Sometimes I just have to wonder
about Satan. He’s been in the presence of the Almighty God. He watched as the
Creator literally spoke planets and stars into creation with no exhaustion of
the Lord’s power. He saw God’s glory and power and majesty firsthand. And yet.
. . he rebelled. As best as we can tell, sometime near the Beginning of time he
conspired against the Maker of All and gathered around himself some followers
from among the other angels. He led some sort of open mutiny against the Lord,
and was cast out of Heaven. Now think about this: The One he initiated a war
against is Omnipotent (meaning he can destroy you with a thought), he’s
omniscient (meaning that any scheme you come up with, he knows it beforehand),
and he’s omnipresent (meaning there’s no hiding from him). Again, I have to ask—what
was he thinking?
How foolish was/is he to do this?
Well, take a look at today’s passage. I have to set the scene for you first.
As Paul was writing this letter, he
was a prisoner of Rome, which was where we left him at the end of the book of Acts.
Officially he was under “house arrest,” so his conditions weren’t nearly as bad
as they would be in a Roman prison. But they were bad enough: He certainly couldn’t
leave and go where he wanted, and it’s very likely a Roman guard was chained to
him 24-7 to make sure he didn’t try to escape. He couldn’t go proclaiming the
Message about the Messiah in synagogues or talking to pagans in the open
marketplace about their need for Christ. He didn’t come to Rome to sit in a
house, no matter how many comforts it had. He came to proclaim
Christ to those who didn’t know him and to mutually
encourage his fellow believers.
But the Enemy had other plans for
him. Moving through his servants, the moment Paul entered Jerusalem, Satan incited
a riot against Paul and had him arrested in order to keep him from spreading
this “Good News,” this Message which was eating through his kingdom like a
flame through dry kindling, and which was stealing men’s souls (which he
considered his property). He had to have this useful servant of his most hated
Enemy shut up, preferably permanently.
Now read today’s passage again. How
had Satan’s plans worked out? Were they pretty effective? How’s about slightly effective? Or maybe a small
hindrance?
No.
Paul said that his present
circumstances had worked out to advance the gospel. Satan’s plans
and schemes had actually turned out to be quite
effective. . . in advancing the Good News of Jesus Christ. How so?
Number one, his guards had noticed
something. Undoubtedly they’d guarded lots of prisoners before now. But this one
was different. No matter what was happening to him, this prisoner radiated joy
and peace and thankfulness. Keep in mind that years earlier when Paul had been beaten
severely, placed in stocks in the bottom of a dark dungeon, and was expecting
to be executed at any time, his reaction
was to sing praises to his Savior God. That’s
the type of man these hard-bitten Roman soldiers were encountering, and a lot
of them. . . had placed their faith in the Jesus that Paul was preaching. They
thought that he was a prisoner of them, and his reaction was “That’s wonderful!
A captive audience! They think I’m locked here with them, and really they’re locked in here with me!”
Consider the possibilities of this.
A Roman soldier, becoming a follower of Jesus? From guarding Paul he could be
shipped off anywhere in the Empire, which encompassed the entire known world.
Presto, a new-born missionary sent off to share Christ in other lands, at the
Empire’s expense!
And that’s not all. There’s a second
effect listed in today’s passage. Because of Paul’s reaction to his situation, his
fellow believers in Rome and elsewhere were encouraged and challenged! They could see Paul’s trust in his Lord in
these harsh conditions, and they were challenged/encouraged to trust the Lord more
implicitly themselves! Specifically they were encouraged and challenged to
share the Message of Christ more boldly everywhere they could!
Remember Paul’s goals? He wanted to
1) Get the Message of Christ out to people who didn’t know about the Savior
yet, and 2) Encourage and challenge his fellow believers. Done! And far more
effectively than he’d planned or hoped.
Ponder
this. We’ve been over it before: God does not accomplish his purposes despite
Satan’s strongest efforts, but because of them. He doesn’t just
overcome the Adversary’s power with power of his own. As wonderful as that is,
he often does much better than that. He uses the Enemy’s own power and schemes
to accomplish his own purposes. Of course, the best example of this in all of
history was not when Paul was in prison, but at the Cross. All of Satan’s
schemes and plans were actually quite effective. . . at destroying his own kingdom.
Please
don’t lose sight of this. God’s ultimate purpose for you is quite the opposite
of Satan’s, but our Lord—in his mysterious wisdom—uses
all sorts of means, including the Enemy
of our souls, to bring about his glory and your good. Just trust him. He knows
what he’s doing. He really does.
Lord Jesus, I really don’t know what you’re
doing at times, but I know enough. I know enough to trust you and do what you
tell me to do. By your grace, help me to do both better.
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