The Bible provides some insight into why Satan thought he could defeat God, even though this was clearly a foolish notion. Here are some key reasons that emerge from Scripture:
1. Pride and arrogance
Satan’s downfall began with pride and arrogance. The prophet Ezekiel records God speaking about Satan: “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17). Isaiah also refers to Satan’s pride leading to his fall: “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). Satan’s wisdom became corrupted because of pride in his own beauty and splendor.
This arrogance led Satan to think he could be equal to or greater than God. He declared, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Rather than humbly submit to God, Satan’s pride led him to seek equality with God.
2. Doubting God’s justice and righteousness
Satan’s arrogance led him to call God’s justice and righteousness into question. In his first interaction with humans, Satan slyly asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). This question implied God was withholding something good from Adam and Eve. Satan challenged the goodness and justice of God’s commands.
Satan later accused God of unfairness in his dealings with Job, a righteous man. He argued that Job only served God because of the blessings and protection God had given him (Job 1:9-11). Again, this accusation called into question God’s justice and righteousness.
By doubting God’s goodness and just nature, Satan demonstrated his lack of understanding of who God truly is. He failed to acknowledge the One who “is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psalm 145:17).
3. Underestimating God’s power and authority
In rebelling against God and tempting humans to sin, Satan revealed an underestimation of God’s supreme power and authority. He failed to acknowledge that everything he had, including beauty, wisdom and splendor, came from the all-powerful Creator (Ezekiel 28:13-15).
Satan presumably thought that if a third of the angels joined him, they would have sufficient power to overthrow God. This grossly underestimated the omnipotence of the Almighty God. In his arrogance, Satan failed to understand that God is eternally authoritative and there is no power that can possibly rival His own (Psalm 135:5-6).
When Jesus cast out demons, He noted that their power was limited: “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house” (Matthew 12:29). Only God’s power was sufficient to bind Satan and plunder his house.
4. Deception and lies
Another facet of Satan’s strategy in trying to defeat God was based on deception and lies. Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan misled Eve by twisting God’s command regarding the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-5).
Throughout Scripture, Satan continues this pattern of deception. He disguises himself as “an angel of light” and his servants as “servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). He deceives and ensnares people through counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
But Scripture assures that God cannot be deceived. He sees through Satan’s lies and falsehoods. In rebelling against truth itself, Satan displayed his foolishness. He fails to understand that “into a soul that is false, wisdom cannot enter” (Wisdom 1:4).
5. Created being trying to defeat Creator
Fundamentally, Satan’s attempt to defeat God was always an exercise in futility because it involved a created being trying to surpass the Creator. As a created angel, Satan lives in the power of God, has no power apart from God, and cannot have a thought that God doesn’t know (Ezekiel 28:14-15).
For a pot to take up arms against the potter is absurd. Similarly, the clay has no right to question the plan and work of the potter who shapes it (Isaiah 45:9; Romans 9:20-21). How much more ludicrous for Satan, a created being, to try to usurp and defeat God Most High!
As Augustine summarized it: “The mightiest created power compared to the omnipotence of the Creator is like a tiny drop of water compared to the vastness of the ocean.” Satan’s failed attempt to overcome God vividly illustrates the folly of challenging the supremacy of the Almighty.
6. Envy and desire for worship
Closely tied to pride is envy. This was the original sin that corrupted Lucifer into Satan. Ezekiel notes that Satan was filled with envy because of God’s beauty and splendor (Ezekiel 28:17).
This envy spawned an illegitimate desire to receive the worship that belonged to God alone. In tempting Jesus, Satan brazenly asked Jesus to bow down and worship him (Matthew 4:9). Through deception and temptation, he malignantly seeks worship for himself rather than the Creator.
But Satan fails to comprehend that God alone is worthy of worship: “For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods” (Psalm 96:4). Seeking worship for himself can only end in defeat and judgment for Satan.
7. Limited perspective
As a created being, Satan has a limited perspective. He cannot see and comprehend the full eternal plans and purposes of God. As God declares, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).
So even though Satan devised cunning schemes, built alliances among angels, and tempted countless humans, he did so with a limited understanding. There were undoubtedly complexities of God’s divine plan for redemption and judgment that Satan utterly failed to grasp.
Satan’s finite and flawed understanding of God meant that his attempt to foil God’s plans was destined for failure. As Job declared, “Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?” (Job 11:11). God recognizes and will thwart all who oppose Him and His purposes.
8. Underestimating God’s love
Not only did Satan lack understanding of God’s power and justice, he also underestimated the depth of God’s love. Satan likely did not comprehend the lengths to which God would go to redeem humanity after the Fall. He failed to grasp the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19).
If Satan had known that God would humble himself and become human – as Jesus did – and die sacrificially to atone for sins, he would not have prompted Judas to betray Jesus to death (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). This demonstrated his incomplete knowledge of God’s all-encompassing love.
9. Failure to understand judgment
Satan also seems to demonstrate a failure to fully understand that his rebellion would lead to future judgment and destruction. His fate is assured – he will be “thrown into the lake of burning sulfur” where he will be “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). Yet he persists in fighting against God.
Jesus said Satan was “a murderer from the beginning” who “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). Though assured of his coming destruction, Satan irrationally continues to oppose the Truth and spread murder and lies.
Satan fails to learn from past judgments, whether the initial casting down from heaven or judgments in the flood and on rebellious people. He persists with his doomed rebellion rather than repenting and submitting to God.
10. Overconfidence in his schemes
Satan has enjoyed some temporary “successes” in his schemes against humanity and God. These include tempting Eve, inciting David to sin by taking a census (1 Chronicles 21:1), and prompting Judas to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3). But his unbroken track record of failures should teach him that long-term schemes to defeat God are futile.
Yet he continues hatching new plots against believers (Ephesians 6:11) and inciting nations to evil, oblivious to the futility of opposing an all-knowing, all-powerful God. He persists in his “prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Despite past failures, Satan maintains an irrational overconfidence in his evil strategies and plans. This overconfidence compounds his foolishness in attempting to defeat the undefeatable God.
In summary, Satan’s arrogance, limited perspective as a created being, and underestimation of God’s qualities like love, justice and power all contributed to his misguided belief that he could defeat God. His persistence in this vain goal despite past failures and assured future judgment highlights his ultimate foolishness.
As C.S. Lewis aptly stated: “A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is… A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.”
Satan foolishly believed he could achieve victory in his temptation and rebellion against God. But as the definitive example of giving in to temptation, Satan proved incapable of understanding the true might and majesty of the Lord Almighty.
