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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 a thing for me to tangle with.
Even if
the devil were not some supernatural 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 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.
Scripture
says:
It came to
pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of
Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against
Jehoshaphat to battle. 2 Then there came some that told
Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from
beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar,
which is Engedi. 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself
to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 And
Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of
all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. 5 And
Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the
house of the LORD, before the new court, 6 And said,
O LORD God
of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and
might, so that none is able to withstand thee? 7 Art not
thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before
thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for
ever? 8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary
therein for thy name, saying, 9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the
sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house,
and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee
in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
10 And
now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou
wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt,
but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy
possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. 12 O our God,
wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great
company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes
are upon thee. 13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their
little ones, their wives, and their children.
14 ¶ Then
upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel,
the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of
the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
15 And he
said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou
king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor
dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours,
but God’s.
16 To
morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz;
and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of
Jeruel.
17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye
still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and
Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for
the LORD will be with you.
18 And
Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the
LORD. 19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and
of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of
Israel with a loud voice on high.
20 ¶ And
they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of
Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said,
Hear me, O
Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so
shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto
the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went
out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth
for ever.
22 And
when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against
the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against
Judah; and they were smitten. 23 For the children of Ammon and
Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and
destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir,
every one helped to destroy another.
24 And
when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked
unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the
earth, and none escaped. 25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people
came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance
both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they
stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they
were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
26 And on
the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for
there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was
called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat
in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the
LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28 And they came
to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of
the LORD. 29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those
countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies
of Israel. 30 So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God
gave him rest round about.
— 2 Chronicles 20:1-30, KJV
©2007 GospelGifs
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