‘He comes as a friend, as one who is interested in us, someone whose supreme concern is our well-being and our success. In short, he beguiles us (2 Cor 11:3). Why, says Paul, he can transform himself into an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). He can come, as it were, as an advocate of the gospel, as one who is interested in evangelism. He proposes methods to us that are so much better than the biblical ones!
The devil is not someone that comes in an openly evil manner as someone who is obviously opposed to God. No, rather he came to our Lord in this way: If you are the Son of God, why do you not feed yourself? If you are the Son of God, why do you not rely on His promises and cast yourself down from this pinnacle and give glory to the greatness of God? You say you are interested in the kingdom of this world, I will give you all that if you will bow down and worship me. The devil seems to be concerned about the evangelism of God’s kingdom – he comes as an angel of light. So are we aware of his wiles? Are we on guard? Are we watching? That is the exhortations of the Scriptures: ‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith’ (1 Cor 16:13). You must watch and pray. We find these exhortations everywhere, because of this spiritual conflict, and yet how infrequently we talk about it, how infrequently we look out for it in our daily lives and in our spiritual activities. The subtlety of it all! ’
From Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit, chapter The wiles of the devil.