From the start, Satan (see Revelation 12:4-5) sought to destroy Christ. Yet, in every attempt, Satan failed. At Christ’s birth, for instance, an angel warned Joseph and Mary about Herod’s vicious plans, and they fled into Egypt. Jesus faced Satan’s most enticing temptations in the wilderness with an “It is written,” and thus found protection in the Word of God. In His death on the cross, He revealed the magnitude of His love and delivered us from the penalty of sin’s condemnation. In His resurrection, as our living High Priest, He delivers us from the power of sin in our lives.
Read Revelation 12:4-6, Revelation 12:9; Ephesians 5:25-27, Ephesians 5:32; and Psalm 2:7-9 and define the following symbols:
Dragon
Woman
Male Child
Rod of Iron
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
In the Bible, a rod is a symbol of dominion or rulership. A rod of iron is a symbol of an unbreakable, all-powerful, invincible rulership. Jesus faced every single temptation that we experience, but He came off a conqueror. The devil is a defeated foe. Christ has triumphed over him in His life, death, and resurrection. Because Jesus has already defeated the devil on Calvary’s cross, we can be victorious, too. Christ’s victory over Satan was complete, but the great controversy between Christ and Satan is not over yet.
Nevertheless, when we accept by faith what Christ has done for us, our sin debt is canceled and our sins forgiven. We stand perfect before God, covered in Christ’s righteousness. As Paul writes about being “found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:9, NKJV). If we are forgiven, there is nothing that we can be accused of. Jesus conquered and overcame forever the worst that sin and evil could do to Him. He made the full assault on evil and overcame it. When we accept Jesus by faith, His victory is ours.
| Why is the assurance of salvation, because of Christ’s victory over Satan, so crucial to us? How can what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:9 be our own experience? |
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