Christmas Journey: The angel who devours

"The dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne." Revelation 12:4-5

My favorite Disney movie as a little girl was "Sleeping Beauty." It was the first time I recall going to the movies and I was obsessed with the three fairy godmothers. I was also terrified of Maleficent and the scene when she turns into a dragon was vividly imprinted in my mind. Since then, I always associate dragons with evil.

In the Book of Revelation, Satan is represented by a dragon: "The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world" (Rev 12:9). In our last meditation, we learned how much Satan hates us and how he will do everything possible to keep us from loving and obeying God. This primordial enemy of God and humanity is the personality behind all the darkness and evil to which human beings find themselves bound. He seeks to destroy us from the very beginning of time and in the very first moments of our individual lives.

He hates us so much because he realizes that humans were created by God with the potential to be higher than he was (Hebrews 2:6-8). Because of his sick, twisted and unsound thinking, Satan has taken on the role of being an adversary against those seeking to love and obey their Father in heaven. Writing to the people of God, Peter cautioned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Just as God has ministers of righteousness, Satan has “ministers" who influence humans to sin. Jude describes these fallen angels or demons as “angels who did not keep their proper domain” and who are now “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6).

As much as Satan hates us, he hates Jesus even more. "The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born" (Rev 12:4). This appears to be a historical reference to King Herod’s effort to destroy Jesus as a young child by ordering the deaths of all male children from two years old and under who lived in and around Bethlehem (Mat 2:13-18). But an angel had warned Joseph to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus to keep the Child from being destroyed (Mat 2:13).

Even though Satan’s attempt to destroy Jesus when He was a child failed, the devil did not give up. Prior to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Mat 4:1). During this temptation, Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him instead of God. The devil offered Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Mat 4:8) if Jesus would worship him. But Jesus did not do so.

When Jesus’ ministry was fulfilled and it was time for Him to give His life as payment for humanity’s sins, Satan was there once again. On this occasion, Satan was the one who “put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus” (John 13:2). Although Satan was clearly involved in the crucifixion of Jesus, this was actually part of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind.

"Victory over the 'prince of this world' was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is 'cast out.' 'He pursued the woman' but had no hold on her: the new Eve, 'full of grace' of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death. 'Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring.' Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: 'Come, Lord Jesus,' since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One" (CCC 2853).

The reason why Satan put so much effort in his attempts to destroy Jesus was because if there had not been a perfect Savior to pay the penalty for humanity’s sins, God’s plan would have been thwarted. Without a Savior, humans could not be forgiven of their sins nor could they live forever in God’s eternal family. The devil's main desire is to stop our journey into heaven. Satan does not want us to reach heaven, so he uses any form of deception to stop us. But we are sustained by the light and strength of God who nourishes us as we complete our journey here on earth. If we hold on to God, we will be victorious.

Sources: 

1-The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible

2-Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)

3-"Entertaining Angels" by Mike Aquilina (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)

4-"Angels and Saints" by Scott Hahn 2014

5-"Angels Throughout the Ages" by Dr. Richard Bulzacchelli (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)