So it all comes down to this. The journey we started in April to discover who God is has revealed a lot about Him. Not that we have learned everything there is to know about God, for that would take an eternity. But what we have learned has been quite amazing. Hopefully, we’ve had some misunderstandings and misconceptions vanish as we have sought Him out.
One of the things we have learned as we have explored together is that if we truly desire to know who God is, then we must turn to Jesus. We’ve learned that if we’ve seen Jesus, then we’ve seen the Father (John 14:9) because he and the Father are one (John 10:30). That he only said the things he heard his Father say (John 8:28; 12:49) and did the things he saw his Father do (John 5:19). That the work he came to do in this world was to reveal the Father to the world (John 17:4,6) because He came from the Father (John 1:1-2), is the only one who has seen the Father (John 1:18), is the only one who knows the Father (Matthew 11:27), and is God himself (John 1:18). We’ve also learned that Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), that all the fullness of God lives in him (Colossians 2:9), and that he is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3). In fact, Jesus is in very nature God (Philippians 2:6).
That truth helps to explain what happened on the mountain in which the transfiguration took place. There before Peter, James, and John stood Jesus with dazzling white clothes. And with Jesus appeared Moses and Elijah, the two who perhaps most represented the old covenant law and the prophets. Suddenly, a cloud covered them all and the Father spoke from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him (Mark 9:7)!” And just as suddenly Moses and Elijah were gone from their sight. Only Jesus remained with his disciples. It was as if God was telling the disciples to leave the law and the prophets behind. Neither could adequately reveal who He was. Only Jesus could do that. Jesus was then and still is today the only one who can show us the true nature of God.
So let’s do what the Father said to do. Let’s listen to Jesus. Who did he tells us his Father is? What kind of God did Jesus reveal?
Jesus showed us a Father who restores sight to the blind and speech to the mutes. He showed us a Father who heals paralytics and lepers. He showed us a Father who frees prisoners from demon possession. He showed us a Father who forgives sinners and doesn’t condemn them. In fact, he hung out with sinners and ate with prostitutes and tax collectors.
He also revealed to us a Father who does not curse anyone with diseases or disasters because of their sins or the sins of their ancestors. He revealed a Father who causes the sun to shine on the good and the evil and sends rain to the righteous and unrighteous. He told us about a Father who raises the dead and gives them life. He told us about a Father who waits patiently for us to return home. He told us that his Father loves His enemies. And more than that, He told us that his Father loves the whole world, so much so that He gave us His Son.
Given all this, does God sound like that He’s prone to violence and destruction? And as you examine how Jesus lived, who is, remember, God in the flesh, can you even begin to imagine him sending plagues, striking down sinners, destroying cities with fire and brimstone, commanding the genocide of a civilization, or wiping out the entire world with a natural disaster? It seems unfathomable, particularly since Jesus revealed a God of grace and love who is willing to forgive even the nastiest of sinners, even while being murdered on a cross.
So if God is not the violent and destructive one, then who is it? Who could it be that is out to destroy everyone he can? I’m sure you know the answer, but let’s listen to what Jesus had to say.
In a discussion with some Jewish people, including some Pharisees, Jesus declared that they belonged to their father. And who was their father? The devil. And what did Jesus have to say about the devil? “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).”
It can’t be any clearer than that. Satan is both a murderer and a liar and has been that from the very beginning. That’s why he entered Judas (Luke 22:3) and sought to sift Peter (Luke 22:31). They became pawns in part of his master plan to murder the Son of God.
But his murderous and destructive ways certainly don’t stop with Judas and Peter. As Peter warned, perhaps remembering how Satan had sought to sift him, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).” “Someone” is a very inclusive word. It illustrates the truth in Jesus’ statement to the Jews and Pharisees. He is a murderer. He’s out to destroy everyone he can.
His destructive tendencies don’t always result in immediate death or ruination. Sometimes it brings about prolonged pain and suffering. Take as an example the woman who was crippled and unable to stand up straight for eighteen years. Jesus healed her from her painful infirmity, an act of compassion for which he incurred the wrath of a synagogue leader for doing so on the Sabbath. In Jesus’ rebuke of the synagogue leader, listen to whom he laid blame for the poor woman’s terrible condition. “Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her (Luke 13:16)?” Who caused her suffering? It wasn’t God inflicting her with pain because of her sins or the sins of her parents, as the disciples suggested in regards to the man born blind in John 9. No, God had nothing to do with it. It was none other than Satan, the one prowling around looking for someone to devour. That’s what he’s all about – devouring, destroying, murdering, and lying.
Not only can people be kept bound by Satan with diseases but also by his lies. Like Elymas, the sorcerer who opposed Paul and Barnabas and tried to keep someone they had preached to from becoming a believer. Paul confronted him and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10)?” Notice what made him a child of the devil. It was his deceit and trickery, the same tactics used by Satan to lead people astray. And notice too that his ways are contrasted with the “right ways of the Lord,” clearly stating that Satan’s ways are the complete opposite of God’s.
In a later letter to Timothy, Paul stated that opponents of Christ need to be gently instructed in the hope that they will repent and come to the truth so that will “escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26).” That’s exactly what Satan’s web of lies are – a trap for anyone who buys into them. And once a person is caught, they are his captives, enslaved to do his destructive will.
All the works of Satan are aimed at a single goal – death. That’s what sin brings and sinning is what Satan is all about. As John wrote, “the devil has been sinning from the beginning (1 John 3:8).” But thank God, Jesus came to destroy the work of Satan (1 John 3:8) and “break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).”
So there we have it. On the one hand we have God, who is full of compassion, grace, and love, as we find in Jesus Christ. God is the one who seeks to heal what was ailing, restore what was broken, and bring life where there was none. On the other hand we have Satan, who is full of lies, murder, and destruction. It is Satan who inflicts pain and suffering, seeks to devours those he deceives, and brings death to everything he touches.
Based on that comparison and all that we have learned over the last three months, I would like to ask some questions for all to ponder. Is it possible that all the violence, destruction, and death that the Old Testament writers attributed to God was actually brought about by Satan? Is it possible that because of progressive revelation, because they only had a portion of the truth (Hebrews 1:1-2 AMP), because they did not yet know about Satan, the saints of long ago thought God caused the very things that Satan was responsible for? Could it be that that’s part of why Jesus came into this world – to correct all the misconceptions about God by revealing the true character and nature of his Father and simultaneously destroying all the evil and sinful work of Satan that leads to nothing but death?
If you take the time to prayerfully consider these questions, I am confident that God will reveal Himself to you and guide you into truth. And in that process, be prepared to discover even more a Father who is full of love and grace, both of which are essential for the life He desires for us.
Essential Grace 