John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
There is only one person that tries to steal from us and who tries to kill and destroy us; and his name is Satan. God on the other hand is for us, and He has proven this by sending His Son Jesus Christ to bless us with life more abundantly. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus plainly revealed this truth to us. And so when believers have material possessions stolen from them, the one who is behind that theft is the thief himself, Satan. When believers have sicknesses and diseases that attack their physical bodies, thus robbing them of their health and their finances which are used to pay for medical treatment, then the one who is behind that sickness, is the one who always tries to kill, Satan. And when believers have incidents occurring in their lives that are destructive, such as motor vehicle accidents for example, then the one behind those incidents, is the destroyer himself, Satan. Now as we will see in this section, Satan cannot do just as he pleases in the life of the believer, for there is always a cause that allows Satan to gain access to the lives of believers, but nevertheless the fact remains, that all incidents of theft and destruction, that take place in the lives of believers, are orchestrated by our adversary the devil.
Job 1:9-10 “So Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? (10) Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”
There are a number of truths that are revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. I know that Satan is the one who is doing the talking in this passage, but he is talking to the Lord, and so everything that he is saying is factual and not a lie. Firstly, we see that it is God who blesses us, but I want you to notice what it is that God blesses, for the scripture says that He blesses the work of our hands. And so we again see how important it is, that whatever our hands find to do that we do it with all our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Secondly, we see that when the Lord blesses the work of our hands that the result is that our possessions begin to increase. In other words we will start becoming richer. And then we get to third truth revealed in this passage, which is the part that affects our adversary the devil, and that is the hedge that God places around us. I want you to notice the three areas around which God placed a hedge. For the scripture tells us that God placed a hedge around Job, around Job’s household, and God also placed a hedge around everything that Job owned. As we discuss this section in more detail we will see that it is important for believers to place a hedge around all three areas, and not just one or two. As a result of the hedges that God had placed around Job, his household, and all that he owned, Satan had no way in. It was in that state that Job enjoyed the blessing of God in his life, for nothing was stolen from him, no sickness was present, and he experienced no incidents of destruction. That is the state that God wants each of His children to live in, for it was only when the hedges were removed from Job that Satan was able to bring sickness and destruction into Job’s life. Someone said, but I thought we were meant to suffer and go through tribulations. That is correct, for that is what the bible teaches, but the bible is very clear as to which type of tribulation we are appointed to i.e. we are meant to suffer as Christians (1 Peter 4:16). And so Christian suffering can include being reviled and ostracised by men, having property confiscated and even martyrdom, but all of that suffering is because we belong to Christ. We are not meant to suffer with sickness, poverty and incidents of destruction occurring in our lives, for that is the suffering that those in the world are subjected to because they fall under the control of the god of this world, Satan (1 John 5:19) who is the one who kills, steals and destroys. In all things, we should always look at our Lord Jesus as our ultimate example, for the scripture says that we should walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6). Jesus was never sick, and we have seen earlier that Jesus always had His needs met. Something else that never happened to Jesus is that He never experienced any form of accidents in His life. You will recall that the devil quoted the scripture to our Lord when he tried to tempt Him in the wilderness, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over You,' and, in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' “(Matthew 4:6). That is exactly how Jesus walked this earth i.e. He never even once dashed His foot against a stone, for God had given His angels charge over His Son to bear Him up in their hands. God is no respecter of persons, and what He did for His Firstborn Son; He will also do for the rest of His sons who are in Christ.
John 14:30 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord stated that Satan had nothing in Him. In other words, Satan couldn’t get to Jesus because just like Job, God had placed a hedge around His Son. So how do we get to the place where we too can walk where Satan cannot get to us?
1 John 5:18 “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle John teaches us how to walk in that place, where our adversary cannot get in. The first step is that we are to stay away from sin, for He tells us that whoever is born of God does not sin. Satan knows that sin opens the door to him, and so he will always try tempting the believer to commit sin. That’s exactly what he did to Jesus, and so we are no different. But the same passage teaches us that he, who is born of God, keeps himself. The word translated “keep” can also be translated “to guard”. In other words believers that guard themselves, and stay away from temptation so that they do not walk in sin, keep the door closed on Satan. For the scripture says that the wicked one does not touch them. That means that Satan cannot put sickness on their bodies, he cannot steal from them, and he cannot bring destruction into their lives.
Ephesians 4:26-27 “Be angry, but do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, (27) nor give place to the devil.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul again reinforces the truth that sin opens the door to Satan, for He tells us that believers, who do not sin, do not give any place to the devil. And so we can clearly see that if we want to walk in that place where our adversary cannot touch us, then we must walk free from sin. Someone said, but I thought it was impossible to walk free from sin. That’s not what the new testament teaches us, for the new testament teaches us that we have died to sin and so we no longer need to walk in it (Romans 6:2).
Michael E.B. Maher
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