The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Romans 16:20).
With thoughts of Christmas trimmings soon coming down, the question is, “What lies ahead?” Since we cannot see into the future, we might assume the answer must be, “We don’t know.”
That assumption is wrong. It forgets that our God does know. It overlooks the fact that he has revealed some future events to us. We can walk across the threshold of a new year with the knowledge that God will crush Satan under our feet.
Really?
We might not expect that. We may even doubt that. We could more easily believe that he will be with us in the new year. Though difficult at times, we can even expect that he will make everything work out for our good.
But crush Satan under our feet?
It reminds us of the way God spoke to Satan when the Devil was in the form of a snake in the Garden of Eden. “He will crush your head” was the prophecy. The Promised One effectively did that when he defeated the Devil and paid the price for our crimes against heaven.
The death-grip of the Evil One has been broken. But he still is dangerous. We have learned that a rattlesnake can still bite after its head has been cut off. Satan is still deadly, even though he has been conquered.
We have learned that by sad experience.
Too often, he has bested us in the match of wills. So easily, he has tricked us. We have seen how he has coiled around the souls of some who once were free of his grip. Martin Luther was right when he wrote, “The old evil foe now means deadly woe…”
That was most certainly true in the 1500s. It is just as true today. When Luther wrote, “On earth is not his equal…” he was warning us not to try to take him down by ourselves.
“But for us fights the valiant one whom God himself elected.”
Notice that the Bible passage does not say, “You will soon crush Satan…” We cannot do that.
The God of peace can.
The war for our souls will still rage in the coming year. We will remain in harm’s way. We will need to fight against powers that strive to drag us into the pit of hell.
But we will not be alone. With the Son of God fighting for us, there is no doubt about the outcome.
“From victory unto victory, His army shall he lead…” That’s a certain truth.
Those who follow him share in his victories. Battle after battle, time after time, the Lord of Glory smashes those who oppose him. Time after time, we overcome.
Until that time when time will stop for us. Until the day dawns that will last forever.
Until then, the promise will be kept.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.
Really!
We pray: Lord of time and space, we try to peer into the future, but see only a reflection of the past looking back at us. We can guess and hope. You can declare with absolute certainty. With respect and deference, and invited by Jesus, we boldly ask, “Be our battle buddy in the coming year.” Amen.
Written by Pastor Paul Ziemer WELS National Civilian Chaplain and Liaison to the Military Provided by WELS Ministry to the Military
