Satan Hates the Holy Places
John 18:1-2 (ESV) When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
I notice two things here.
First, the Lord chose a beautiful place, a peaceful place, a place out-of-doors, in nature, to meet with the Father in prayer and to instruct His disciples on how to do the same. From this I see something about His heart and ways. I enjoy commuting with Him in beautiful, quiet outdoor settings, too (and even more, I enjoy gazing at what is outside through some well-placed window inside!). Do you have a place that you have set apart to be the space where you meet with God? Do you take pains to make it conducive for communion with Him?
Second, the enemy delights in marching right up into the inner sanctuary of our hearts to squat there and destroy whatever he finds there. He delights in invading and wreaking havoc in those places that are sacred or safe. He tries to invade our time of intimate communion with the Lord through inner turmoil or outer distraction. If he can, he will force his way into this space to tear down all of our efforts to draw near to the Lord.
He hates holy places. He delights in storming into a marriage to desecrate it. He delights in infiltrating an assembly of unified, effective believers with the poison of division. He delights in invading a mother’s womb and destroying budding, innocent life. Oh, the extreme, unchecked wickedness of the devil. It is repulsive to behold.
So here we have the enemy using Judas to betray Jesus in this GARDEN, this place where the Lord had communed so often with the Father. Judas knew this place, this place of intimacy, of refuge, of tenderness, and of gentle instruction for those He had chosen. Yes, the Lord had wrestlings there, but it was the place where He had accomplished much in prayer. It was where He reported to heaven’s headquarters and received orders and strengthening and comfort and support. Oh, how wicked was the demonic design to betray the Lord in this place!
Now as I read the following passage, I see even more clearly that the enemy’s design in choosing the garden as the PLACE of betrayal was deliberate: Psalm 74:3 (AMPC) Direct your feet [quickly] to the perpetual ruins and desolations, for the foe has devastated and desecrated everything in the sanctuary. But such also is the enemy’s design for the inner sanctuary of our hearts. Satan delights in devastating and desecrating it.
It is the practice of nations at war, not to randomly destroy the holdings of their enemies, but to target things that represent their enemies’ strength and success. They deliberately target government buildings or monuments or headquarters of successful companies. They destroy the things that are the most valued and essential in their enemy’s way of life. What a picture of how the enemy of our souls seeks to destroy the most cherished, holy, and essential places in our relationship with the Lord.
He accomplishes this by injecting mixture into pure hearts. The beautiful inner sanctuary becomes marred with impure motives, doctrines, pretenses, distractions, anxieties, and pleasures. By these, the enemy scrapes away our sense of security and refuge and acceptance in the secret place, and we are alienated. The reality of life there is eroded. He will harden us, stealing away our hunger for the secret place until he completely dismantles it. Or he will come with brute force, with some devastating blow, to cause it to collapse. This is the foe’s greatest diabolical delight—making havoc of the place where we meet with God, get to know Him, and are changed into His image. Satan’s agenda is to destroy this, for without time in this place, we do not seem very different from those of this world; that otherworldly touch is missing.
My Story
As for me, the enemy has been relentless to keep the sanctuary of my heart in ruins. He came in some years ago and dismantled the intimacy that the Lord and I enjoyed together. I was baffled for years, wondering what failure of mine was so great that the Lord would barricade my access to the secret place. Now I see that “an enemy has done this” (Matthew 13:28). While my failures are great, the Lord forgives me. Even if, by my mistakes, I gave the enemy access to destroy in the sanctuary, I still have “full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19, AMPC). I once heard a preacher say that I may have left the door open, but the thief is still an illegal trespasser, and I can and must resist him.
The enemy delighted in keeping my inner sanctuary in disrepair for many years. I reacted as Israel did: There was no sanctuary; the enemy had destroyed it, so they were forced to get along without it. I tried to accommodate life without intimacy. I didn’t know how to get it back, so I moved along, doing the best I could without It. It is a plastic life, an attempt to get by with substitutes for real, daily infusions of the life of God. I seemed okay, but deep within (when I could even access that part of me), I lamented deeply over the ruin of my secret place. All I could do was to pray again and again, “Please restore me, Lord. Please restore our intimacy,” Then I would commit to seeking the Lord diligently. I prayed that He would restore my hunger and thirst to live in His presence, to choose the better part rather than the trinkets and trivia of this life.
Today I see that the Lord is taking pains to restore our intimacy. I’m hopeful and yielding.