I heard a true story recently that was quite thought provoking and appropriate for this Easter season. It’s about a famous painting entitled “Checkmate” by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. It depicts a man playing chess with the devil, who is grinning from ear-to-ear because he has the man cornered. The game is over and the devil believes he’s won since his opponent has no further moves.

Two men walked through the art gallery admiring the paintings. One of the men, an international chess champion, was intrigued by the “Checkmate” painting and studied the board for quite a while. Suddenly he stepped back and proclaimed, “It’s wrong! There’s one more move. We have to contact the painter. It’s not checkmate. The King has one more move!”

 The story may end there but not the implication. From the beginning of time, the King has always had one more move. When Satan’s pride led him to rebel against God and convince a third of the angels to follow, God moved to cast them out of heaven.

Since then, the devil has continued to war against God and His people, convinced that he could win. When evil had become so rampant that God decided to destroy the earth with a great flood, Satan yelled, “Checkmate!” But the King had one more move, and rose up his faithful servant Noah to build an ark to preserve both mankind and animals through the flood.

The Lord had delivered His people from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt and led them to the raging Red Sea. The Egyptian army had pursued and caught up to them. Death was certain as there was no way of escape, and the devil rejoiced with a shout of, “Checkmate!” But the King made one more move to miraculously open the Red Sea for His people to walk through on dry land, and then closed the sea over the Egyptians, destroying them all.

  Satan will not give up. As he has claimed, “Checkmate” through the centuries, during the Babylonian captivity, the Holocaust, and the many times God’s people were close to extinction, the King, our Almighty God, has always had one more move to save and preserve His people.

 Perhaps the devil’s greatest time of triumph and loudest cry of “Checkmate!” came on the day Jesus was crucified on a cruel Roman cross. Satan knew who Jesus was, God’s only Son sent to be the Savior of the world. From the time Jesus entered His time on this earth, the devil had tried to destroy Him. But God was always one step ahead of him with one more move.

 The devil thought for sure he’d won this time as he watched Jesus cry out, “It is finished!” and breathed His last breath. He rejoiced as he saw the Savior’s dead body taken down from the cross, prepared for burial, placed in a tomb, and the stone rolled to seal the tomb.

 But the King had one more move. After three days the power of the Holy Spirit raised Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, from the dead, and He reigns and rules forevermore. Just as God always had one more move to rescue His people and raise Jesus from the grave, He always has one more move for us too. No matter how loudly the enemy shouts, “Checkmate” at you, remember our King who always wins.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 845-482-5300.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 845-482-5300.