We know that God is good and that he is sovereign and in control. We know he’s faithful and that we can trust him.
But if I’m totally honest, sometimes when you look around at the world we live in, it’s hard to feel hopeful. The longer I follow Christ and the more the Holy Spirit works on me, transforming me into a new person closer to Christ than I was yesterday, the darker the world looks.
We live in an age where we’re constantly bombarded by content. Things go viral, hold the attention of the general population for a few days, and fade into obscurity. We’re all outraged about something and a couple days later we don’t even remember that it happened. The collective memory of our culture is abysmal. And with so much new content to devour, the unavoidable consequence is that we’re numbed to any real conviction about what we see happening before our very eyes.
When you really wrestle with the implications of living out the Christian faith, and you actually hold the conviction that God is real, sin is real, and that there’s an unseen enemy actively working to interfere with humanity’s relationship with God, you can’t unsee certain things.
If you just nominally follow Jesus without really taking your faith seriously it is easy to shrug your shoulders and move on with your life. But if you actually believe that what Jesus says is true, you start to see a common thread running through human history that is absolutely maddening.
Sin Didn’t Enter Creation In A Vacuum
Sin is a reality in our world. We know this and we’re taught it from a very young age. But sin didn’t enter God’s perfect creation in a vacuum. Satan actively and maliciously interfered with God’s creation, knowing that if he couldn’t hurt God the next best thing would be to hurt and corrupt the pinnacle of God’s creation. God was incorruptible and untouchable, but Adam was not.
I hate how cunning Satan is. Look at how sin is introduced into the world in Genesis 3.
Satan knows that Adam heard directly from God and would be unlikely to disobey a direct command. He also knows that God gave Adam a helper who is joined to his being through God’s good design of marriage. God’s good plan for marriage is that the two become one flesh.
In the narrative, Eve is created after God told Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam is the target, but Satan goes after Eve, knowing that she has only heard God’s command secondhand, and knowing that if he can get Eve to sin, Adam will be put in an impossible position.
There is an intellect at work here that is both chilling and infuriating. And throughout human history, right up to the observable present, the spiritual forces of darkness continue to be a thorn in humanity’s flesh.
We can read history and see the influence of Satan, and we can look in our world today and see the same thing.
To the untrained eye much of the chaos in the world feels random and sporadic, but there is a recognizable pattern. When you walk with God you can’t help but notice common threads running through all the brokenness and pain in the world.
Everybody who knows me knows I’m as apolitical as they come. The only thing which shapes my political views is my Christian faith. My concern is almost exclusively God’s Kingdom, not America’s clout compared to the rest of the world. I don't belong to a political party and I lament that we have developed a two party system which forces us to attempt to choose what has become the lesser of two evils.
Historically I think our nation has been in a unique position to be light in the world because of the foundational belief that our founding fathers shared that every human being has been endowed with certain inalienable rights from our Creator. But as I watch our nation ramp up (and dumb down) for another presidential election, I can’t help but recognize the spirit of subversion and distraction running through everything I see.
We are watching the mainstream media gaslight the entire nation as the presidential race has shifted and is heating up. Ahead of the 2020 election Kamala Harris dropped out of the Democratic nomination process because she was too extreme and had little support, and after 4 years of virtually nothing changing she's suddnely being presented as God's gift to politics. They’re literally changing and retconning the narrative before our eyes, and nobody seems to notice or care. Regardless of which side of the aisle one falls on, the blatant falsity motivated by nothing more than a desire for power should concern and disturb you.
It might feel random, but it’s not.
Even in my adult lifetime, the culture has shifted from one which at least nominally understood that right and wrong were objectively defined to one which is in complete confusion. This didn’t happen overnight. There’s something corrosive that chips away at us, little by little, wearing us down until something that we would have recognized as evil is just a normal part of life.
I see it in the entertainment industry and just about anything Disney has touched over the last fifteen years. Virtually every kids movie since Frozen has had the same plot with the same messaging:
Young protagonist is obsessively interested in [insert thing here], but the rest of society, especially their overprotective parents are vehemently opposed to [insert thing here].
Young protagonist disobeys their parents and traditional wisdom, defying the old framework of right and wrong and find themself liberated and free.
Young protagonist returns home in the face of some conflict and shows everyone how wrong they were about labelling [insert thing here] as evil.
They were all wrong and need to rethink their values.
That’s the lesson of every single story. Frozen, Tangled, Coco, Moana, Encanto, Luca, Turning Red, Elemental…
I hate that I see it but I can’t unsee it. And we wonder why the next generation is so heavily engrained with these ideas…
If you don’t believe me, watch this interview on the Alisa Childers podcast with a young woman who was saved out of the occult, and watch the videos from the two most popular songs from the beginning and end of Frozen 2 (paying special attention to the lyrics) and tell me I'm crazy.
I know that our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). I know that the people pushing these subversive agendas which lead us to question Christian morality are not part of some human conspiracy. It's not the Illuminati pulling the strings in the background.
The people involved usually think they’re being helpful. I have had good fruitful conversations with people pushing what I see as an obvious agenda, and I can tell they genuinely want what they think is best for kids who identify as LGBTQ+.
And that’s what makes it so hard.
I know they’re being used as pawns in a spiritual chess match, but they don’t. They scoff at the idea that they’re pushing an agenda, because they genuinely don’t see it. They themselves have no agenda and are simply trying to be loving, but I know who the real enemy is, and I know the origin of their worldview. And it's maddening.
Satan’s grip on the world is bewildering.
I see it in the students God has given me to minister to and shepherd. I can train them up to know God and walk with him, but for the other 163 hours of the week I’m not pouring into their lives they’re online getting bombarded with spiritually toxic sludge. I can see the influences that are trying to draw them away from their faith.
It’s never obvious. It’s subtle. It will push a little bit here and a little bit there, with the goal of gradually weaseling its way between the student and Jesus. You can never rest because it never relents.
Maybe you’ve noticed this too: My children always act the worst when either my wife or I are gone, or when something objectively good and positive would otherwise be bringing us joy.
What is it about trying times when you’re exhausted that seem to ramp up all the negative anxious thoughts?
Why does the worst news seem to come when you feel like you’re already drained?
Why does it seem like life kicks you hardest when you’re already down?
It’s because behind the chaotic, seemingly random noise there’s a consciousness that is actively seeking to cause as much harm and disruption as possible with the goal of eternal suffering for you and your loved ones. Behind these seemingly unrelated aspects of the world we live in, there is a razor-focused loathing which is never content to just let you be broken. It is compelled to push. It enjoys pushing. It gets off on our distress. It has no other motivation than our misery. And I hate it.
I hate that things can’t just be good things in this world. It seems like they always get twisted into something ugly. Remember when Taylor Swift was a wholesome country artist? Go read the lyrics on her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department.
I hate that our world is so confused and self-obsessed that it makes meaningful dialogue virtually impossible with the people who most need the peace that only Jesus can offer.
I hate that Satan is so good at what he does. Because he’s so good at it. The grip that Satan seems to have on this world is absolutely infuriating.
And yet…
Christ Magnified
And yet, it is only when we truly understand the profound depth of Satan’s malice and the hideous, horrifyingly effective deception that we can truly appreciate Jesus and see him as he really is.
When we realize how awful and evil Satan really is, it sheds light on just how much greater Jesus is. When we recognize how Satan has been wrecking humanity since the Fall, it is that much more satisfying to see Jesus categorically reject his temptation in the wilderness.
Finally, somebody stands up to the bully in the room.
Interestingly, that is the only instance in the New Testament where someone is recorded resisting Satan’s direct temptation.
Jesus came to do for us what we were unable to do for ourselves. Part of that is kicking Satan’s teeth in and resisting his lies. Satan has so little power over Jesus that when the temptation is done, Jesus simply commands him to go away and he does.
In Luke, Jesus begins his public ministry (immediately after his temptation in the wilderness) by returning to his hometown of Nazareth:
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16-21 ESV
When Jesus reads from Isaiah, he is proclaiming that he is ushering in a new era of liberation from Satan’s grip. The time that God’s people have been desperately waiting for is finally here. Satan is a strong man firmly in control of the house, but Jesus is a stronger man who comes in and binds him (Luke 11:21-22).
There is a military aspect to Jesus’ ministry of healing and casting out evil spirits. Every time somebody is healed of a physical infirmity or freed from demonic oppression, it is a military defeat in the spiritual realm which weakens Satan’s hold on humankind.
Jesus’ public ministry isn’t a back-and-forth conflict. At no point does Satan make up any lost ground. It is the definition of a one-sided fight. Jesus shows up and the darkness has no choice but to retreat.
Jesus’ ministry culminates with him on the cross, paying the price for our sins and ultimately setting us free to pursue a relationship with God. Jesus takes our punishment that we deserve for our sins and completely nullifies any accusation Satan can lob at us. Any guilt or shame Satan would otherwise rightfully point out is completely irrelevant because God sees our sin and because of Jesus he forgives it.
When we recognize Satan’s tactics throughout human history and the effectiveness with which he executes his deception, it makes Jesus’ perfect work on the cross that much greater.
Satan took the bait, hook line and sinker. He was absolutely convinced that what was happening to Jesus on the cross was the ultimate way to hurt God.
One can imagine Satan licking his lips the second Jesus was born, watching and waiting for a chance to bodily harm the God of creation in his weak and vulnerable state.
And yet Satan, with all his hatred and cunning, played right into what God had always planned from the very beginning. God didn't place the tree in the garden with no plan for if sin entered the world. Despite his best efforts, Satan is totally powerless to produce any real eternal harm to those whom God has already chosen. Jesus has universally and categorically overruled Satan and permanently shattered the hold he had on creation.
How satisfying.
At the end of history, after Jesus has returned and destroyed evil by force there will be a new heaven and a new earth. It will once again be God, his creation, and those who love him, but this time those who love and embrace God will know the reality of sin and how horrible it is to live in a world that is disconnected from God.
In the face of the dissonance we feel as we walk through life on this side of eternity, we can take great satisfaction and comfort in the fact that Jesus is so infinitely greater and more powerful than the spiritual forces of darkness which wreak havoc in our world. It can be hard to see sometimes, but it’s still true.
But it is not only is Jesus superior. Not only has he already kicked Satan’s teeth in and nullified any eternal threat to those who follow him. The most profound thing is this: because of Jesus’ ultimate victory on the cross, our identity is now in him too.
Jesus gives us the power to stand defiantly against the current and to not lose hope.
This is fantastic.
This verse comes to mind. Genesis 50:20 NKJV
[20] But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
I think so often our perspective is extremely limited due to sin. But when we are born again we gain a new perspective and hope in Christ.
As we grow in sanctification our perspective grows in the mind of God. When that happens the hopelessness of the world when seeing sin is sad but always triumphed by the glory of God.
Another words we start to see the world and circumstances more through the lens of God.