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John 14:30,
"Hereafter I will not talk much with
you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath
nothing in me."
This morning, our world continues to try to blend
good and evil, right and wrong, light and darkness to
the point of losing the perception of absolutes in
this world. A co-worker of mine recently stated, "We
just have to see the world in different shades of
gray." While in fact we do often see shades of gray,
we need to adjust our focus as there is a right, and
there is a wrong, not blended or meshed ideas. When
one begins to grayly look at things, it does not take
long before different Biblical principles begin to
fade from the mind's focus. If there is not absolute
right and wrong, then man, by nature, cannot be a
totally (wholly) depraved sinner. If such blending of
light and darkness is so, Christ Jesus the Lord cannot
be holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
made higher than the heavens. Pure light (Person of
Jesus Christ) and pure darkness (depraved iniquity)
could not be truths based on today's relativistic
ideologies.
The Lord Jesus is here speaking to His disciples
about His imminent departure from them, coupled with
comfort about the Holy Ghost's imminent coming unto
them. While we understand that the Holy Ghost had
already come in a regenerative fashion, His function
of comfort and assurance would soon become a manifest
reality after the resurrection and ascension of the
Lord Jesus Christ. As Christ gives this lengthy
discussion, He brings out several things that would
happen in the future (besides the manifest comfort of
the Holy Ghost). One of the things spoken of involves
the prince of this world from our verse above.
It should not be any question who the prince of this
world is that is mentioned. Paul tells the Ephesians
that he is also the prince of the power of the air.
(Ephesians 2:1-3) He is the enemy of Light, and he is
the epitome of darkness and wickedness. The reason
that such black terms must be used in reference to the
devil is that one needs to understand that he and God
Almighty are polar opposites. As right and wrong are
polar opposites, so are God and Satan. Today's
mentality of relativism lends to the idea that God and
Satan are not all that different. In fact, some
ideologies put them in the same family tree with good
traits (a little goodness) attributed to both. Utter
blasphemy!
Our Lord's language here spares nothing to paint the
picture that Satan has no part of the Lord. Notice
that the devil hath "nothing in me." There was not a
smidgen of darkness in our Saviour, but in Him "is no
darkness at all." (I John 1:5) The temptations that
the devil hurled at Him did not find any lodging in
the Saviour, as He very powerfully overthrew all the
tactics and methods of His foe. Now, since the devil
hath othing in Christ, what about the converse? Does
Christ have anything in the devil?
There is a thought today, although often just
implied instead of overtly stated, that the devil is
God's puppet on a string. Such foolish thoughts
attribute God with wickedness but still try to
maintain, "Oh no, but the devil is the one doing it."
Let us look at it another way. If the devil is really
the one doing it, can he move himself without the
pulling of the strings? Can he act voluntarily
without the orchestration from above him? If he can,
then there is no need for God to put him on a string,
for he will carry out his wicked thoughts regardless.
But, I do find that the Lord will condemn His enemy to
the everlasting chains of darkness that will bind him
from committing those things he delights in. At that
time, the torments will be upon him, and the suffering
will be eternal.
Since the devil has nothing in Christ and Christ has
nothing in the devil (although still having power over
him to judge him and able to restrain him at His own will), we should not consider their works blended
either. God's work of goodness is not blended with
the devil's work of wickedness. While the Lord from
time to time has brought about a good outcome out of a
wicked situation, the Lord overcame the devil's works
and did not need them or work together with them.
Rather, the Lord's works and the devil's works were
contrary to one another, and the Lord's prevail as He
is the far superior and stronger of the two.
So having said all of that, what do these thoughts
do for us today? First of all, we need to understand
paramount and to the utmost that God is more powerful,
superior, and unequivocally separate from Satan.
Christ has no fellowship with Belial, as light does
not mix with darkness, etc. (II Corinthians 6) After
that, we need to understand that God loves us and
keeps us eternally in the arms of His love, where no
power can reach us or touch us. Then, after
considering all these things, we need to take courage
in the fact that God has planted something within us
(His regenerate children) that is wholly righteous and
in the image of Jesus Christ (changed soul and spirit or new man). So, by following after that new nature,
we walk contrary to Satan and his devices.
There was a thing that Solomon considered one of
four too wonderful for him: the way of a serpent upon
a rock. (Proverbs 30:18-19) Consider the serpent's
path treading over a rock. While the serpent for a
time slithers over it, the rock looks just the same
after the serpent is gone as it did before. So
likewise, Jesus Christ looked just the same and was
just the same after Satan's slithering temptations as
He was before. But, how does sand look when the
serpent comes through? He leaves a track marking his
path. When we follow after pride and destruction
(ways of the flesh or sand of the earth), Satan's path
is seen on us. When we follow after the things of the
Spirit of God (rock and lively stone placed within
us), Satan's marks are not seen on us when he comes
calling. Jesus Christ overcame all the enemies of
darkness and is seated with all the glory, honour, and
majesty that He had before the world began. May we
follow after righteousness and godliness to overcome
the things hurled at us in the present and untoward
world in which we dwell.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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