1 John 3:8 (NKJV)
8 He who sins is of the
devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of
God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
For the first three Sundays in Lent, we addressed our three
chief enemies as Christians: the world, the flesh, and the devil. When we are
outside of Christ, these forces dominate our lives and compel us to sin; they
drive us away from our Creator. So having identified each of these enemies, we
have begun to highlight the way that Jesus, through His death on the cross and
His resurrection from the grave, has conquered each of them. Last week we heard
John’s announcement that Jesus was
manifested to take away our sins. He died and rose again to free us from
the guilt and power of sin. This week John reminds us that not only did Jesus
die and rise again to conquer our sinful nature, he also died and rose again to
conquer the devil. Listen again to John’s words: He who sins
is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose
the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
John’s words remind us that though Satan is alive on planet
earth, he is far from well. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection Satan’s power
over the world has been fundamentally broken. He can no longer enslave the
nations as he once did. Momentary victories he may have but his ultimate defeat
is sure for his power is broken.
Consider, for example, the power he once had over death. Paul writes
in Hebrews 2:14-15 – Inasmuch then as the
children [we] have partaken of flesh and blood, [Jesus] Himself likewise shared
in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of
death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. Jesus broke Satan’s power. He did, in
John’s picturesque imagery in Revelation 20, chain Satan that “he no longer deceive the nations.”
This is why, therefore, our due sense of caution in the
presence of the devil and his minions must always be tempered by a robust and
profound scorn of his weakness – not his weakness in relation to us but his weakness in relation to God, the God who has promised to protect us and who
has entrusted all authority in heaven and on earth to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
holds the keys of death and hades. So
we can remind one another, when fearing the devil, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” Even as
John writes in 1 John 2:14 – I have
written to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in
you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
So as we enter into the presence of our Lord today, let us confess
that at times we have failed to fill our hearts with the fear of God in our
fight against the Wicked One and have instead fallen prey to his schemes and
stratagems and intimidation. And as we confess, let us kneel.
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