Wimpy Little Devil

On that great and terrible day, the devil is pulled out of his spider hole and revealed to humanity in judgment; we will all be surprised. Isaiah the prophet paints the picture this way:

“Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ’Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook the kingdoms, Who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’” – Isaiah 14:16-17

There is a gasp in the crowd, which is expecting to see a giant dragon being pulled from the pit. Instead, a pathetic, balding, scrawny, shaking nerd comes climbing out, begging for his pathetic life.

What? Are you kidding me? Really? That’s the personification of all things evil? Why, he’s a weakling! He’s no more powerful than the wizard behind the curtain of Oz. If the devil is obviously impotent, where does he get his power?

The answer is just as shocking – from us. His power came from us. His evil had power because we cooperated with it. We held it in reverence. We feared it and, admit it, we even loved it at times. As a result, we propelled and advanced it.

The bottom line is this: the devil isn’t powerful because evil is powerful. The devil is powerful because we are powerful, and we tend to work for him.  STOP IT. Give all power to the one who is power personified – Jesus!