The devil (part 5)

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you (Romans 16:20).

The devil, my friend, is very real. He is a powerful spirit of deceit and corruption. He is incredibly smart and charming. He has an army of dark angels at his beck and call. He has taken a personal interest in you, and is constantly working every angle to make your life a total mess.

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that Satan is not real. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can handle his attacks on your own. Alone and unprotected, you are an easy target for him to take down.

But at the same time, don’t give Satan more respect than he deserves. Satan’s power has been crushed; he howls in anger because he is now on a leash. Thanks to Jesus, the great dragon is nothing but a sore loser whose time is nearly up.

When Adam and Eve ignored God and listened to Satan, evil became our birthright. But in the midst of that great tragedy, God made this promise to the devil: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15). One of Eve’s descendants would be Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man. The devil would hurt Jesus terribly when Christ died on the cross; but through that death, Jesus crushed the Old Serpent’s head. Jesus suffered the terrible punishment we deserve for being wicked; because He did this, God is willing to forgive our sins. Satan no longer has undisputed control over our thoughts and behavior when Jesus claims us as His own.

Why is the devil still a problem? Think of it in terms of a ball game. Late in the second half, it’s clear that the opposing team cannot possibly win. Yet instead of ceding the game, the losing team grows bitter. They play hard and nasty, determined to hurt as many winning players as they can before time runs out. So it is with the devil and his demonic hoard—they are filled with rage, and have embraced a scorched earth policy. But as intimidating as their tactics are, don’t lose hope. Remember that with Christ as your leader, you are on the winning side—and paradise is the goal.