Our Spooky Enemy - Pt 1

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (1 Peter 5:9-14 ESV).

We come to the end of our study in the first letter of the Apostle Peter coinciding with his encouragement to those early believers to “resist” the devil. And, he also describes the devil as a “roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (v. 9). When I first started this series, my thought was to end it at the end of October, which we will. However, the motivation for ending it this month was so that we could start a lengthy look at the birth of Christ. As is often the case, God’s great sense of humor puts us ending the present study talking about the devil on Halloween! So, let’s get right to it. Peter says that the devil is an adversary that walks around roaring seeking to devour Christians. It is important to see the visual image. If a lion wants to eat someone, they don’t announce their presence with a roar. They slowly stalk their prey through the tall grass and pounce on them, overpowering them quickly and efficiently. In other Scripture the devil is described like a snake. It's subtle. It doesn't roar. It hides and slithers. The devil is like that. He's dangerous sometimes because he is subtle and quiet. But that's not the case here. He is dangerous for other reasons. A lion is dangerous not mainly because it sneaks, but because it's so strong. Even if you know it's there, you're a goner unless you have some power more than your own. So Peter's point here is not the devil's subtlety or craftiness, but his power. Read these verses carefully and you'll see this: "Resist him… knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world" (v. 10). The same as you are facing in the lion. Resist this lion because Christians everywhere are in this fight of suffering. The roaring jaws of the lion are the sufferings of the saints, designed by Satan for their devouring. By the way, he can only kill you. Jesus says to the church in Smyrna, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10). In other words Satan will throw some in prison so that some die there. But), they will live forever, or as Peter says here, they will be "perfected, confirmed, strengthened and established." Which means that successfully resisting the devil does not mean that he can't kill you. It only means he can't do you any ultimate harm. He can only kill you. And he can't do that without God's will (cf. 1 Peter 4:19). There’s our hope… in Him!