God makes Satan's temptations the courier of His love to the saints. The devil thought he had the game in his own hands when he got Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. He supposed he now had man in the same predicament as himself. But did he catch God by surprise? Of course not! God knew the outcome before the match was ever begun and used Satan's temptation to usher in that great gospel plot of saving man by Christ. At God's command, Christ undertook the charge of wrestling His fallen creatures from Satan's clutches and reinstating them to their original glory, with access to more than they ever had at first.
And what did Satan get for all the energy he spent on Job, but to let that holy man know at last how dearly God loved him? When he foiled Peter so shamefully, do we not find Christ claiming Peter with as much love as ever? Peter was the only disciple to whom Christ sent the joyful news of His resurrection by name-- as if He had said, "Be sure to comfort Peter with this news. I want him to know I am still his friend, despite his cowardice." God never condones wickedness in His saints, but He does pity their weakness. He never sees a saint in mourning without planning to clothe him in the sunlight of His love and mercy.
God can, in fact, use His saints' failures to strengthen their faith, which, like a tree, stands stronger for the shaking. Times of testing expose the heart's true condition. False faith, once foiled, seldom comes on again; but true faith rises and fights more valiantly, as we see in Peter. Temptation is to faith as fire is to gold 2 peter 1:7. The fire not only reveals which is true gold, but makes the true gold more pure. It comes out less in bulk, being separated from the dross that was mixed with it, but is greater in quality and value."
'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.'(1 Peter 1:3-7 ESV)
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell. http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
2 comments:
I like this post very much. It reminded me of a discussion in our doctrine/theology class. The conversation was about the existence of angels and demons (including Satan) out of a lecture on the doctrine of sin. The current trend, I might be wrong on this, among some neo-Evangelicals/Orthodox like Barth and Bonhoeffer is not to believe in their existence, as our theology professor (to be unnamed), but to interpret the mention of such beings in the Bible as only the representations of all human good or evil.
I come from a conservative background and I do believe in the existence of the devil and the angels.
- What might be the dangers if one does not believe in the existence of such beings?
- Whether they exist or not, humans still had to deal with the problem of sin. Blaming the devil and the fallen angels for sin does not solve any of the problems related to sin. Those who do not believe in the existence can still live a Christian life that challenges the world to respond to Jesus. Does believe in their existence matter in eternity?
What do you think?
It is obvious from the Bible OT and NT that Lucifer, now called satan and 1/3 of the angels in heaven rebelled and were cast out thus becoming the demonic powers spoken of in Ephesians 6:12.
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