“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). At the end of last Sunday’s baptismal class, I asked our Persian catechumens whether they had any questions. One Iranian fellow, about 20 years old and who has been living here in Germany for several years, raised his hand and popped a question out of left field. “Did Jesus win or lose against Satan?” “What do you mean?” I said. “You’ve taught us that Jesus defeated sin, death and the devil on the Cross and when He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday,” he replied. “But if Jesus won, why is there still so much suffering in the world?” “Great question,” I answered. “What is your favorite soccer team?” I asked. Thinking for a moment, he answered: “HSV Hamburg.” “OK,” I said. “Imagine Hamburg is playing, say, Eintracht Braunschweig. Hamburg wins: 1000 to 0.” “1000 to 0? That’s impossible,” he exclaimed.” “Of course it is. But my point is that Hamburg completely crushes, destroys, wipes out, and devastates Braunschweig. Hamburg is like Jesus. Braunschweig is like Satan. On the Cross and in the Empty Tomb, Jesus completely crushed, destroyed, wiped out, and devastated Satan.” “Okaaaayyyyy, he answered, not sure where I was going with my illustration. “But then the referee says: ‘You still have five minutes to play.’ And the two teams keep on playing. It’s obvious who won and who lost, but rules are rules—and so, Braunschweig keeps on fighting. They don’t score any goals, but they keep Hamburg busy. That’s the period we’re now in: Jesus won 2,000 years ago. Satan lost. But until Jesus returns, Satan is still causing a lot of sin, death, pain, illness, and war… and every other bad thing you can think of. ‘The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’ But Jesus has already won the game, and at the Last Day—when the referee blows his whistle—He will cast Satan and all his demons into hell forever [Revelation 20:7-10]. Game over. Does that help?” “Absolutely,” he replied. “I get it now. But I’m still glad that Hamburg won…I hate Braunschweig.”
The Tiews in Germany 