Satan's Attempt at “Checkmate”

by Matthew Chapman

 

 

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work…

(2 Thessalonians 2:7)

When playing Chess, the object of the game is to use all of your pieces with their variety of movements to take your opponent's king. When you have moved strategically to the point that you can take your opponent's king on the next move unless he moves the king to another place, it is said that you have him in “check.” If you move strategically so that you will take your opponent's king down on your next move regardless of what he may try to do to get out of it, you have him in “checkmate”—you've won and the game is over.

In a similar way, Satan and the kingdom of darkness have been, and are, moving strategically against the people of God in order to “checkmate” the Lord Jesus and defeat Him in at least two ways. The first way is to thwart the church now, in this life, from expressing His fullness and fulfilling their part in the eternal purpose of God and keeping this reality in Christ from being manifested through the members of His body…

This, in turn, directly plays into the second way that Satan seeks to bring defeat to the Lord, which is to obstruct the bride of Christ from acquiring the wedding clothes she must have and making the necessary preparation for the Bridegroom in eternity.

I believe that the enemy knows that he was defeated when Jesus rose from death after dying on the cross. But, referring to the Devil, Jesus said that “the truth is not in him” (John 8:44), and so I also believe that he thinks something along the lines that Jesus' victory was only a battle won and not the whole war. And because the Lord has allowed him, for a time, to remain “the god of this world” in whose power lies “the whole world” (John 14:30, 2 Cor. 4:4, 1 John 5:19), he thinks he still has a chance. This is why Satan and the entire demonic realm fights “tooth and nail” with the ferocity and passion of those who still believe that they can ultimately win. And though they may not believe they can defeat the Lord Jesus directly, if they can succeed in depriving Him of having His bride—the joy set before Him, the one for whom He laid down His life (Heb. 12:1-2, Eph. 5:25-32)—both now and in eternity, then they have handed Him a crushing defeat.

Do you know that Satan and his demons are killers who are out to steal your inheritance and destroy your very life? Do you know that they are powerful beings, merciless and cruel and void of any compassion, relentlessly seek to steal from, kill, and destroy you? Those who are in Christ don't have to be afraid of or intimidated by him because we know that he has been ultimately and decisively defeated by Jesus, the King of kings, and as we abide in Him who overcame him, we too can overcome. But overcoming is something that must be lived out and accomplished through the life of each individual saint as well as through the church, and Christians naively think of Satan more as a pestering prankster and troublemaker than the murderer he is.

Without doing a whole teaching, we must embrace that the promises of Revelation 2 and 3, as well as 21:1-7, are only granted “to him who overcomes”—and Jesus was speaking these things to the churches, to those who were already born of the Spirit when He said these things. We must embrace that there are those who accept the invitation and yet show up to the wedding feast without wedding clothes and there are names that get erased from the Lamb's book of life (Matt. 22:11-14, Rev. 3:1-6, 16:15). We must embrace that there are virgins who are actually waiting for the Bridegroom but who foolishly sleep and do not use the time they have now to “buy” (pay the price for) the “flask of oil” (capacities for the Holy Spirit's work in their lives) needed to keep their lamps alight and be ready when He comes, and they get left out (Matt. 25:1-13). We must embrace that there are those who fail to “run in such a way that they may win” and are “disqualified” and do not overcome so as to inherit those promises in Revelation 2 and 3 and 21:1-7. There are those who will have “their crown” taken (Rev. 3:11).

Rather than getting bogged down in trying to figure out the theology of this (though the foundational truth of this can be clearly delineated from the scriptures at a later time—Heb. 6:1-2), those of you who know your Bible need to simply embrace that these are things that the scriptures say. And if this is what it says, then it can and will happen to real people who didn't have to meet this end. And so how is it that such fateful and tragic ends are met? By the enemy having his way in our lives.

The situation today

Folks, we do not live in the first century where the church is new and close to its original purity. We live in the 21st century and there has been an additional 2000 years of Satan advancing the mystery of lawlessness in his endeavor to checkmate the King. The enemy has strategically moved on many fronts in order to bring the Lord's people to a place where defeat is commonly accepted as just the way things are. Go back to those Ephesians scriptures listed above. How many specific expressions of the church can you name where the fullness of Jesus is being expressed through the members of His body functioning together in concert under His headship and the multi-faceted wisdom of God is “now” being made known through them to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places? Most Christians do not even think this is really attainable. My point is that such is virtually unheard of.

Let's paint a fair picture of the Christian landscape today. The powers of darkness have been at work for generations to manipulate and steer people to stay tethered to ways of being a Christian and expressing church life that do not even resemble the Book of Acts or what we read about in the New Testament (except for the really bad problems!). Moral failure and financial greed in the lives of those in leadership has become commonplace. Broken homes and broken lives abound in the church as a result of the divorce rate among Christians being actually documented to be higher than that of those in the world who do not claim to walk with the Lord. The gospel message that is propagated today is largely one of easy-believism and greasy grace that doesn't produce disciples who “hate father, mother sister, brother, spouse, children, and even their own life” compared to their love for Jesus for whom they have denied themselves and taken up their cross to follow Him daily, obeying all that He commanded (Luke 14:26-27, Matt. 28:18-20).

Then factor in that the wisdom of seasoned, proven, older men and women of God has been marginalized and discounted so that youth culture can prevail. Sexual promiscuity among the youth groups and adulterous relationships among married and single adults in the church is rampant. Immodest and seductive dress among women making some claim to godliness only increases (1 Tim. 2:9-10). Passivity among men and the abdication of husbands and fathers to fulfill their role as leaders of the home has become an accepted norm. Feminism has permeated almost every aspect of the Christian life. Mainline and evangelical denominations are actually bogged down in ongoing debates about the validity of women in positions of authority in the church (1 Tim. 2:12) and whether or not homosexuality is sin (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Worship has been cheapened to the point that it's simply any form of music that is directed at God by people in any condition and there is no regard for whether it is of the quality that the Father seeks and is being done “in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). Apathy is everywhere.

Now add to this picture those who live in the past and resist any kind of change, who honor what God did while they stand in the way of what He is doing. Then there are those on the other end of the spectrum who want to take truth in God and the work of the gospel “to the next level” by packaging it all in the most modern and progressive ways possible in order to make it colorful, exciting, high tech, full of multi-media presentations, youthful, informal, cool, fun, and as “user friendly” and non-confrontational as possible so as to “reach” the masses with their worldly, shallow, near-tasteless salt (Luke 14:34-35).

Still yet are those who hold to the varying streams of dominion theology who live on a mission to “change this world for Christ” according to their utopian ideal of what (in their mind) this world can and should be. From the spiritual warfare stream to the hard-core social and political activism stream to the stream that is out to reconstruct every aspect of society according to God's law, they crusade today but their hearts are taken with an idealistic future. And because the dream is elusive, they stay committed and vigilant. These in particular can end up being “enemies of the cross” because they [militantly] “set their mind on earthly things,” fail to correctly understand what our time in this life is for, and seek to have “a lasting city” here in this world rather than seek "the city which is to come" (Phil. 3:17-20, Heb. 13:14).

We'll continue this picture of Christianity today with those who are wholly engrossed with the last days and end times events and how it is all going to play out. They love studying biblical prophecy and piecing the puzzle together in order to most accurately project the sequence and timing of all these events. Though they typically deny that they are doing this, they inevitably gravitate toward trying to do the very thing Jesus said they couldn't (and shouldn't) do—pinpoint the time of His return. And there are those who are so focused on a coming revival that they miss what the Lord has right now. They pray, they fast, and they hope for a powerful move of the Spirit of God, but their lives are in many ways on hold until it happens. They go to conferences and have meetings and great discussions about what it's going to be like when the revival finally happens and all the ways it is going to change things, and about what to do with all the people who will one day get saved, etc., but they are stuck in the future and largely unavailable for God today. Just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with seeking the Lord for Him to do a significant work among His people, nor for discerning and rightly relating to the times in which we live, but if your focus on them causes you to miss the abiding reality of His kingdom right now, you're missing it.

There are also Christians who live for the next “mountaintop” experience. Truly touching God and interacting with Him is obviously a good thing, but many of these are lacking a good foundation in their life, have a lot of baggage from their past, and have never developed the capacity to abide in Jesus on a daily basis. Because of this, they are often driven by fear and insecurity to have subjective experiences that will make them feel close to God and validated by Him again. But as soon as the feeling wears off, like drug addicts looking for the next fix, they are off chasing after the next experience. These unstable souls are some of the most vulnerable to being “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:11-16). Lastly, there are those who are the polar opposites of the experience seekers who seek purity and adamantly hold to biblical truth but who are void of the life of the Spirit of God. Their homes and churches are all about order, consistency, stability, doing it right, and following biblical principles to a “t,” but the death and the absence of joy is palpable.

To complete the picture, throw all of this into a blender and mix it all together, and you have what we now accept as the normal environment for Christian life and churches. Among these various streams of people you'll find various and unique combinations, with some Christians bouncing from group to group, and all of them reacting to the imbalances and excesses and lacks of one another. Within this are Christians who genuinely want to follow the Lord and are trying to find their way. “Land mines” are everywhere. Disillusionment, skepticism, and cynicism are common. Most everyone feels like they have seen it all, heard it all, and “been there, done that.” Saints are weary and reluctant to trust or to hope again, and many have retreated into a mindset of “does it really even matter?” And all the while Satan laughs and the gates of hell do prevail (Matt. 16:13-19).

Folks, my point in painting this picture is not to belittle or disparage people, or to berate those who have never known any different, or to condemn those whose lives are broken and wounded and in need of our Redeemer. My point in painting this picture is to help you really get in touch with how this didn't all happen by chance or in a spiritual vacuum or neutral zone. The enemy has maneuvered well and largely succeeded in getting and keeping God's people self-absorbed, distracted, compromised, ensnared, wounded, stuck in the past, obsessed on the future, off-track, deceived, powerless, lifeless, reactive, unstable, etc.—seemingly “checkmated” in a way that allows for anything but expressing the pure fragrance of Christ and being a threat to his domain of darkness by living as “more than conquerors through Him who loves us” (Rom. 8:37). The only way we can ever hope to move out of this existence into what God intends for His people is to first embrace and confess the reality of where we are. If we are not honest about what is, there is no going forward.

Live awake, now!

What is the Lord's answer to all of this? It is to live awake to Him and His kingdom right now. Are you truly born of the Spirit? If so, then you have been given the ability to “see” and “enter” His kingdom (John 3:3, 5). As our hearts are converted—turned away from our own interests and pursuits and wholly given to the Lord—and we become as humble, trusting children, we can enter His kingdom, abide in His life, partake of His righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, and do His will. It is an unseen, spiritual kingdom where everything revolves around Him, and your life is governed by the King. It is the same place where Jesus discerned what the Father was saying and doing, and it is the same place from which He followed what He heard and saw from the Father as He walked about on the earth.

 

I do not deny that there have been times of significant revivals and moves of the Spirit of God, but there is something more the Lord wants for His people that is greater than a visitation that ends or an awakening only to fall back asleep. He wants us to live awake, all the time, beginning now, and He ultimately wants to take those who are living awake and build them together into “a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” We do not have to wait for Him to do something—He's already done it! The kingdom of God is an abiding reality right now and Jesus is the way in! We must learn to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness in every moment of life for every aspect of life—our relationships, our prayer life, our work, our homes, our possessions, our finances, our conversations, our service to the saints, our errand running and grocery shopping, our leisure time, and all of our moments while we go about life in its totality. As we do this, we will more and more “see” how and where to “enter” into what the Lord has in every situation, and all of the resources of who He is will be added to us.

God's kingdom “is like leaven” and as we become consistent in seeking it first, it will permeate everything (Matt. 13:33). Restoration of our walking together in His way that allows us to express His fullness and make known His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities (i.e., be His dwelling place, His golden lampstand) will take time to recover, but our answer for right now is always to live awake to Him and His kingdom. This is the starting point for everything, and without it, whatever you have is hollow and shakable (Heb. 12:25-29). With it, you overcome in this life, and together with other saints as His church, the gates of hell will not prevail (Matt. 16:18). It really is that profound and yet that simple.

Those who know the Lord Jesus believe that He has won the total victory over Satan and the domain of darkness, because He has. And even though “now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him” (Heb. 2:8), we also know there is no threat whatsoever that He will be checkmated by the enemy. Jesus will have His bride and she will be ready for Him. Satan's best attempts to defeat and deprive the Lord will fail and the demonic realm's mystery of lawlessness at work in the world will ultimately all be turned on it's head and relegated to the Lake of Fire. But what about you? Where are you in all of this? Will you do what it takes to live awake to Him and His kingdom? Will you use the time you have now to “buy” the flask of oil? Will you show up at the wedding feast clothed with righteous acts because of how you are using your time now (Rev. 19:8, Matt. 22:11-14, Eph. 5:15-17)?

 

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