The Serpent, Satan – Foundations of a Worldview

The Serpent, Satan
Foundations of a Worldview

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

How did sin become established as a continuing condition of the human soul and the creation of God? The Law of God explains that sin entered through the rebellion of Adam and Eve, which was instigated by Satan, the serpent from of old (Rev. 20:2).

The Law of God presents Satan as a reality, but it does not reveal much about him. He is not even named in the Law; rather, he took the form of a serpent, and this is how the Lord was pleased to refer to him. He makes but one appearance in all the Law of God, but we are to understand that this was enough. By his guile and deceit, he plunged the creation into sin and trouble. It would take a mighty act of God to redeem, not only the people He had chosen for Himself, but the entire vast cosmos which He loves (John 3:16).

We do not learn anything more about Satan until we get beyond the Law of God. He makes three more appearances in the Old Testament, and the prophets describe his origins and fall from grace. All we know from the Law is that he exists in the unseen realm, and he is in some way related to the fallen and sinful condition of men.

But the fact that so little is said about Satan in the Law of God reminds us that the story of humankind is not about Satan and the baleful effects of sin; it is about God and His will and desire for the world to know and enjoy His glory.

How it must have galled Satan to be assigned such a bit part throughout the whole vast compendium of Old Testament revelation! And how it must have reminded him, with each additional book of Scripture, precisely Who is in charge of whom. No wonder, when Christ became incarnate, he who had been “dissed” for so long, went straight to the Son of God, determined to set things “straight.”

Wrong again.

Sin has a “personal face” in the Law of God, but he is kept largely out of sight as God sets the stage for His glorious work of redemption and renewal in the unfolding of His covenant.

Act: We tend to think of Satan and demons in dramatic, terrifying terms. But is this really the way he works? When have you most been aware of the power of the Serpent, alluring you from within his lair in the unseen realm?

The book of Ecclesiastes is a crucial resource for understanding the Biblical worldview against the backdrop of our secular age. Follow T. M.’s studies in Ecclesiastes by downloading the free, weekly studies available in our Scriptorium Resources page at The Fellowship of Ailbe. Click here to see the weekly studies available thus far.

Want to learn ore about the unseen realm? Order a copy of The Landscape of Unseen Things, T. M.’s 24-lesson study of that realm which anchors our Christian worldview.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).