How is the devil like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8)?

Being sober is not being gloomy, but using wise discretion. And vigilance is watchful awareness. These things are of vital importance, for the devil, a determined adversary, As constantly on the move, ready to attack the unwary, and as a roaring lion to frighten them into a state of helpless paralysis. Let us not be caught. It is Satan's devouring character here seen, not his subtlety as a serpent. He was using persecution with the object of intimidating souls, and they needed the courage of firm faith to protect themselves from this.

There are two diverse ways in which Satan works. The apostle Peter tells us that "your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). A lion is bold and powerful, pouncing on his prey with all his force and fury. That would represent Satan as a persecutor of God's people. In this character he was behind the persecutions of the pagan emperors and sought to crush and devour the Church of Christ .

On the other hand, they were to be sober and vigilant, because the adversary sought to devour them. Here — whatever may be his wiles, however he may lie in wait for Christians — it is in the character of a roaring lion, one who excites open persecution, that the apostle presents him. They were to resist him, stedfast in the faith. Everywhere the same afflictions were found. Nevertheless the God of grace is the Christian's confidence. He has called us to participate in His eternal glory. The apostle's desire for them is, that, after they had suffered for a time, the God of grace should make them perfect, complete — should stablish and strengthen them, building up their hearts on the foundation of an assurance that cannot be shaken. To Him, he adds, be glory and dominion.

Although as believers we are privileged to take all our trials, even our persecutions, as connected with "the mighty hand of God," yet we are not to overlook the fact that the devil has a hand in them. The case of Job in the Old Testament illustrates this, and the fact is recognised here. In the persecution of saints the devil moves about as a roaring lion, aiming thereby at breaking down our faith. If faith be a mere matter of mental enlightenment, mere head-conviction and not heart-trust, it fails and he devours us. We are therefore to be sober and watchful. We must recognize that the devil is our adversary, and that he is to be resisted in the energy of a live faith which cleaves to the faith made known to us in Christ, remembering also, that if we taste suffering we are only sharing what is the common lot of our brethren in the world.

Here again the apostle exhorts to be vigilant and to watch. In his former injunction (1 Peter 4:7) it was in view of the end of all as being drawn nigh; here it is because of danger from their great adversary.

"Be vigilant, watch: *your adversary [the] devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist, steadfast in faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brotherhood that [is] in the world" (vers. 8-10).

It is of interest to note how distinctly the enemy is presented as the power of evil with which we have to cope, no less than our God and the Lord Jesus to care for us. Here, as the apostle regards us, not as the Epistle to the Hebrews in view of the sanctuary, but as at the same time exposed to the peculiar stress of the desert, he appropriately sets forth our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walking about, and seeking whom he may devour.

(1 Peter 5:8-9,) "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." But because He is caring for you, you are not therefore to be unwatchful. No, no, remember that your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Here it is as a roaring lion Satan comes, hence these Hebrew believers were going through persecution. In the 2nd Epistle he comes as a snake in the grass, introducing moral corruption.

Before going any further let us take into consideration what preceded the feast in Samson's history. We have already said that Satan not only presents himself as a serpent, but also as a roaring lion. It was in this character that the Lord Jesus met him in Gethsemane and at the cross. Nothing is more terrifying than the roar of the lion. Satan sought to frighten the holy soul of Christ in order to make Him abandon the divine path which led down to the sacrifice. In the power of the Holy Spirit and in perfect dependence on His Father, the Lord withstood him in the garden of the Mount of Olives. At the cross, where he opened his mouth against Christ "as a ravening and a roaring lion" (Ps. 22: 13), the Lord in "the weakness of God" (see 1 Cor. 1: 25), overcame "the strong man," and, through death, nullified his power (Heb. 2: 14). In just the same form does Satan present himself to the children of God. "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5: 8). If he does not succeed in beguiling us, he tries to frighten us. Samson was now confronted by the young lion, coming up against him from the country of the Philistines, and here his nazariteship was manifested in its full power, which is that of the Spirit of God. "And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand" (v. 6). Such is the way that we have to act when meeting Satan. We should not spare him in the least, for if we do he will return to the charge. We must, in our struggle, rend him as we would rend a kid. He can do nothing to us so long as we resist him fearlessly (see James 4: 7; 1 Peter 5: 9); for, weapons (if we may so speak), Jesus has already overcome him for us at the cross.

Once more we hear His exhortation: "Be sober, be watchful!" Why? Because there is an adversary and a conflict. In those days of persecution he was the roaring lion; in our days he sneaks about as an angel of light. No longer is it the persecution of the church; it is the corruption of the truth which is the work of the adversary today. But in Peter's day the enemy was engaged in active persecution, seeking to devour God's people. Once more he will assume this character during the coming great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble. Then the faithful Jewish remnant, like this remnant to whom Peter wrote, will have to face the roaring lion, as we read so frequently in the book of Revelation.

The younger he bids be subject to elders, and to bind on humility toward one another; for God sets Himself against proud ones, but gives grace to the lowly. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in season, having cast all your anxiety upon him, for he careth for you" (5-7). Again he says, Watch, be wakeful: your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. It is not the wiles of a serpent here, still less the ruler of the authorities of the air, but the wilderness enemy. "Whom resist, stedfast in faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brotherhood in the world. But the God of all grace that called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after suffering a little, himself shall make perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle: to him [be] the glory for the ages of the ages. Amen." Did not the apostle remember and apply Luke 22:32? No doubt he was carrying out his charge over the circumcision that believed in the sphere where Paul laboured so much. And it is full of interest to note that the faithful Silvanus, the companion of the one, now conveyed this Epistle of the other, wherein he exhorts and testifies that this is the true grace of God "wherein ye stand, (or, in which stand)." Again "Mark my son" is now Peter's companion, quite restored to the confidence of the other apostle who had blamed him of old. "She that is joint-elect" appears to be the true force; but whether Peter's wife or another in Babylon whence he writes, we cannot say. He asks for a warm and holy greeting, and peace too mutually, to "you all that are in Christ."

Peter, who speaks to the saints as traversing the desert, says: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9). The faith is the important piece of armour necessary for conflict in the wilderness. It is the confidence that whatever wants or woes may betide us on our heavenward journey, God is for us, and He will bring us safely through (2 Cor. 1:3-11).