HERE IS ANOTHER EXCERPT FROM -GIVING THE DEVIL HIS DUE....page 157 Chapter Two The D in the Devil is for Destroyer In studying and doing some research for this little book, I found some very good and informative articles and sermons on the subject of the Devil. Most of those sermons and articles dealt mostly with what the Devil does, more than with what and who he is. In one particular sermon, I recall the writer commenting upon several things the Devil wants to do. One of those things, of course, I have already mentioned – that of dividing. But at the end of every article and sermon this writer has read, every writer ended his article or sermon with the same word – the word “destroy”. In other words, all of them agreed that the one thing the Devil wants to do more than any other is to destroy. Everything else he does is secondary to his insatiable desire to destroy anything and everything that has anything to do with the name and glory of Jesus Christ. Some other things this writer could add that the Devil loves to do are to distract, to disturb, to diminish, to demoralize, to demean, to devastate, to depress, to depreciate, to debilitate, to degrade, and to dehumanize. With only these few verbs at our disposal, we could write another book about what the Devil does. But all of these things are only minor components, or slender strands in the massive rope which the Devil wants to tighten around the necks of his victims. And when the Devil begins to destroy, he may begin by first doing any one of the things I have mentioned above. But regardless of what he uses, or how long he uses it, he always has one ultimate goal in mind – to destroy. Those whom the Devil destroys do not realize at first that it is the Devil who is trying to destroy them. Most never realize it until it is too late to recover or to be recovered from his grasp. Before proceeding with this chapter, we must again pause, and differentiate between the Biblical definitions of the terms destroy and destroyer, as opposed to the common definitions of these terms. In the common use of the term destroy, we tend to think of total destruction, or annihilation of an object or person. In the Scriptures, however, the term destroy, when applied to the soul or spirit of man, never means total annihilation. We must also differentiate between the common definition and the Biblical definition of the term destroyer. I greatly fear that this term is far too often miss-applied by students and scholars alike. In the common definition of the term destroyer, we simply think of a person or thing that destroys someone or something else. But again, in the Scriptures, this term carries a slightly different meaning than that which is given in the dictionary. A good illustration of the meaning of the term destroyer can be seen in the use of a certain ship, used by navies to destroy other ships or submarines. In the dictionary this ship is defined as: A small, fast, highly maneuverable warship armed with 3-inch or 5-inch guns, depth charges, and torpedoes, etc. The design and purpose of this kind of ship is to destroy other vessels – to render them utterly useless, powerless, and of absolutely no value to their creator or owner. The destroyer is designed to inflict such damage to the vessel being destroyed that it can never be salvaged, recovered, restored or put into use again. In other words, it has now become a total loss to whoever manufactured it. Its disintegrated parts will sink into the darkness of the ocean, and lie there, useless and forgotten, and of no benefit to anyone forever thereafter. It could be said of the vessel that it was destroyed. But in its destruction, it was not annihilated. Its disintegrated parts still exist – somewhere. And so it is in the destruction of a person – a soul. The thief , the Devil, cometh not, but for to kill, and to steal, and to destroy. The design, the purpose of the Devil, is to render a soul useless, powerless, and of absolutely no value to its Creator, to inflict such damage that the vessel, the person, the soul can never be salvaged, recovered, restored or put to use again, a total loss to its Creator and owner. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ meant when He said: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul (Mark 8:36-37)? What, then, does it mean to lose one’s soul? Or what do we mean when we say that a soul has been destroyed? Negatively speaking, it does not mean the soul is annihilated. It does not mean the soul ceases to exist when absent from the body. The soul of man - every soul that has ever existed or ever will exist, once created, never ceases to exist. It is everlasting. If the reader will please notice the words of our Lord in the two verses above, (Mark 8:36-37) there is something that catches the eye of the observant and diligent student of Scripture. It must be noted that it is the man (or woman) who loses his own soul – it is not God who loses a man’s soul, it is the man himself who loses his soul. Far too often, our blessed Lord is accused of things He does not do. I have often heard men say that God Himself has destroyed, and will destroy the souls of men in the fires of Hell. This is a false accusation, and an insult, a slander in the face of the most Holy God. God does not destroy the souls of men - He saves the souls of men. It is a simple matter of either failing, or neglecting to rightly divide the word of truth that leads men to such false accusations against God. Taking a singe verse, or a single word within a verse out of context has always been, is now, and will forever be one of the most damaging and damning practices into which men allow themselves to fall. One of the many deadly traps into which men fall (traps that are set and baited by the Devil himself,) is that of isolating certain words, verses or passages of Scripture, and interpreting the meaning of them in light of that which we see immediately in front of us, failing or neglecting to compare Scripture with Scripture. To simplify the matter of losing one’s soul, (since men love to play the blame game,) it must be asked – who is to blame if a soul is lost? Is God the one to blame? Is the Devil the one to blame? Is someone else other than the man himself to blame? Or is it the man himself? Or, to put it another way – Who is the destroyer of the souls of men? The answer is in The Book! In the parable of the wicked husbandmen, found in the Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Lord Jesus, being in the temple, and addressing the chief priests and elders, after relating the parable itself to them, asks a question in Matthew 21:40…When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? Please notice the answer of the chief priests and elders in verse 41 – They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. If we isolate the words of the chief priests and elders, without reading further, it is highly likely that most would interpret their words to mean that when the Lord comes to judge the world, He will destroy all the wicked men of the earth. But if we read further, and listen to the words of Jesus Himself – Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in or eyes? Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Of course the chief priests and elders had read those Scriptures, over and over and over again. They had read them, but they had not understood them. And having failed to understand the Scriptures, they came away with their own private interpretation of the Scriptures. They believed that someday in the future, God Himself would destroy certain men. But in the words of Christ Himself, He identifies Himself – not as a destroyer of men, but as the Savior of men.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:35:29 +0000
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