January 20

Do not doubt for a moment that Satan will hurl all his fury at those who love God's Word. His acquaintance with the Good News of Christ goes back a long way, to the dawn of the ages, in fact. He has seen its power demonstrated over and over again, and he knows it houses an arsenal of arms and aids for battered souls.

The very first assault the Gospel made against the kingdom of darkness shook its foundation and put the legions of hell on the run. They are fleeing still. When the seventy missionaries commissioned by Christ returned with their reports that even demons were subdued by the power of the Gospel, Christ replied, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven!" (Luke 10:17-18). In essence He tells them, "What you say is not news to Me; I watched when Satan was cast out of heaven. How well I know the power of the Gospel!"

Do you wonder that Satan works so hard to dispossess the Gospel which dispossesses him? By the light of the Gospel many who were once his friends find the way to truth and life. By the same light, saints move with blessed assurance toward their eternal home. Nothing torments the devil more than to see his old companions neglect their former sinful pleasures and spend time studying the Scriptures instead. He knows that a saint without a knowledge of the Gospel is as vulnerabe as an army without ammunition. Therefore, he labors either by persecution to drive God's Word away, or by political policy to persuade a people to send it away from their coast.

For it is God's Word which teaches us how to put on Christ and His graces so that we are fitly armed. Never flatter yourself into thinking you can do without this priceless book.

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