But Death has met his match,

and your kin have been overcome;

And soon it shall be your turn,

over you the battle’s been won.

Lucifer looked up at the hill of Calvary. He was elated, ecstatic, positively giddy! Here was God incarnate, come down to Earth in order to empathize directly with His creation, dying on a mere wooden cross. Lucifer found it so pathetic. For the sake of these insignificant specks of debris called humans, God was letting Himself die. But Lucifer didn’t mind. Whatever God had in mind, if He willingly submitted to the jaws of Death –the Leviathan– then Lucifer didn’t care. For almost the entire history of this worthless world, Lucifer had been building up his followers, increasing his influence. Surely God would not have enough support now to overwhelm both the Leviathan and Lucifer’s army of demons.

Lucifer laughed with every insult hurled at Jesus, with every challenge to save Himself, or resist. But Jesus did not. Even when His clothes were used as gambling chips in front of Him, Jesus did not lash out in anger. Finally, one of the thieves being crucified with Jesus asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus entered into paradise. Jesus replied that the thief would be with Him in paradise tonight. Lucifer internally raged for a moment.

“Say what you will! But you will be dead tonight! You may have saved other souls from the jaws of Death, but you will not be able to save yourself!” Lucifer spat.

Jesus looked at Lucifer directly with utter sadness in His eyes and for a moment Lucifer wavered in his rage. Then Jesus looked up into Heaven and in pain cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Lucifer went from shaken to ecstatic again. “That’s right! Your other half has abandoned you! You are no longer whole! No way you, a fragment of His full being, can resist Death, no less me as well! You will die! God will partially die tonight!”

All of Lucifer’s followers cried out in a victory cry. Almost all of the major demons under Lucifer’s control had gathered for this momentous occasion. Only the lowest ranking demons and those banished in the abyss were not in attendance for this event. They all watched with bated breath as Christ slowly became weaker and weaker and then at last, “It is finished!”

And at that moment the veil in the temple torn in two and all of creation, both Heaven and Earth, shook to it’s very core. Even Lucifer quaked under the flood entering the world that was God’s full presence invading the world, reclaiming it once more. And while this disturbed Lucifer, he would not let this chance go – this chance to watch Jesus enter or force Jesus, a part of God’s very being, into the mouth of Death – the mouth of the Leviathan.

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As the Archangel of Death, Mephistopheles, took the soul of Jesus into the heavenly realms, the demons all followed them. When Mephistopheles, and the other angels of death, guided a damned soul through death into eternity they would appear ghastly and skeletal, but when they guided the faithful, they would appear as dimmer versions of their old selves before the fall. But as Mephistopheles guided Jesus’ soul, he glowed with a glory greater than his former unfallen self. It hurt the eyes of the demons, but they dared not look away lest the soul of Jesus escape their view. They would not allow Him to avoid the jaws of Death. To their surprise though, Jesus went straight to the Leviathan’s maw without hesitation.

They had anticipated having to fight Jesus and force Him into the jaws of Death. After all, despite everything Jesus had said, Lucifer could not fully bring himself to believe that Jesus would actually submit to Death completely and fully. But He had proven them all wrong. Into the jaws of Death He went willingly and only then did the demons begin to celebrate in earnest. Jesus had actually went to His own death! Not just physically, but spiritually! Or so they believed. For three days they kept vigil over the maw of the Leviathan, for they knew that was how long Elijah prayed before the son of his benefactor was raised from the dead.

Once the three day time limit passed, they all finally felt absolutely secure in their perceived victory. But as soon as they did, they felt it again... A tremor that shook all of creation, from the heavens to the tangible universe. With dread and horror they watched as Christ emerged from the intangible monstrosity that was the Leviathan. And not only was His splendor not diminished, it was stronger than ever.

“Behold! What you did for evil, I have used for good. What you planned with death, I have turned into life. I am the beginning and the end, the first and the last. There is no other god before me and never will there be any after.”

The words resounded through the heavens and the earth and the demons all quailed under the power and authority of the One who spoke them. It was then that it all became inescapably clear to all the demons that there was no killing God. Not even a part of Him, separated from the rest, was capable of being destroyed by the personification of Death itself. They all despaired at this display of Christ’s power and sovereignty.

As Jesus left for the physical realm though, Satan’s despair turned into pure spite and hatred. “Even if we can not kill God, we can hurt Him brothers! Let us turn all our power then to destroying everything He loves that we are able to ruin! If we cannot be gods then we will be destroyers – avatars of the Leviathan! For all His supposed love of the humans, He let’s them kill each other and corrupt the home He made for them. So let us use that against Him! No torture is too heinous, no decadence too corrupt, nor any act too vile or malicious for our designs! If Heaven would seek to continue on in joy while we rot in our hell then we shall do our best to make Heaven weep!”

And the other demons, shaken as they were, had their rage and rebellious hearts stoked by this and they lifted their voices in one unholy roar of madness and malice. Lucifer fed off of their darkness and mustered all his will towards the task ahead of him. And he was filled with a sense of urgency that he had never felt before – for he realized... his time was short.