Season 2, Episode 9
I’m not in the habit of drawing attention to the devil. So, in writing about him here, I’d like to begin with this caveat. As God’s people, you should never have your eyes on the devil … because that would require you to take your focus off God. And that’s something you cannot afford to do!
But there is a difference between focus and awareness, and we all need to be aware that we have an enemy who is both very real and extremely evil. It is no exaggeration to say that the devil is the personification of evil in the same way as God is the personification of Love.
Jesus referred to the devil as ‘the prince of this world’ – which he is. But that term can be confusing unless you understand the distinction between the earth and the world, as they are referred to in the Bible.
The earth, of course, is the planet on which we live. In creating the entire Universe, including Planet Earth, God became both King of the Universe and, more specifically, King of the Earth. The world, on the other hand, is us … the human race, created by God in His own image.
In the beginning, God ruled both the planet and the people … even though, at that time, the entire human race consisted of just two! God had lovingly created Adam and Eve with His own hands and infused them with His life. They were the crowning glory of His Creation, destined to live forever in a love relationship with Him and under His rule and authority.
Then came that fateful day when they willingly believed the devil’s lies, and their relationship with God was broken. That’s when Satan became ‘the prince of this world’. Not by right, but by deceiving Adam and Eve into disobeying God and obeying him instead.
Since that day, God’s enemy has reigned over the people of this world … with the exception of those who have turned away from him and yielded their lives to God. Jesus came into this world to destroy the devil’s work and to set his captives free. He revealed God, He suffered and died for our sins and He rose from the dead, breaking the devil’s hold over humanity and making a way back to God for us all.
Which means there is now only one thing that can keep you under the devil’s power and prevent you from living in God’s freedom. I’m pretty sure you know what it is … but I’ll spell it out anyway! It is your free will – given to you by God so you can personally choose for or against Him. Just as Adam and Eve individually chose to go against God, so you personally face that same choice every day.
Turn to God means turning your back on the devil and all his works. It also makes you a target for the devil … and he will go after you! I don’t say that to scare you, but because it’s true.
The apostle Peter wrote: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Open your heart to Jesus and you become the devil’s prey.
Following His miraculous birth, Jesus went on to live an apparently normal life for the next 30 years … until it was time for Him to be revealed to the world. Then, leaving the safety and security of His family home in Nazareth, Jesus stepped out to fulfill the purpose for which He had been born into this world.
His first destination was the River Jordan, where his cousin John the Baptist – who had been sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus – was preaching to people about their sins, urging them to repent, and baptising those who did.
Picture the scene: John, clothed in a rough camel-hair garment, standing waist-deep in the river as he calls people to repentance and baptises those who respond. Then along comes Jesus – the only person in that crowd with no sins to repent of, yet to all appearances another sinner wanting to be baptised. Then the dramatic moment when John recognises his cousin. Knowing who Jesus really is, John immediately tries to deter Him, saying: “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus understood, not only John’s confusion but also his sense of unworthiness to do something like that. To John it all seemed the wrong way round! Yet, even as He stood there in that water – a truly sinless man – Jesus knew how fully He had to identify as one of us … to save all of us. “Let it be so now;” He replied to John, “it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” So, John baptised Jesus.
The onlookers thought they were seeing just another man being baptised. John was awed by the immense privilege of baptising his cousin, knowing He was ‘the Lamb of God who was to take away the sin of the world’. But God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were deeply moved as they looked down from above and saw God the Son take that first irrevocable step on the path that would lead Him all the way to the Cross. Neither of them could hold back! No sooner did Jesus come up out of the water, than the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove – followed by the Father’s voice, speaking from Heaven: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
With such ringing endorsements from both the Spirit and the Father, who could have anticipated what happened next? “…Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”
No sooner had Jesus identified with us in baptism, than He was led straight into the desert by the Spirit – to face the same vicious enemy who had once brought Adam down and was now eager to do the same to Him. Though he didn’t mind waiting another forty days while Jesus fasted, growing steadily weaker.
Most of us know the story well. Despite using one tactic after another on a weakened and vulnerable Jesus, the devil failed miserably to trap Him into disobeying His Father. Yet, I caution you against thinking (as some Christians do) that Satan’s attempts were doomed to fail all along. Not only was it possible for the devil to bring Jesus down. It had to be possible! Otherwise, that entire scenario in the desert would have been nothing more than a charade with a guaranteed outcome.
But it was no charade, and the outcome was entirely dependent on Jesus succeeding where Adam failed. Had Jesus not been able to sin, His coming into this world to identify with each of us and lay down His life as a sacrifice for our sins would have been nothing more than a farce. How could Jesus have been a substitute for me and my sin, if He had been incapable of sinning?
The sole reason why Jesus did not sin throughout His earthly life was because He chose not to. And that’s the real point for you and me. “[He] has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin”. (Hebrews 4:15)
The devil’s fatal flaw lay in his self-deceit. He refused to believe that Jesus the man, by His own free choice, could possibly have just one overriding purpose: “I have come to do your will, O God”. While Satan was all about himself, Jesus was all about His Father. And therein lies the devil’s blind spot – having long ago rebelled against God and making himself God’s arch-enemy, Satan hates it when anyone, anywhere, anytime ever wants to please God … let alone love Him with their whole being!
Having failed to bring down Jesus, “…the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” What a beautiful picture those words paint! How longingly, how eagerly, those angels must have waited as that drama between Jesus and the devil unfolded! How desperately they must have wanted to be there for him. Yet they could not lift a finger … because it had to be His victory! So imagine their joy, the moment the devil had skulked away dejected, and they could lavish the Father’s love on His faithful Son!
Jesus was now ready for what lay ahead of Him. It’s thrilling to read how the same Spirit who had led Him into the desert for that testing-time, was now with Him in a different way. “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit”. As a weak man of flesh and blood, with nothing but His personal resolve to only do God’s will, He had succeeded where Adam had failed. Now, He was equipped and ready to free the devil’s captives by the power of God’s Spirit.
Of course, the devil still continued to oppose Jesus throughout his ministry … just as he will oppose you in your choices to live for God and not for yourself. In fact, the more passionate and determined you are for God, the more Satan will seek to hinder and frustrate you. Yet, you must never take your eyes off God or allow yourself to be diverted from living for Him. The devil is the master of distraction – because he hates you being focused on God, and he also craves your attention.
When I was a young Christian, we used to joke about people saying: “the devil made me do it” as a handy excuse for having done something we should not have or neglecting to do something we should have. But there was a serious side to that too … as there still is.
There is no doubt about who the devil is, what he is capable of, and how actively he seeks to frustrate God’s purposes and oppose those who set out to do God’s will. It’s not a matter of whether or not the devil is behind something that goes wrong or creates problems and even inflicts harm. We simply need to understand that, even though he is God’s enemy, the devil does not have the ability to directly attack Him. So, his prime targets will always be those who are closest to God. The real issue for us, is how we handle his attempts to prevent us from doing God’s will.
Jesus never kept even one eye on the devil, let alone two! Even though He knew that his own, wilderness encounter with Satan was nowhere near the end of the story – and that His enemy was ever seeking fresh opportunities to act against Him – Jesus remained totally focused on doing His Father’s will. He never took His eyes off God to check on what the devil was up to … and He never, ever, gave Satan the attention he craved. The devil lusts after worship, glory and praise – yet deserves none!
As for us, all of the praise, honour and glory we are capable of giving, belongs to God. So let Satan gnash his teeth in anguish, in frustration and in the utmost jealousy … while we worship our God with all that is within us!
There is, however, one particular tactic of the devil that I need to highlight here. It is subtle, it can seem virtuous, it has a certain human appeal … and our enemy is accomplished in drawing us into it. In a word, it is compromise. Satan knows how to slip it into a situation in such a way that seems eminently reasonable … while making you look stubborn and unreasonable if you don’t go along with it. But make no mistake, compromise is the devil’s language – even when it appears to be the most reasonable, plausible, course of action.
In today’s society, absolutes are out, and moral pluralism and relativism are in. Yet God, who does not change, continues to beabsolute in His nature and in all His ways. And His absoluteness is reflected throughout Creation: in light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong, sin and righteousness, truth and lies, life and death.
Just as light and darkness cannot co-exist in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual world. “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
There is no compromise in those penetrating words. For each of us, true relationship with God can only exist when we walk with Him in the light of His presence. Likewise, we only have true fellowship with one another when we are living and walking together in God’s light. The safest place for you to live … the only place you should want to live … is right there, in the light of God’s wonderful presence, where there is no darkness, no shadows … no compromise!
Don’t settle for a life of shadows and grey areas. It can be tempting, at times, to drift in and out of that penetrating light – despite what you know in your heart, and contrary to what you really want. Yet God’s Spirit, who knows you through and through, will firmly convict you of sin while never condemning you. He will let you know when you are not where you should be, and/or doing what you should not be doing. He will show you where you have gone your own way and point you back to where you should be.
The devil, on the other hand, takes great delight in heaping condemnation upon you. He will bring temptation across your path and mercilessly exploit any wrong motives or selfish desires. He knows your weaknesses and, once he has your attention, will use them to lead you into sin.
What is sin? It is anything offensive to God – and while the Holy Spirit will always point you away from it, the devil takes great delight in leading you right into it! He cannot actually make you sin, but temptation is his speciality, and he knows with deadly accuracy how to make you that ‘offer you can’t refuse’. Then, having succeeded in getting you to sin, he will begin heaping condemnation on you – like telling you what a miserable failure you are, and that you don’t have what it takes to live for God.
At the same time, the Holy Spirit against whom you’ve sinned will be right there saying: “I have made a way out of this. Turn back to God, take full responsibility for what you’ve done (the devil did not make you do it), and experience the ‘godly sorrow that leads to repentance’.” Jesus died for your sins to make a way back to God for you … if you will take it.
All of which is truly wonderful. Yet I also want to emphasise here that you don’t ever need to sin! Yes, even though Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and His blood will always cleanse us from our sins if we turn to Him, sin is not inevitable. I will go even further and say we should not expect to sin. Does that seem idealistic or extreme to you?
The apostle John wrote: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 1:1). John was writing about if we sin, not when we sin. If you are one of God’s children, His desire for you is that you do not sin.
Yes, for as long as we are in these mortal bodies, sin will always be a possibility. Were it not so, the devil would have been wasting his time tempting Jesus … and neither would he keep on tempting you! Nevertheless, for those who belong to God, sin is not inevitable.
I am so thankful to God that He has made the way for me to always be forgiven and to restore my relationship with Him. But I thank Him also for the gift of His Spirit – the life of God within me that is able to keep me from sinning … unless I choose otherwise!
That's what you’d call a ‘win-win’ situation. As a born-again child of God, you need never sin. Yet if you do sin but then take full responsibility for it and repent before God, He will forgive you for Jesus’ sake. That’s God’s way of frustrating Satan’s evil intentions, for as long as you live!
The day is soon coming when the prince of this world will be completely deposed and finally destroyed. In the meantime, you must never give any room to him, nor allow yourself to be deceived by him. And do not be so foolish as to believe that you need ever be at his mercy in any situation.
“Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)