SATAN IS LIMITED

Satan wants us to believe that he has been given unlimited power in the world, but he is a liar. Satan is not a free agent. God has not turned this world over to him to do whatever he desires to do.

God is in control, not Satan. God has a Master Plan that consummates in the establishment of a new heaven and a new earth where all things are brought together in one under Christ (Ephesians 1:10). Within God’s plan and purpose for man, He has given Satan limited power and a limited amount of time to work.

Satan is not omnipresent. He cannot be in more than one place at a time. He is not all knowing. He does not know the thoughts and intents of our hearts. However, he does have the ability to attack our minds, as he did Ananias (Acts 5:1-3) and Judas Iscariot (John 13:27).

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he did not do it without God’s knowledge. It was not a chance meeting. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. God allowed Jesus to be tempted in all points as we are so that we would have a faithful High Priest Who is touched by the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15).

Satan did not have the power to take Jesus’ life from Him because before the earth was created, God planned to give His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. God allowed Satan, working through men, to crucify Jesus. Satan was not in control. God allowed them to work at that particular time, knowing that Jesus would rise from the dead, break the power of sin and death, and return to Heaven just as He had planned.

When the Jewish leaders and soldiers came to arrest Him, Jesus told them,

“When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53).

This was the hour God permitted Satan to work through these men to bring Jesus to this point of suffering and death. It was not because Jesus was not powerful enough to prevent this from happening.

Jesus told them,

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:53-54).

At Jesus’ trial, when He refused to answer Pilate’s questions, Pilate asked Him,

“Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:10-11, NIV).

Satan’s power is limited. He has been given certain boundaries by God and he cannot go beyond these boundaries. Satan is working upon this earth today, but God has placed limits upon him concerning his attacks on believers.