This morning I am contemplating the mystery of why satan thought he could kill the son of God. This is a true mystery. He knew who God was. He had spent untold years serving the Father, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. He knew first hand the power and authority the Triune God has. He had been a witness to the creation of the world as well as mankind.
Satan was angry when he realized God had plans to create Mankind. He had been accustomed to being in the closest proximity of God. He didn’t understand why God should create man nor did he want him to do so. He resented Mankind and became the enemy of mankind when he rebelled against God. Another mystery, at least to me, is how is it that mankind actually lives. What defines the fine line between death and life? The spirit of a person is eternal. God made us in his image. God is eternal. This is where the mystery of this confusion on satan’s part perplexes me. How did he think that when Jesus came to the earth as a human, that he could stop Jesus from his purpose by killing him? Obviously he didn’t really understand WHY Jesus came to the earth nor HOW he could redeem mankind. He knew Jesus is eternal. How do you stop Eternal existence? Satan is a created being. Why would he think he could affect the ETERNITY or the authority of the one who created him?
When God creates a person, he places a spirit that He created into the person’s body. That spirit is the life of the person. This newly created person is an eternal being spiritually. When the person’s body, or tent, dies and is no longer able to house the spirit; the spirit returns to the Father if the person lived as a believer that Jesus bore his sins and redeemed him in the eyes of the Father. Even in death a person continues to live with the Father.
When Jesus came to the earth, He entered into the newly forming physical body He created. He didn’t simply cease to exist as the Spiritual person He has always been. He just put on a temporary cloak of a body. There are so many ways that I could go with this about the wonders of what Jesus did for us while he walked on this earth but this isn’t my purpose. We are entering the season of celebrating the event of when Jesus came to the earth. He had an important reason and His intention was redemption for his creation, mankind.
So this is where I come to the question of what was satan thinking? Eternal Being housed in a temporary structure of a mankind body. Did he really think that by destroying the structure that housed the spirit of the Eternal, he would destroy that identity, power and authority of the eternal being of who Jesus is? Even a man or woman living on the earth, when their body ceases to exit, the eternal spirit goes on. How much more so, the creator of all spirits?
In the natural, I ponder what the people living around Jesus thought. They witness the miraculous that Jesus did. They saw Him raise the dead to life again. They witness him healing eyes that were blind. The list goes on. How did His enemies who saw these miracles, actually think they could destroy the one that had authority over even the dead? If Jesus hadn’t had a purpose in laying down his life for mankind, there is no way that mere man could have taken his physical body.
If satan had really thought about what Jesus was planing, he wouldn’t have touched him. He knew that by killing the physical body, the Spiritual life would be released. What did he think the Spirit of God would do when it came out of the temporary housing He had chosen? Obviously he didn’t consider the effect of the Spirit of Jesus would have on him. Nor did he understand that this was the reason Jesus allowed himself to be physically destroyed. Satan basically invited the Spirit of the Eternal one into his kingdom, thinking he could imprison Him. In His zeal and excitement, He failed to remember that Jesus was HIS creator and still had all the power He has always had. It was to satan’s destruction. Jesus became the Trojan Horse.
This is my pondering this morning. I think it is too easy to underestimate who Jesus really is. We tend to be too complacent and familiar with the Holy One. We also forget the power, authority and majesty of who the Holy One is. Just because we don’t see him physically doesn’t diminish his existence or authority. We think we know Him. We know he is loving and we have become too causal with our presumptions just as satan did. It can be to our detriment. He isn’t a pocket God that you pull out when you need God to do something or change something in your life. While God’s nature is loving, it is also JUST. He is God of Justice and we would be wise to remember that. The ultimate Judge of our lives will some day decree from his throne where we will spend that eternity of life he has given us. It would be wise to remember, before we make assumptions, that God is not a man. He is Holy. He is to be feared and reverenced as well as loved. God is Good. He loves his creation. But He will not be mocked. Woe to anyone who thinks they can outsmart God. His purposes and plans ultimately will prevail.