After Jesus and his disciples had eaten their last Passover meal together, the Twelve (now down to the Eleven) retreated to the Mount of Olives. Jesus plunged into the night, pressing on toward a secluded garden named Gethsemane. Peter, James, and John quietly followed. While the three hunkered into a small hollow to rest, Jesus continued on for a few hundred feet to pray.
Not long after, footfall interrupted the stillness. A torch bobbed in the distance, casting an eerie glow against moving shadows. The three strained to understand the commotion.
Temple guards strode into view. Their spokesman gruffly announced they were seeking Jesus of Nazareth. A familiar figure stepped from their ranks: Judas. He greeted Jesus with a customary kiss.
Peter burned with rage. The Pharisees had been harassing Jesus for weeks. Apparently, they had managed to lure one of the rabbi’s own into betraying him. Is this it? wondered Peter. Is this when I put everything on the line? As his mind reeled, Peter’s left hand searched for the hilt of the short sword strapped to his thigh. It slid effortlessly from its leather sheath. Suddenly he was flailing away without considering target or technique.
Malchus, a servant of the high priest, stumbled as he tried to avoid the blade’s sweeping arc. Cold steel grazed the right side of his head, severing his ear. Blood leaked down one side of his face. A calming voice spoke. It was the Master’s. “Put your sword away!”
Peter was convinced this fight had come to him. He reacted decisively and with passion. He was willing to die or to take the life of another human being, even if he might be fighting the wrong enemy. It was a foolish choice. A life had almost been needlessly snuffed out because Peter was operating with some wrong assumptions. His most serious error was to assume his primary enemy was human. Such a mistake could be catastrophic.
For sinners, the ultimate enemy is him who has the power to condemn souls to hell. “I tell you, my friends,” said Jesus, “do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (Luke 12:4,5).
People living in unbelief should be shaking in their boots. The One who has the power to throw us into hell is God. Someday sinners will have to face their Judge, and the divine Judge will show no mercy to anyone who is not covered in Jesus’ righteousness. Oh, yes, our just and righteous God is to be feared!
But not by us. True, at birth you and I were at war with God. We were dead to his loving embrace, blind to the light of his hope. But listen to the apostle Paul’s description of God’s remarkable grace working through faith to change our hopeless status:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. . . . For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:1-5,8,9)
Because of Jesus’ redeeming work, we are no longer at enmity with God. Our broken relationship with him has been reconciled. God reconciled us to himself. He is our Friend, our loving Father, our Savior, and our heavenly King. That is our eternal reality.
But hold on! The Bible also tells us that while we remain in this life, there still is an enemy who seeks to destroy our eternal future with God. He skulks around, launching sneak attacks on the faithful. This is not just an enemy; he is the enemy—the one against whom God himself swore a holy oath of eternal enmity. This enemy has a name: Satan.
Paul was inspired to bluntly identify our soul’s deadliest enemy. And then he told us exactly how to prepare for the enemy’s inevitable assaults:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
The devil and his legion of lost angels comprise an alarming enemy force—one that you and I have no chance of standing up to on our own. His army has the potential to bring souls to perdition. He works constantly, tirelessly (and especially hard) at undermining the confidence of God’s people.
But to keep us from despairing at the prospect of going head-to-head with Satan and all his evil forces, Paul also expressed his trust in God’s promise to protect and defend us from this deadliest of all adversaries. Writing to the congregation in Rome, where many of the saints were facing martyrdom, the apostle affirmed, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39).
While Satan’s attacks are aimed at wreaking spiritual havoc, he has also enlisted the at-war hearts of unbelievers to distract us with physical and emotional conflicts. His strategy is to take our attention away from important spiritual battles by presenting us with lesser skirmishes to keep us occupied. He knows that clashes with our unbelieving neighbors can weaken us and make us vulnerable to his probes at our faith. He is banking that this strategy will eventually lead us to doubt and ultimately unbelief.
The case of Judas Iscariot provides a biblical example of the devil’s corrupt plan. A full year before the betrayer actually carried out his treachery, Jesus had already noted that Judas was letting Satan have access to his heart as he nursed the sin of covetousness.
As early as Genesis 3:15 we get the idea that some individuals (like Judas) are so steeped in unbelief they actually relinquish their will to Satan. The Bible identifies such individuals as “Satan’s seed” (or his offspring). Dealing with folks who have become so hardened to God’s loving embrace can be problematic. They will do anything to impede the free flow of the gospel message. They are a threat to God’s people. On the surface that threat appears to be attacking us at a physical or emotional level. Truth is, our conflicts with hardened and hate-filled people can also lead to our own spiritual downfall.
Before sending his followers on a particular evangelism mission, Jesus explained that the environment they were entering suggested that they should carry weapons. Perhaps the areas in which they would be evangelizing were already known to be hostile to Jesus’ saving message. In any case, the Lord was not using figurative language here; he was speaking about packing deadly weapons (swords) that could be used to defend life and limb. This doesn’t sound like the gentle Lord Jesus pictured on the pages of Sunday school books. But his point is well-taken. We have the right to defend ourselves. And there is great wisdom in remaining alert and putting aside one’s naiveté.
Excerpt from A Heart at Peace: Biblical Strategies for Christians in Conflict.