Night Stalker ∙

Night Stalker ∙

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8

Job 1:6-12

 6 One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.

 7 “Where have you come from?” the LORD asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

 8 Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless– a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

 9 Satan replied to the LORD, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God.

 10 You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is!

 11 But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

 12 “All right, you may test him,”

The Night Stalker, a made-for-TV movie, was first shown on ABC on January 11, 1972, as the ABC Movie of the Week. Darren McGavin plays an investigative reporter seeking a serial killer in the Las Vegas area.

The Night Stalker became the highest-rated original TV movie on US television at that time. It inspired a sequel, a single-season TV series of twenty episodes titled Kolchak: The Night Stalker which ran on ABC between 1974–75.

The popular TV movie and the TV series inspired Chris Carter’s The X-Files. The Night Stalker of course is pure fiction.

However, there is a real night stalker. He remains in the shadows, invisible. Yet he is well-known. He makes his presence known anywhere, whenever he desires. He is the god of this world and he has temporary dominion (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is the enemy of our souls.

The apostle Peter pictures him as a lion, perhaps the fiercest of all known beasts of that day, a menacing, cruel, ferocious beast of prey. In his mind’s eye, he sees this huge intimidating, vicious feline pacing back and forth on patrol. He roams about, he goes from place to place, he prowls, he stalks, he is always on the alert, watching, glaring, sizing up the terrain, and searching for potential prey. His mere presence is intimidating, but if that is not enough, he terrorizes his would-be victims with his roar. He is the original night stalker, the prince of darkness.

The enemy’s goal is always the same, to inflict damage and destruction. He seeks not merely to frighten or capture his prey; he seeks to maul and devour it.

The Greek word translated devour is katapiomai from kata – down and pino – drink. It has the sense of gulping down, swallowing hurriedly or greedily. Picture two dogs on either side of a barbecue longingly watching hamburgers being cooked. The chef is momentarily distracted, two hamburgers fall off. One drops in the direction of a small Yorkshire terrier. He lets it hit the ground and then begins to take as many mouthfuls as he can, as fast as he can. The other hamburger heads towards a Rottweiler. He catches it in midair and swallows it in one gulp. He devoured it.

REFLECT & PRAY

1 John 4:4 Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

Father thank You for reminding us that we have a real adversary, the original night stalker, the enemy of our souls, the prince of darkness.

INSIGHT

There is an ongoing dark and dreadful spiritual war. Our adversary the devil never tires or sleeps. He is subtle and clever spying out our weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and fears. He then strikes where we are most susceptible. Often when we least expect it. That is what the enemy does.

Where would the adversary attack you?

His agenda is quite similar to that of The Terminator, the 1984 movie, with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kyle Reese, “Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!”

“That’s what he does! That’s all he does! You can’t stop him!”

Being warned by the apostle Peter, how should we proceed? Peter lays out some guidelines.

Stay alert, keep awake, be constantly ready, be on watch, be ready for whatever may happen, be prepared for what will happen . . .. Resist him, stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith (1 Peter 5:8-9).

To be sober means to be serious-minded, to take a realistic approach to life, to be intelligent concerning the stratagems of Satan (MacDonald). We must never forget that we are in a spiritual war. Regardless of how well things may seem to be going for us, we live in a perpetual war zone. How many casualties occur because we think we live in a time of peace (Stanley)?

Our enemy may act like a lion, but The Lord Jesus Christ is a lion! The Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).

Our greatest weapon seems very odd and unusual until we reflect upon its significance: blood. Not just any blood, but the blood of the Lamb. Through His death, the Lord Jesus Christ overcame the enemy of our souls.

Revelation 12:11 And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

1 Corinthians 15:57-58

 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

As far as the Lord Jesus Christ is concerned our adversary is no longer a vicious, prowling lion but rather a servile, domesticated kitten. On the day of the crucifixion, the headlines in heaven read: Lamb conquers lion! The enemy has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb!

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