1. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other animal of the field that Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Did God really say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?...You shall not surely die!”; “As the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” (Gen. 3:1, 4; 2 Cor. 11:3).
The devil always hides within persons, things, and matters to carry out his work. This has been the special characteristic of his methods from the beginning. He is deceitful and false, devious and crafty. He never shows his real face; instead, he hides in persons, things, and matters. The first reference in the Bible to his deceptive work shows that he hid himself in a serpent. He was crafty as the serpent and did not let man know that he was hiding in the serpent.
The devil hides in persons, things, and matters that are usually beautiful and clever. The serpent in which he originally hid was more crafty than any other living creature, so it must have been clever, marvelous, attractive, and pleasing to others. When he hides in eye-catching, pleasant, and clever things, the devil attracts people’s attention in order to seduce and deceive them. We must beware of things that easily attract our attention and cause us to love and desire them. We must beware of beautiful and clever persons, things, and matters, for they are often used by the devil to mislead, seduce, deceive, trap, corrupt, and capture us.
2. “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You! But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men” (Matt. 16:22-23).
Satan can hide even in disciples who love the Lord. Peter cared for the Lord according to his own will. Satan was able to hide within Peter’s care and good intentions to try to prevent the Lord from accomplishing God’s will. Peter did not realize that Satan was hiding within his good intentions; only the Lord could see this matter clearly. Therefore, the Lord said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” At that moment, in the Lord’s eyes Peter was Satan. Since Peter allowed Satan to hide within him, the Lord saw him as Satan. Satan was so hidden and deceptive that even Peter did not realize that he was speaking and acting for Satan. Instead, he thought that he was speaking and acting for himself. Peter was deceived and used by Satan because he trusted in his own love and care for the Lord and in his good heart and good intentions for the Lord. We must be careful of our good intentions for the Lord. We must also be careful of the good heart and good intentions of those who love and care for us. These are often Satan’s best hiding places from which he can deceive us and damage God’s will.
3. “Satan entered into him” (John 13:27, see also v. 2).
Judas’s betrayal of the Lord was accomplished by Satan hiding in him. Satan first put the idea of betraying the Lord into him and then entered into him to accomplish this betrayal. On the surface, Judas was betraying the Lord, but actually it was Satan. This is Satan’s usual method.
4. “The lawless one...the coming of whom is according to Satan’s operation” (2 Thes. 2:8-9, see also vv. 3-4).
In the future, Antichrist will come according to Satan’s operation. Satan will hide in him, and Antichrist will be his embodiment. He will be Satan incarnate. Just as God was incarnated and lived in Christ to accomplish His good purpose, Satan will be incarnated and live in Antichrist to accomplish his evil purpose. Just as Christ is the embodiment of God, Antichrist will be the embodiment of Satan. Christ, as the embodiment of God, is light to save people, but Antichrist, as the embodiment of Satan, will be darkness to cunningly deceive people.
5. “You once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).
Before we were saved, we walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, Satan, the evil spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience. We were controlled by Satan, and even though we are now saved, Satan still hides himself and operates in us. Since Satan hides within the people of the world to carry out his work, who can say that he is truly free from Satan’s manipulation and operation?