Hi Mike,

I’m curious to know your answer to the following question, “how does the Sovereign God make Satan do that which he is predicted to do?”  For example:

Rev 20:7 When the thousand years are complete, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to assemble them for battle.

I`ve often thought, if Satan really wanted to defeat God and was capable of doing so, Satan would simply NOT do what God predicts he will do.  Then God is not God, not omniscient, but weak and no better than a created being who makes predictions that don`t always come true.  Nobody, including myself, would be inspired to obey a God like that, and Satan would win.  So, to defeat God is simple.  Satan should simply leave planet earth when he is released from his thousand-year prison and NOT incite another rebellion as he is predicted to do.  On the one hand, I understand Satan has no more free will than any human, but I am curious if you have any scriptural proof to explain how God manipulates the mind of a being like Satan to do exactly what God predicts he will do.

Obviously, Satan understands some of what the scriptures say, as he was familiar enough with scripture to tempt Jesus with it in the wilderness.  But perhaps Satan does not understand it well enough to NOT play into God`s hands?  Perhaps this is a partial explanation, but then simple predictions like Revelation 20:7 are so simple and plain, even a child can plainly understand God plainly predicts Satan will incite another rebellion after a thousand years.  Again, why does not Satan simply leave planet earth after the thousand years and go to the Andromeda galaxy and destroy some planets there if he is really pissed at God?  Then he would defeat God, because if even ONE of God`s plain predictions do NOT come true, then God is not God, and not worthy of worship or obedience and Satan wins.

So I am simply curious on your scriptural take on this question.  I speculate that there are at least two possible answers to this enigma. Possibility one: Satan understands he is predicted to incite rebellion after a thousand years and understands he should simply NOT do this to defeat God, but God’s sovereignly causes Satan to hate Him so passionately that Satan simply cannot prevent himself from doing exactly as God predicts.  Possibility two: God manipulates Satan`s mind to simply forget what he is predicted to do, so he simply acts according to his nature at the time and does what God predicts.  For example, we see this principle of the Sovereign God in operation with Peter.  Jesus predicts Peter will deny Him three times, and Peter swears he will not do it (as perhaps Satan may desire to NOT do as God predicts), but when the time came, the Sovereign God simply prevented Peter from remembering Jesus` prediction until it was too late, and Peter fulfilled Jesus` words.  I am sure God can do the same to Satan.  The devil may try real hard to remember to NOT incite rebellion after a thousand years, but he will not be able to do it.

Satan is a mere puppet like all of us.  I think I can grasp the depth of the sovereignty of God to understand this is the most likely explanation, but I am curious if you agree this is how God will cause Satan to fulfill scripture.

Thanks for your time,

D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for your question regarding Satan not rebelling against God.

There is only one reason why Satan does not defy God, and that is Satan is nothing more or less than a tool in God’s hand, which He created for the express purpose of doing God’s bidding, and God’s bidding for Satan is to serve as God’s adversary. So Satan’s ability to quote scripture does not indicate that Satan understands or believes what is right there before His eyes.

Satan was created to be a destroyer, so he cannot be anything but a destroyer and an adversary:

Isa 54:16  Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 
Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

There is your answer as to why Satan does not rebel against a sovereign God. Satan’s very thoughts are controlled by His creator just as our thoughts are “of the Lord”, whether those thoughts are good or evil. Satan has no more ability to read the scriptures and then do the opposite that mankind does.

I have shown so many people this verse of scripture, and they still deny what it clearly tells us:

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

God uses Satan, and Satan is not capable of rebelling against God without having been commissioned to do so by God, and this is the only reason why that is so:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 

That verse has been right there in the scriptures for more than two millennia, and no one sees or believes it simply because God has blinded them so they cannot see what is right there before their very eyes. Christ told those who wanted Him dead that the reason they could not believe Him was “you cannot hear My words”:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 

When Christ tells us He is working “all things after the counsel of His own will”, that certainly includes all things He does through the waster whom He created to destroy. If He can cause mankind to read but not see or perceive, He is quite capable of doing the same with Satan.

If Satan were capable of rebelling against God and becoming a loose cannon in the universe, then we would have a weak God who is not the least bit sovereign.

I hope this gives you the same comfort it gives me. I am much more comforted believing that God really is working all things, even the works of the adversary, after the counsel of His own will.

Mike