Friday, January 24, 2014
Luke 8:31-33 Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.
PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE
In the 1930s, gangster John Dillinger was labeled as "Public Enemy Number One." In more recent times, Osama Bid Laden was considered America's worst enemy.
The believer in Christ recognizes a far more sinister enemy than any mortal man. Satan is our old evil foe, against whose power and cunning we are no match.
What comfort we find, then, in a passage like the one above, which shows our Jesus going toe to toe against hell's legions and coming out on top. We belong to Him who is stronger than Satan.
We see Jesus' ultimate power over the Prince of this World at the cross and the empty tomb. It is here that the Serpent's head is crushed. It is here where Satan loses his power to accuse us of sin and demand our eternal condemnation. Easter morning announces the downfall of Satan's kingdom, proclaiming victory over sin, death, and hell for all people. Satan can rant and rave all he wants, but he cannot change the fact that "whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved."
Satan continues to be an enemy we dare not take lightly. But as we stand with the One Who defeated him, remaining steadfast in His Word of Life and Salvation, we can shout with Luther:
Though devils all the world should fill, All eager to devour us.
We tremble not, we fear no ill, They shall not overpower us.
This world's prince may still Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none, He's judged; the deed is done;
One little word can fell him.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 262:3)
