It is well for man to know the strength of the foe he has to meet. Satan and his angels have on earth the same wisdom which they had in Heaven before their fall. To this is added six thousand years of experience in their awful work.
In Heaven Satan's influence was so great that he was able to deceive and lead into rebellion nearly half the angels. His power to deceive man is very great.
With such power and influence at his command, we can never overcome the devil in our own strength. When we let go our hold upon God we go onto the enemy's ground, and are "taken captive by him at his will." 2 Timothy 2:26.
But Christ has twice conquered this foe,—once in the great battle in heaven when Satan was cast out, and again as a man on earth when He met all his temptations and came off victorious.
Hence Satan is to Christ a conquered foe. If we trust our Lord fully He will give us strength in every hour of need, and thus we may become "more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Romans 8:37.
Paul calls Satan "The prince of the power of the air." Ephesians 2:2. He it is who causes the terrible cyclones, the tidal waves, and other awful disasters. Only the restraining hand of God prevents him from bringing destruction to the world more awful than it has yet known.
In Hebrews 2:14, we learn that the devil has "the power of death." This is so because sin brought death, and Satan is the author of sin. He claims all who die as his. Only the power of God can bring them from "the land of the enemy" at the resurrection.
But some glad day sin and death and Satan will be destroyed. Paul declared that Christ, by His death, opened the way by which He "might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Hebrews 2:14.
The Lord says through the prophet Ezekiel, "I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes. . . . Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." Ezekiel 28:18, 19.