THE DEVIL'S DISPUTE

Jude 1v8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

1 Peter 5v8-10 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, those that have been saved by Jesus and continue in the faith, are kept by the Holy Spirit until the day when Jesus returns, to be with Him forever. The Bible clearly shows us that that cannot be disputed. What can be DISPUTED however, in this present life, is a little more complex to understand. The scripture above, from the book of Jude, shows us that when Moses died, Michael the archangel and the devil CONTENDED and DISPUTED over the BODY of Moses. Even after Moses had died, and his spirit had gone to be with the Lord (see mountain transfiguration story in the New Testament), the enemy disputed with Michael about Moses' body. Why was that? After all, if Moses' spirit had gone to be with the Lord, if his righteousness 'by faith' had been secured and thus his salvation, why would the enemy want anything to do with the physically dead body of Moses? While we cannot be sure about why he wanted his body then, we can guess, and we can also know why such a story is relevant for us today. 

The enemy knows that in this life, because our salvation is secure, THE ONLY THING HE CAN MESS WITH AND 'DEFACE' HAS TO DO WITH THE 'DEAD BODY OF SIN' THAT STILL RESIDES INSIDE OF CHRISTIANS. Though that old man is 'dead', Paul clearly proves in the New Testament that it still tries to revive itself and reek some damage with the LUSTS OF THE FLESH. That being the case, the only things that the devil can do to our lives while on this earth is to attack us by trying to tempt and bring trial to us through our flesh, and through that 'dead body of sin.' 

The chapter in 1 Peter tells us what to do when this happens. Firstly it says, in verse 9, that because the enemy walks around as a lion, seeking those whom he may devour we must RESIST HIM. This seems to imply that because of the AFFLICTIONS that the enemy causes, that he'll try to tempt us, just like he did to Jesus. Jesus resisted the enemy by QUOTING AND STANDING BY THE WORD, which obviously means that we must FIRSTLY KNOW THE WORD in order to be able to CONFRONT the temptations of the enemy, which there is no doubt that we will face. 

Make no doubt about it, the enemy will come to try and dispute with the Lord about the body of our flesh. While the Lord has saved our souls, the body is yet to experience its own victory, only occurring in death the Bible says, when 'death will be swallowed up in victory.' When this victory comes, there will be no more 'sting of death' which comes because of sin. While this life lasts though, the devil will always try to bring such a sting to our lives and will try to tempt us to reject obedience and give in to what he'll offer us. However, we must never let ourselves be devoured in this fashion, but rather use the spiritual weapons of our warfare and so resist the enemy in every way.