Jump Start # 723

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Today is Halloween. Kids will dress up in costumes and ring doorbells with the hopes of getting a stash of candy. Some get concerned about religious implications of dressing kids up as zombies, ghosts and so forth. It seems to be part of the pretend world of children. As a child, my brothers and I wore our toy six guns and fought pretend Indians. As an adult, I’ve never had an inner desire to go shoot real Indians. Make believe and pretending is part of the wonderful world of children.

Having said that, our passage today reminds us that the devil is real. He is not pretend. He is not just a bad influence in society. He is a spiritual being that is first found in the garden of Eden in Genesis and is last found in the book of Revelation where he is cast into Hell. Satan does not live in Hell, not yet. He’s not been sent there. When he is, he is not in charge of Hell, God is. Hell is Satan’s punishment. He will be tormented there forever, which he deserves.

The Bible never says anything nice about the devil. He is worthy of no compliments. He does nothing helpful nor worthwhile. Wherever trouble is found, Satan is near by. He is not a light weight. He knows Scripture and especially knows how to abuse and misuse Scripture. He knows us. He knows just what buttons to push to tempt us. The thought of alcohol and pills is enough to send some over the edge. Others are not fazed in the least by those things. Some refuse to forgive and they hold hatred and grudges deep in their heart. For some it’s pride. Others, it’s the thirst for stuff. Some struggle with lust. Satan knows. He knows what to dangle before your eyes.

Our passage tells us something interesting about Satan. It says that he was a murderer from the beginning. The thought of Satan always brings people to ask where did he come from. The most common thought is that he was an angel that went bad. Some quote a passage from Isaiah that refers to Lucifer. The context of that passage is talking about a king, not the devil.

Our verse says he was a murderer from the beginning. There are two other “beginning” verses that come to my mind. First, when questioned about divorce, Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female” (Mt 19:4). The “beginning” there was creation. There was nothing before the beginning other than God. At the start, at the origin, or at the beginning is what Jesus said.

Another beginning verse is found in the first statement of the Bible, “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1). At the start.

It is interesting that our verse uses the same word, beginning. Satan was a murderer from the beginning. It doesn’t say, he once was good and turned. It didn’t say he used to be one of God’s angels. (By the way, angels were created by God along with the rest of creation. How could Satan have been an angel if he was a murderer from the beginning?) Satan was a murderer from the beginning. If the passage read, after a short time, Satan became a murderer we could accept that he once was good and turned. The passage doesn’t say that. It says from the beginning.

This begs the question “Did God make Satan as he is?” Could be. That doesn’t seem to fit in with the thought that God saw everything He made as “good.” How can you call Satan good, when he is not. These thoughts are hard to figure in our heads, at least my head.

It seems some folks are more interested in trying to figure Satan out and how he came about than they are dealing with the reality of he is here and we must fight him. The emphasis in the Bible is not his origin but in resisting him and overcoming him through Christ.

The murderer wants to murder your soul. He wants to kill you spiritually. He wants to trap you, enslave you and destroy you. He doesn’t care how much damage he causes or how many lives he hurts. He doesn’t care that little children will grow up without a stable home because divorce has taken place. He doesn’t care that a person may lose their job and then their house because they got fired because of some addiction. He doesn’t care that a person is arrested for a crime and goes to jail. He smiles when a church splits. He rejoices when brethren fight each other and take their minds off what they ought to be doing. Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. That’s Satan. If it’s good, he’s against it. If it builds spiritually, he’s not for it. If it strengthens family, offers hope and connects us to God, you can be sure he wants it stopped. He is a murderer. He’s been that way from the beginning. It’s all he knows.

Don’t be a tool of Satan. Fight him. Oppose him. Live for Christ. Teach the gospel. Walk with Jesus.

Roger