Most people throughout the world including Christians know Satan as a malevolent supernatural being. He does not just accuse Christians before God, he steals, kills and destroys.
Biblical accounts state that Satan destroyed Job’s property, health and children (see Job 1 and 2). He also incited David to count the fighting men of Israel against the will of God (1 Chronicles 21:1).
Moreover, Satan who is also called the Devil tempted Jesus Christ with an aim of influencing Him to sin, but he failed (Matthew 4:1-11). Again, he asked to have Peter sifted like wheat (Luke 2231).
Today, the Devil continues to attack the Church, nations, and high value individuals with redemptive assignments to rebel against God. For this reason, many dread encountering him. Most Christians pray against him.
In all of these, we need to answer some important questions about him. First, is Satan omnipresent? That is, is he everywhere at the same time? Second, where does Satan currently stay?
Answers to these questions will inform us as to whether or not the devil is directly and personally responsible for most of the attacks we suffer as Christians or it is the work of other low rank spirit beings or demons.
Now, it is important to stress that Satan is not everywhere in the world at the same. Only God is. The Devil can be in one place at a time. It is for this reason he goes “to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it” (Job 1:7). To go “to and fro” means to “go to one place from another.”
Peter, the apostle, reinforces this observation when he writes that the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Pay attention to the expression, “the devil walks about.” It means he is neither confined in one place nor found everywhere at the same time. In other words, he changes locations all the time.
Similarly, I do not think Satan lives at one place, but he certainly stays at places. So, where does he currently stay? In fact, I do not know. You certainly do not know it either. However, God knows it. In the first century, Jesus Christ revealed to John and other believers a place where Satan stayed.
“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, WHERE SATAN DWELLS” (Revelation 2:13, emphasis added).
In those days, Satan dwelled or concentrated his influence in the city of Pergamum which is today called Berqama in Turkey. Thus, unless Jesus Christ reveals it, it will be impossible for anyone to disclose the exact place the Devil currently stays.
By James Quansah