We have just celebrated Halloween. The holiday has grown in importance to many people. At the same time, Christmas, the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, has not grown at the same pace.
For most of us, Halloween is a day of fun, with costumes worn by children and lots of candy. Lots of candy. Unless you are a diabetic, there isn’t anything about candy that sounds bad, right?
Actually, for the past seven years, I really haven’t been able to eat candy but I sure enjoy seeing the cute little boys and girls getting dressed up in their costumes.
The last two years, I have only been able to watch from afar. Because of my illness, we can’t have people coming to the door who might be ill. So our days of giving out candy is a thing of the past. I miss that.
I really can’t speak to the origins of Halloween. I haven’t studied it. What I can say is that for a very few, it is actually a religious holiday. It’s the day that they celebrate their ties to their lord and master, who is Satan.
For many, the thought of Satan and demons is nothing but a fairy tale or, at best, an allegorical story told in the Bible. Nothing could be further than the truth.
Satan was once the brightest of the angels. He was created by God and was the highest ranking angel as well. He was beautiful and intelligent. He was powerful. He was so full of his own importance and pride, he thought he was equal to God.
He led a rebellion with a full third of the angels. They wanted to overthrow and defeat God. They wanted to put themselves on the throne of heaven.
Well, that didn’t work out well for that group. It really wasn’t a contest at all. It would be like the craft that you just created trying to become the creator and toss you out. I don’t think my coloring books, cross stitch, or yarn have that kind of strength!
The angels only had the power that God had given them, nothing more and nothing less. When they rebelled, they immediately lost and God cast them down to the void that would one day be the Earth.
God then created the heavens and the Earth and everything in it. Mankind was created to show the angels that a creature who was lower than they were would rebel but ultimately repent and accept God as their savior.
The first man’s sin started the destruction of the creation. The universe was broken. If the son of God had not been sent by the father, the entirety of the creation would have ultimately been torn apart and destroyed.
Jesus did come to the earth. He has been called the second Adam as he, like Adam, was born without a sin nature. That is true of his human side. Jesus was fully human just as we are. The difference was that Jesus was also fully God.
Because of his connection with the father (who lived within him), he was able to live his human life sinlessly. He didn’t give in to the temptations that the rest of us do. They were presented to him, over and over again, but he relied on the strength of God to overcome them.
Even so, he gave up his life as the perfect sacrifice to make an atonement for all of the sins of every man, woman or child from the beginning of creation until the day he comes back for us.
When Jesus died and rose again, Satan and his fellow fallen angels were utterly defeated. They are still ruling the world today in hopes of dragging down more and more of humanity to suffer with them for eternity. Their final defeat is coming.
That will happen when Jesus returns to judge the world. Each persons sins will be made public. Those who never accepted Jesus will be found guilty and thrown in the place that we call Hell. Those who did accept Jesus will find that their sins have been wiped away and that by the sinless blood of Jesus and their name will be recorded in the Book of Life.
So, while I enjoyed watching children playing dress up at Halloween and have sneaked more than my fair share of their candy (though only the ones that my kids didn’t really like), I have also looked at the world full of sin and which is controlled by Satan and his demons.
I will glory in the fact that Jesus has won this battle and that I accepted his gift of salvation. If you are a follower of Jesus, I hope you will do so as well.
If you have never accepted Jesus as your personal savior, I hope you will. We are not promised anything beyond the moment that we are alive. Waiting for tomorrow may be too long of a wait.
Jesus can return at any moment or your life may be over in the blink of an eye. Now is the time for repentance and for accepting the free gift of salvation, love and eternal life that Jesus is offering to you.
Revelation 20:11-15
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.