But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
cunning, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. – 2Co 11:3.
The Devil goes by several titles in scripture: Adversary, Beelzebub, Belial,
Great Red Dragon, the tempter, Satan, etc. But the first introduction we have
of him is in the Garden of Eden: as a sleek, beguiling Serpent.
Satan is a defeated foe. When our Lord Jesus died on the Cross and
resurrected, he destroyed all the works of the devil (1Jn 3:8). Col 2:15 says
that Jesus “ defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the
cross he won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless
prisoners for the whole world to see.” (ERV).
He, however, is a sore loser. Defeated and vanquished as he is, he still
manages to run a massive and successful PR campaign from his infernal
headquarters that launders his image and magnifies his powers.
There’re many impressions that even believers have of the Devil that
have no basis in scripture but have come through centuries of distortions of
the truth.
One of these is the thought that Jesus died for our sins to pay the
devil our debt! Another way it reads is that, if Jesus didn’t take our
punishment, the devil would cry foul if God allowed us to enter heaven.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The Cross transaction was
solely between Jesus and the Father on our behalf. It has nothing to do with any
perceived squabble of the devil.
The Debt Jesus paid on the Cross was the sin-debt that we owe TO GOD
and not to the devil.
Our sin indebtedness is to God; and Jesus most definitely did not go to
Hell to be tortured by the devil for our sins. Many Christians hold this
opinion even its origins are outside of Scripture.
Okay, so the Bible
says that Jesus went to Hell to STRIP the devil of all his powers and make a
public spectacle out of him, ( Luk 10:18; Joh 12:31; Col 2:15; Heb 2:14). But
somehow, the devil has managed to change that picture to him TORTURING Jesus in
Hell (ostensibly) for our sins! Talk about a PR facelift.
Beloved, if the
Apostle Paul was concerned the Early Church was susceptible to Satan’s
deception, then we too need to be on guard and “Put on the whole armour of God,
that (we) may be able to stand against THE WILES of the devil”, (Eph 6:11).
AMEN.
More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.
GREG ELKAN
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