How much did the devil know?

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In Matthew 4: 3-11, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the desert, he says:

"If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But He answered, it is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes form the mouth of God.’

The devil continues to tempt the Lord to no avail while Jesus never lets on that He is the Son of God. My question is, was this an attempt by the devil to figure out if Jesus was truly the Messiah or was he just playing around with Jesus, i.e., knowing He was the Son of God but tempting Him all the same to see what He would do. I assume that the devil was not privy to the details of man’s redemption via the cross( because not even the Jews, as a whole, were aware that this was how the Messiah would redeem the world). So, I’m curious to know how much did the devil actually know (before the resurrection)? What is there in Scripture or Tradition that would help us?
 
I was always taught that the most glorious and brilliant archangel, when understanding that God was to be man, rebelled and the result was the creation of Hell.

I have no idea where this comes from… 😃
 
josie_L said:
In Matthew 4: 3-11, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the desert, he says:

"If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But He answered, it is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes form the mouth of God.’

The devil continues to tempt the Lord to no avail while Jesus never lets on that He is the Son of God. My question is, was this an attempt by the devil to figure out if Jesus was truly the Messiah or was he just playing around with Jesus, i.e., knowing He was the Son of God but tempting Him all the same to see what He would do. I assume that the devil was not privy to the details of man’s redemption via the cross( because not even the Jews, as a whole, were aware that this was how the Messiah would redeem the world). So, I’m curious to know how much did the devil actually know (before the resurrection)? What is there in Scripture or Tradition that would help us?
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Yeah, Luke 4:41…where even the demons would scream, “You are the Son of God”. Jesus would have to tell them to be quiet!

The devil knew Jesus was God and sabotaged him in every way possible.
 
The angles are not like us. they were created with all knowlege and know everthing where as us humans are created nedding to learn what we need to know.
 
josie_L said:
The devil continues to tempt the Lord to no avail while Jesus never lets on that He is the Son of God. My question is, was this an attempt by the devil to figure out if Jesus was truly the Messiah or was he just playing around with Jesus, i.e., knowing He was the Son of God but tempting Him all the same to see what He would do.
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The Devil knew well, probably even that he would fail, but what else is
he supposed to do? Ever since his Fall, Evil is the only thing the Devil
has left. He rejected God, God case him away, now he wants nothing
more now than to hurt God anyway he can, even at least make Jesus
feel temptation (which I’m sure he felt ‘some temptation’), but he never
would do the Devil’s inner most desires.
josie_L said:
I assume that the devil was not privy to the details of man’s redemption via the cross( because not even the Jews, as a whole, were aware that this was how the Messiah would redeem the world).
Click to expand...
You think the ancient Jews were smarter as as smart as the Devil? I may take back what
I said about the Devil knowing he would lose, maybe he was that arrogant, “Maybe I can
still win this,” he might have thought. When Jesus announced to the Apostles that when
he goes to Jerusalem, he will be rejected, and killed, Peter rebuked him, “No, don’t you
go then!” and Jesus said, “Get behind my Satan,” so I believe the Devil knew well what
Jesus was supposed to do, so he tried to stop him.
josie_L said:
So, I’m curious to know how much did the devil actually know (before the resurrection)? What is there in Scripture or Tradition that would help us?
Click to expand...
Well the Devil may have known that God had a plan, whether the Devil thought he was
smarter is a mystery. He knows a lot, he definitely tried to stop Jesus through Peter. I
would cite then Matthew 16:22-23 & Mark 8:32-33.

All in all though, if I had to take a lucky guess, at this point, he knows it all, but with
nothing else to do, having nothing left but anger and hate, will take it out as often as
he can on us, through us, all because he hates the God who cast him away forever.
 
josie_L said:
In Matthew 4: 3-11, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the desert, he says:

"If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But He answered, it is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes form the mouth of God.’

The devil continues to tempt the Lord to no avail while Jesus never lets on that He is the Son of God. My question is, was this an attempt by the devil to figure out if Jesus was truly the Messiah or was he just playing around with Jesus, i.e., knowing He was the Son of God but tempting Him all the same to see what He would do. I assume that the devil was not privy to the details of man’s redemption via the cross( because not even the Jews, as a whole, were aware that this was how the Messiah would redeem the world). So, I’m curious to know how much did the devil actually know (before the resurrection)? What is there in Scripture or Tradition that would help us?
Click to expand...
Lies with lies and plots within plots.

Such is the nature of evil.

We may never know, and it may be best not to dwell on the strategy of the enemy too much.

I cite the example of Saruman in Lord of the Rings and leave it at that.
 
ClearWater said:
Yeah, Luke 4:41…where even the demons would scream, “You are the Son of God”. Jesus would have to tell them to be quiet!

The devil knew Jesus was God and sabotaged him in every way possible.
Click to expand...
Actually. right after I opened the thread I started reading the Bible, and I fell on a passage, not sure if it’s this one, but it was in the gospel of Luke, i.e., the man possessed by legion. In it they proclaimed: You are the Son of the Living God". So then the devil had to know who Jesus was, i.e., the Messiah, and therefore was “toying” with Him . . . "If you are the Son of God. . . ". I still wonder how much he knew with respect to God’s plans for man’s redemption, and I ask this because I keep thinking of the movie, “The Passion”. In it the devil seemed shocked/angered that he was bested, i.e., he did not realize that through Christ’s death would be our salvation. Didn’t anyone else get that impression? I know it’s a movie but I wonder if there is any basis in truth to it?
 
This Scripture should answer your question.

"And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; ¶ and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. "
  • Lk 1:23-26
 
Judas_Thaddeus said:
You think the ancient Jews were smarter as as smart as the Devil? I may take back what
I said about the Devil knowing he would lose, maybe he was that arrogant, “Maybe I can
still win this,” he might have thought. When Jesus announced to the Apostles that when
he goes to Jerusalem, he will be rejected, and killed, Peter rebuked him, “No, don’t you
go then!” and Jesus said, “Get behind my Satan,” so I believe the Devil knew well what
Jesus was supposed to do, so he tried to stop him.
Click to expand...
I’m not saying that the Jews were smarter than the Devil, just that it seemed that most Jews, if not all, did not know how the Messiah would save them, i.e., through his death, and since Scripture (Old Testament) is somewhat vague about this, I wonder then how the devil would know? But you’re right about this passage in the Bible, Satan did try to stop Jesus from accomplishing his mission through Peter, although tell me what you think of this:

“If Jesus did not die, then Satan would win because there would be no gospel nor believers in the world.** Jesus may have also just called Peter Satan because the name Satan means “adversary” and at that moment, Peter was the adversary of the Lord trying to prevent Him from fulfilling His mission.**”

This makes sense since Peter was thinking on human terms alone rather than spiritual ones. Also, noted by this website/author:

“It is also interesting to note that when Jesus was born, Satan tried to kill him. Then in the account of Jesus with Peter it seemed that Satan did not want Jesus to go to the cross. Then at the Last Supper it seemed that Satan (through Judas) wanted Jesus to die in hopes he would be rid of him.”

scionofzion.com/peter_or_satan.htm
All in all though, if I had to take a lucky guess, at this point, he knows it all, but with nothing else to do, having nothing left but anger and hate, will take it out as often as
he can on us, through us, all because he hates the God who cast him away forever.
Click to expand...
If he knew it all it makes you wonder why he would even attempt to stop Jesus, but you’re probably right in that his hate for us (which is why he rebelled against God in the first place) is what spurred him on.
 
The Devil does not know everything. That would make him God.

As far as I have heard, the Devil was not sure who Jesus was. He wondered if Jesus was just the very, very special chosen of God or if He was God Himself in the flesh. That’s what He was trying to figure out. Once Jesus passed the ‘test’ then probably all the other demons heard about it and then they knew who He was…so when Jesus started performing miracles, the demons knew who He was at that point.
 
Yes, this makes sense, and would explain why in Matthew 4: 3-11, the devil says "if you are the Son of God. . . " I believe he didn’t know everything about God’s redemptive plan for man as he was a fallen angel who had lost all access to God. My question is more nuanced in that I’m wondering how much he knew or how much he figured out along the way?
 
josie_L said:
I’m not saying that the Jews were smarter than the Devil, just that it seemed that most Jews, if not all, did not know how the Messiah would save them, i.e., through his death, and since Scripture (Old Testament) is somewhat vague about this, I wonder then how the devil would know? But you’re right about this passage in the Bible, Satan did try to stop Jesus from accomplishing his mission through Peter, although tell me what you think of this:

“If Jesus did not die, then Satan would win because there would be no gospel nor believers in the world.** Jesus may have also just called Peter Satan because the name Satan means “adversary” and at that moment, Peter was the adversary of the Lord trying to prevent Him from fulfilling His mission.**”
Click to expand...
It’s possible…(I’M ONLY A REVERT) 😃
 
josie_L said:
Yes, this makes sense, and would explain why in Matthew 4: 3-11, the devil says "if you are the Son of God. . . " I believe he didn’t know everything about God’s redemptive plan for man as he was a fallen angel who had lost all access to God. My question is more nuanced in that I’m wondering how much he knew or how much he figured out along the way?
Click to expand...
The Devil had access to the scriptures. But as we know, the Jews did not understand the scriptures when it came to the messiah and neither did the devil. The devil is very smart but his intelligence is still twisted by his sin. I think he knew that Jesus was someone who was very special to God, but he did not know he was God until he tested him. Jesus allowed himself to be tested by the devil, so He obviously wanted the devil to know who He was at this point or at least to have a better understanding of how powerful he was. The devil and demons had a role to play (the devil entered Judas etc) so Jesus was letting him know what he needed to know in order for that role to be fulfilled.
 
:bowdown2::bowdown2::bowdown2:

:bowdown2::bowdown2::bowdown2::bowdown2:
 
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