Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. – 1 John 5:5

Today's Scripture Reading (July 9, 2024): 1 John 5

The enigma machine was invented close to the end of World War I and marketed commercially starting in 1923. But the fame of the enigma machine reached its zenith because of its use in World War II by Nazi Germany. The Enigma Machine allowed the Nazis to send encoded messages across great distances. If the messages were intercepted, and they were, the messages were useless without the code of the day that could be placed into another machine to decode the original message.

For the Allied forces, finding an answer to the Enigma machine was a top priority. Starting in 1933, they made many advances to defeat the code. However, the Enigma machine became more complex, and the code it produced was believed to be unbreakable. Yet, Allied Forces continued to try to break the code, and Alan Turing was a key player in decoding the machine. Eventually, the code was broken.

John is making the argument Satan has set his designs on this world. Therefore, the world operates on his code. We can try to respond, but we will always fail because we don't understand the code. Like the Enigma Machine, Satan's designs on this world often look different than they really are. This world frequently hijacks the message of love by trying to describe it in a way that is anti-God. I see this idea of love often as I watch the news. Love does not mean picking one side over another. In the days after the 9/11 attacks, I made some people angry because of an admission that while I expected Osama Bin Laden to be brought to justice, Bin Laden died as a result of a U.S. attack on his hiding place on May 2, 2011, that the day of Bin Laden's death could not be a day of rejoicing, especially for the Christian Church. On that day, an individual loved by God would be brought to an end. God's love extends to us, even when we are wrong and caught in unimaginable sin. The death of Osama Bin Laden was a moment of mourning because a life that began with such promise was wasted in a wave of hate. As Hamas attacked Israel, God's love did not find itself on one side of the border or the other. It is for everyone. But we can't overcome the world unless we understand the code.

John writes that only the ones who believe in Jesus Christ can overcome the world. Somehow, belief in Jesus is part of the code we need to become overcomers. Charles Spurgeon offers us a look at the word "believe" in this passage.

"Look at any Greek lexicon you like, and you will find that the word [faith or believe] does not merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to, entrust with, and so forth; the very marrow of the meaning of faith is confidence in, reliance upon" (Charles Spurgeon).

Belief means knowing the code and understanding how God created this world. Satan might have set his designs on this world, but God created it. And his people must be able to decode the world and unleash God's love on all those we come into contact with.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 & 3 John