The Enemy God

Mark 11:18-19 The chief priests and the scribes heard this and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 When evening came, they went out of the city.
 
GOD is Satan’s enemy. This is not news, but we must remember it’s the crucial truth of Jesus’ encounter with the priests and the scribes. The priests were usually Sadducees, who were the Jews’ political leaders. They rejected any teaching of eternal life. Wealth and power were their gods, and they would kill to stay in power. The scribes were the teachers of the law, also known as Pharisees. We’ve learned they had created many laws to more narrowly define God’s law. Still, they did hold to the Scriptures that pointed to God’s eternal kingdom. The Sadducees and the Pharisees generally hated each other. But they agreed on one thing: Jesus had to die. They would not tolerate this man who so powerfully encountered their corrupt rule.
   But these rulers had a problem. The crowd was astonished at his teaching. Some translations interpret this to mean they were spellbound. The Greek meaning is that they were out of their minds with amazement. Has there been a time when God’s Word amazed you to the point you were spellbound?
   We consider this point because it is rare to so powerfully respond to God’s grace confronting our sin. That dramatic day in God’s redemptive plan, the Holy Spirit moved the Son of God into God’s house to cleanse resistant hearts. God’s righteous indignation and holy anger marked his appearance. He waged war against the enemy, moving history to the day no unholy thing would remain on earth.
   Does God astonish you? It’s easy to be complacent about our salvation when we consider God’s love. Because of his gracious patience and long-enduring kindness, we can mistakenly believe he gently tolerates our sins.
   The truth is that we are born united with God’s enemy Satan. Our natural heart is under the devil’s influence. That’s why we must view Jesus with spellbound wonder to know God justly went to the manger, Jerusalem, the temple, the cross and the grave to open the way for us to become God’s precious possession, enemy to Satan.. Let’s respond with utter astonishment, happily knowing he has come as Savior to free us from his enemy’s deadly rule. Eleven times in his gospel Mark uses amazed to describe various reactions to Jesus’ teachings, miracles and truth. May you be amazed, too, God has become your True Ruler