Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Murderer John 8:44
Satan is not a symbolic force or a misunderstood figure—Jesus exposed him plainly as a liar and a murderer from the beginning. In this sobering Light on Life teaching, we uncover how Satan’s desire to lie and kill has produced untold grief, violence, and injustice throughout human history. From Scripture to real-life tragedy, this episode exposes Satan’s true character while pointing believers to their powerful victory in Christ. God has not left His people helpless—through truth, forgiveness, and divine justice, Jesus empowers us to overcome even the darkest works of the enemy.
This Week: Satan is exposed as a murderer from the beginning—and believers learn how to walk in victory through truth, forgiveness, and trust in God’s justice.
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You can view a basic transcript of this Podcast at the bottom of this section.
Accept the Challenge
Each week’s Podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.This weeks call is:
The Word of God teaches us in Luke 10:19 that we have authority over Satan the Liar. That’sgood news. It’s good news because there is no work of the enemy that Jesus is Lord over. But, the authority Jesus died to purchase is useless unless you use it in real-life situations.
Join the Conversation
Each week’s Podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).This week’s question is:
Question: Spiritual life is all about adjustments. Which ones do you need to make to take your place as God’s ‘dominion’ representative on the earth over Satan, the Liar?
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years, emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
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Podcast Notes:
Scriptural Titles for Satan
Let’s take another look at our main text.
Revelation 12:7–10 (ESV) — 7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
This passage is one of several vital passages which exposes the arch-enemy of the saints.
In it, we have six descriptors for the enemy: he is called the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver, and the accuser.
In five previous podcasts, Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Dragon, Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Serpent, and Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Devil - Part 1 and 2, and Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Liar, we looked into the Word of God to expose the works of the greatest opponent to the Lord and humankind.
This week, we continue that focus, for the Word of the Lord has come saying: ‘Study Satan and expose him.’
So, this week, we take a look at Your Powerful Victory Over Satan, the Murderer.
Lying and Murder: Satan’s Desire
John 8:44 (ESV) — 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The pain and untold grief that’s been inflicted on planet earth by Satan, the murderer, is unparalleled in scope.
Think of all the suffering people have endured when a loved one is murdered.
Thank God that there is help in Jesus because this type of grief and pain can consume people.
With some, the sense of loss lasts a lifetime.
Again, thank God for Jesus — thank God for His grace today — because without it, where would we be?
Definitions
Let’s drill down into John 8:44 a bit — I mean, we looked at this verse some in a previous podcast when we exposed Satan as the preeminent liar on planet earth.
There are some areas that Jesus spoke of that we didn’t look at, and with that thought, here are the definitions - that’s plural — meaning more than one — of the day.
Let’s take a look at the word ‘will’ — ‘your will is to do your father’s desire — the word ‘will’ means to desire, to feel or have a desire for; to want strongly.
So, ‘strong desire or want’ is what the word ‘will’ means — ‘your will is to do Satan’s desire,’ Jesus said.
The next word we want to look at is the word ‘desires’ - meaning Satan’s desire.
The word means an evil craving, an excessive, self-indulgent craving (that displaces proper affections for God).
BDAG has it as a desire for something forbidden or simply excessive, craving, lust[2. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 372.]
The devil has inordinate or excessive desires.
He has an intense, overwhelming appetite for two things, according to Jesus — to lie and to murder.
He craves these things — that’s who he is.
If the people of planet earth knew who they were following, if the blinders could be lifted and they could see who Satan is, they would massively abandon him and run to Jesus.
Now, the Lord Jesus said, concerning the religious crowd, that Satan was their father and that they had a strong desire to execute Satan’s strong desires.
Think about that now - religious leaders — liars and murderers?
Yes, that’s what Jesus said.
The stuff that Satan craves this religious bunch is craving also.
The Murder of Mankind
Mark it down, the world is full of murder and death, and it all started with the greatest act of murder in the Garden - the murder of humanity.
Romans 5:12 (ESV) — 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Men were murdered by the lie of Satan unto Eve.
And with spiritual death came physical death and physical murders.
It’s gotten so bad that there are now murder capitals all over the world — cities where Satan is snuffing out innocent people’s lives, the murderer - every day.
And with that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.
In May 1924, a shocked nation learned two young men from Chicago, Richard Leopold and Nathan Loeb, had killed 14-year-old Bobbie Franks. What made the crime so shocking, and made Leopold and Loeb household names, was the reason for the killing. The two became obsessed with the idea of committing the “perfect murder,” and simply picked young Franks as their victim. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, but Leopold was killed in a prison brawl in 1936. Claiming he wanted “a chance to find redemption for myself and to help others,” Nathan Loeb became a hospital technician at his parole in 1958. He died in 1971.[2. Today in the Word, October 3, 1992, Galaxie Software; 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002).]
Stories just like this, span the globe.
Satan the Murderer: His Beginning
Jesus said that Satan was a liar and murderer from the beginning.
What beginning was the Lord Jesus talking about?
Well, it couldn’t be Satan’s creation beginning because he was made perfect.
Ezekiel 28:15 (ESV) — 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.
At some point after his creation, he turned to a life of crime.
So, Satan didn’t start as Satan, the epitome of evil, but as Lucifer, a godly anointed and created cherub.
The Bible testifies concerning him.
Ezekiel 28:13–14 (ESV) — 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
The Hebrew word ‘guardian’ means to form a cover over.
Exodus uses this same word to describe the cherubim on the Ark.
Exodus 25:20 (ESV) — 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.
Do you see the word ‘overshadowing’ here in this passage in Exodus?
It is the same word ‘guardian used in Ezekiel’s passage.’
Other Old Testament verses using the same word translate it as ‘cover’, ‘screen’, ‘spread’, ‘shut-in’, ‘wrapped’, ‘hedged.’
So, the word ‘guardian’ gives us a sense of cherubim protecting or guarding.
At one point, Lucifer was protecting or guarding God’s Throne.
But, that wasn’t enough for him — to be the anointed guardian of God’s Throne.
No, he wanted more — he desired not just to guard the Throne — he wanted to sit on it.
He didn’t have David’s heart intent in Psalm 84, where he said.
Psalm 84:10 (ESV) — 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Why is it better to be a doorkeeper in God’s house? — because God is there.
God’s Presence makes any place exceptional.
Lucifer had continual access to God’s Presence.
Think of what Lucifer chose to give away by following the path of a murderer.
No, ‘the beginning’ Jesus refers to when He said — Satan was a murderer from the beginning — was not his creation but man’s.
You see both of these evil cravings of Satan at work right out of the Garden of Eden.
Satan lied to Eve, and Cain murdered his brother Abel.
Murder Capitals of the World
I mentioned murder capitals earlier.
These murder capitals, existing all over the globe, prove that Satan is alive and well on planet earth.
Did you know that most of the world’s most dangerous cities are located in Latin America?
Number one on the list is the city of Los Cabos in Mexico, where 138 people out of every 100,000 are murdered.
Other top cities include Caracas in Venezuela, Acapulco in Mexico, Natal in Brazil.
A United States city breaks into the ‘murder’ rankings at number 13.
Guess what the city is? — Saint Louis with a murder rate of 61 in 2018.
The causes of murder in these places? — some of Satan’s best work — drugs, weapons trafficking, and gang wars.[3. https://www.statista.com/statistics/243797/ranking-of-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-by-murder-rate-per-capita/].
So you see, the nastiness of sin builds on top of Satan’s ‘lying and murder’ foundation.
Major devils are hovering over these murder capitals.
I don’t mean that figuratively or symbolically — I mean literally hovering.
That’s the strong testimony of the scriptures.
Ephesians 2:2 (ESV) — 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
Major devils equal major murder.
Now Satan has a third foundation, and the Word of God pins it down for us in the book of First Timothy.
1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV) — 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
So here we have Satan’s three-headed monster: lying, murder, and the love of money.
The foundations of this world’s system are built on these three pillars.
Now, let’s look at murder in the Old Testament.
Murder Under the Old Testament
There were only one way murderers; those who yielded to the devil were dealt with in the Old Testament.
Numbers 35:16–18 (ESV) — 16 “But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 17 And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.
Did you hear it — the murderer shall be put to death.
Murderers were not rehabilitated under Old Covenant law; they were put to death.
Why not?
Doesn’t the Lord believe in reclamation? - Well, yes — He sent His only begotten Son to that end.
But the ultimate rehabilitator of a man’s nature was not available yet to humankind — the new birth.
Jesus had not yet come.
1 Timothy 1:9–11 (ESV) — 8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
You see, the law is for the lawless and disobedient.
It’s for bad people, specifically here those who strike their fathers and mothers.
The Greek word ‘strike’ does not mean to slap or punch.
God’s Word is not just referring to the physical abuse of parents.
The Greek here is the word patricide and means one who murders their father.
Look also at the word translated ‘mother’ here, which is matricide.
Matricide means one who murders their mother.
The translators combined the two words, matricide, and patricide, into ‘strike their father and mothers.’
Literally, this should read ‘murderers of father and mother.’
The murder of fathers and mothers by their children is all the devil’s work.
Even sinners know this is bad.
Even evil and wicked men know this is true.
Ungodly Rome, for example, thought the murder of parents was super heinous.
And with that thought, here’s the Historical Background of the day.
Killers of fathers and mothers were considered the most evil of sinners and executed in horrible ways under Roman law; they were sewn into a bag with animals, including a snake, and drowned.[4. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Ti 1:8–9.]
Now, if you continue reading a few more verses down in Numbers 35, you will find another reason why murderers were put to death instead of being rehabilitated.
Numbers 35:31–34 (ESV) — 31 Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. 32 And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Did you hear verse thirty-three? — shed blood pollutes the land — that’s the reason for the death penalty.
We did a podcast on this very thing: it covered the iniquity of the Amorites.
Genesis 15:13–16 (ESV) - 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
What was the iniquity of the Amorites?
The iniquity of the Amorites included the shedding of innocent blood, and human sacrifice, among its pile of many other perverse sins.
Isaiah 26:21 (ESV) - 21 For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.
Do you remember Genesis. 4:10 where Cain killed Abel and Ables’s blood cried out to God from the ground?
**Leviticus 18:24–25 (ESV) ** - 24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
Note “the land” registers the amount of murder and innocent bloodshed committed on it, just like the ground in Isaiah 26:21 records the amount of innocent blood shed upon it.
When that sin is ‘full’ or ‘fulfilled’, the land rejects its inhabitants – it vomits or evicts the people who live in it.
That’s why great nations fall.
The land itself ‘evicts them’ because of innocent bloodshed.
Four to five hundred thousand people are murdered on planet earth every year - that’s the stats.
In fact, in some countries, murder represents 10% of the reason why citizens die.
That’s one out of ten people murdered.
The shed blood of these innocents does not disappear.
You cannot wash blood out of God’s sight - it doesn’t wash away with soap and water.
Shed blood cannot be bleached out of existence — after all the clean-up takes place, it still cries out to God.
Today, crime scene clean-up is a business — some people clean blood off the earth for a living — but it doesn’t matter how well they do their job, the land still records the bloodshed, and that blood cries out to God.
The only thing that bought cleansing to the land, in Old Testament times, was the life of the murderer.
Now, that’s the Bible — righteous judgment offsets the shed blood of innocents.
So, the death penalty in the Old Testament was never about revenge.
It was all about cleansing the land.
God’s Power to Overcome Satan the Murderer
Maybe you have experienced the loss of a loved one horrifically.
I know this sounds cliche - but Jesus is the answer to your grief.
In fact, He has already supplied that via the new birth.
Romans 5:5 (ESV) — 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Reach out to Him in faith and pull on His grace.
The Lord the Avenger
With that being said, there is one final thought.
If your family is on the wrong end of something horrific, please, please, resist the temptation to take matters into your own hand.
Don’t even do it in your thought life.
1 John 3:15 (ESV) — 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Resist the temptation to become the avenger — that’s the Lord’s job — He is THE Avenger.
1 Thessalonians 4:6 (ESV) — 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
The Greek word ‘avenger’ means punisher or a person who enforces observance of laws and rules, especially as harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done.
The Lord is a punisher of evil — that’s why Paul said by the Spirit of God, don’t take matters into your own hand.
Romans 12:19–21 (ESV) — 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.Revelation 6:10 (ESV) — 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
I’ve personally witnessed the Lord as Avenger on several occasions.
In one of the incidents, a man stole some sound equipment from the church I was pastoring.
We knew who did it — what we didn’t realize is that the Lord was going to take matters into His hand.
Two weeks after the theft occurred, this same man was killed in a drive-by shooting in the parking area of a nearby apartment complex.
Now, of course, we don’t know the whole story - there may have been much more to this - maybe greater sins against others.
The bottom line though, is still the same — you never want to mess with God’s kids.
The Last Word of Liars and Murderers
So, we’ve spent a couple of podcasts now talking about ‘Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Liar and Murderer.
The final word will be the Lord’s — listen to it now as we get ready to close.
Revelation 20:10 (ESV) — 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Satan, the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning, will have an end.
He will be tormented forever and ever.
Revelation 21:8 (ESV) — 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Murderers and liars, of the human variety, will also have their part in the lake of fire - the books must balance.
If men choose to do their father Satan’s desire as Jesus put it, they will join him because, in God’s Kingdom, righteousness and justice will be the only order of the day.
You guys have a great God week in Jesus’ Name Amen.
🎧 Suggested Episode
If you found this teaching on Satan’s nature as a murderer and your victory in Christ encouraging, check out “Your Powerful Victory Over Satan, the Liar” — it unpacks the enemy’s tactics and the believer’s authority in Jesus.
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