And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it. (John 1:5 NET)
What a wonderful promise! Jesus is the light, and no matter how hard Satan and his demons try, they will never master Him, or us. When we believe in Jesus, His light enters us and we become invincible against the attacks and lies of the devil. It’s such an easy concept to understand but challenging to put into practice. When we find ourselves in challenging situations where we are tempted to doubt God and our faith — and these times come to us all, no one has perfect faith all the time — only a stubborn, unyielding determination to see God’s promises come true in our lives can pull us through. At these moments feelings and emotions have to be sacrificed, and reason-based faith in God’s word has to prevail. Is this hard? You bet it is, but it’s the only way out of doubt and fear.
You might have noticed that some versions of the Bible use “comprehend” instead of “master” in this verse, and maybe John intentionally used this particular Greek word to convey a double meaning. I think it’s very possible. How can Satan comprehend the light, our love for God, His love for us in spite of our weaknesses and failures, or our ability to use the power and authority that we’ve been give to overcome him? The climate in the kingdom of God must be a mystery to all the spirits in the kingdom of hell; where we base our lives on love, faith, truth, joy, and hope, their lives consist of hatred, doubt, lies, bitterness, and negativity. Even when we are speaking to each other about the things of faith, demons must be mystified by our conversations. Because our words are filled with light they must cause their ears great pain, and their meaning must seem like nonsense to them. How could we trust in God merely out of a desire to obey and please Him? We must have an ulterior motive, there must be something we want to get out of Him... When our actions and thoughts are full of God’s light, Satan and demons are left confused and disappointed, unable to comprehend, and unable to defeat us.
Remember, “all things work together for the good” of those who live by faith in the Lord Jesus and are filled with His light. The darkness has already been defeated, we just need to keep that in mind and ensure that we are continually in the light.
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