The Work of the
Enemy
John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
INTERPRETATION
–Christ is the door of the sheep (John 10:9)
By
me (di emou—through me as the door) if any man enter into the sheepfold, as one
of the flock, he shall be saved; shall not only by safe from thieves and
robbers, but he shall be happy, he shall go in and out.
Christ is a shepherd,
and not as the thief, not as those that came not in by the door.
- The
mischievous design of the thief cometh not with any good intent, but to steal,
and to kill, and to destroy. First, he steals hearts and
affections; he steals from Christ and his pastures; and he kills and
destroys spiritually. The heresies, he privily brings in are damnable. Deceivers
of souls are murderers of souls. There are those that steal away the
scripture by keeping it in an unknown tongue, that steal away the
sacraments by maiming them and altering the property of them; that steal
away Christ’s ordinances to put their own inventions in the room of them,
they kill and destroy; ignorance and idolatry are destructive things.
- Secondly,
there are those whom they cannot steal, whom they can neither lead,
drive, nor carry away, from the flock of Christ, they aim by persecutions
and massacres to kill and destroy corporally. He that will not suffer
himself to be robbed is in danger of being slain.
BEWARE: STEAL. The
carelessness of the unfaithful shepherd described (John 10:12, 13); he
that is that is employed as a servant and is paid for his pains, whose own the
sheep are not, who has neither profit nor loss by them, sees the wolf coming,
or some other danger threatening, and leaves the sheep to the wolf, for in
truth he cared not for them. Here is plain reference to that of the idol-shepherd,
Zech. 11:17. Evil shepherds, magistrates and ministers, are here
described both by their bad principles and their bad practices.
- See how
the hired servant deserts his post; when he sees the wolf coming,
though then there is most need of him, he leaves the sheep and flees. Note.
(a.) Those who mind their safety more than their duty is an easy prey to
Satan’s temptations.
(b.) How fatal
the consequences are! the hireling fancies the sheep may look to themselves,
but it does not prove so: the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep, and
woeful havoc is made of the flock, which will all be charged upon the
treacherous shepherd. The blood of perishing souls is required at the hand of
the careless watchmen.
Who
is Satan?
Satan or the Devil is often portrayed as some guy in a
red suit with horns, a pitchfork, and a tail. There is no truth to this.
Further. Contrary to the beliefs of many, Satan is
not the opposite of God—an anti-god. According to the Bible, Satan is a created
being, having been created by God as His most powerful angelic helper.
So, Satan is an angel who rebelled against
God.
- The
Bible says that Satan was created by God as a cherub, the most
powerful of God's angelic beings.
At some point after his creation and before the creation of
mankind, Satan rebelled against God and took one third of the angels (referred to as demons)
with him into rebellion.
What
does Satan look like?
- When they come to earth, demons
can take on human form. In the Bible, all angels who take on human form appear
as males. All biblical references address Satan by the personal
pronoun "he."
- However,
in their heavenly state, according to the Bible, a cherub is a large
creature—up to 18 feet in height, with 8-foot-long wings. Ezekiel's
vision, tells us that the cherubim (plural of "cherub") had four
wings, and under their wings were human-like hands that could be used to
carry things. Plus, all the exteriors of the cherubim, including
the wings, are covered with eyes. Every cherub has four faces, one "of
a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and
the fourth the face of an eagle." The New Testament book of
Revelation describes similar creatures, only with six wings each, with
faces of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. Thus, it would behoove us to
remove the thought/idea that these creatures look anything remotely like
the cute little cherubim. Satan himself is described as being "perfect
in beauty," being bejeweled with all varieties of precious
stones. …to be cont’d
Playwright Janet Irene
Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre
of
Fine & Performing
Arts
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