James Jordan has pointed out that the book of Revelation gives us seven names for Satan: Wormwood (8:10-11), the poisoner of wells; Abaddon and Apollyon (9:11), both of which mean “destroyer” but which speak of destruction of Hebrew and Greek worlds respectively; Dragon (12:1), devourer of children; Serpent (12:9, 15), the seducer of the bride (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3); Satan (12:9), the deceitful accuser of the brothers; Devil (12:9), the deceitful slanderer.
These names give us a rich and helpful typology for thinking about Satan’s tactics and his ways of achieving his purposes. It’s important to note that most of the attacks are not direct physical attacks. As dragon, the attack on the child is directly physical. As Abaddon and Apollyon, Satan is the commander of a horde of demons that can be released to torment people (Revelation 9). That’s not physical torment, but it is direct demonic assault.
But most of the attacks are not so Stephen King. They are mostly verbal, social, or manipulations of public opinion. One might even say that most of them are rather banal.
As Wormwood, Satan poisons the water so that the water becomes deadly instead of life-giving and refreshing. The water is the water of the sanctuary, perhaps to be associated with the Word, and when Satan wants to corrupt the church and kill people he makes the waters of the sanctuary bitter and deadly.
He attacks the church as child and the church as bride. Insofar as the church is child, he preys as a dragon waiting to devour. He wants to “eat” the children of the church into his own body, so that once they are delivered from the body of the woman they instantly become members of his own bride. We might think of a table of demons as being a place where people gather to celebrate idolatrous feasts (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:21), but here the table of demons is the table that the dragon sets for himself. He wants the children of the bride as his main course. Eating is incorporation, and so the image is of the dragon trying to take the children of the church into himself, incorporate them into him. As dragon, he wants to make our children members of a different community, a different and bestial body. A boy grows up in the church, falls in with the wrong crowd of friends, tries some drugs and gets laid. It’s a typical story, sadly known to every pastor, but it’s as gruesome as a horror film monster eating a child.
As the church is bride, Satan attacks her as a seducer, as the cunning and slick-spoken serpent. He does not try to devour. He does not present himself as a predator. He presents himself as a lover, tempting the bride to leave her first love and devote herself to new lovers. He comes as an angel of light, saying “Yea, has God said?” and pointing to the beauty and desirability of the forbidden fruit.
As Satan and devil, his attacks are verbal, and they are thrown out into the public arena. In Job, Satan was the accuser against Job in the Lord’s court, but he got a lot of help from Job’s three friends. If Girard is right that Job his a king and his three friends scapegoating counselors, then their Satanic accusations amount to a coup attempt. Accusations against the saints are deceptions promoted by Satan, and as the devil or slanderer he manipulates public opinion to believe lies about the saints. If as Satan he is a prosecuting attorney, as Devil he is a political gossip columnist or a talk show host.
Satan has been cast from heaven, and so can no longer accuse the saints before God (Revelation 12). That’s great good news. But he can create plenty of havoc by his seductions and devouring, by promoting slanders and by urging on accusations. For that the saints need to be fore-armed.