There’s also the question whether Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God when he tempted Him in the desert.
An excerpt from the book, “The Sign of the Cross”, by Bert Ghezzi:
“Christ’s victory on the cross came as a complete surprise to the devil. He had expected that he would win by taking the life of God’s Son. Satan did have a claim against human beings. He knew that because of our sins we had a debt to pay that would cost us our lives. But he made a huge mistake by attempting to take the life of Christ, the sinless one against whom he had no claim at all. Instead of the cross achieving the devil’s great design to destroy Jesus, the cross cost him his control over all humanity.
The Fathers of the Church taught that had Satan realized what God intended to accomplish for us in Christ, he would never have pursued the Crucifixion. For instance, read carefully this reflection by St. Leo the Great (d. 461), who was pope in the mid-fifth century:
That God might deliver humanity from the bonds of the death-bringing transgression, He concealed the power of Christ’s majesty from the fury of the devil ( see 1 Cor 2:8) and offered him instead the infirmity of our lowliness. For had this proud and cruel enemy known the plan of God’s mercy, he would have striven rather to temper with mildness the hearts of (those who crucified Christ) rather than to inflame them with evil hate, so that he might not lose the slavery of all his captives, while he pursued the liberty of the one who owed him nothing.”
Beautiful, thank you.