JESUS CAME TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL!
Luke 8:28: “As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, ‘Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!’”
Say it with me: “What I see and hear when demons meet Jesus and scream out in terror in Scripture should make me never live in fear of them again in my life because the actual truth is demons are scared to death of my God!” “They are scared out of their mind of my Savior!!”
- • Your Savior, the One who declared and still declares He loves you so much that he would allow himself to be crucified to pay the penalty for your sins.
- • The One who loves you so much that after dying and then rising from the dead to forgive you and cleanse you, he would then send his own Holy Spirit to indwell you to transform us from the inside out!
- • That One who loves you so much that he longs to spend all of eternity communing with you.
That Savior’s very presence caused the minions of satan to quiver in terror – every single time!
And here’s why! Listen to the tortured screams coming out of the demoniac:
Luke 8:28: “As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, ‘Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don’t torture me!’”
- • There are people sitting in churches all over the world who (even though they are occupying a church seat) will deny that Jesus is divine!
- • They will swear (on a stack of Bibles) that Jesus was just a good man with some particularly wise things to say about loving everybody, being tolerant of everybody, and treating others the way you want to be treated.
- • “But let’s not go all nuts,” they will say, “and make Jesus out to be incarnate God, here on earth in a human body.”
In direct contrast, the demons clearly believed Jesus was Sovereign! They believed, without question, that he had complete authority and that authority extended over them!
So, for those who don’t believe the Bible means exactly what it seems to be saying, I can assure you that satan and his demons do!
Even the demons End-Times view thoroughly assumes a returning Christ and a coming judgment over sin and satan. Watch this:
Matthew 8:29: “‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’”
Luke 8:31: “And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.”
Again, what “theology” are these God-hating demons pointing to that eventually arrives through the pen of the Apostle John in inspired Scripture?
Revelation 20:1-2,10: “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:10 then says satan gets out briefly to gather those who still reject Jesus during the 1000 year Millenium.) “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Based on what the demons are saying, they already know that they will also be in the lake of fire with satan forever. Notice, the demons believe their total destruction is still a “future event.” They obviously believe Revelation 20 more firmly than many Christians do!
- • Demons apparently know, and believe, that the Bible says Jesus’ coming would bring an eternal kingdom which would forever wipe out their kingdom. But they had the same problem as the first century Jews: They didn’t understand that Jesus was going to come twice!
- • In Jesus’ First Coming he would pay our sin debt, but in His Second Coming he would set up an Everlasting Kingdom, and all the Redeemed Saints (us) will forever reign with Him!
________________________________
The point is; the evil one, the one we often see as an almost insurmountable adversary,
- • one single word from our Savior’s mouth,
- • the same Savior who satan knows that John 1 says was the Creator of the Universe,
- • the same Savior who one of these days is going to become the Sovereign Judge of the Universe!
- • One word from that Savior’s mouth, and our “powerful” adversary turns into a quivering ball of terror!
God needs to change the picture in the minds of his Church, from us cowering in front of satan, to seeing satan cowering in front of our Savior!
