As this Christmas season was approaching, I was reminded of a Christmas past when those of us gathered were encouraged to tell the Christmas story – or a part of it from a different perspective. And as I pondered that, I thought about how that might have been for Satan. Here’s my take:

Long ago, I was the covering cherubim in God’s heavenly throne room. I aspired to be like God. Because of my sin, pride and rebellion, I was thrust out of heaven, along with those I had convinced to follow me.

Since then, I have been on earth, establishing my kingdom here. I have been acknowledged as the prince of this world, and I am building my case against God.
God and I are bitter foes. We are at war.

When God created man, He gave him a free will. Exercising my freedom had gotten me expelled from God’s kingdom, so I saw my opportunity and determined to get in on the ground level, targeting man’s free will. – God had placed the Tree of Life within the Garden of Eden. He had granted His children access to all that was within the garden, except that tree. It was there, a test of their loyalty.

Recruiting them was not difficult, for I appealed to their curiosity and desire for knowledge. I told them that God was not who He was, that His motives were to control and restrict, and that freedom came by partaking of that which was forbidden.

God was disappointed and grieved by man’s choice, but I had recruited every inhabitant in my new domain. Success was mine! Man had broken God’s law – and they were now condemned to die and suffer the same fate as I.

My celebration was short-lived, as I observed the sacrificial system God had set up, one that pointed forward to a plan that would provide a way for my captives’ release and grant them pardon. -- I was enraged, and determined I would not go down without a fight!

I found the sons of man easy prey. My ability to deceive is well-practiced. No one escaped. All had, in some way, fallen for my trickery. I was proud of my record and confident that I could thwart God’s plan!

The prophecies are clear that God will become man very soon, placing Him within the reach of my power. -- Yes!

A virgin birth - who’ll believe that. When people discover Mary is pregnant, Joseph can have her stoned. But if that doesn’t work…let’s see…

God’s sending His Son as a helpless infant. I’m sure that King Herod won’t be thrilled about a contender for his throne. I’ll have to alert him to the presence of the One who is to be King of the Jews. Fear can make people do many things to protect themselves. Herod may be my man, the one to rid the world of this threat to my kingdom.

Hmm… There must be something I’m missing. I’ll need to be alert to all that’s transpiring… This isn’t working as well as I wanted. My strategy is going to need to be multi-pronged. Let’s see – in the future I’ll need to keep the religious leaders focused on protecting themselves and their turf, create dissension between them, cause the Jews to think that His mission is to save them from the Romans rather than all people from their sin, keep people busy focusing on themselves instead of God, acquiring recognition and things, forgetting Jesus in their celebrations… (fade)
Twila – Christmas 2007