A Conquered Foeಮಾದರಿ

God’s Plans Will Prevail

v4: And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

The dragon in this verse is Satan and the child that he is trying to devour is the Messiah – the one who would save God's people from Satan's dominion and restore them to God's kingdom. Satan himself was cast out of the kingdom because he would not submit to God's authority but wanted to put himself above God. Ever since he failed in that attempt, like a terrorist he tries to wreak havoc in God's kingdom. From the beginning to the end of the Bible, we have examples of his attempts at sabotage.

In Genesis we read about how God created a perfect world and then created humanity and placed them in the garden of Eden. And immediately after that we have the first story of Satan corrupting what was created good. His lies caused Adam and Eve to doubt God's good intentions towards them leading them to disobedience and eventual expulsion from the garden. What was called “very good” in Genesis 1:31 ends up being cursed in Genesis 3 as the result of Satan's actions.

Satan himself was cursed for what he had done and in that curse was the promise of a future Messiah who would one day defeat him. Genesis 3:15 says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Now Satan obviously would not want this Messiah to ever come and would do his best to derail this plan of God. He made humanity so wicked that he almost succeeded in convincing God that humanity was a mistake and should be destroyed by a flood. But God found Noah to be worth saving and preserved his family in the ark and so humanity survived.

Through the Old Testament we see Satan continually working to lead God’s people astray and trying to create a divide between them and God. The Israelites rejected God's kingship and demanded a human king. While some of their kings obeyed God, the majority led the people into disobedience. But Satan never completely succeeded in his objective and there was always a remnant that remained faithful to God.

And so, we come to the New Testament where the Messiah is finally born to Mary and Joseph. Satan was unable to prevent this birth, but as Revelation 12:4 says, he now wanted to devour the child so that the child would be unable to fulfil his destiny. We don't have many accounts of Jesus' childhood, but we do see that when Jesus went to spend time fasting to prepare himself for his ministry, Satan went there to tempt him to turn away from his ordained path. He tried to get Jesus to question the path God had set for him, to take an easier road to power and glory – one without the suffering of the cross. But Jesus does not succumb to the temptation and so Satan fails yet again

So, we see that no matter how much Satan may scheme to try and thwart God's plans, God's plans will always prevail. Satan might cause harm to God's people and create trouble for them, but what God intends will eventually take place. And so, while we might be disturbed when we see the chaos Satan causes, it shouldn't shake our faith. We should remain loyal to God and steadfast in the conviction that God will be victorious in the end.

When you see chaos and opposition in your life, do you trust that God's plan will still prevail? Satan may try to discourage and deceive, but he cannot undo what God has already determined.