The Devil's Due

Our last post mentioned the approach of "Yom Kippur" or the Day of Atonement, from sunset Tuesday to sunset Wednesday.  It came up during an online tournament Monday, as a player with an eye-catching name was at the table:


Dealer:  lucifer1 wins Main Pot ($740)
Me:  Somehow doubting
Me:  Lucifer will keep
Me:  Yom Kippur. :-/ ....

Why would we write that in the chat box? Because the holy day pictures how God will someday punish Satan the devil.  The details of the Old Testament ceremony symbolize how it will happen:

When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forth the live goat.  He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites -- all their sins -- and put them on the goat's head.  He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. - Leviticus 16:20-21

Jesus paid the penalty for human sins, of course.  But He didn't disappear in a desert, after the crucifixion.  He was resurrected and seen by hundreds of people (I Corinthians 15:3-8) -- and He'll return to Earth someday (I Thessalonians 4:16).  So we think the goat symbolizes something else....

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.  He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. - Revelation 20:1-2

While Satan's lock-up is future, Lucifer1 was rolling up a big score at our table -- winning pot after pot, quickly climbing above 10,000 chips.  So we wrote:

Me:  Lucifer a grim reaper

lucifer1:  no I am not

Dealer:  lucifer1 wins Main Pot ($6,035)

Me:  You're reaping

Me:  at least.

Lucifer1:  Sorry, I am and little God's angel

It's too bad that we were eliminated shortly after that comment -- because we should have challenged it.

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. - II Corinthians 11:14

Isaiah 14 refers to a "Lucifer" who once was in heaven, then was cast down for organizing a revolt against God.  Satan wants people to believe it's working for God, when it really "deceives the whole world" away from God (Revelation 12:9, KJV).

It's enough to make anyone stop and think.  Could Satan have deceived you into doing ungodly things -- even in a poker room?  As you have time, use the Day of Atonement to examine your life.  Compare your actions with the word of God.  Then get on the side which will win in the end.