In the Old Testament, Satan (the “Accuser”) is described as: (1) a trouble-maker who causes King David to count the people of Israel, a secret that was supposed to be known only to God (1 Chronicles 21:1-2, 16-17); (2) the one who is allowed to cause suffering for Job (Job 1:6—2:7); and (3) the one who accuses God’s chosen servant, Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1-2). The snake who convinces Adam and Eve to eat the fruit that God warned them not to eat (Genesis 3) is sometimes called Satan, but this name is not used in that story.

In 538 B.C., the Persians defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jewish people who had been living in exile in Babylon to return to their own land. During this time and for another two hundred years or so, the people of Israel were greatly influenced by Persian culture, government, and religion. The Persian religion told of a being who was God’s chief opponent (Satan), and who had creatures like the angels who helped him work out his evil schemes. It is possible that Job was written during this “Persian” period, or even later.

In the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible, this enemy of God was called the Devil, from the word diabolos, which means “accuser.” During the two hundred years before Jesus was born, Satan (the devil) became known more and more as the force of evil that opposed God. In the Bible, the battle between God and Satan is fought in human history and will end when God defeats the powers of evil.

In Jesus’s time, the powers of evil were known as the Kingdom of Satan. The New Testament describes Jesus as the one who came to turn people “from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). The Gospels describe how Jesus struggled against Satan’s temptations (Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13) and drove out Satan’s demons who harmed human beings (Mark 1:21-28, 32-39; 5:1-13; 7:24-30). Some people accused Jesus of working for Beelzebub, another name for Satan (Mark 3:22-26). But Jesus said that his power to defeat Satan came from God and that his victory over Satan was an example of God’s kingdom at work (Luke 11:18-20).

The apostle Paul believed that Satan tried to keep him from preaching the Good News about Jesus (2 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:18). He also said that Satan sometimes makes himself look like an “angel of light” in order to trick God’s followers (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). But Paul was sure that God would crush Satan (Romans 16:20). Revelation 20 describes the final battle between God and Satan, which will end with the devil being thrown into a lake of fire (20.10).