This is no Lake Michigan! I breathed as I pulled up to my timeshare on the Atlantic Ocean. I’d grown used to the calmness of the lake, but this was alive — wild and churning.
That first night was eerie — 35-plus mile-per-hour winds howled under my door as if someone wanted in. Morning wasn’t any different. As soon as I opened my eyes, I threw open the sliding glass door to study the ocean, desperately wanting to go in.
But I wasn’t stupid. Red flags flew, indicating the ocean was not safe. No lifeguards manned their posts; no humans dotted the ocean. The beach seemed like a ghost town, with meringue-like tufts of ocean foam blowing about like tumbleweed. Signs posted along the beach warned of rip currents, and while there was no mention of it, I knew sharks hunted those waters.
Other than one evening when I spotted a couple of swimmers and quickly pulled on my suit and joined them in a wonderful salty thrashing, I safely enjoyed the ocean from its edge. I wonder-walked along it each day, biked along its surf, and slept with the sliding glass door open so I could fall asleep to its steady pounding.
Then at SeaWorld that Saturday, I learned something surprising. Only five humans die worldwide each year from sharks. Why was I so cautious then? And ... do I take my real enemy, Satan, as seriously as I took the potential danger of riptides and sharks?
Do you know who your enemy is? Do you have a healthy fear of him as I had of the ocean? Satan is one of your greatest enemies. I realize most people laugh at the idea that he even exists. Maybe they sport a pair of red horns and a tail for Halloween, but they certainly don’t take him seriously. I hope you do.
When God created Satan, he was one of God’s most beautiful angels. Outwardly, that is. Inwardly, he became far from content to worship and serve and enjoy God; he wanted to be God. So he schemed a revolt: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. ... I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:1313For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (Isaiah 14:13)–14).
His rebellion against God’s authority didn’t go exactly as planned. Instead of kicking God off His throne, Satan was kicked out of heaven (Luke 10:1818And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (Luke 10:18)). And when he fell to earth, he brought his rebellion against God with him.
Open any Bible, turn just a few pages, and there he is, inviting the first woman who ever lived to join his rebellion against God. Oh, he didn’t put it in those words! He’s too crafty for that. He went about the whole ugly ordeal by doing what he does best: deceiving and tempting. Just as he’d experienced a great fall from heaven, he coaxed and pulled off the great “fall” of mankind.
While Satan played a crucial role in man’s fall, God played an even more crucial role in man’s rescue. In Genesis 3, as God is cursing Satan for his role in this rebellion, He offers this hope-filled hint of what’s to come: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)).
And that’s just how it happened. Satan bruised Jesus’ heel when Jesus suffered and died on the cross. It looked like a victory for Satan, but not for long. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus crushed Satan’s head.
For now, Satan is busy making the most of his short-lived freedom. As “the god of this world,” he’s busy blinding the minds of unbelievers to keep “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God” from shining “unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4)).
Pray that if Satan has blinded your eyes and deceived you, God would give you sight and transfer you from Satan’s kingdom of darkness to Jesus’ kingdom of light (Colossians 1:1313Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13)).
Being warned about Satan and about hell won’t do anyone any good if they don’t act on the warning. The Best Advice You Will Ever Receive reminds us of how we ought to respond to faithful warnings.