Is Satan winning?
Question:
I have a question: Is Satan winning? The world is so terrible. Sin is everywhere. Faithful Christians are a drop in the bucket compared to the population. Isn't this exactly what Satan wants is for all of these people to go to hell and that's where most people go? "Few" will make it to heaven and "few" in Noah's time was eight. How will that be defeating Satan if only a few are making it to heaven?
Answer:
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 5:13-14).
The book of Revelation was written to encourage Christians facing severe persecution from Rome that Satan would not ultimately win. "These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful" (Revelation 17:14). Rather than destroying the early church, Christianity displaced the idolatry of Rome and survived Rome's collapse as a world empire. It has continued to survive for about 2,000 years so far, despite repeated attempts to remove it. Satan has never won.
What is really interesting is that even though the number of faithful Christians is often small in the world, the number of Christians who reached heaven are innumerable. "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9).
Even if the number of faithful followers of God is a few as it was in Noah's day, I would rather be among them suffering persecution for a while than following the masses heading for an eternity in hell. "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (II Corinthians 4:17-18). See what is ahead and not what is immediately before your eyes.
