We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony
And the God of peace will swiftly pound Satan to a pulp
under your feet! And the wonderful favor of our Lord Jesus will surround you.
This week we have considered the wonder of God’s angels and their role in creation. We have also faced the hard truth about the existence of enemies, opposed to God, and therefore trying to cause as much havoc and harm to creation and His people as possible. But enough about all of that, today we will rejoice in the fact that our God is great and through the intervention of His Son who died on a cross but was raised to life again, there is absolute victory. It is already done! Jesus defeated sin, death, and the enemy once and for all.
I heard a pastor describe the scene of a snake having been decapitated, still writhing around as if alive. It was dead but the nerves were still actively triggering its muscles. He went on to say, should you bend down to pick up the severed head, those same nerve endings could cause you to be bitten by the dead snake. This analogy was used to describe the exact state of affairs in regard to satan. Jesus has crushed the head of the snake, he is defeated. He just doesn’t know enough to stop writhing around yet. And if we are careless, he still has a bite.
One day, there will no longer be any confusion. Jesus is the King of Kings and He will rule with the authority that belongs only to Him. He holds everything together now and forever. Through our faith in Christ Jesus, we too are victorious for we have “triumphed over him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) and by the word of our testimony (faith)”. We are free to cry out with all of heaven: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8)
Pray
Father God, thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus. I will not live in fear for Jesus has secured my victory and I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord. (Romans 8:38-39). Amen and amen!
