Matins Devotion: December 12, 2023

Jude

All sin is essentially a theatrical reproduction of Satan’s rebellion against God. Satan and his angels would not live under authority. They were not content to rest under the feet of the Son of God and despised His favored status in the eyes of His Father. So they rebelled, were cast down, and inspired men to repeat their folly.

In Eden, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to follow his example, to take the one thing that had not been given to them, and to lose everything as a result. As Jude leads us to see, Cain followed Satan’s example when he took the life of his brother, whose more favorable hands were stained in the blood of the lamb. As did Korah and his rebels when they despised the favored status of Moses and were swallowed into the earth like their father the devil as a result. And when we rebel against our Lord, when we despise the one who commands us to follow Him, to obey Him, to serve Him, we do likewise. We throw away everything to gain the one thing that was not given to us.

But, of course, this is the great foolishness of our demonic rebellion. Adam and Eve were already like God in the sense that they were clothed in immortality and favor. Cain was already treasured by God because his sins would be destroyed by the Lamb of God promised in Abel’s sacrifice. Korah and his men were already high priests of God because, through the blood of that same Lamb, they could stand before their Father in heaven and plead for His mercy. So when we look at Christ, don’t see Him through the eyes of Satan, but through the eyes of faith.

Jesus Christ is indeed of a status you can never reach. He is the only begotten Son of God, co-eternal with His Father. But everything His Father gave to Him, He has now given to you. All the love and favor of His Father now rests in your hands. All the righteousness His Father gave Him now clothes and covers you. The kingdom, the power, and the glory, His eternal possessions, He has reached out His nail-pierced hands and placed them into your hands.

To live under Christ is to live with Christ. To serve Him is to be served by Him. To be under His power is to be safe in His arms. Don’t rebel against Him. Rest with Him.