Seeing that Christ Destroyed the Devil and knowing how to Withstand and Overcome him

The manifestation of the Lord Jesus destroyed the works of the devil, and the death of the Lord Jesus destroyed the devil himself (see 1 John 3:8; John 3:14; 12:31; Heb. 2:14). Praise the Lord, Christ destroyed the devil on the cross!

The Son of God was manifested so that He might destroy the works of the devil. Hallelujah, when Christ was on earth, He as the Son of God destroyed, undid, annulled, the works of the devil!

Wherever He went, He saw people who were sick, oppressed, bound, and in bondage under Satan with his usurping work, so Christ rebuked the devil and released the people from his usurpation. Christ was manifested as the Son of God by incarnation, and in His human living – in particular in His ministry – He destroyed the works of the devil.

Praise the Lord, the works of the devil were nullified by Christ as the Son of Man! In our experience as believers, when we open to the Lord to receive Him and allow Him to be manifested as the Son of Man, He in us undoes, annuls, and destroyed any work of the devil.

We don’t know under how much oppression and bondage we are, for Satan is a liar, a deceiver, and the source of sin. But when we open to the Lord, the Son of God is manifested and the works of Satan are being destroyed.

God created us with a free will, and we today can choose the Lord; we can reject the devil with his works, and we can choose the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, and when we do this, He nullifies, reverses, and cancels the works of the devil in us.

We simply need to stand one with Christ as the Son of Man, and He in us will do a work of destroying the works of the enemy. Often the works of the devil are not that obvious, for he hides behind natural phenomena. So the Lord comes in, rebukes him, destroys his works, and releases us from any bondage.

If we look in society today there are many works of the devil that are being manifested and practiced, and politics is fully involved with the works of the devil. What the Lord wants to do is to gain a group of people who open to Him and are one with Him for Him to destroy the works of the devil.

Christ as the reality of the sin offering can be our enjoyment and experience; when we apply Christ as the sin offering, we are applying this work that He has accomplished. When we exercise our spirit to be one with the Lord and pray, we express our faith, appreciation, need, longing, and aspiration and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, may You as the sin offering nullify any work of the devil in us. Lord, we choose You, we stand with You, and we give You the full ground in our being. We want to experience You and apply You as our sin offering, so that You in us may destroy any works of the devil.

Through His Death on the Cross in the Likeness of the Flesh of Sin, Christ Destroyed the Devil

It was through His being a serpent in form that the Lord Jesus crushed the head of the old serpent, the devil (see John 3:14; Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:9). God Himself preached the gospel to Adam and Eve, as they were in trembling and fear in the garden of Eden, for they knew that they would die because they ate of the wrong tree.

Instead of putting them to death, God clothed them with the skins of an animal (probably a lamb, and they probably saw the lamb being slain), and told them that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, while the serpent will bruise his heel.

The serpent is a symbol of the devil; the Lord Jesus was crucified as a serpent in form in order to deal with the devil, Satan. Christ was crucified in the form of a serpent to deal not only with sin and sins, but also with their source – the devil who sinned from the beginning (1 John 3:8).

In this way Christ judged the ruler of this world and said, Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out (John 12:31). The ruler of this world is Satan, for he was given this world from the pre-adamic age, and Christ as the Son of Man did not worship him, and as the Son of God Christ destroyed the devil.

Hallelujah, on the cross there was a universal cosmic exorcism: the devil was judged and destroyed, and the whole world system was judged!

If we see this we will realize that whether we are a good and honest lawyer, a good doctor, a professor, a construction worker, or an IT support person, we are part of the system of the world, and this system has been judged by Christ, and the ruler of the world has been cast out!

Satan as the old serpent, the ruler of the world, had injected himself into man’s flesh. He thought he’s clever and smart by getting into man’s flesh, but he got trapped here. Satan though that he beat God to get into man, that he got to inject himself into man before God could, but God anticipated this, and He came in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and the serpent got trapped and judged and destroyed by the cross.

Through His death on the cross in the likeness of the flesh of sin, the Lord destroyed Satan, who is man’s flesh (Rom. 8:3; Heb. 2:14). Hallelujah, the sin in our flesh has been destroyed!

There still has to be a full execution of this, but we believe the truth in the word of God. By judging Satan in this way, the Lord also judged the world, which is hanging on Satan; hence, the Lord’s being lifted up caused the world to be judged and its ruler to be cast out (John 16:11; 12:31).

In His crucifixion, Christ destroyed the devil (Heb. 2:14). The word for “destroy” in Greek can be rendered also as, “bring to nought, make of none effect, do away with, abolish, annul, discard”. Christ thoroughly dealt with Satan – Christ destroyed the devil on the cross.

In His humanity and through His work on the cross, Christ has destroyed the devil. Hallelujah! Christ died not only as the Substitute of fallen men, who have been bitten by the serpent, but also to destroy the devil (John 3:14; Heb. 2:14).

Hallelujah, through Christ as the sin offering, the devil has been destroyed!

Lord Jesus, we proclaim and stand in Your victory on the cross! Hallelujah, on the cross Christ died in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and He destroyed the devil! We praise You Lord! You destroyed not only the works of the devil but also the devil himself! Satan was destroyed on the cross two thousand years ago by a Man, the Man Jesus Christ! Sin is judged – old Adam finished, and full redemption and salvation now we see! Hallelujah, through Christ as the reality of the sin offering, the devil has been destroyed!

Seeing that Christ Destroyed the Devil and knowing how to Withstand and Overcome him

This week we have seen the amazing implications of experiencing Christ as the sin offering – He died as the bronze serpent, He condemned sin in the flesh, He destroyed the works of the devil, and He destroyed the devil himself.

If we only realize this and shout, Hallelujah, through Christ as the sin offering the devil has been destroyed! – we may still be vulnerable to his counter attack.

We need to learn that, after we have seen something very high and transcendent, we should be watchful and calm, so that we don’t recklessly make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy’s counter attack.

When the Lord died on the cross, Christ destroyed the devil – this is a fact, this actually happened, and this fact cannot be changed. But we shouldn’t take in the thought that there’s no devil around, so then we don’t have to worry. God has His way of incrementally and gradually executing this act of destruction of Satan.

The devil is still active in this age of the church, and the main responsibility of the church is to maintain, proclaim, and testify the victory of Christ in the midst of the warfare. Therefore, we need to be aware of Satan’s tactics.

If we are angry, we should not sin, for we will give Satan a possibility to come in (Eph. 4:26-27). We should not continue in the anger, and we should not allow the sun to go down on our indignation, our vexation, for if we do that, we give place to the devil.

If we are aware of any anger in our being about any situation, we need to seek the Lord to let it go, so that we don’t give place to the devil unintentionally. Especially in the family life between the husband and wife, and in the church life, we need to let it go!

Furthermore, we need to know how to withstand the devil; to withstand is to stand against with firm determination – not to resist by our own will or struggle. We need to stand in the power of Christ’s resurrection and in His victory, and withstand the enemy.

If we are proud toward God, we take sides with the devil; we need to be humble toward God, that is be subject to God, and we will stand against the enemy (James 4:6-7). When we humble ourselves, we are subject to God, and we spontaneously have the withstanding power.

Just like in a warfare, we need to watch, for the devil is like a roaring lion, aggressively active to find someone to eat (see 1 Pet. 5:8-9). So whatever we do, we need to be humbled under the Lord’s mighty hand and not be proud, for our pride attracts the roaring lion.

Also, we need to cast our cares and anxieties on the Lord, for it matters to Him concerning us. We need to withstand anxiety by casting it on the Lord, having faith in the Father’s care and not believe in the devil’s lie.

We need to be strong and withstand in the evil day (Eph. 6:15) by not holding to any negative feeling in our being so that the enemy won’t latch unto us; rather, we should cast our anxiety on the Lord, and we will discover that we can withstand the devil – and he will flee from us!

Finally, praise the Lord, we can overcome the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of our testimony. The blood of the Lamb is for our redemption.

The devil accuses us day and night – he slanders God to us, and he accuses us before God.

We shouldn’t talk to the enemy – simply point him to the blood, and then declare the word of our testimony. The word of our testimony is not a testimony of what we’re experiencing, but a testimony of the Lord’s victory! Hallelujah, Christ destroyed the devil!

Once the Lord enlighten us, we repent and confess; but then Satan comes to accuse us – so we need to apply the blood of the Lamb, reject Satan’s accusations, and counter them with the blood of the Lamb.

If the enemy still bothers us, we need to speak to him the word of our testimony, telling him that Christ destroyed the devil on the cross, Satan was defeated, and Jesus is Lord and on the throne!

This is what an overcomer does; an overcomer is not a super hero, but one who overcomes because of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Hallelujah!

Thank You Lord for destroying the devil on the cross. Hallelujah, this is a fact: Christ destroyed the devil on the cross! Lord, we want to learn how to not give any ground to the devil in our being. We humble ourselves before You, we subject ourselves to You, and we want to withstand the devil. Lord, we trust in You, we have faith in Your care for us, we cast all our anxieties on You, and we withstand the devil. We stand in Your victory on the cross, and we apply Your precious and victorious blood. Hallelujah, Christ is Victor!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 92-93 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 7, The Reality of the Sin Offering, the Bronze Serpent, and the Destruction of the Devil.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # What a victory! What a triumph! / God Himself became a man, / Clothed Himself in human nature / To fulfill His mighty plan. / He through death destroyed the devil; / Risen now, the Son of Man! (Hymns #1174)
  # Nevermore we fear the devil, / Christ destroyed him on the cross, / Stripping off the authorities; / Now we live His victory. / God of peace now crushes Satan / Under overcoming feet; / Our rejoicing overthrows him, / Shaming every enemy. (Song on, Living Christ, Our Victory)
  # By the blood of Christ the Victor / Overcome the enemy; / By its virtue and its power / You will win the victory. (Hymns #889)