He was one of the most dazzling of God’s creation. He was called, Lucifer,  the son of the morning; the day star.  He was there at the beginning – he’s been around through history and still exists today.  He has charisma – he’s flashy and intriguing – he has knowledge, power, good looks, but he made one huge mistake – He thought he was better than God.  Because of his disobedience, he was thrown out of heaven and condemned to hell for eternity.  His one goal in life is to get back at God – to take God down at all costs. He also wants to bring us with Lucifer into the fiery furnace of eternal death.

I wonder what was going through his mind during that first Christmas.  He knew Jesus would come someday.  It was all part of God’s promise.  He may have been recalling the words, “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  He was then sentenced to a life outside of heaven where he would roam aimlessly.

God didn’t make it easy for him, but the devil still had his groupies – the ones who followed him. They’d become so conditioned to the lies, the disobedience, the battle for souls, that it was a common goal amongst them.  However, they were doomed to the same fate; HELL!  So, because they had no hope, they wanted everyone to suffer along with them. Misery loves company, I guess.

So on that first Christmas, when God’s promise was being fulfilled, can you imagine how Satan and his minions felt.  It was like the good guy coming to wipe out the bad guys.  His first thought must’ve been to get out of town.  He was totally aware of God’s power.

We are a lot like him when it comes to facing up to God.  We often run away and hide from Him.  We don’t want to take responsibility for our actions so we blame someone else.  We think we know better.  It’s a daily battle, isn’t it?

At that simple manger, we see the innocence of the lamb that would someday die for the sins of the world – but we can also be assured that He gained the victory over the devil when He conquered death on Easter morning.  Death and hell have no dominion over us anymore. We need not fear death because we know that God has won the victory.  Because of that victory, we have eternal life through Jesus.  He died so we could live!