Today, I'm going to finish off the topic and move on.
Sunday was my mother in law's birthday, and Lissa and I went to church with her. While the sermon was on an unrelated topic, the text included John 9:1-7.
[9:1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. [2] And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [3] Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. [4] We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. [5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” [6] Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud [7] and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
(John 9:1-7 ESV)
Here's what is going on. The disciples are asking Jesus why the blind man was born blind. Following a common belief that misfortune represents a judgment from God, they ask whose sin brought this misfortune upon this man. Jesus answers, and I'm certain there was shock on the face of the disciples. He told then that the blindness had nothing to do with a judgment or a penalty, but that God had made him blind so that Jesus could do God's work, healing, on him.
Now I don't know about you, but I would consider being blind from birth to be hurtful. Certainly, it's not something I would ask for. Yet God made this man blind just so Jesus could heal him, showing His power and His mercy. As Jesus said, the man's blindness allowed Jesus to show the light of God's love and mercy.
So much for the idea that God's Will does not include tough times for His people. It does. Our comfort is in knowing that the suffering is for a purpose, that God works everything for good, not evil.
If you remember, that Wednesday night series was all about spiritual warfare, and the teacher was trying to prepare us to face it.
As I read, study, and pray, I'm beginning to believe that the whole idea of spiritual warfare is a deception. Here's the thing. Lucifer rebelled against God, and led some of the angel into a war against God. God won, and kicked Lucifer out of Heaven, along with about a third of the angels, banishing them to Earth.
When God wins a fight, it's over. He didn't just sorta win, or win for now, or win for this season, with a return engagement next season. Either He wins, or He doesn't, and the Bible clearly tells us He won.
That fight is over.
The fight moved to the earth, with Lucifer, now satan, waging war against God's creation. And he was kicking our butts until about 2000 years ago when God sent His Son to fight and die for us. Jesus took the weight of our failures, the penalties for our sins, those committed up to that point and every sin yet to be committed up to the end of time onto himself, and paid the price in full. Satan has no claim on us anymore because Jesus paid the price in full. All we have to do is accept His sacrifice.
Jesus' last words on the cross were, "It is finished." He didn't say it was finished for now, or mostly finished, or that this was round two of a 16 round title fight. He said it was over and done and He won the victory. He died, went to Hell and freed those who were saved in Him, tore open the veil separating man from God, and forever freed us from bondage to Satan. He didn't just free us for now; he didn't just mostly free us; he didn't free us for a round or two.
The fight for men's souls is over and Jesus won.
So, if the fight is over, why are we still trying to fight?
That's the deception. Satan wants to convince us that the fight is still going on, that we are still in a battle against him, and that unless we follow certain rules, we can lose that battle. You know what another word for rules is?
Yep; laws.
Last time I checked, once we accept Jesus into our hearts, and become Christians, we are no longer under the law. We are saved through no effort of our own, but through Grace alone. That being the case, how can we lose that Grace through action or inaction?
We can't. If we are saved today, we're saved tomorrow, and next Tuesday, and three years from now. Satan can't do anything about that. All he can do is try to keep us from making that commitment to God, from becoming His bondservants. He wants to prevent us from developing that personal relationship by telling us that we're losing too many battles with him. He ants us to believe that we must fight against him in order to be worthy of God's love.
In short, he wants us to believe that our salvation comes from our ability to resist him instead of from the grace of God alone.
He wants us to believe that we are chips in a cosmic war between him and God when the truth is that the war is already over and God won.
If I'm right, and all of this is true, then the whole notion of spiritual warfare as it's being taught is part of the devil's deception. He's trying to get us a to fight a war we can't hope to win, hoping to keep us from realizing that God has already won it for us.
That's the true battleground folks. It's not in some spiritual realm where angels and demons contend for and against us, trying to influence our decisions to win or lose certain battles. It's in our hearts and souls, as satan tries to keep us from knowing that the battle is already won; that as adopted children of God, we already share in His victory over evil.
That's what I think anyway. I'm going to keep studying on it. As always, don't take my word for it. Study it yourself.