"When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him." Colossians 2:15

The Greatest Upset

The Devil howled with glee. His demons cackled with joyless mirth. They had done it! They had succeeded in engineering their Arch Enemy’s demise!

Satan himself had entered the heart of the Treasurer of the band of brothers. He had always had a weakness for money. And money had done it. It had taken thirty pieces of silver to seal the deal, but it was worth it. The high priests had siphoned the coinage from gifts given at the temple. It was blood money, but it was more than worth it.

That fateful night the Treasurer had kept his word. He had led a large group armed with swords and clubs to the garden in which the band of brothers were spending the night. He had gone right up to the Leader and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and given him a kiss of greeting. The armed brigands had seized the Leader and hauled him off to a series of trials.

The problem was, the Leader remained silent to any charges brought against him. In desperation, the High Priest finally demanded, “By the living God, declare whether or not you are the Christ, the Son of God!” Immediately, the Leader had responded, “You have said it yourself! Nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven!”

That had done it! The Devil and his demons had held their breaths, hoping against hope that the Council would make it official, and they had done so! After a few hours the Israeli Council had extorted from Governor Pilate the death penalty they demanded.

There was a vast demonic cheer for every brutal lash of the scourge that tore open the Leader’s back. There were demonic roars for every blow of the hammer that impaled the Leader to the Roman cross. And when he at last yelled, “It is finished!” – and slumped, and had stopped breathing, there was a vast roar of approval across the demonic universe! They had won! God’s silly plan for redeeming gullible mankind from the chains of death and hell and Satanic tyranny had been forever foiled!

They gleefully attacked the shocked band of brothers with despair, hopelessness, guilt, remorse, and fear. Silence was their demonic goal. And silence was what they secured!

And then something happened. Something unforeseen.... The demons guarding the tomb of the Leader were suddenly overpowered by the Enemy’s forces! There was a flash of light, a violent earthquake, and the corpse of the Leader was gone! There were isolated reports of sightings trickling back to El Diablo. There were reports of brief appearances of the Arch Enemy  – to Mary Magdalene – to a small group of women – and even to the band of brothers!

The Devil and his Demons were stunned! Their stranglehold on the human race had been ripped right from their grasp! What could they do? The Demonic Council met for an emergency strategy meeting.

That was it. Keep the band of brothers from talking! Put a demonic spin on the Surprise! – It didn’t happen, it was just a story, it was merely propaganda, it didn’t make any difference anyway. Sow distrust, disbelief, apathy, and indifference.

Create conflict, disunity, and opposition among any of the Arch Enemy’s followers. Spawn alternative philosophies and religions – atheism, evolution, socialism, communism, materialism, Buddhism, reincarnation, Islam – anything to confuse and deceive the humans.

But one thing bothered them. The Arch Enemy had left a sinister message with the band of brothers and their followers. A command to recruit, to train, to baptize adherents. And this really bothered the demons – a promise to return to earth and set up His kingdom! Would he? Could he? And when? Then they set out to demoralize the followers of the Arch Enemy in any way they could. That was their plan! Silence the Message! And silence the messengers.

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(Scripture quotation taken from the NASB.)

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