Boo! (Part 3)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:1-4 ESV).

The second truth we celebrate at the mark of this holiday is that we are a courageous people. Since we know victory is assuredly ours in Christ, we can be of good courage. Not only has Jesus completely defeated Satan with a final deathblow, he also does not leave us to fight alone. He promises to be with us (cf. Matthew 18:20), and says to his covenant people, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). I like the meme I found for today’s devotional: The devil whispers, “You can’t withstand the storm.” The warrior [Jesus and His followers] replied, “I am the storm.” Listen to J. D. Greear: When it comes to the demonic, people fall into two errors—not wanting to talk about it at all, or not wanting to talk about anything else. As C. S. Lewis said, “Humanity falls into two equal and opposite errors concerning the Devil. Either they take him altogether too seriously or they do not take him seriously enough.” So we can’t just pretend that demons aren’t real. If Satan is real—prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour—what can Christians do about it? Listen to what Jesus says: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:19-20). In one breath, Jesus acknowledges the reality of spiritual enemies, but reminds us not to be obsessed with them. Jesus consistently directs people away from preoccupation with the demonic. He took on his fair share of demons, but he never tells us to go out demon hunting. Instead, he says to “rejoice that our names are written in heaven.” The way to engage the demonic is by focusing on the gospel, the good news that our names are written in heaven. Because Jesus has won, and is with us, we don’t flee from the devil, but take Christ up on his promise. Look at our reading today again: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (v. 4). We can boldly defy our adversary on precisely the night when he would most like for us to cower and take cover. The devil may rage, his demons may plot, but “he who sits in the heavens laughs” (Psalm 2:1,4), and invites us to smile confidently with him!