There are many false views concerning the abilities of Satan. The Christian soldier must know the enemy. Satan’s limitations, which will now concern us, must not be overlooked. He was never in the “form of God.” He never possessed the attributes of deity. To assume equality with God was “robbery” for him. Many believe that Satan possesses similar attributes to our Lord Jesus Christ; he does not.
Satan is not omnipresent: It is popularly supposed that Satan is capable at one and the same moment of directing an assault in America, of hurling his fiery darts with his own hand in all parts of Europe, of personally maintaining his kingdom in Asia, Africa, and the islands of the sea. Many believers assume that they themselves are the object of the direct personal assault of the one arch-enemy of mankind.
Scripture does not teach this. When Satan was tempting our Lord, he was nowhere else; and when he “left Him for a season,” he did not remain with Him at all.
It is true that there are hosts of evil ones; subordinate powers that do his bidding, but that is not omnipresence. It is true that Satan and his hosts have vast powers of communication; but that is not omnipresence. Satan does not possess this divine attribute, and thus is limited in his warfare with the Church.
Satan is not omniscient: The words of Psalm 139:4—“There is not a thought in my heart but behold, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether”—could not be used in regard to him. Superhuman skill has he to discover motives and detect the line of man’s thoughts; but we are forbidden by Scripture from attributing to him that power that alone belongs to “the Word” of discerning “the thoughts and intents of the heart.” That is again God’s sole prerogative. Again, Satan is limited in this way in his assaults on believers.
Satan is unable to foretell the future: This also is an attribute of the Creator rather than any created being, as Isaiah clearly proves: Show the things that are to come hereafter; that we may know that you are gods (Isa. 41:23).
How is it then, that so-called spirit mediums seem to be able to foretell the future? Satan and his demons do have superhuman subtlety, supernatural skill and intelligence which transcends our human powers.
The foretelling of future events by mediums is very often utterly false. But what of those future events that do come to pass? May these be the result of the supernatural ordering of events by Satan himself and his unholy angels, while being permitted by God?
It must also be remembered that Satan and his hosts possess marvelous memories and knowledge of the details of all individuals’ lives throughout the world. This skill of understanding human nature is derived from their original creation by God, and it has developed by 6,000 years of dealing with mankind and discerning their motives. Yet the highest prince of all these spirits is but a creature of limited powers; he cannot infallibly foretell the future.
Satan is limited by the authority of God: The Lord throws His protecting shield over all of His own, those who depend on Him. Around each one is that same hedge that Satan found impossible to pierce in Job’s case till divine love saw it good, even for Job’s sake, to give that permission.
This is a great mercy. No child of God need ever be distressed by any of these mysterious phenomena, nor perplexed by the experience of others. That Holy Word in his hand throws light on all; we know well that it is not the spirits of the departed dead that communicate with mankind, but “lying spirits” when they attempt to foretell events.
The Christian, safe in the strong hands of our God, need not tremble at the onslaughts of Satan. For he— the Devil, Satan, the Dragon—will one day give testimony to the sovereign power of God. Even his knee will bow and his tongue join in the universal confession that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.