Have you ever wondered how it is the satan is still so active in spite of this truth, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8) Wasn’t Jesus successful in doing this? Of course he was. So what’s going on?
Here’s a true story told by Carolyn Arends that I think answers that question. (Christianity Today - Feb 2011)
She writes:
As a kid, I loved Mission Sundays,
when missionaries on furlough
brought special reports in place
of a sermon. Sometimes they
wore exotic, foreign clothing;
they almost always showed a tray of slides
documenting their adventures. If they were
from a dangerous enough land, the youth in
our congregation would emerge from our
Sunday stupor and listen intently.
There is one visit I’ve never forgotten.
The missionaries were a married couple
stationed in what appeared to be a
particularly steamy jungle. I’m sure they
gave a full report on churches planted
or commitments made or translations
begun. I don’t remember much of that.
But what has always stayed with me is the
story they shared about a snake.
One day, they told us, an enormous
snake—much longer than a man—
slithered its way right through their
front door and into the kitchen of their
simple home. Terrified, they ran outside
and searched frantically for a local who
might know what to do. A machete-wielding
neighbor came to the rescue, calmly
marching into their house he decapitated
the snake with one clean chop.
The neighbor reemerged triumphant
and assured the missionaries that the reptile
had been defeated. But there was a catch, he
warned: It was going to take a while for the
snake to realize it was dead.
A snake’s neurology and blood flow are
such that it can take considerable time for it
to stop moving even after decapitation. For
the next several hours, the missionaries
were forced to wait outside while the snake
thrashed about, smashing furniture and
flailing against walls and windows, wreaking
havoc until its body finally understood that
it no longer had a head.
Sweating in the heat, they had felt
frustrated and a little sickened but also
grateful that the snake’s rampage wouldn’t
last forever. And at some point in their waiting,
they told us, they had a mutual epiphany.
I leaned in with the rest of the
congregation, queasy and fascinated. “Do
you see it?” asked the husband. “Satan is a
lot like that big old snake. He’s already been
defeated. He just doesn’t know it yet. In the
mean time, he’s going to do some damage.
But never forget that he’s a goner.”
