The Bible teaches that we are contending with the devil. There is a battle going on. This particular contention in the book of Jude had to do with Moses’ body. The devil must have had some sort of plan. It is purely speculative to think of what he was going to do with the body of Moses.
There are other things like this in the Word of God. For example, there are things that the Lord Jesus said which are quoted in the New Testament record but are not given in the Gospel records. In 2 Timothy 3:8 the names of those who withstood Moses, Jannes and Jambres, are given to us, but they are not given in the Old Testament account.
Here, by divine revelation, God tells us that an incident took place in which there was contention regarding the body of Moses between Michael the archangel and the devil.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 34:5-8, “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.”
When Moses died, God buried him. The children of Israel did not see his body, and they are not involved in the burial of his body. God buried him, and no man nows where he is buried.
The Bible says that there was spiritual contention over the death, the burial, and the body of Moses. We must understand that there is always evil surrounding us and evil contention going on round about. Most of the time, we are unaware of it.
Many believe that the devil wanted the body of Moses in order to make an idol of it and deceive the children of Israel into worshipping the image of Moses and turning from the Lord. This type of thing is found in other places. Spiritual warfare is raging.
We notice the second thing is that the enemy seeks to harm us. The Bible clearly identifies the devil in verse 9, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil.” This is the enemy that seeks to harm us. It is entirely possible to talk about awful condition of our world and give statistical information that references many of the evils of our society and still miss the point.
For example, more than four hundred different pornographic magazines are published every month in the United States. One million, five hundred thousand babies are murdered in the U.S. on a yearly basis. In Canada, there were over 100,00 abortions every year from 2011 to 2015. There were over 95,000 babies murdered in 2017 in Canada. As many as 30,000 children a month are filmed in pornographic movies. Morality and decency are being destroyed. The devil is behind it, but I do not believe the devil is most proud of that. There are five thousand new people who start using cocaine everyday in the U.S., but I don’t believe the devil is most proud of that.
Satan is most proud of his work done in religious deception. People are damned because they believe something other than the plain truth that Jesus christ is the only way to heaven. Every day I live I am more and more grateful that God has led me to be a Bible-believing Christian. We declare boldly and happily that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. We work to take the message of the gospel to everyone, and Satan tries to hinder us in the effort.
The first time the archangel Michael was mentioned in the Bible, he was dealing with the devil. In the Old Testament, as Daniel prayed, God spoke to him. This passage of Scripture should wake us up as we think of the enemy who seeks to harm us. The Bible says in Daniel 10:12-13, “Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”
Daniel’s prayer was hindered for 21 days by this prince of Persia until Michael intervened. What we cannot see is as real as what we see. If the curtain could be pulled back and we could see the spirit world, we would witness a real warfare of spirit beings.
So many scoff at the idea of a real devil and a real God. Can you imagine a man praying for 21 days and his answer being withstood by some general in the devil’s army? The Bible says in Ephesians 6:10-12, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
We are told in Revelation 12:4 that as many as one-third of the angels rebelled against God with Satan. Some of those fallen angels are reserved in chains until the day of judgment. Others of those fallen angels are loose with the devil, the god of this world, the prince and power of the air, to wage war against God and God’s children. We refer to these fallen angels as demons. The Bible teaches that they operate a well-organized force of evil. There are certain evil commanders and evil leaders, spirit beings, who have assignments to disrupt the work of God.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” — 1 John 4:1