Satan

Thought for Today
Jan. 09

TEACHING ANGELS

When Jesus came to earth and accomplished his mission, everything in heaven and on earth changed. God's New Covenant with man changed the way man worshiped God. Instead of a Law of ceremony and form, man now could worship and walk in the Law of the Spirit of life, the "perfect law of liberty". By receiving God's holy Spirit, men were made "partakers of the divine nature", and they began to experience a closeness to God that had not previously been available to man. They were granted access to God's mind, access to a way of thinking that Paul simply called "the mind of Christ". Even Satan became more crafty by watching the saints whom God created by His power on the day of Pentecost.

Sound strange? Not at all. Satan was created "full of wisdom"; he knows when God has done something. He can see and he can think. He is a fool, it is true, but he is no dummy. And when Satan saw the change God made in His dealings with man, then Satan also altered the way he works. For example, when God, through Christ, ended His requirement of animal sacrifices, Satan's servants also began to lose interest in animal sacrifices. It is no coincidence in human history that when God's people, through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, forsook the animal sacrifice system, Satan himself lost interest in it, and the entire world gradually ceased offering animals in sacrifice to their gods. Satan saw the saints rejoicing in liberty from the bloody ceremonies of Moses' Law, and he understood that if his ministers continued in such animal sacrifices, they would not attract many people. Satan learned from watching the saints, and he responded by inventing new ways to imitate what God had done.

Paul wrote that obedient children of God educate everyone who watches them. Even the rulers in heaven who have stood in the presence of the Almighty for untold ages may come to better understand God's ways by watching the saints who walk in the Spirit. To the Ephesians (3:10) Paul wrote, ". . . through the called out ones, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places" (ESV). It hardly seems possible that the saints should be able to educate even the powers that God has established in heaven, but it is true. In Christ are hidden "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge", and those who are in Christ have access to wisdom and knowledge that none of the angels, seraphim, or cherubim in heaven have been given, for they are not "in Christ" as the saints are.

Paul said that the saints are joint heirs with Christ. If you are in Christ, then, you hold a position in the kingdom of God that no heavenly being possesses and cannot even understand (1Pet. 1:12). When those who are in Christ walk in the Spirit, they instruct all of God's creation in the mysterious ways of God, just as Jesus does.

Child of God, you are more precious to God than any being in heaven or on earth or beneath the earth, and when you walk after the Spirit that you have from God, you are wiser than even the holiest of creatures in heaven. When you follow after Christ and do God's will, men may hate you, but all of heaven's creatures marvel at your wisdom and knowledge, and they are instructed by your words and conduct. The angels long to be able to understand the child of God who lives as the Spirit leads him to live.

It is true that in the beginning, man was created "a little lower than the angels", but it is also true that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature", and the "new creature" in Christ is not created a little lower than the angels; rather, he is created in Christ Jesus as far above angels and other heavenly beings as heaven is above the earth.

Walk worthy of your calling, my brother. You are the apple of God's eye. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Think about that. The angels are not "children of God". You are.

Satan saw what God did in Christ, and though he did not understand the gospel, and even though he could not participate in the fellowship of light that God gave to men, women, and children who believed in Christ, he could follow the example of redeemed saints and alter his form of worship so as to attract men. He knew the saints now possessed a greater wisdom than before, and the best he could do was to imitate it. But compared to the Spirit's life that we enjoy, his religion of ceremony and form is as distasteful as stale bread at a wedding. There is nothing on earth more boring than religion without the unction of the holy Ghost. There is nothing on earth more dreary and burdensome than religion without the joy of God's life.

If we will listen to Jesus and keep our hearts clean, we will not be persuaded to trade the simple truth of Christ for Satan's gilded lie. We will not trade our holy life for his decorated death. May God help us, and all His children everywhere, to walk in the Spirit and keep our robes clean and white. It's the only way to keep Satan puzzled. It's the only way to retain the admiration of angels. And it's the only way to please our loving heavenly Father, who has blessed us with such riches that no tongue on earth can tell.