The world, whose hearts are only on evil continually, can shout, spit, swear, and even commit murder and mayhem on the streets, but they cannot win. Jesus already won the victory two thousand years ago when He crushed the serpent’s head and gave His Church the power to tread on serpents, scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.
When we are shining the light in the darkness, the lost will be drawn to us so that we can point them to the cross where sins are defeated. When we are shining the light of God’s love and grace in a world of anger and hatred, people will come. When the joy of the Lord is beaming from our countenance like a beacon of hope in a broken world, they will be drawn to the light.
Satan may look and sound like a foe that we cannot defeat, but the truth is that he is already defeated. Jesus defeated him from the cross, and when we put our faith in Jesus, the victory Jesus won becomes our victory as well. The story comes full circle because God has already declared the end from the beginning. The end of Satan, his demons, and all who follow him is found in the final chapters of the Bible.
Jesus, the Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, is the one who gives us joy unspeakable and full of glory. There will be times of sorrow in the midst of our joy, but one day soon, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying. And there will be no more pain because all those things have passed away.
Satan has deceived too many people into believing that they are powerless against sin. While it is true that before Christ, we were powerless. In fact, we were dead in trespasses and sins (Ep 2:1), but through faith in Jesus, which releases the grace of God in us, we have the power to live in victory rather than defeat. We can say no to sin and live to please God. We can tell the devil that he is a liar and has no authority or power over us. Indeed, Jesus has given us authority in His name to put the enemy under our feet so that we can walk in victory.
As a parent, when my children were young and they were doing something that they should not have been doing, perhaps something disruptive or even dangerous for them to do, I would yell, "Cut it out!" In the text Jesus doesn't tell them to "cut it out," but He did say to "cut it off," which essentially meant the same thing, "Stop it, and stop it now or face the consequences." This is strong warning for everyone to think about their actions and their lifestyles.
Our verse is something of a summation of everything he has previously written. The Greek word oun, translated “therefore,” is a way of saying, “In light of everything I’ve said to this point, if you know to do good and you don’t do it, then to you … it is sin.” And we don’t want to be guilty of sin because apostle Paul warned that the “wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23). Yet the Bible teaches that sin is both doing the wrong thing, and also refusing to do the right thing we knew we should have done.
A common misconception of Christians is we must always be non-confrontational and passive … no matter what. Even within the Christian community there is a rather pervasive view that believers should always be smiling and agreeable while conceding to others in our attempt to keep the peace. It is true that we are called be peacemakers, ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors of Christ (2 Co 5:19-20), yet the example of Jesus clearing the temple with a whip, along with various militant metaphors employed in the epistles, demonstrate that there are, in fact, times when we must fight for what we believe. Jesus Himself said that “from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Mt 11:12).
It may be that God is sending the church into our prayer closets for a “time-out,” so that after we have thought about what we have done, we can come out restored, refreshed, revived and empowered and then come together again as the people of God walking, talking, witnessing and testifying in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe that if we will yield our will to God’s will, and tarry in His presence, this could be our personal Pentecost, our Upper Room moment, our finest hour, so that we come back together in the power and anointing of God with renewed purpose and focus in a lost and dying world.
