names: The Great Dragon indicates his cruelty; the Old Serpent
The Tempter and the Tempted∗
One—The Origin and Kingdom of the Tempter
The Tempter is a created being who was fashioned with beauty and wisdom, perfect and powerful. Due to his desire to be equal with God, he sinned and fell: "thou saidst in thy heart, I . . ." (Is. 14.12-14). Having lifted up his "I," he was cast out of the paradise of God, and the Scriptures tell us of his ultimate destiny: "yet thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit" (v.15). Some of his followers were "cast . . . down to hell, and committed . . . to pits of darkness" (2 Peter 2.4). Since this Tempter fell through the sin of aspiring to be equal with God, he tempts people with the same ambition of being equal with God— which serves as his bait (Gen. 3.5-7). Let us therefore be watchful "lest being puffed up [we] fall into the condemnation of the devil" (1 Tim. 3.6). We Christians ought to take Christ as our personality, which means we exercise our will to join with Christ. If we still let the old man be "I," we will be divided from Christ. The more we are in Christ the more we must understand things about the Tempter. And hence, the reason for this study.
1. His names. According to Revelation 12.9, he has four different names: The Great Dragon indicates his cruelty; the Old Serpent discloses his deception; the Devil speaks of his temptation; and Satan tells of his hatred. "The god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4.4 refers to his being the head of the religions of the world. "The prince of the world" in John 14.30 alludes to his being the chief of world politics. "The prince of the powers of the air" in Ephesians 2.2 adverts to his being the king of evil powers. Revelation 12.10 says he is "the
∗This article was prepared by the author and published in Spiritual Guide in 1927.—
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