Revelation 12:7,9—And there was war in heaven…The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Read todays devotion, Satan: The Deceiver Undone, from Where in the World is God?, a devotion book for any soul touched by adversity, discouragement, or fear. You and I get used to evil. We are accustomed to living in a fallen world, so we take sin and all its consequences for granted. Like fish living in a foul, polluted river, we assume that evil is simply part and parcel of living in this world. But evil was never part of God’s original creation. All was good and perfect, both among the people of earth and among the angels in heaven. But war broke out in heaven because Satan was not content to be a servant of God; he wanted to be like God himself. So he led a civil war among the angels. All of this was the prelude to the fall of our first parents when the devil succeeded in luring first Eve and then Adam to follow him. Both ate of the forbidden fruit of Eden and in so doing brought sin into the world and death by sin. Thus in Adam all die. Death was the cruel hoax foisted upon God’s perfect creation through the insurrection of the devil. We must learn two things about Satan. The first is that the devil is a real and powerful enemy. He is mighty, though not almighty like God. The second is that the devil, thrown down to earth, is the sworn enemy of God and of the kingdom of God. The devil specializes in spoiling the creation of God. He seduces the faithful into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Nothing delights the devil more than undermining God’s kingdom, the church. That is why our Lord Jesus taught us to pray that our heavenly Father would not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil—or more precisely, the evil one. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, it is true, but against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Yet the cosmic battle has been won. Neither Satan, an angel gone horribly bad, nor his demonic hordes have any ultimate power to destroy. Now have come the salvation and the power of the kingdom of our God—and the authority of his Christ. God’s almighty power has gained the victory over Satan and his angels. God’s victory came in an unexpected way. God punished his Son for the sins of all the world and crushed the power of Satan with a triumphant resurrection. Christ even descended into hell and returned in order to demonstrate the end of Satan’s power. By his cross and resurrection, Jesus Christ has undone all the power of the devil to destroy. Our Lord has demolished death, defeated the devil, and conquered all the forces of hell itself. In our Lord’s precious Word and sacraments, we have our share in the victory yet to come. Satan is beaten down, and the kingdom of God advances against the kingdom of the devil. Already now in the forgiveness of our sins, we have, by faith, what we shall one day enjoy face-to-face: the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Prayer: Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.—Martin Luther From Where in the World is God?, by Harold L. Senkbeil © 1999 Northwestern
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 01:30:00 +0000