JESUS DEFEATED SATAN- WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE WORLD?

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil- Hebrews 2:14

What does this have to do with us, and if this is the way Satan has been defeated, how can we join in to celebrate? Does our conscience allow us to celebrate this reality? Let’s see.

‘Flesh and blood” in this Scripture means, human, mankind. First let’s remember that humans were created in God’s image. God is not human, but He created us in a way that our existence reflects Him, and His character as our Creator. William MacDonald writes, “Like God, man has intellect, a moral nature, the power to communicate with others, and an emotional nature that transcends instinct, man is a worshiper, an articulate communicator, and creator.” As humans who were created by God, we were made to love and enjoy the Lord by worshipping Him like no other creation is able to. We are called to reflect His joy and love for us. Humans indeed are special, we were made to rule the earth as God’s image bearers while at the same time worshipping Him and communing with Him, but sadly, our first natural state was destroyed in the Garden of Eden when Adam, the first human sinned.

In the Garden, the serpent (the devil) comes on the scene to destroy. He comes to destroy the fellowship between God and man. The devil knows about the holiness of God, and that going against His holiness results in death. Hence, the devil was kicked out of heaven for turning his heart against God and His ways. In the Perfect Garden of Eden the devil deceives Eve first, and then Adam is deceived and they both fall. They fall hard. They fall in a way that will bring death to every human that comes after them.

Through the deception of the devil in the Garden, sin enters the world (John 8:44, 1 John 3:8). Through Adam, the first man, and the representative of all flesh and blood, sin is imputed to all humans (Romans 5:12), and every human is born under the sway of the devil to war against the Living God who made them (Romans 8:7, 8, Ephesians 2:1-3). We’re born loving our sin against God.

Everyone is born a creation of God, but after the fall we are actually born enemies of God because of our sinful nature due to the deception of the devil and the fall of Adam. In fact, the Bible says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” meaning that we all are born in the flesh, so we all are born hostile to the ways of God, and to God Himself.

God’s commandments arouses us to break them, that’s how hostile we are to God. Because of the fall in Genesis 3, we are all born children of the devil (1 John 3:8).

Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), and God’s law brings wrath because it reveals our lawlessness, showing that we are guilty of breaking His law, His commandments. Therefore death is relevant (Romans 6:23). If the whole world is under the sway of the evil one, and slaves to sin, this naturally shows our born state, enemies of the Lord. We know that God is Supreme and demands obedience from everyone, but because we are born children of the devil, we enjoy our sin the same way the devil enjoys sin, the same sin that brings death (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:8).

So can the devil accuse humans before God? And are his accusations accurate? What would he say to God about creation, “Look at your image bearers, is this how they represent You? They love their sin. They can’t keep your law. They love being disobedient towards You. You should feel sorry for ever making them (Gen 6:6). They’re my children (1 John 3:8), and they deserve death, your law demands it, they love me and my ways. There’s no way You can love or accept these children who like me, sin from the beginning and love their sin (1 John 3:8).”

But God has the last say of all things. The Son of God, Jesus Christ became human like us. God became flesh like us (John 1:14). He came to represent us in every way, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things” (Heb 2:14). Light overcomes darkness in this major way. By Jesus becoming human and being sinless it pleased God in every way. Jesus who came on our behalf always pleased the Father (John 8:29). This is a sure jab at the devil. Why do you think he came to tempt Jesus (Matt 4:1-11)? He wanted Him to sin, because he knew that if Jesus sinned, sinners would have no hope of being freed from the wrath of God and the devil. But Jesus does not sin. The Perfect Lamb of God goes all the way to the Cross for the sins of others. This is where we see the main event of the devil’s defeat.

When God became human like us in every way, He went to the Cross to be punished for sin, not His sin, He didn’t sin (1 John 3:5), but for our sin that showed our love for the devil. On the Cross, Jesus propitiates for our sin, which means He satisfied God’s wrath because of our sin. The Perfect Lamb of God who was human like us, but who was also God, absorbs the penalty for sin, and He was resurrected three days later to never die again.

His resurrection shows that all the ungodly children of the devil can be adopted to be children of God through His death, burial, and resurrection. The Grace of God does this. Those who were by nature children of the devil and the wrath of God can now be children of God because one has died for their sins if they believe and are born again (John 1:12, John 3:3).

Now the devil can only shoot blanks when he goes to God to accuse those who have turned from their sins to trust in Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead after paying for sin (Romans 6:10, 11). When the devil goes to God to say, “Look at your image bearers, is this how they represent You? They love their sin. They can’t keep your law. They love being disobedient towards You. You should feel sorry for ever making them (Gen 6:6). They deserve death, your law demands it, let them stay with me. There’s no way You can love or accept these children who, like me sin from the beginning and love their sin (1 John 3:8).”

God looks at him to say, “Yes, but did you see what I did to my Son on the Cross (Isaiah 53:10), my Son did it all. If they have trusted in Him, they’re righteous to Me (2 Corinthians 5:21). They broke the law, He kept it in every way and took my wrath for them when He was on the Cross, and then three days later He rose so beautifully defeating you and sin, and now He’s up here at my right hand interceding for them. I also sent them my Spirit to secure their salvation, so you can’t have them back, they’re mine now if they have placed their hope in Him alone, and the Spirit will adopt them to make them mine (Romans 8:15), and He will keep them until my Son returns (Ephesians 2:13,14). Nice try, but as long as my Son is Alive after defeating you and death, all who repent and believe in Him are justified forever, so be gone. My Son lives and so does everyone who turns from their sin and believes in Him (John 5:24).”

At the Cross Satan is defeated because Jesus obeys the law we broke, and He also pays the penalty for people who deserve death because of our lawbreaking. He takes the wrath that the law brings (Romans 4:15), and is raised to seal the deal. Through the Cross and the defeat of the devil, Jesus was able to deliver those who were slaves to the fear of death because of sin (Heb. 2:15). Through Jesus a person should no longer be a slave to the fear of death if they’ve been promised eternal life (John 3:36).

Jesus’ death defeats death because He was sinless, and it frees us from the fear of death because the promised death for sin has been extinguished at the Cross when Jesus was punished for us. Repent and Believe to be saved in Christ. The devil has been defeated by the death of Christ on the Cross when He died for the ungodly on the Cross.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39 ESV)