Get Behind Us Satan!

Mark 8:27-35:

Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”

Blog:

Isn’t it ironic that even though everyone (including satan) knows how the Good Book ends, satan still tries to take as many of us with him to hell as possible all in a toddler’s fit with his own Heavenly Father?  I mean, he loses and he loses big.  That’s right, satan, you lose BIG!  So, as you and satan are reading this blog (because, trust me, he is very interested in what God has to say through these blogs and how it’s thwarting his demonly efforts), remember this, we can’t lose this race to the Eternal Finish Line.  We literally can only lose by forfeiting the race to satan; by allowing him to beat us.  He has no real power over any of us.  He’s just a bit upset that after we cross the Eternal Finish Line, we will judge Angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).  As a former top aide to the Eternal Leader (remember, satan was a Seraphim – the highest order of the nine realms of Angels), he just couldn’t fathom that we would one day be judging even him.  And, he kicked and screamed and gathered a third of the Angels in Heaven to start a revolt in Heaven – against God.  Again, while satan is supposedly pretty smart, this one will go down as the dumbest move in Eternity.  Did he really think that he could defeat God?  To make matters worse for this Eternal loser, he was beaten by St. Michael the Archangel and the rest of the Angels.  That’s right, God didn’t have to lift an Eternal Finger!  For those that don’t know, while the Seraphim are the highest-ranking Angels in Heaven (#1), Archangels and Angels are #8 and #9, respectively, in the realms of Angelic Classifications.  That’s the equivalent of David defeating Goliath or Daniel surviving the lion’s den twice or a 13-year-old Girl from Galilee giving birth to the long-awaited Messiah (Who then destroyed death forever).  But, that’s just how God rolls.  He’s always using the smallest things in this world (and even in the One to come) to show His Might and Everlasting Power.  So, when you feel the devil creeping up on you in the race to get Home to Heaven, feel confident in saying, like Jesus, “Get behind me, Satan!”  It’s where he will always end-up and it’s where he Eternally belongs.  We are to fight the Good Fight, finish the course that we are on from “in the beginning”, and keep our Faith (2 Timothy 4:7).  The rest is up to God and he has already predestined us to Eternity (Romans 8:29)!