Satan’s Accusing You from Heaven—Shut Him Up!
First and foremost, the Lord began to show me that the word satan in Hebrew means “the accuser or adversary.”
In the Hebrew language and culture, everything has a hidden meaning, especially the name of a person or thing. The word adversary comes from the Greek word anti-dikos. Dikos is the Greek word for rights as in one’s legal rights. Essentially, an anti-dikos is someone or an entity that infringes on your legal rights. This understanding positions satan as a legal opponent more than a street fighter who hates the believer.
In Hebrew, the name of a person or entity is meant to capture the spiritual essence, meaning, destiny and nature of a thing. So by calling lucifer, “satan,” which also means accuser, God is telling us a mouthful, concerning what lucifer has become and his primary assignment on earth after his fall from Heaven. An accuser in any legal system is essentially someone who brings charges against you that results in a prosecution or lawsuit.
The Holy Spirit said to me, “Francis, even though lucifer was cast out of Heaven (meaning he lost his residency in Heaven), he nevertheless has access to only one part of Heaven until the consummation of this age of sin. God has given him a limited access to the Courts of Heaven.” I was blessed and stunned at the same time. The Lord showed me that no self-respecting judge or judicial system would allow a trial to proceed without first seating both the prosecution and the defense (advocate). Satan is the prosecutor as he is the one who files charges of sinful behavior against the saints in the Courts of Heaven.
John the revelator clearly captures this aspect of satan’s work in the book of Revelation 12:10 (AMP):
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom (dominion, reign) of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come; for the accuser of our [believing] brothers and sisters has been thrown down [at last], he who accuses them and keeps bringing charges [of sinful behavior] against them before our God day and night.”
One would be tempted to ask, “Why would Heaven need a court system in the first place, especially after Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross?” In answer to this question, the Lord said to me, “The death of Jesus for humankind’s sins provided a remedy for sins committed; it did not, however, stop the Kingdom of God from being what it has always been—a sovereign government and country founded on righteousness and justice. So, no self-respecting government would sit idly by while people continue to break and violate the laws of its country with impunity, even in the name of grace. This is a recipe for anarchy.”
The Holy Spirit then reminded me of this verse in 1 John 3:4 (AMP), “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness [ignoring God’s law by action or neglect or by tolerating wrongdoing—being unrestrained by His commands and His will].” So essentially sin is the transgression of the laws of the Kingdom of God. Consequentially, the only place where broken laws of a country can be adjudicated is inside that country’s court system.
If you break the laws of the United States, you can’t be tried in an Australian court. As a result, most countries have established extradition treaties with other nations. This then begs the question, if the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven are broken by people on earth, why would we expect God to prosecute these cases in an earthly court? Earthly courts have zero jurisdiction over violations of the laws of the Kingdom of God, just as Australian courts have zero jurisdiction over violations of the laws of the United States.
After the Holy Spirit led me down this path of thinking, the understanding of the Courts of Heaven became a settled issue! After this the Holy Spirit said to me, “Francis, now that you understand the Courts of Heaven, I want you to know that satan is an officer of the Courts of Heaven, as both the tempter and prosecutor. He will retain this position until the consummation of the age of sin. Then he and his fallen angels and all the children of disobedience will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” Wow—glory to God! His wisdom is past all human comprehension.
Satan: The Double Dealer
Then Jesus was led by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After He had gone without food for forty days and forty nights, He became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4:1-3 AMP).
After I discovered that satan is an officer of the Courts of Heaven, it also quickly dawned on me that since he is also the tempter, it means satan is a double-dealer! In Matthew 4:1-3, he was working hard to tempt Jesus, but I am sure that had the Lord fallen for the temptation, satan would have run into the Courts of Heaven to accuse Him before God for responding to the temptation. That’s exactly what he does with all the saints around the world. How many times have we fallen for the temptation only to be overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and condemnation in the aftermath? Not to mention some of the serious consequences that followed our falling for the temptation. The curious case of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden quickly comes to mind. So in the Courts of Heaven the only prosecutor is the tempter himself!
Unfortunately for us, when we respond to the devil’s temptations, satan has every legal right to come before God and bring forth accusations against our sinful behavior. Notwithstanding that we are under the dispensation of grace. This is because the Lord never intended for us to use His grace as a cloak of licentiousness. Jude, the brother of Jesus, says it this way in Jude 1:4 (NLT):
I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Satan the Prosecutor
One day the members of the heavenly court came again to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on” (Job 2:1-2 NLT).
I finally understood why and what satan was doing in Heaven in the first and second chapters of Job. As the prosecutorial officer of the Court, he came to present cases in the Courts of Heaven against God’s children, based on irrefutable evidence of sinful behavior that he and his network of familiar spirits had gathered. How does satan gather this evidence? By doing a forensic search of human bloodlines and lineages for unresolved cases of iniquity and transgression.
In many cases, satan does not have to patrol our generational bloodlines to gather the evidence he needs to forge a formidable accusation (charge) against us. Our personal propensity to yield to satan’s many temptations gives him all the evidence he needs, especially if we refuse to repent or excuse our sinful behavior. Wow, the whole world of the Courts of Heaven and satan’s role in it came alive to me. I saw it! I understood for the first time that satan is more of a legal adversary than a mere street fighter. Satan loves to operate in the legal realm. I finally understood the book of Job. The Courts of Heaven had finally been unveiled—and there was no going back!
Can God Boast about You in His Court?
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1:8 NKJV)
Interestingly, God is the One who brought up Job’s name to satan. God’s question to satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” can also be read as “Have you investigated My servant Job?” This is a divine indication that satan places people under investigation before filing charges (accusations) against them in the Courts of Heaven. What’s of note in the Scripture passage in Job 1 is that God did not bring up Job’s name to invite satan to attack him. God was reveling in Job’s devotion. Truthfully speaking, God does glory in men and women who are totally devoted to Him above everything else in this world. Unfortunately, God doesn’t have too many devotees like Job.
On a different note, the reason the Lord was bragging about Job’s devotion to Him was to show us the godly characteristics in Job’s life, which make it difficult for the devil to destroy or delay the fulfillment of our God-given destiny. These godly traits are also important for those of us who want to be effective officers of the Courts of Heaven. I will now list Job’s godly traits for your prayerful consideration:
There is none like Job on the earth
A blameless man
An upright man
One who fears God
A man who shuns evil
Manifesting these godly qualities that were all actively present in Job’s life causes us to grow spiritually, as well as gives us a place of spiritual stature in the Courts of Heaven. Spiritual stature in the Courts of Heaven gives us a position of favor in God’s presence to present cases that are heard and answered in record time, because of our lifestyle of total obedience and devotion to God.