The Great Trouble Maker
Clearly something is wrong and somebody is to blame. Trouble and more trouble: that is the human story and so it has always been. Many centuries ago Job said: "Man is of few days and full of trouble", and things have not improved since.
Crime, famine, wickedness, war civilization is reeling like a drunken man on the brink of a precipice. Who is to blame? The Bible blames the devil, but...But the devil of the Bible is not the devil of superstition. Those who have little first hand knowledge of the Bible are surprised when it is pointed out that the devil of the Bible is a symbol of sinful human desires.
Consider this passage: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil" (Hebrews
2:14). This verse tells us that Jesus came in our nature. Thus he was able to die; and by his death he was able to destroy the devil so Jesus destroyed the devil by his death. If the devil was a powerful person this would not make sense. How could Jesus have destroyed a monster by coming in weak human nature, and being tortured to death on a cross?
Think of the devil as human sin, and the problem is solved. We know that our Lord "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26). Further, the devil is called "him that had the power of death", and the Bible tells us repeatedly that sin brings death. Remember, for example: "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Human devil. So man is the trouble maker after all! The human mind is full of deceit. By greed, folly and sheer wickedness, man has inflicted a deal of unhappiness upon himself. And he proceeds, without batting an eyelid, to push the blame on to a mythical monster. Can you beat it?
The cause of war. The responsibility for wars rests squarely on man's shoulders: "What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passion - desires that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war" (James 4:1,2).
How it all started. The scriptures tell us how the sad story of human sin began. A man named Adam made an unwise decision (Genesis 3:1,5,6). Here we note that man has the ability to make decisions: is this a good thing? All right then, the ability to make decisions is a good thing. But man cannot have this ability, and not have it, at the same time. If he has the ability to decide, it follows that he may decide wisely, and he may decide unwisely. And, obviously, he must accept the consequences of his decisions.
The tragedy of human history is all man's doing. But God has not forsaken us in our misery: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Bro John Muyala (Bungoma, Kenya)
