God’s Devil - Points to Ponder, Part 4
THE TEMPTER
Although defeated by the Cross of Christ, the devil maintains all his treachery and is even more aggressive than before because he knows his time is short (Rev 12:12). His fury will reach maximum power before his final defeat:
2nd Thes 2:8:
“And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth. And shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:”
Until then, Satan is untiring in dividing men from one another and doing the same to families.
What is the essence of his temptation? It is his pressing us toward evil as he pushes us toward sin and ruin, always of our own desire and choosing. He devises masterpieces of deceit, presenting evil disguised as good, so it will be freely chosen. Here is his great success and here is our most difficult battle. Here is the truth of how he comes to dominate souls, and not just for the lost. The more a believer becomes spiritually devoted, the more he is a target of aggressive persecution and seduction. If Satan leaves you completely alone it means you are inside his net. Never be fooled. He will continue his attacks until our final breath. This warfare is a commitment for every day and every hour. No man is so perfect and holy as not to have temptations.
Job 7:1: “The life of man upon earth is a temptation.”
Paul's thorn in his flesh was a messenger from Satan to buffet him. The most humiliating temptations of attempted seduction to sin must not discourage us. God permits them so that we not become puffed up in pride (2nd Cor 12:7). The Lord has granted this prince of darkness a certain freedom of action even after he has been cast out. Why does God permit an experience that could lead us to spiritual defeat? He permits it so that it should be made manifest and clear what dwells deeply in our hearts, and to allow the interior man to grow and to develop spiritual virtue. In temptation is revealed who we are. Here is the point where grace allowed changes into the greater merit in our soul. It is through this struggle that we are conformed closer to the image of His Son, which is good. As a result, God permits temptation to arrange a greater good.
God not only permits, but also governs temptation's depth by Satan. Satan cannot do whatever he wants and he cannot lead us into evil if we do not want it. The when, the where, and the how of every temptation is under the eye of God. He lets us see for ourselves the face of evil so that we do not underestimate it.
1st Cor 10:13” “... God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”.