The Cross of Christ, Chapter 1:
Crucify Him! (part 2)
In Isaiah 14:12-14, the prophet Isaiah describes to us what was the essence of that iniquity. Summarizing these verses, this is in effect what Lucifer said in his heart, “I am going to get rid of God and take His place.”
Now you cannot take the place of God unless you first get rid of God. It is in this sense Lucifer, turned Satan, was a murderer from the beginning. I remember when we were in the mission field it was quite an experience traveling by taxi. Taxies here in the United States give individual service, but in some countries taxies are more like mini buses and they can squeeze more people into one taxi than you can imagine.
For example, if the middle seat can accommodate three people comfortably, they will squeeze in nine people. They put three people on the seat and three people on top of them and three more people on top of them and that’s a full seat. I remember one day traveling in one of these taxies and we were packed. Being the top person, it was not too bad in terms of no weight on me, but I could not sit properly because of the number of people and my head kept hitting the roof every time we hit a bump. As the taxi driver sped along, there was a person who wanted a ride and the taxi stopped. I said to the driver, “There is no room.” The driver replied, “Move closer, we will make room.”
Now Satan did not say to God, “Move, I want a place with you.” That is not what Satan desired. He desired to get rid of God that he could have His place instead. It is because of coveting the place of God in his heart that Lucifer, turned Satan, desired to murder God.
Addressing the Jews, who were victims of Satan, Jesus one day told a parable, recorded in Matthew 21. In this parable there was a man who had a vineyard and he went off to a far country. He left his vineyard in the care of his servants. Every year he would send a man to collect the profits. Each time the person he sent was either stoned or kicked out, and so the owner got nothing.
Finally the owner said, “I will send my son. At least they will respect him.” But, as it turned out, they did the very opposite. Instead they said, “We will get rid of him. Then we can take all that he will inherit for ourselves.” So they decided to kill the son. Jesus, of course, was talking about Himself and the Jews. Remember that the Jews were to do the lust of Satan. Satan wanted the place of God. He had never told anybody this. That would be foolish. What he probably told the angels was, “If I was in the place of God I would make life wonderful for you. You can have anything you like, enjoy anything you want without any restrictions. You can eat, drink, and be merry.”
Unfortunately, one-third of the angels fell for his lies. Satan thought that was enough to begin a revolution. Then the first war took place in heaven and is described in Revelation 12:7-9. If you read this passage in Rev. 12, you will discover that Lucifer, or Satan, was defeated in that war. But God did not destroy him at that time, for the simple reason that nobody knew what was in the heart of Satan. The only means by which God could expose Satan was to let him have his own way.
So, instead, God cast him out of heaven. Following this incident, Satan came to this world and deceived Eve, and through Eve he brought about the fall of Adam. Since God gave our first parents dominion of the world (Psalms 8:4-8), by defeating Adam and Eve Satan gained control of this whole world. Satan then established his kingdom here on earth, under his own system, the system of self.
Everything, therefore, in this fallen world is based on three fundamental drives found in 1 John 2:15,16, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Underlying these three basic drives of sinful man is the principle of self, the very essence of Satan’s kingdom.
But one day, many centuries later, Satan heard some beautiful singing. It was, “Glory to God and peace to men on earth.” (Luke 2:14) The Son of God, his bitter enemy, had come to this world to redeem the human race from his hands. In response, Satan said, “I am not going to wait till you grow up.” Satan doesn’t believe in fair play. “I’m going to get you the first chance I have.”
Recorded in the New Testament are many incidents of how Satan’s many attempts to kill Christ failed. The first attempt recorded was the destruction of the babies in Bethlehem by Herod’s army. Herod the great was a victim of Satan who was simply using him as a tool. This familiar story, as we all know, ended in failure as far as getting rid of Christ. Incidentally, all of Satan’s agents are “great.” That is what he promises, “If you follow me, I will make you great.” But remember, he is a liar. What he really desires is that by following him you will join him in the lake of fire.
We read this in Matthew 25:41. Christ will say to the those who took Satan’s side, the unbelievers: “Depart from me into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The eternal fire was not prepared for mankind but Satan has deceived many. They believed him, chose his way, and now will have to join him. I hope nobody reading this is in that condition.
In Luke 4:9-17 we have recorded another attempt of Satan to murder Christ. It is in connection with the temptations of Christ in the wilderness. In one of them the devil took Christ to the top of the temple tower. He said, “It is wonderfully high here. Why don’t you jump?” That was one way of getting rid of Him. That is what Satan had in mind but he failed again.
Again, in John 10:31-59, we see how the devil used the Jews to try to stone Jesus to death. The word “again” in this passage indicates that this was not the first time he tried it. As we read these verses we will discover that Satan failed again. We must ask ourselves why. Why did Satan fail? Here are two texts that will help us realize why all these attempts of Satan failed. The first one is in John 7:30, which records one of the instances where Satan tried to destroy Jesus through human beings. “Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him, [John tells us why] because His hour was not yet come.”
Studies
Pr Jack Sequeira
