on 4 April 2023
Dear all at IPC,
I want to spend a few months in these letters thinking about the Devil. It’s not that I enjoy thinking or writing about him, but I would argue that teaching on the devil has been largely neglected in the contemporary reformed church.
There is the obvious danger of the devil being blamed for all sorts of our sins and living lives in fear of the evil one. It’s been my experience that that isn’t our great temptation as a church. Our danger is being unaware of his schemes and being very naive in our thinking about his role and place.
One of the reasons that I think it’s important for us to think these issues through is because it again reminds us that we are dealing with the supernatural. I don’t particularly like that word but we need to constantly be aware of the charge that people make that we are just religious. In the same way people are into chess or running or tech, we are these odd kind of people who are into religion. I fear that even in our proclamation of the gospel we shy away from the spiritual realities of our faith.
Christianity at its heart is unashamedly supernatural. Even a cursory reading of the gospels shows you this with angels, healings, demons, miracles and resurrection. In seeking to make the gospel more palatable we can easily downplay the supernatural.
Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
We need to make sure that we start in the right place with regards to the Devil and so it is vital for us to understand that the Devil is defeated. He’s not all powerful, he is not eternal, he’s not able to do what he wants, he does not have free reign. He has been defeated in time and space.
1 John 3:8 tells us that Christ appeared to destroy the works of the devil. It is of course the great plot line of the Bible – the promise of Genesis 3:15 fulfilled, that one would come from the line of Eve who would crush the head of that serpent, that ancient serpent (Revelation 12:9).
Christ’s life from its very beginning was one of conflict with the powers of darkness and each time, in the temptations, in the confrontation with demons He is victorious. There is not one occasion where Christ is not master of evil and yet the great battle is leading Him ultimately to the cross.
On the night before his crucifixion John 12:31,32: “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” Our Lord is fully aware of how high the stakes are at the cross.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 2:15 that on the cross: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” God publicly and finally humiliates Satan. Christ’s sacrificial death is the means by which Satan is disarmed and triumphed over. Once and for all Christ has triumphed over evil.
The phrase, “putting them to open shame”, is the same word that is used of Joseph in Matthew 1:19, who when he learned of Mary being pregnant, “did not want to expose her to public disgrace”, but it is precisely that which God has done to Satan.
And so, therefore, the writer of the Hebrews tells us that through Christ’s death: “He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” Christ’s victory is gained through injury, it is in being crushed that Christ crushes Satan, as Sinclair Ferguson says: “The prince of death is defeated by Christ’s death”.
Christ in His work at the cross beats the one who has the power of death. In His death our sin is dealt with and so because “the wages of sin is death”’ we do not need to go through life living in fear of death.
The New Testament teaches us that Satan is bound – Jesus is the strong man who overpowers him (Mark 3:27), He overpowers Satan in the temptations in the wilderness, the Kingdom of God has come and so demons are cast out (Luke 11:20). He is defeated but he is not yet finally destroyed. He is unable to hinder the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church. He is able to disrupt and cause division but he will not thwart God’s purposes. He still exists, he still roars and attacks and schemes, but he is bound. In Pilgrim’s Progress the devil is pictured as a fierce Lion, but he is on a chain.
Satan is doomed – there will be a day when Satan will be destroyed – Revelation 20:10 – that day is as certain as Christ’s resurrection. He’s on borrowed time, the clock is ticking down. He will be cast in the lake of fire.
We live in the now of Christ’s victory at the cross over Satan and the not yet of final judgement when that victory over Satan will be fully seen and acknowledged. No illustration is perfect on this but when a sporting team wins a trophy, there is a moment between the final whistle of a match where the victory has been secured but the trophy has not been lifted. They have won the trophy even though the trophy has not been raised yet. It is still to come and yet it is inevitable. We’re in that position of Christ’s victory having been secured and yet waiting for Christ’s victory still to be made visible.
The Devil has no authority or power over the Christian, our Saviour is victorious. We must see the triumph of Christ, rejoice in it and live in the light of it.
One way in which thinking of Christ’s victory over Satan helps us enormously is I’m constantly fighting the temptation to make everything about me. Yes, the cross has purchased my salvation, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me but it is more, it is greater than my personal salvation. There was something bigger, something cosmic in nature taking place that first Good Friday. It is there he disarmed and triumphed over the Devil.
Christ is victorious,
Your Minister and Friend,
Paul