Search
We have mentioned before that God’s eternal plan is for Christ to be glorified and to be made the Head over all things. When Satan rebelled and man fell, God had to come in to deal with these two problems before He could accomplish His eternal plan. Originally God created man with the purpose of having man deal with the rebellious Satan and to displace his rule. But man was deceived and fell. Now God had to take care of two problems. What did He do? He dealt with these two problems through the Lord Jesus. Today we will consider the work of the Lord in God’s plan: how He solved the problems that stood in the way of God’s plan and how He accomplished God’s plan. The Lord’s work was carried out mainly on the cross. On the cross He dealt with sin and the sinner. He redeemed us from sin and removed us, the sinners. This is the negative side of the Lord’s work. In addition, the Lord stood in the place of Adam, that is, in the place of man and opposed, withstood, and defeated Satan by exercising His will as a man and seized the power of authority back from Satan.
Every incident in the Lord’s life was connected to God’s plan and related to the destruction of Satan. First, He was born in Bethlehem, taking on a body of blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). This was not only for the purpose of having blood and shedding blood to forgive our sins, but also for the purpose of dealing with Satan. God wants the created man to deal with Satan. Satan could never touch the will of the man Jesus. In the second man Jesus, God gained what He could not gain in the first man Adam.
After the Lord was baptized by John in the Jordan, He rose up from the water and a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, the Beloved” (Matt. 3:16-17). Then the Lord was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by the devil (4:1-11). In the first temptation the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God...” (v. 3). Satan wanted Him to be the Son of God rather than a man. He wanted the Lord to leave His position as a man and take the position of the Son of God, that is, to be God. This was Satan’s deception. Satan knew that once the Lord took the position of God, He would lose His position to deal with him. But the Lord saw through Satan’s deception, and He answered saying, “Man shall not live...” (v. 4). It seems as if the Lord was saying, “I am here as a man, not as the Son of God. Although I am the Son of God, I am taking the position of a man.” The first Adam, who was a man, wanted to be God and failed. The second Adam, who is God, was willing to stand in the position of a man and prevailed. Only man can accomplish God’s eternal plan and only man can deal with Satan.
In the second temptation Satan seemed to be saying, “If You are a man after God’s heart, You should be able to jump down from the wing of the temple. God will surely protect You.” (There is no love in Satan’s temptation. Wherever there is love, there is not temptation.) Temptation comes when a person does not understand God’s will. When a person is ignorant, he will try anything. Satan tried to completely separate the Lord from God once He firmly stood in the position of a man. Yet the Lord would not tempt God. He knew that He was joined to God, and He did not doubt God. Hence, He did not take Satan’s suggestion to tempt God by jumping down from the temple. In the temptations that the Lord encountered in the wilderness, He was tempted to give up his position as a man and He was tempted to doubt whether He was one with God.
In the third temptation the devil said, “If You will fall down and worship me” (v. 9). Satan’s goal is worship. Since the Lord represented all men, all men would have failed if He had worshipped Satan. But the Lord stood on God’s side. He only worshipped God and served Him. He overcame Satan’s temptations. In the garden of Eden man’s will sided with Satan and brought in his utter failure. In the wilderness man’s will sided with God and was one with God. As a result man completely overcame.
The center of God is Christ, whereas the center of Christ is the cross. When the Lord became a man, He became a representative of all men and included all men. Because He included all men, all men suffered God’s punishment when He was crucified on the cross and shed His blood (2 Cor. 5:14). He included all men. Hence, when He died on the cross, everyone in Adam died as well.
The Lord is the resurrection (John 11:25). Resurrection is that which overcomes death and that which cannot be defeated by death. Through death, the Lord destroyed the devil who has the might of death and released men from the slavery of death (Heb. 2:14-15). The Lord is the resurrection. Hence, death could not lay hold of Him, and Hades could not keep Him. The one who had the power of death lost his authority over Him. Colossians 2:15 says, “Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” The words “stripping off” mean that Satan could not lay hold of anything or keep anything. Originally, Satan’s food was dust (which was man). But now that the Lord has died and resurrected, His life is the resurrection life, and the resurrection life has nothing to do with dust. Therefore, through the death of Christ, dust (that is, man) is buried, and the rulers and authorities are also buried. This is the reason that Satan hates baptism. Baptism signifies burial, and everything in Adam has been stripped off through the water of burial and is buried in the grave. Satan has no more food to eat. Those who have risen from the water of baptism are men in resurrection. They are no longer dust, and Satan no longer has any authority over them.
Through death the Lord Jesus destroyed the one who held the power of death. He stood in the position of a man and overcame Satan on behalf of man. He is the victorious One, and we whom He represents are also victorious. He has gained the victory, and we are enjoying His victory. In the Bible there are victories, and there are those who boast in victories. There is a difference between victory and boasting in victory. Victory is overcoming in the battlefield, while boasting in victory is singing the victory celebration after the battle has been won. Christ has won the victory, and we who are on His side only need to boast in His victory. This is like a school whose sports team has won the victory. All the students in the school rejoice and boast in the victory. The minute we boast in victory, we rejoice. This is what Psalm 23:5 means when it says, “You spread a table before me / In the presence of my adversaries.” Christ has won the victory, and in Him we boast in His victory.
Both John 16:11 and Revelation 12:11 speak of the cross dealing with Satan. The Lord on the cross was a representation. In its representation, the world was also on the cross (Gal. 6:14), and the prince of the world was also on the cross. In God’s eyes the whole world is one entity. Satan is the head of the world. When the Lord was lifted up on the cross, Satan was cast out (John 12:31-33). John 3:14 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up (bronze being a type of judgment) shows God’s judgment. Not only did He judge men, He also judged Satan. After man sinned and fell, he became God’s enemy. In John 8:44, the Lord says, “You are of your father the devil.” When man followed the devil, he became the descendant of the serpent. Hence, when the Lord was crucified, the descendants of the serpent were included in His crucifixion. As the bronze serpent the Lord does not have the poison of the serpent. He suffered God’s judgment as a representative of us, the descendants of the serpent. He bore man’s sin, yet He Himself did not know sin (2 Cor. 5:21). The blood of the Lamb enables us to overcome Satan (Rev. 12:11), because the Lord as the bronze serpent has become a representative of the descendants of the serpent. When He was crucified on the cross, Satan was dealt with as well. Hence, the Lord has won the victory.
Ephesians 1:20-22 says, “Which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” These three verses mention the Lord’s resurrection and ascension. Resurrection and ascension are equally important. God’s will is in heaven, man’s will is on earth, and Satan the enemy is in the air. When the Lord ascended, He transcended over all His enemies. Today the Lord occupies such an exalted position that the enemy cannot even touch Him. Ascension signifies a victorious stand, and ascension brings in a new position. Heaven is not part of the enemy’s territory, and Satan cannot touch this realm at all. We who are now in Christ and in heaven are also beyond Satan’s touch. Ephesians 1:20-22 tells us that the Lord is in heaven, while Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we are seated in the heavenlies with the Lord. The Lord ascended to heaven as a man. This means that now a man has ascended to God. He is a glorified man. He is the first Overcomer. He is the first Man before God. As a man He has transcended over everything.
Christ defeated the enemy through His birth, temptation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. He dealt with the enemy as a man and in the position of a man. Because of His victory, God’s will in man is fulfilled. By becoming a man, Christ overcame the enemy and accomplished God’s eternal purpose.
