Having seen what the scriptures say about Satan and his works in the previous articles of the series (overcoming the strategies of Satan), it is obvious that the evil prevailing in the world is his handiwork. But because of the way he operates, sometimes we accuse God of Satan’s activities. On many occasions, we have blamed God over some mishaps that happened to us. We say, if God is not responsible, why did he allow it to happen? But can God inflict evil on us? Or does he derive joy in our pain?
We saw in the scriptures in the Bible some names of Satan such as:
- the ruler of this world (Jn.12:31),
- the evil one (matt.13:19),
- the enemy of humanity (matt.13:39)
- the murderer (Jn. 8:44)
- the god of this age (2 Cor.4:4)
When you know someone with a questionable character in your house, and something get missing won’t you suspect him? Would you suspect an innocent person? If Satan is called those names do we need a prophet to tell us who is responsible for evil in the world?
I think we must take time and know more about the God we serve so that Satan does not take advantage of our ignorance and make our lives miserable.
Meanwhile, as a reminder, the topics earlier talked about are :
Now, this is what the Bible says about God.
What the Bible says about God
Now, here are some scriptures that reveal the nature of God,
“Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us:
He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” 1Jn.4:8-10.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Rom.5:8.
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him graciously give us all things”? Rom. 8:32.
From the above scriptures, we see that God is love, and he demonstrated it by giving up his only Son as a sacrifice for our sins. If God loved us while we were yet sinners, how much more do you think he would love us now (believers in his Son Jesus Christ)? Would he do us both good and evil?
But sometimes we say God’s ways are not our ways so God can do anything he wills (Isa.55:88). Jesus said if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more do we expect of God? (Matt.7:12).And in Jer.29:11, God said he knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us; plans to give us hope and a future. There are many other scriptures in the Bible that talked about God’s love and care for those who love him.
Now, this is how God fulfilled his plans for us through his Son, Jesus Christ:
Jesus took our punishment (death sentence) upon himself
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Rom.6:23.
“For Christ also suffered for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” 1 Pet.3:18.
“We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” Isa.53:6.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed” 1Pet.2:24.
“He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” Matt.8:17.
What can be assured as those scriptures above? The punishment that was passed against us, Jesus took it upon himself and declared us righteous before God. Not that we deserve it, but it is purely the grace of God. He made his Son who knew no sin to become sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor.5:21). The time we accepted Jesus as our Lord, God filled us with the Holy Spirit; and that qualified us to be righteous.
We know that we are still humans and we do commit sin, but Jesus has already received the punishment on our behalf. When we sin, all we need to do is to confess it to God, and he would forgive us. The scripture says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”1Jn.1:9. So, don’t give the devil room to condemn you; stand by what Jesus has done for you.
He became a curse for us
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole” Gal.3:13
‘Having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us, he has taken it away; nailing it to the cross” Col.2:14
“Such a high priest truly meets our need; one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above heavens.
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.
He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” Heb.7:26-27
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” 2Cor.5:21.
On many occasions, we’ve referred to Duet.28 in regard to blessings and curses whenever we have some mishaps. We saw it is possible we sin and have attracted the curse of God, as specified in that book of the Bible. But the above scriptures revealed that we are no longer under the curse of the law; Jesus has redeemed us. It was sin that brought a curse, and Jesus gave his blood sacrifice once and for all, as a ransom for our sins. Now that our sins have been fully paid for, what would the curse stand for?
He delivered us from the devil (Satan)
“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son of his love” Col.1:13
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is the devil-
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death” Heb.2:14-15
“The one who has been sinning is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work”1Jn.3:8.
Glory to God, Satan has no hold on us; Jesus has destroyed his works and power over us. We are no longer under his dominion; we are under the kingdom of Christ. But if we are ignorant of those facts he takes advantage of it; and we become fearful of the evil that is going on in the world.
The mistake we make always is, we expect this world that is corrupted with evil to be peaceful; it can never be because Satan is the ruler (Jn.12:31). I can almost hear you thinking, “Then what do we do”? We have been given power in the name of Jesus to cast out demons and every evil that comes against us (Mk 16:15-18). And we are also commanded to resist the devil and he would flee from us(Jm.4:7).
Child of God, Jesus has paid in full whatever was against us and disarmed Satan’s power over us. “Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing in it”.Col.2:15
So all we need to do is to remain steadfast in our faith and resist the devil(1Pet.5:8-9), and nothing would intimidate us.
Expect the next post titled, the identity we have in Christ.
Sarah says
I am glad you have been edified.