The Holy One hung from the tree, bloodied and battered. His final moments on this earth were to be spent in suffering as he was killed by the very ones whom He had come to save. The Deceiver moved among the crowd, drinking in the mixture of shock and anger and fear and disappointment and hopelessness that hung on the spectators.
"It was destined to end this way, you know," he called out to the Holy One. The beaten face slowly turned to look Satan in the eye. "You never had a chance to save these people. This," he spread his arms wide, "is my realm. I decide what happens here. Who profits. Who loses. Who goes to war and who has peace. Who lives," Satan raised an eyebrow and returned the Holy One's stare, "and who dies." The Deceiver noticed a small band of soldiers and slowly walked over to them. "You see," he continued as a smile spread across his face, " when you all created these poor creatures, you gave them the power to choose...but not the power to see."
He came up behind one of the soldiers and whispered, "The clothing of the King of the Jews...I bet that will be worth something. Why not claim it?" He turned and walked back toward the cross as the soldiers began gambling for the Holy One's garments.
"They can't see me! They can't even see you...at least not who you really are!" Satan ran his finger along the foreheads of the men and women in the crowd as he slowly made his way to the dying man. "Oh...but they can hear me. And they want things and I am very good at telling them how to get what their petty little hearts want. It's like you made them to become mine!"
Satan reached the cross and leaned on it, eyes closing as his head rested on the wood. "You made me work for this one, though. I will give you credit for that. This was significantly harder than those prophets that you used to send." He smiled again, savoring the victory. "Do you know how hard it was to arrange all this when you kept feeding people and healing people? Fulfilling prophecy and raising the dead? Come on...it would take a master tactician to be able to manipulate enough events to defeat that movement. To guide you on a path that ended up in an entire mob chanting for your death? Betrayed by one of your closest friends? No one can pull that many strings," His eyes snapped open, glistening, "Except me."
Satan looked up at his victim, gasping and groaning as He approached the end. "No rebuttal? No Holy Scriptures to quote? No Divine Revelations? Hmmm, disappointing. Let's go check on your friends, shall we?"
The Holy One was hung in between two other criminals. The dark chains of Sin hung across their torsos, ready to pull their souls down to Hell once their bodies released them. Their names were as insignificant as their lives had been. These two souls would be added to the millions that he already possessed...the central piece in his plan to defeat the Creator.
"What you have never understood," Satan called back to the Unchained One, "Is that humans only see what they want to see. They see the here and now. They see the physical and tangible. They see what they want and what stands in their way. They do not look around themselves and see souls that mirror the Divine. They look around themselves and see obstacles to profit and pleasures to be conquered and wrongs to be avenged. You came preaching a new kingdom. They don't want a kingdom that brings peace! They want a kingdom that brings them power! They want control over their lives and you and the Creator simply get in their way!"
One of the other prisoners happened to call out to the Holy One at that moment. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!" The Crucified King turned and told him, "Today you will join me in paradise."
Satan exploded. "You fool!" he cried at the prisoner, "You see these chains!" He grabbed the bindings and gave a firm tug. "These mark you as mine! You will never get so much as a glimpse of paradise! This Lord of yours has wasted his years here in my realm to try to save you pathetic beings. But he failed, and you are mine! Weren't you paying attention to his cute little stories? He said a landowner went away and sent messengers back to collect from his land. The messengers were killed. I killed them! Then he sent his son...and his son was killed! Guess what I'm doing now? After that the "landowner" attacked his vineyard and there was a great battle. Don't you see? When I kill this wretched excuse for a man, he is returning to heaven as a failure and the Creator is going to have to come down here and try to retake this realm!" Satan ran to face the Holy One, pointing a finger up into His face. "But I have a secret weapon. Millions of them actually. Go back to where you came from and tell your "Father" that I have His beloved children under my control! If He attacks me, He will have to kill every single one of those precious souls to get to me and everything He has ever wanted will die too. You go back home with this message, Son of Man: Earth is now and forever off-limits! It is mine! Go find somewhere else in that great big cosmos to play god! I have won! Do you hear me? I HAVE WON!"
The eyes were what Satan noticed first. The eyes that had been glazed over in agony sharpened in an instant. The face that was smeared with dirt, sweat and blood clenched its jaw as the Holy One drew himself up. For a split second His mouth turned up into a smile before he yelled, "It is Finished!" The eyes behind that fierce gaze closed and Jesus breathed his last.
Satan let out a breath that he did not even know he had been holding. It was over. Satan turned to leave. All that was left was for the body to release the soul to the heavens and then to see how the Creator responded to his ultimatum. A flash of movement caught his eye.
The Deceiver froze, his mind unable to comprehend what he was seeing. The dark-as-night chains that had been draped across the other prisoner were gone and now hanging on the Holy One's still form. The chain from the third prisoner flew off and circled around His legs. Satan watched in horror as chains began flying from the crowd and wrapping about the prone figure. Soon there were countless streaks of darkness emerging through the ground and streaking through the sky, thoroughly burying the Holy One. The cross now held an enormous cocoon of chains, more than Satan could count.
"No!" The Deceiver ran towards the cross. "No no no no no! What have you done?"
Slowly the cocoon began to descend from the cross. The physical body was releasing the soul, now bound by these supernatural chains, and it was now sinking into the earth destined for Hell.
"No! You can't go there! That realm is reserved for those who have been separated from the Creator! You can't be separated...you are a One with Him!" For the first time in history, Satan felt fear. Dread alternated with disbelief as he tried to figure out what was happening and how to regain control of the situation.
Satan raced ahead, marshaling all his forces to assemble in the receiving chamber. Newly acquired souls were brought here first for processing. It was completely dark and quiet, save for the echoes of screams that carried from other areas. The mass of chains came to rest in the center of the room. Satan and his angels surrounded the invader, weapons drawn. Silence hung in the air as Hell waited. The cocoon twitched. A slight movement became an unmistakable shaking. The surrounding angels took a step backwards as a rumble began to be heard. The chains trembled and cracked; the rumble grew into a roar. Suddenly everything stopped...there was no sign of movement...no whisper of noise.
The pile of chains erupted in a blinding explosion of light and sound, knocking Satan's entire army to the ground. The entire chamber was filled with a blazing sun. From the dirt the Deceiver squinted and shielded his eyes, making out the form of a man in the middle of the inferno. This was not the broken and bloodied form he had mocked only moments ago. This was power and strength personified, the Light of Creation, the Word of the Almighty. "Now," His voice echoed for all to hear, "It is my turn." The Holy One was unleashed upon Hell.
_________________________________________________
This was not the first confrontation between these two. After Jesus' baptism he spent a month in the wilderness. Satan came to tempt the Incarnation and, failing in his mission, left Jesus. After his departure, Jesus was joined by angels who ministered to him. "So. That is the enemy."
"Yes, my Lord. The Deceiver has taken millions of souls captive over the years. The gates to his realm are well defended and he knows that we will not dare an assault that would result in the deaths of so many lost ones." The angel bowed its head, "I do not see how we can rescue those hostages without sacrificing the living. Satan will never open his kingdom for you without a substantial offering in return."
Jesus smiled and shook his head. "There will be a substantial offering...but not as he is expecting. We are not going through the front gates. We are not going to sacrifice the hostages. Satan himself will escort me into the heart of his realm and then watch helplessly as I bring all the lost souls out with me. Don't you see? I am going to break down the gates of Hell...but from the inside."
"But my Lord, why would he welcome you in?"
"People will see what they want to see." Jesus gave a small laugh as they began walking out of the wilderness. "The enemy believes we are setting up to have an enormous battle for this planet. He believes that we are battling over who gets to control humanity, because that is what he would do. He expects that I will gather forces and he will gather forces...that if he can win the day that my Father will be forced to either wipe out everything or go somewhere else and start over." His eyes narrowed in determination. "I am not here to win the day or the year, or even this generation. I am here to win eternity...and he is going to help me do it."
__________________________________________________________________
He came to an abrupt stop, shocked at where his feet had brought him. Satan stood at the mouth of the empty tomb, shaking his head in disbelief. His panic grew with every passing moment. What would happen next?
No comments:
Post a Comment