The
Great Miscalculation
Human history is littered with
examples of great miscalculations. In the recent housing crisis, tens
of thousands of home buyers miscalculated their ability to make timely
mortgage payments and fell into foreclosure status. Banks that had
bundled these mortgages into securities found themselves and their
investors holding worthless junk, fomenting an economic crisis. On
December 7, 1941, in its attack on Pearl Harbor, Imperial Japan
miscalculated the ability and resolve of America to defend itself
against an unprovoked surprise attack. The result of that great
miscalculation was the nuclear destruction of the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in August 1945, resulting in Japan's absolute
surrender.
In the beginning of human history,
Satan the Serpent became the 'god of this world' with his seduction of
Eve and subsequent complicity of Adam in disobeying God's one
prohibition. While Satan has over and over again demonstrated his
subtilty in deceiving and tripping up members of humanity, he has also
made his share of miscalculations.
Joseph is a prime example. As Satan
observed Joseph enjoying the favor of God, he moved his brothers to
sell him into slavery. In Egypt, God continued to give favor. Satan
moved Pharaoh's wife to seduce him. He fled the temptation. A false
accusation landed him in prison. But God continued to favor his man
with the ability to interpret dreams. God's favor finally put Joseph in
great authority, second only to Pharaoh himself, and allowed him to
provide safety in Egypt for his father Jacob, his brothers
and their families. God's favor upon Joseph gave birth to the Hebrew
nation in Egypt. The rest is history. Satan appears to make his
greatest miscalculations when he seeks to harm those whom God
favors.
Did not Satan miscalculate when the
Philistines put Samson in chains? It's true Samson self-destructed by
compromising his Nazarite vow. But in his disobedience and affliction,
he was still God's man. The Spirit of God enabled him to kill more
Philistines in his death than he killed during the twenty years he
judged Israel. Based on the biblical record, that total would be in the
thousands.
Satan miscalculated in his
negotiations with the Lord over Job. God gave Satan authority to take
from Job everything but his life. Job endured the loss of health, the
loss of his children and worldly goods, and the sanctimonious criticism
of his so-called friends. Yet in all his trials, Job continued to bless
the Lord and give him the glory. The last thing Satan expected from
Job, one he pummeled unmercifully, was for that godly man to petition
his God for mercy on behalf of his critics. When the Lord restored to
Job double what the Evil One had taken from him, Satan was left to sulk
over his great miscalculation.
Another classic miscalculation was
when Satan paraded out the Philistine giant Goliath to challenge the
armies of Israel. The proposal was for Israel to send out their
champion for a mano a mano fight to the death. The nation of the loser
would serve the nation of the winner. It looked like a slam dunk for
Satan in his attempt to humiliate and subjugate Gods people. What Satan
failed to account for was an Israelite that would see Goliath through
God's eyes—eyes of faith—instead of being intimidated by him. David was
that man of faith. God raised up a champion that day, sending Satan
back to his drawing board.
No miscalculation of Satan has been
greater than Jesus of Nazareth. The events surrounding his birth in
Bethlehem must have triggered a desire to destroy the Christ child. So
Satan moved Herod at one point to kill every child in Bethlehem age two
and under. He failed. He brought out his best devices to tempt Jesus in
the wilderness, but failed. During Jesus' ministry, Satan often moved
the religious elites to kill him, but they failed. At the close his
ministry, when his 'time' had come, Satan led Judas to betray Jesus for
thirty pieces of silver. The arrest of Jesus set in motion the most
unjust trial in human history. Satan used his pawns to bring bogus
accusations and inspired the crowds to cry: “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Satan thought he had achieved his goal when Pilate finally delivered
Jesus to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. He must have longed for
the moment when Jesus would draw his last breath.
Jesus finally cried with a loud
voice: “It is finished!” Those were the words of a champion, not those
of a victim. Moments later Jesus commended his spirit to the Father,
and slumped in death. Before Satan could breathe a long-awaited sigh of
relief, the earth quaked violently, the Father rent the temple veil in
two and resurrected many, telegraphing what would transpire in a few
days. Nevertheless, the disciples of Jesus laid his lifeless body in a
borrowed tomb. The Romans secured it with guards.
The cross of Jesus Christ was Satan's
great miscalculation. While he was relishing what he thought was a
resounding victory in crucifying Jesus, the Father was laying the
groundwork for redemption through his precious blood. While Satan
thought he made a laughing stock of Jesus, the Father was making him to
be sin for us, that believers might be made the righteousness of God in
him. While Satan was in the process of destroying the life of Christ,
God the Father was in the process of reconciling the world unto
himself. While Satan was making Jesus the victim of Pilate's judgment,
the Father was qualifying his Son to be Judge of all. The Jesus that
Satan cast into the fiery trial of the Cross is the same Jesus that one
day will cast Satan into the Lake of Fire. The outcome Satan thought he
achieved was the complete reverse. Satan and his human cohorts all
miscalculated what the Father accomplished in Christ's death. They
acted
in abject ignorance. Scripture says that if they had been aware of
God's wisdom in offering up his Son, they “would not have crucified the
Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8).
Now let's fast forward to Revelation
6:1-17. In this text, we find the unfolding of the Day of the Lord, the
Great Tribulation. In total control of the judgments to be meted out
upon the earth is the LAMB, the Lord Jesus. He possesses both the
AUTHORITY to open the seals of judgment (6:1) as well as the WRATH to
carry out the judgments (6:16). The wrath Jesus endured on behalf of
sinners qualifies him to administer that same wrath on those who reject
his sacrificial suffering for sin.
All four beasts in Revelation 6 issue
the same invitation to John: “Come and see” (6:1; 6:3; 6:5; 6:7). It
calls to mind John 1:35-39. John the Baptist, in the company of two of
his disciples, beheld Jesus and proclaimed: “Behold the LAMB of God!”
(1:36). Those two disciples, having heard John, began to follow Jesus.
Jesus saw them following, and inquired: “What seek ye?” (1:38). They
rejoined: “Rabbi, where dwellest thou?” (1:38). Jesus said: “Come and
see!” (1:39). These four beasts issued to John the Revelator the same
invitation Jesus issued to the two disciples of John the Baptist. In
both invitations, separated by two thousand years, the invitees are
bidden to observe the same LAMB in action. In John 1, Jesus is the
LAMB, meek and lowly in heart, yet to be offered. In Revelation 6,
however, Jesus is the LAMB in full judgment mode, dispensing wrath upon
a godless world that rejected his sin offering on their behalf. Satan
made a great miscalculation in dealing with the LAMB John the Baptist
introduced. For two thousand years, billions of lost men have made the
same miscalculation. How could the LAMB of God, so meek and lowly in
heart, wield such fierceness of wrath normally associated with a
LION?
History is on a march toward Judgment
Day! On the thrones of judgment—the Bema Seat of Christ for believers
and the Great White Throne for unbelievers—will sit Jesus, the LAMB of
God, in possession of the authority and power of a LION to execute
judgment! If you must make a miscalculation in life, please do NOT
miscalculate the nature of the LAMB and your unavoidable encounter with
him!
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