May 23, 2023
The Enemy At Work
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
John 8:44-47 (NASB)
Years ago a house underwent the eviction process. After it was vacated, the realtor contacted the Sheriffs Office after noticing disturbing things inside the residence. When I arrived, I met the realtor. She was afraid to go inside the home. I went inside and discovered a dedicated satanic altar in a bedroom. A satanic image was in the center of the altar. The carpeted room had a five-pointed star. Candle wax was melted on the floor. The words murder, and kill were also written in blood red on the walls. When I asked the realtor about the previous resident, she said there was a teenage boy living there. The resident’ son was a troubled boy. What was so disturbing was not knowing the location of the family. As I left that day I prayed and asked God to reveal the truth to the boy one day. Satan was destroying this young boy’s life.
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.” What Jesus said to the Jews here is only what He shared more obscurely in the past. Satan was using the Jews to destroy Jesus. It was Satan who desired to destroy all God’s work. Revelation 12:9 tells us Satan is the one who leads the world astray. He leads it to destruction, but one day he will face his demise. “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Satan was actively deceiving the Jews to accomplish his purposes. “He was a murderer from the beginning…” and now he was about to use the Jews to try to murder Christ. “Christ says their father is ‘a murderer,’ and murder flows out of deceit. Satan is above all things ‘a liar,’ and the Lord was saying that those who follow the devil are characterized by deceit. They deceive themselves about their own hearts. They deceive themselves about life. They deceive themselves about Christ. They deceive themselves about God. They deceive themselves about the way of salvation. But the ultimate deception is to imagine you are a child of God when you are not.”[1]
What is frightening about these passages is the silent and quiet way Satan is working in the background. The Jews do not even recognize the enemy at work. They had the Word of God, but did not implement it into their lives. If they had seen the enemy’s ploys, they would have been better equipped to address it. It began by recognizing Jesus as the Son of God. Today, the enemy is silently working. He is in the shadows. You would never know it unless you saw it. If I had not walked into the house that day, I would have never known the enemy was being worshipped in my area. Satan had his plan written all over the wall in that boy’s bedroom… “murder,” and “kill.” Thank God Christians have the Holy Spirit to help us recognize the enemy. We also have the Word of God who shines light in darkest areas, like that bedroom.
[1] R. Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 254.