Every man is born with death in him. It’s only a matter of time.”
–Louis L’Amour (Mojave Crossing)
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
–1 Corinthians 15:55 (NKJV)
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I think that sometimes we give the devil too much credit, and too much power. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he wields tremendous power, but it cannot compare to the power of the Lord. I also think that we often look at the devil as driving the nails into the hands of Jesus. No, it was the Roman soldier. Let’s look at this further.
“‘But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”‘
Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.'”
–Genesis 3:3-4 (NKJV)
We know that Adam and Eve did not die physically at that time, but death began to creep into their bodies. We also know that there was a “spiritual death” that occurred. Man was now doomed in his sin.
Here is what I want you to ponder. Can you think of a time in the Bible where it shows that the devil actually killed someone? I have thought about this, especially in regard to Jesus hanging on the cross. There may have been celebration of the imps and demons, but they did not crucify Jesus. Satan may have rejoiced, or did he shudder realizing what was taking place? But Satan did not kill Jesus. Hovering in the spiritual realm around the cross were legions of angels, ready, should Jesus decide to call upon them and be done with mankind. Yes, Satan may have smiled, but it didn’t last long.
If Satan had the power to take the life of Jesus why did he not do it in the wilderness? Why was there not the physical struggle in the wilderness? See, we too often get caught up in this physical temporal world, and do not look at things with spiritual eyes. For good reason–we cannot understand the temporal, how could we even begin to understand the spiritual?
Satan didn’t thrust the spear into the side of Jesus. Satan didn’t place the crown of thorns on His head. Yes, Satan is involved with the death of Jesus, but not in the way that we think. And right here, let me emphatically say, that I don’t understand it all. That it is a mystery to me. But what brought death upon the Lord Jesus Christ was your sin and mine. It was sin, way back in the Garden, that brought death. It was sin that took the life of Jesus on the cross. He became sin! No wonder the Father could not look upon Him. No wonder He was left alone in the darkness for He was sin.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
–unknown
It was sin that brought about the death of Christ. Satan did not kill Him. And even in the midst of a seemingly victory for darkness, Christ rose and took the chains of sins and death. See, when someone dies, God has allowed it. Understand that the devil cannot overthrow the throne of the Almighty.
So in this season of Easter, think of the cause of Jesus’ death. It was sin. Think of the agony–not the physical–but the spiritual agony He went through. Think of the awesome plan of God that we cannot begin to understand. Praise Him for His wonderful salvation to each and every one of us.