From time to time, we as believers in Jesus need to be reminded that the strength and power and victory we enjoy in God are not from something inside ourselves by nature, but from the Lord Jesus Himself.  As mere human beings we have no special power against the forces of evil.  We are often bested by human powers, so why would we be so deluded as to think that we can resist the spiritual forces of evil in our own strength?

True, God has given us a will.  We have to the power to choose between right and wrong.  And by God’s grace, we do often choose to do the right thing.  But we are children of God by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 2:8-10 for clarification along these lines).  The good works we do are the results of God’s own goodness at work in Christ in and through us.  The entire teaching of the New Testament Scriptures make this evident.

It is God’s grace in us working to do His own good will.  It is Christ at work in us, giving us both godly desires and godly determination.  It is the power of God’s own Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives that enables us and leads us onward to a moral and spiritual victory.  The power is not human at all, not since the fall of Adam and Eve.  And yet God sent His own Son (His own Eternal Beloved One) to become human and so defeat evil as a human being.  The apostle Paul talks about this in Romans, calling the Lord Jesus, the “second Adam.”

Jesus overcame sin in the flesh and remained without sin all His earthly life.  How odd, then, to human thinking, that God should then lead Jesus to the cross of execution where Christ would become sin for us, so that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.  That is what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.  God was at work in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.  All the victory over sin, and death, and hell itself is in Christ Jesus.

Sometimes, I think I might like very much to kick the devil in the rear end, and send him skidding across the floors of hell forever and ever.  I might imagine, at such times, how it would be almost worth it to go to hell, just to make Satan truly miserable forever.  But of course, such thinking is madness.  The devil, however stupid and weak he might be when compared to God, is not something for me to tangle with.

Even if the devil were not some spiritual thing, created by God long before I ever existed, and given great understanding and power, I would never stand a chance.  On earth, we understand that a gang leader is protected by the other members of his gang.  We understand that a mayor or governor or president is usually surrounded by men willing to fight and even die to protect their boss.  And these are just mortals with other human beings to protect them.  In hell (or any place else), I would have no power to withstand the spiritual beings that collect around the devil.  I am a sinner, and any power I might ever have had was lost when Adam sinned against God.

Jesus Christ, on the other hand, has great power.  Not only as the eternal Son of God but also as a sinless, guiltless human being.  God was at work in Christ when Jesus did enter the realms of hell and then conquered death on the morning of His resurrection.  Jesus did the kicking and Satan did the losing.  The spiritual and eternal victory was won for all who trust in Him when Jesus shed His blood for sin on the cross.

I’m not even telling half the tale here.  The New Testament books of Hebrews and Ephesians, and Romans tell much of the story.  It is certainly exciting reading for anyone who ever wanted to see the devil defeated.  Of course, there is more to come.  The book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, gives bright glimpses of what yet come to pass, and all that is happening even now in the spiritual realm.  When God is finished with Satan, there will be no more devil to deal with, in any way, shape or form, on planet earth.  Jesus wins again!

I am often encouraged and inspired by an Old Testament story that shows just how amazing a victory we can have when we take our problems to the Lord.  If ever you are willing to take the words of mortal men and women to heart, then look into the Scriptures and see what the Bible itself has to say.  Here is a true story of God’s power intervening to save and protect those who trust in Him.
May the Lord Jesus Christ truly defend and bless all who trust in Him, and all who need His protection.  Amen

Jim