Destroying the Destroyer

"The Son of God appeared to destroy the devil's work." (I John 3:8)

When we lived in South Bend, Indiana (many years ago), on a particularly bright summer day, I noticed a good-sized spider web in the corner of the garage at about eye level. It was a well-designed web. I decided to take a few minutes to watch what would happen. Sure enough, a fly came and sat on the spider's web. The spider noticed but at first did not do anything. It just watched for the fly to get stuck. The fly tried to fly away, but it could not. The more it tried to fly, the more stuck it got.

Finally, the spider came out of its corner and cautiously approached the fly. When it got near enough, it struck the fly with its two front legs and then it withdrew. Then, it struck a second time. Then, several more times until the fly stopped trying to fly away. Then the spider took over and had a meal.

In 1945, a little book came out entitled. Satan and the Spider. The text was from Isaiah 59:5, which reads, "They spin a spider's web." Herbert Lockyer exposed the tactics and purpose of Satan, our arch-enemy. The whole purpose of the spider is to kill and destroy. The spider's web looks innocent. But some threads are coated with a sticky fluid which are like tiny drops of glue. When the thoughtless fly drops down, it gets stuck. Then the spider attacks and kills it.

Mary Hewitt wrote this little poem: 

"Will you walk into my parlor?"
Said the spider to the fly,
'Tis the prettiest little parlor
That ever you did spy.

Satan is obsessed with a determination to ruin us. He entices us to sin and destroy life. Jesus called him a liar and a murderer. But Jesus came to destroy the spider's web and liberate we who were stuck! He is loosening, dissolving, breaking up, scattering and destroying the works of the devil by his life, death, and resurrection from the dead. All the works of the devil are now wrapped around by slow-burning fires that started when the Son of God appeared to destroy the destroyer.