two of the most seemingly irreconcilable passages in Scripture. In the recording of the history of Israel in the time of king David in the second book of Samuel the following is said:
- “Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” (2 Sam. 24:1).
In the other recorded instance of the same history in the first book of Chronicles it seems as if exactly the opposite is stated:
- “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.” (1 Chr. 21:1).
In more than eighty translations I looked at, the adversary is made a Person (going against the Hebrew tradition by using a capital letter to denote a proper noun) and immediately a mythological dimension is added. Only three translations offer this text faithfully, without the theological foregrounding of “Satan”:
- “An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.” (The NET Bible)
- “Then the accuser stood up, against Israel,—and moved David, to number Israel.” (Rotherham)
- “And there standeth up an adversary against Israel, and persuadeth David to number Israel,” (YLT)
Earlier, in the teaching of Day 488, we pointed out the different names used for the Evil one: satan, devil, etc. All of these are related to the idea of speaking, of accusation. Two beautiful examples from the New Testament where the “devil” manifests through human adversaries, are the following:
- “Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.” (1 Tim. 3:11). The word slanderers is the Greek, diabolos, or “devil”. Translated in literal terms, the verse would read: Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not devils, temperate, faithful in all things.
- In 2 Tim. 3:2-3 Paul speaks of men being “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers (=diabolos = devilish), without self-control, brutal, despisers of good …”
These devils are merely people with a dark, carnal nature. They oppose believers.
- Selah: Have you been the adversary?
- Read: Luke 11; Matt. 11 & 12:22-50.
- Memorise: 11:13.
