They Thought They Won

 Devotion for the Week...

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend! It is so good to celebrate the fact that Jesus is risen 😊 I don't mind the abundant chocolate, either, lol. #irunforchocolate

I spent a good portion of last week thinking about the disciples and how they must have felt between the crucifixion and the resurrection. We have the advantage of living post-resurrection. We know the full story, but they didn't. They must have felt like their world had ended at the hands of evil men who would never pay for their crimes. 

Just think about the religious leaders who condemned Jesus and incited the crowd to demand His crucifixion. They were the most respected men in the community, supposedly the most godly, but they were willing to "find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death" (Matthew 26:59). When they took Jesus to Pilate, they "didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover" (John 18:28), but they had no problem with taking an innocent man to be condemned.

They succeeded, of course. Jesus was crucified and the religious leaders thought they had won. Their position as most respected in the community was intact, along with all the power and authority that gave them.

Even more so, Satan thought he had won. He thought he had destroyed God's entire plan to save humanity. How he must have celebrated when Jesus breathed His last breath on that cross.

Ah, but that wasn't the end of the story, was it? I love Phil Wickham's Living Hope, especially the verse that says: 

Then came the morning that sealed the promise

Your buried body began to breathe

Out of the silence, the roaring lion

Declared the grave has no claim on me

Satan thought he had won, but he had never been so wrong. Can you imagine the dread that replaced his jubilant celebration when Jesus began to breathe again? When Jesus' heart began to beat again? When Jesus rose from that grave and eventually ascended back into heaven? 

When the women went to anoint Jesus' body, they were met by an angel who told them, "He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen" (Matthew 28:6). That was the first inkling they had that maybe evil hadn't won after all.

Today, as I said, we have the advantage of living post-resurrection, but there are still times when it feels like evil people are winning. Psalm 73 addresses this and Asaph, the author concludes, 

"So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.

    But what a difficult task it is!

Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,

    and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.

Truly, you put them on a slippery path

    and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

In an instant they are destroyed,

    completely swept away by terrors" (vv. 16-19).

Just as it was with the crucifixion, it may look like evil is winning right now, but God will have the final say.