We think of baby Jesus as this tiny, innocent child entering this world. As precious and as tender as that can be, it is the most powerful thing humankind has ever witnessed.
Most of us love a good conflict story. Whether it’s Romeo and Juliet with the Montague and Capulet families or the White Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks in West Side Story, there is an attraction to tension.
God created this perfect place for us to thrive, flourish and multiply (Garden of Eden). We chose to mess that up. Tricked, being lied to, or hornswaggled, it was a choice that was made and the enemy was now “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2).
Enough! God, being tired of the hornswaggling, lying and trickery, wanted the truth to be known about His love for us. He came to what was clearly known as “enemy turf” and He has a showdown. You can almost see a group of guys walking cautiously down an alley, snapping their fingers in unison with toothpicks hanging out of their mouths.
I don’t know about you, but if I were to go to a showdown with an enemy that has dominated for a while, I would at least take something with me. . . a weapon, some kind of skills, at least a friend or two to even up the odds. Maybe a combination of all of the above. When I finally walk into that arena (with theme music playing of course), there would be no doubt that I’m ready to rumble.
God didn’t do that way. He didn’t need to. He came as the most innocent and tender thing that you could imagine. A baby. I understand that you may know this information, but let me paint this on a different canvas for you.
Some may say “Satan didn’t know about little baby Jesus.” We need to remember that Satan is not omnipotent. Satan does not know everything nor understand everything. Satan doesn’t know what will happen in the future but we can reserve that for a later topic. He wasn’t aware of the depth of what was happening. Even after hundreds of prophetic statements, writings and proclamations, he still didn’t get it. There was even a star pointing the way. . . all of these other people knew about it. “Well, some are blinded to the truth.” Yes, Satan may be blinded from it, but let’s not forget, he knows the truth.
Sometimes truth can be all around us and we aren’t aware of it. How aware are you of gravity? Once you are aware of it, does your awareness direct how you interact with it? Whether you acknowledge gravity is present in your life or not, does not change the truth of it. Satan knows the truth. He chooses not to acknowledge it and he doesn’t want to interact with it.
If he knew, Satan would have been confused and shaking in his boots about how his demise is about to unfold by a baby. Imagine how humiliating it would be for the self-appointed prince to be taken down by an infant. Well, I’m not sure about you, but I’ve read the end of this story, and He is no longer an infant.
We celebrate our King being born in this upcoming season.
Let me challenge you to see this Christmas season differently.