I turned on the radio and heard a popular preacher the other day. This preacher’s sermons used to thrill my soul; now, I confess that I did not listen to him for more than thirty seconds so it is possible that he may have thrilled my soul again. The pastor said “that the only way God could thwart Satan’s power was to raise Jesus from the dead.” I guess on the surface that could be accepted as true; but then I started thinking about my God, the God of the Bible; The God of Isaiah 40.
Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. Who has measured the waters of the earth in the hollow of His Hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; all the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless…. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you form the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is HE who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
So what’s my point? I don’t think any of us would want a face to face with Satan. But we are not to fear him. And as far as worrying about his power, we shouldn’t. The only power he has is the power that God grants him, we learn this from Job. Satan is a creature, and we learn the relationship between God and his creatures in Isaiah 40. He is far above them. His ways and power are unfathomable! Or was Satan the one in this passage that taught God and gave him understanding? The answer to that is an obvious one. The problem I find here with the minister thinking is Sovereignty. Either God is the God of the Bible and therefore sovereign over all; or he is not. If God is not sovereign, then why worry about his ways, why worry about his judgments. Why put your faith in his plan of salvation; If he can only just barely overcome one of His creatures?
Let’s see what God says in Isaiah 41 “I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.” The coastlands have seen and are afraid; The ends of the earth tremble; They have drawn near and have come…“But you, Israel, (elect) My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend, You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish. “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. (This includes Satan and his cohort) “For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the LORD, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
My God is the God of the Bible! He is sovereign and in control of all things! Satan is a creature. God could obliterate him at will, if He chose to! But that was not His plan. His plan was to redeem a sinful people by crushing His only son. To make Him our propitiation! Our replacement, and then to raise Him from the dead And Give Him His rightful place as King and Judge of the World. But this Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. So I ask you; who is your God?
