Accusation

Satan works in many ways to try to cause people to sin. One way that he has found to be quite successful is by using accusation. Not only does Satan accuse people to Jesus and the angels, he also causes men to accuse each other on this earth. But Satan can’t force us to sin. Sin is our freewill choice.

“The tempter can never compel us to do evil. He cannot control minds unless they are yielded to his control. The will must consent, faith must let go its hold upon Christ, before Satan can exercise his power upon us. But every sinful desire we cherish affords him a foothold. Every point in which we fail of meeting the divine standard is an open door by which he can enter to tempt and destroy us. And every failure or defeat on our part gives occasion for him to reproach Christ.
“When Satan quoted the promise, “He shall give His angels charge over Thee,” he omitted the words, “to keep Thee in all Thy ways;” that is, in all the ways of God’s choosing. Jesus refused to go outside the path of obedience. While manifesting perfect trust in His Father, He would not place Himself, unbidden, in a position that would necessitate the interposition of His Father to save Him from death. He would not force Providence to come to His rescue, and thus fail of giving man an example of trust and submission.” DA 125

This is a very precious promise because it gives mankind hope that there is a way around Satan’s very well thought out and subtle deceits. Also we don’t have to sin so when we come to the judgement we will have no excuse for our sin. If we want we can surrender ourselves to God and then Satan can never come near us. It’s only if we give him the necessary room that he comes in to tempt us to sin.

In the Bible there are a few places recorded where we see Satan accusing. First there was the time in the Garden of Eden where Satan was accusing God to Eve. “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:1-5. Here we read about the time Lucifer was blaming God for withholding something good from them instead of telling the truth that God was only withholding the knowledge of evil for their own Good. This is what Satan so often does even today. He makes everything of the world look so great and he makes God look like He is unjust and trying to withhold something good from us, when in reality God is really just doing it for our own good.

Then there is the story of Job. “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” Job 1:8-11. Here Satan is accusing God of making Job’s life too easy. His accusation was that of course Job would be good because of the blessings the Lord was giving him but this was not true. Jesus allowed Satan to put Job through a very difficult test to prove to him that there were righteous people on the earth at that time. It is the same today. When calamity falls upon us we are so quick to blame God when, in reality, He is just testing us to see if we will stay true to the course He has designed our lives to follow.

We also have the story of Joshua, the high priest. “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Zechariah 3:1-4. Satan is accusing Joshua the high priest of all his sins he had committed.

The Lord rebuked Satan and takes away the high priest’s sin obviously because He must have repented of his sins. The Lord wants to take our sin away as well.

We just have to let Him and He will be there, ready to wash our garments from the filthy colour they are to a pure white colour that is exactly in line with His character.

In the Bible we are told who is behind all accusation. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Revelation 12:10. Satan in this verse is accusing the church of many different sins. Even if they are true the Lord will cover them up if we ask Him for forgiveness. When we repent, the Lord casts our sins into the depths of the sea, but Satan always remembers them and will bring them up over and over again. That is Satan’s one goal in this world at such a late stage – to accuse the brethren and do anything to bring about our downfall. How thankful we can be to the Lord for dying on the cross for us so Satan is no longer the ruler of this world and Jesus has control over him so he can’t take his power very far.

There is a very real danger that people on this earth can let Satan into their lives and start accusing the brethren just like he does. If we start talking about people’s sins and lifestyle in a very negative way as if were condemning them we are listening to Satan’s voice. If we see people’s sins it is our duty to help them up back to where they first saw the light and not tell anyone else about their sin but just go to them personally. Even though Satan is like a roaring lion we can overcome him through the power of Christ.

If we ask the Lord, we may resist temptation, and force Satan to depart from us. Jesus gained the victory through submission and faith in God, and by the apostle He says to us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” James 4:7, 8.

“We cannot save ourselves from the tempter’s power; he has conquered humanity, and when we try to stand in our own strength, we shall become a prey to his devices; but “the name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Prov. 18:10. Satan trembles and flees before the weakest soul who finds refuge in that mighty name.” DA 130/131

May God help us to not listen to Satan and accuse other people, but look to Jesus who is our refuge and help in time of trouble. And if other people accuse us, we don’t have to let it discourage us. Jesus said, “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;” John 15:20. Many people hated Jesus and accused Him of so many false things, and it will be no different for us if we follow the Lord.
AMEN

Richard Eaton