July 17 I Tuesday

Psalms 18-19

Acts 20:17-38

“Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour. So I threw you to the earth…”  —Ezekiel 28:17

There are Christians who dismiss the devil as simply being symbolic of evil or all together non-existent. This is contrary to Scripture, which speaks of Satan as a living, active being with a mind, a will and emotions. Twenty-six books of the Bible mention him, and Jesus speaks of him on 15 occasions. To doubt or firmly disbelieve in the existence of Satan is to leave ourselves open to huge delusion and extremely vulnerable to satanic attack.

This raises the question: Why would a good God create an evil devil? The simple answer is that God did not create an evil devil. What God created was a beautiful angel who surpassed the beauty of all other angelic beings. Ezekiel 28 says of him, “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty…. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you…. You were blameless in all your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:12-15).

Isaiah calls Satan the “morning star” (Isaiah 14:12), which translated in Hebrew means “Lucifer.” He writes of Satan, “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly…. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Satan’s agenda was to be like God. Each of these “I will” statements reveals Satan’s ambition is up, up, up.

Satan is the originator of pride, the most subtle and dangerous of sins. He tried to push himself up, but God pushed him down. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Revelation 12:9 says, “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” Verse four tells us his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth. These are most likely the angels who joined Satan in his rebellion and were hurled down to earth with him.

God did not create robotic angels any more than He created robotic people. There is a domain of fallen angels under Satan’s control, whose primary interest is to drive the will of people to live at enmity with God. Satanic attack against a Christian is an attack against God, but it is a battle already won through the death and resurrection of Christ. Rooted in the power of Christ, we step on the side of victory, prepared and equipped to take our stand against the devil’s schemes.

Prayer: Almighty God, I know Satan is the most cunning foe of all time.  Keep me alert in recognizing satanic attack and equipped to stand against his schemes. Thank You, Lord.