| Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people… to rescue us from the hand of our enemies… |
| —Luke 1:68a, 74a |
Do you believe you have any enemies? I have often said—in reference to people who have launched an attack against me, particularly within the church:
“I do not have anyone in my life whom I consider my enemy. But, I do seem to have people in my life who have made a personal choice to treat me as if I was their enemy.”
That distinction is very important to me. I want to meet all people on a level ground. I also realize that some individuals, for a variety of reasons, have made a conscious choice to view me as their enemy. By treating me as someone hateful, they have chosen to make me their enemy.
The truth is that we all have at least one enemy: Satan. Yes, Satan desires to destroy us. Scripture records these words from the Apostle Peter, found in 1 Peter 5:8:
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Fortunately, as we consider this Season of Advent, we celebrate the coming of One who conquers our enemy and totally neutralizes that enemy’s power. As recorded in Luke 1:68-79, the Priest Zechariah—who was married to Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth—prophesied:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
“And you, my child [John the Baptist], will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
As stated in the Scripture passage above, Jesus came to earth to “rescue us from the hand of our enemies”—especially the powers of darkness led by Satan. On every occasion where Satan wants to see us defeated and destroyed, Jesus steps in and guards us by the Presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
Part of the joy we can experience this day, and every day, is the knowledge that we are under divine protection from the forces of evil. We don’t need a Star Wars Resistance to protect us. Nor do we need to concoct a “Resistance Movement” of our own to guard us from an attack. We have the power of the living Lord Jesus Christ to guard and guide us, to protect and save us, to keep and nurture us, to grow and strengthen us along the pathways of our lives. That is a real and vital part of the good news of this Season of Advent.
