Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself as a living sacrifice for the redemption of mankind at the cross of Calvary. God wills that those who are redeemed should conform to the image of His son (Rom. 8:29). To attain this noble status, man should first commit himself to the Lord. Until the time man completely commits himself to do the will of God always and in everything, satan pretends to be a well-wisher and does everything to prevent him from doing so. "Look, if you commit yourself to this holy life, you may have to forego the pleasures which you can enjoy otherwise. Those who are close to you will be worried. Your friends will leave you. It is possible that you may face problems in marriage-related matters. Having earned wealth by dubious means all along, if you suddenly turn honest, confusions may arise. Likewise if you desire this holy life, you can always get it later once you set right all such matters. What is the hurry now?" With such false words, the devil prevents man from committing himself to God.

If a soul overcomes all such obstacles and commits himself to God, satan reveals his true nature and becomes his foe from then onwards. The devil is angered and irritated and decides to prevent the soul from progressing though he was unable to prevent his commitment. Resolving thus, he begins his warfare with man, employing his weapons one by one.

Dear children of God, one such weapon of satan is mockery. God chooses His people and grants them His spirit and implements His will. Satan too activates worldly men and makes them war with spiritual people.

Nehemiah was a pious man, fond of the city of God. He was greatly grieved on seeing the city of Jerusalem dilapidated and the temple of God damaged. Therefore he obtained permission from his master the king, reached his own land, gathered his people and told them, "Come. Let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we no longer be a reproach". The people of Jerusalem too said, "Let us rise up and build" and then they set their hands to this good work (Neh. 2:17-18).

When this determination of the citizens of Jerusalem was brought to the knowledge of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, the handymen of satan, they ignored the work which looked trivial to them at the beginning (Neh. 2:19). There is a proverb that in a village where all its inhabitants wander about naked as senseless animals, if one gets good sense and begins to wear clothes, he will be the object of ridicule. Similarly among men who became naked by transgressing the ordinance of God, if one attains sense and by paying the price of the blood shed by our Lord Jesus Christ, covers his nakedness with the cloth of salvation, it is no wonder that other naked men mock at him. Mockery is a weapon of war employed by satan through one's friends, relatives and neighbors.

When Christ offered Himself as a living sacrifice, satan made use of this weapon powerfully. Behold the sufferings of sarcasm that our Lord underwent! The Jews arrested Jesus, bound Him and set Him before the high priest (John 18:12-13). They spat on His face and beat Him (Matt. 26:67) and struck Him with their fists (Matt. 26:67). As people were afraid to look at Moses, since his face shone as he came out of the presence of God, he had to put on a veil over his face. "We are unable to look at the radiance of your face as you are the great Son of God and therefore you cover your face" said the people and covered His face (Mark 14:65). "Oh, aren't you a great prophet? Do you know everything?

So saying they struck at His blindfolded face and sarcastically demanded Him, "Prophesy! Who is he that struck you?" (Luke 22:64). The Jews, the so called people of God, who were dead to their senses mocked at our Lord like this at the place of God because He told them the truth that He was none other than the Son of God Matt. 26:63-64; Luke 22:63). Jesus was mocked at because of His divinity and His divine wisdom.

When we attain the knowledge of God, when divine wisdom is revealed and divine characteristics appear, satan is disturbed internally and resorts to mockery externally. The devil does this to halt our spiritual growth. To the world, the wisdom of God appears madness whereas to us, it is the source of strength.

Jesus declared Himself to be the king of Jews. Because of this, they took Him to the king's court, clothed Him with a scarlet robe, covered His head with a crown of thorns and gave a reed in His hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" They spat on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head (Matt. 27:28-31). When we reveal our hope that the lamb of God has made us kings and that we will rule on this earth, they who had done so much to the green tree will not leave us, the dry ones, lightly. When we are progressing gladly keeping in mind the great (invisible) reward which is in store for us, satan mocks at us through worldly wise men in order to shake our faith. He mocks at us saying that we are a set of superstitious people in this scientific world. The bible encourages us that our hope will not be in vain and that our hope will never put us to shame. As we grow in faith, become strong in spirit and begin to declare Jesus before people, satan can not tolerate that and being afraid of more souls drawn to our fold, attempts to obstruct our ministry by resorting to mockery.

King Hezekiah sent couriers from city to city and declared the mercy of God in an attempt to make the people return to the Lord. They laughed at them, scorned and mocked them (II Chr. 30:10). Though many mocked, some got good sense, humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem to worship God (II Chr. 30:31).

Though many mock at us, let us receive glory from God by delivering the few from eternal destruction and introduce them into the kingdom of God. Let not this world engage our attention. Though people mock at us of our divinity, hope and ministry they have a special regard and fear for us and our words (II Kings 9:1-13). Therefore let us march forward unperturbed by sarcasm.

"There would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts" (Jude 1:18).