“But terror will come on the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he has little time.” Revelation 12:12
Even if some liberal theologians do not believe it, the devil
believes that we are living in the end times. So, he is stepping up his
efforts. Revelation 12:12 reminds us, “The devil has come down to you in
great anger, knowing that he has little time” (NLT). The Message puts it this way: “For the Devil’s come down on you with
both feet; he’s had a great fall; he’s wild and raging with anger; he hasn’t
much time and he knows it.”
The devil is cunning. He sizes up his opponents and varies his
attacks, deceptions, and ploys accordingly. Sometimes, he comes like a roaring
lion in all his depravity and wickedness. At other times, he comes more subtly,
disguising himself as an angel of light. And because he attacks in various
ways, it is good for us to be familiar with his tactics. Writing to the
believers in Corinth, the apostle Paul said, “And when I forgive whatever needs
to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that Satan
will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes” (2
Corinthians 2:10–11 NLT).
Jesus told a parable in which He exposed one of the ways that
Satan works, which is through imitation. Specifically, it is one of the ways he
will work in the end times. In this story, which we call the parable of the
wheat and the weeds, we see two plantings. First, a farmer goes out and sows
seed in his field, hoping for a good crop. But then something quite unexpected,
even dastardly, happens. The farmer’s enemy plants bad seed right next to the
good seed the farmer just sowed. And the purpose is to uproot the good seed.
The word Jesus used for “weed” was also known as the darnel seed. It initially
looks like wheat. But it is not until the plant is fully grown that you realize
it is not wheat at all. This was a common crime back in those days. A
competitor would sow weeds so that someone else’s crop would be worth less and
theirs would be worth more. In fact, it was such a problem that a specific law
against it was on the books.
This illustration was something that Jesus’ listeners would have
understood immediately. But what does it have to do with us today? Jesus went
on to explain, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The
field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The
weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the
weeds among the wheat is the devil” (Matthew 13:37–39 NLT). God is calling us believers not to
isolate but to infiltrate, to influence. Of course, we do not want to be
influenced in a bad way. But how about influencing the world around us in a
good way? God has put His people in the culture to influence it and make a
difference.
