When Jesus Christ came preaching to the world, He came with something other than what the world teaches us. He told a group of religious zealots, “Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do… And because I tell you to the truth, ye believe me not.” After Peter tried rebuking the LORD, He stated, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

Man, that sounds pretty scary, being called Satan and that your father is the devil. Although, let’s take a moment and consider something. Why, in fact, did He say it to Peter? Why in the other verse that we looked at did He say, “Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not?” What was it that the Messiah was telling them. Or, specifically, what was He trying to tell us? Paul also teaches in 2 Corinthians, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Wait just a minute. Hold on. What is it that Paul was teaching us? Who is the god of this world? Why did Jesus say what He did?

During Christ’s ministry, he was hated. He was mocked. He was beaten. He was crucified. What if today was no different? “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Are you a Christian? Do you claim to know the LORD? Why does the Bible say that when we shall see him, that we will not desire what and who He is? Why is He despised and rejected of men? There are over two billion people who profess to be Christians. What if The Bible is 100% true, and our father is the devil? What if, just as he told Peter, we are all quite similar to Satan? If He was our father and we are his offspring, it most certainly makes sense. What if he is the god of this world? What if we are all blind, deaf, dumb, and captives just as the Bible tells us? What if the world is wrong? Would you put all your faith and eternal life on those who are teaching you? Or, will you seek out the answers for yourselves? If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, do you know what any of these mean? Jesus came to free the captives and restore sight to the blind. This applies to each and everyone of us, or it wouldn’t be in the Bible. Wake up my friends. You are sleeping.

Jonathan Heller – Lift Up A Banner