THIS picture, tells its own story pretty clearly. It is enough to make one shudder to see those great eager eyes, and that savage face, and that immense mouth of the lion; and then to notice the thoughtlessness, and fancied security of the innocent little deer.
Soon he will spring upon them and devour them. Poor things!
Ah, well! such things are happening all over the country, everywhere, and it is sad enough. “What?” you may say, “you do not mean that there are any lions in our neighborhood? It is all safe and quiet, and I am not afraid to run around anywhere.”
This is exactly the way with these little animals; they do not see the enemy either, and yet there he is. If they were to see him, they would bound away in a moment, before he could catch them.
“BE SOBER, BE VIGILANT; BECAUSE: YOUR ADVERSARY THE DEVIL, AS A ROARING LION, WALKETH ABOUT, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR.”
Remember, he already has those who are not Christ’s, he is their prince; they are led by his will.
But, he wants to injure all who are Christ’s; he means to stir up all the evil in us and make us care less for God and Christ, and heavenly things. He would destroy us if he could, but that he cannot do, since Christ conquered him, and destroyed his power by death.
He is willing that people should speak well of Jesus, if they will not make anything of His death; willing they should pray, if they do not pray in the name of the Lord Jesus; willing they should live, if they do not live for Christ; willing they should enjoy the world in all its wickedness, but not live out of it, saying “We are not of the world.”
Well then, what must we do? This verse says, Be sober, be watchful. Now the best thing is to walk with the Lord Jesus the conqueror of Satan, learning more and more of Himself and His work, and clinging to that with all confidence.
Satan is conquered by two things (see Rev. 12:1111And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)), the blood of Christ, and the Word of God. First of all if you are resting on the blood of Christ alone, there is safety. Stand to that, for Satan will want to tell you that you are not saved.
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Next, get acquainted with the Word of God, and do not use your own reasoning about things, but take that Word. Christ took God’s Word when the devil came to Him; He answered “It is written” to everything the devil said; that is, He answered Him with Scripture, and the devil left Him.
ML 08/23/1925