John 8:44 The father of lies
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:44 NKJV
The tension between natural and spiritual lineage
Jesus’ conversation—with believers—just took a notable turn. He rarely speaks so directly about Satan, especially at such length. The Jews claimed that Abraham was their father — implying that if he was favored by God, they were too. If this claim went unchallenged, it would compromise both Abraham’s legacy and those whose lives follow in his faith. Israel’s religious culture undermined the true essence of faith, humility, and the calling that he followed. While Abraham heard from God and received His promises, these religious Jews were claiming a lineage without embodying the character which set Abraham apart. It’s like the Black Panthers claiming to honor Martin Luther King or abortion clinic bombers claiming to be devout Christians.
What follows is profound kingdom insight into the unseen realm. In the gospels we occasionally will see hidden, obscure glimpses into heaven’s activity, but Jesus lifts a heavy stone and exposes a nest of lies to the brilliant light as the creepy crawlers scatter. We have an adversary. He works in darkness and obscurity that make it difficult to identify him and what he is doing.
On earth, men often see imprecisely, through a veil, a dark glass, from earth looking toward heaven below the crystal sea. God visits us in dreams and speaks to us in mysteries and secrets about the unseen things of the kingdom.
Indeed, God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, That He may turn man aside from his conduct, and keep man from pride…
Job 33:14-17 NASB1995
Yet Jesus is standing before these men — the very character and nature of God in the flesh. Do they recognize who he is? Do they feel anything? Do they draw closer—or push further away? I have experienced the connection and affinity with another whose values mirror my own and it surprises me how comfortable and aligned my heart feels. How would I feel if Jesus stood before me? If I really, truly loved God, I would love the one who came from God. It’s this affinity or attraction to goodness that reveals the secret of my character and values which result from the unseen choices I make every single day. But what if I didn’t feel an affinity with God? It would reflect a different alignment. Some would say, “everyone has their own opinion” or “we all see things differently.” But Jesus is black and white: “You are from your father the devil.”
Communicating so others may hear
There is something about communication that I learn from this sharp interchange. When speaking with another, I must use words the person is able to hear or understand. Proverbs says, “answer a fool according to his folly,” (Pr 26:5). In other words, don’t just project your expectation of how they hear, know your listener and speak their language. In the gospels, Jesus’ harshest words were directed at the religious. “Hypocrites!” “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign!” “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees!”
The religious are listening with their minds—trusting that identifying sin and deception are the keys to salvation—not a heart saturated in grace by the Holy Spirit. If there was any hope that these new believers would hear, it would be if they could be jolted from their normal operating mode. In reality, it was God’s hand extending his love through the fog of everything religious. It was much easier to reach a sinner who was aware of his shortcomings. In contrast, the religious justified themselves — even though they judged and condemned those most in the need of grace and mercy — and ironically did not consider themselves part of that group. They were naked and didn’t know it. When I think about it, those nearest to the “things” of God (the scriptures, the temple, the history, the responsibility), were further from Him than the tax collector or Samaritan — when measured by the humility required to receive kingdom seed. How could those that were called to handle salvation and lead and teach the nation drift so far from grace? Our adversary targets anything that is holy. He must trample every symbol of faith and pollute its very perception in the eyes of man. He’s all too happy to share the attitude of pride which opposes kingdom values. So now Jesus stands before these men and the contrast between their characters could not be more pronounced.
The evolution from being slaves to sons of the devil
There are a few things both God and Satan have in common: they both are spirit. They occupy the similar spirit space (from man’s perspective). And they both have the same objective in mind: man. They reflect two mysteries playing out on earth: the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16) and the mystery of iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The first is man becoming like God, the second is man becoming like Satan. And the devil is in the details. The character, heart, goals, values of both kingdoms are on display and available for our choosing. And our choices reflect our destiny. Although the journey begins with single choice, followed by a long chain of choices which become something. That character aligns with one or the other. Eventually, we hardly recognize the starting point. Our lives become. We are sheep and we follow. We are what we gaze upon.
Jesus’ outburst about the adversary seems like a necessary evil. Why speak about him at all? Because understanding the context from which Satan operates helps us understand our nature — for better or worse.
The Devil is in the Details
The purpose of a lie is to manipulate and deceive. Man had something Satan wanted, and the way to get it was to move us out of his way. God, who is incredible on so many many different levels, created Lucifer who was also incredible. Incredible creates incredible. Yet, God has purposed to entrust the kingdom to a man and spirit collaboration — not to just the angels. The job given to Satan was the ultimate in trust. We are the baby, he and his angels are the nurse maidens, the nannies, the caregivers. Demonstrating his intelligence, Lucifer saw no better way to minimize man’s role than by changing our very nature, putting the very sentence of death not just on Adam, but on all who would come from Adam. If man was guilty of sin with no possibility of redemption, then Satan would achieve his purpose. No one would be in the line of succession in front of him. Yet that is where he failed — to angels who understood the consequence of their choices, there would be no second chance. But to the deceived, God gives unprecedented grace and mercy (from Satan’s perspective, since he had never seen it before). And it was given at God’s expense — in the form of the second perfect man, who appeared in Palestine and seemed an unlikely, unplanned interruption that Satan would have to terminate like the rest of us. But this time, killing the body of Jesus, did not sentence his perfect soul to death. In his thirst for blood Satan again miscalculated God. The second perfect man was not overcome with sin, only death. And death would not retain power over him.
Being highly intelligent, ultra-capable, and gloriously beautiful are not evil. But in this brilliance is a snare. We think we know something, or worse, deserve something when we don’t. Knowledge is birthed in trust and humility. And it is shared, along with understanding by our Father. In the coveting for intelligence, beauty, and control is a soil ripe for deception. And the first lie was stoked by, “Has God really said? He knows your eyes (understanding) will be open to know good and evil.”
Jesus’ dossier on Satan
He said: He was a murderer from the beginning, with the first lie to Eve, he snared Adam. Sin entered into the world through one man and along with it, a sentence of death; And does not stand in the truth, which if he did, would allow him to see. But standing in the truth only comes from a heart willing to accept it. Accepting what is really true can be humbling in a way that we may not like; There is no truth in him or, as soon as you remove any willingness to accept what God has said is true, everything that grows from that first lie, leads you back to that foundation, which is falsehood. When he speaks from a lie, he speaks from his own resources, or “speaks of his own” which Jesus is intentionally contrasting with the source of his words, He is a liar and a father of it; He is the father of the liar. Man is about following, mirroring, reflecting values and light. We are sheep. God made us this way so that through our choices, we may reflect his values. Similarly, Satan would have us reflect him. So when we do what he does, he in effect becomes our model, our father. The big difference being — God is wholly devoted and loves those who he fathers, but Satan is not. He is the opposite. Despite his promise to the contrary, his relationship with us is not lasting. It’s disposable and could be tossed in a moment.
When I hear lies, do I recognize where they really came from? I cut people a lot of slack, allowing for deep differences. But when it comes to the kingdom, my life and behavior should stand in sharp contrast to the lies that could easily advance my misaligned cause.
The world and its system is based on the father of lies. Yet my Father offers his children something vastly different.