Devo: "If They Would Have Known!"

"If They Would Have Known!"

“…the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;” (1 Corinthians 2:8)

    When the devil and his demons deceived and tempted the people of Jerusalem to beat and crucify Jesus Christ, I am sure the forces of spiritual darkness gloated and jeered in what they thought was a sinister victory. But on the third day after Jesus’s death, the spiritual realm violently shook with the power of the Almighty God, as Jesus Christ defeated and trounced the forces of darkness, who were trying to hold Him in their grasp. “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” (Colossians 2:15) It was at that time the devil and his minions began to realize, what they thought was a victory was their ultimate defeat. The passage above tells us, if they would have known what they were really doing, they would not have crucified the Lord Jesus Christ.

     I believe that story is also true with us. As the devil and the forces of darkness seek to distract us from the glory of God by exposing us to the adversities of this world, the very thing they are doing becomes their defeat. As we partner with God in the adversities of this world, those adversities become the very mechanisms to transform us into image and likeness of the Son of God. 

    When we are tempted and tried, we become perfect, complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4). When we are tempted and tried, our faith in God become becomes proven and perfected, reflecting the glory of the One Who is the author and perfecter of faith (1 Peter 1:6-7; Hebrews 12:1-2). When we are persecuted and slandered, and we love and bless those who oppose us, we are transformed into the likeness of the Son of God (Matthew 5:44-45). When we lend and give to those who are evil and ungrateful, those actions empower us to lay aside the heart and mind of an orphan or slave and enables God to put on us the heart and mind of a son and/or daughter of the Most High God (Luke 6:34-35). When the devil squeezes us with the tribulations of this world, we become persevering, proven, hope filled and filled with love, just like our Savior and Heavenly Father (Romans 5:3-5). When demons tempt and test us and we persevere, we receive the Crown of Life, which marks the defeat of the powers of darkness (James 1:12). The adversities the devil and the forces of darkness use to destroy us, become the very things that provide a format for us to become transformed into the likeness of God.

      I want to believe that one day as the forces of darkness are thrown into the eternal Hell (Matthew 25:41), it could be said, “if they would have known what would happen when they tempted us, tried us, tribulated us, persecuted us, caused us to suffer, lied about us, sought to deceive us, cause us be sick and die, they would not have done these things.” They would not have put those adversities before us, because they will realize what they did, enabled the Most High God to work with us to transform us into the very image and likeness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Our victory in those adversities, provided the legal right for the Most High God to declare us as sons and daughters of God and give us an inheritance in the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:16-17).