Defeat of Satan.

Revelation 20:7-10 ESV - The Defeat of Satan.

As Christians we must be shrewd, cunning, innocent and brave. Because we have an enemy, and he'll take any opening we give him. Let's look at a few of the enemy and his tactics to destroy Christians.

He’s the universe’s public enemy number one, the chief opponent of God and his people, and the leader of uncounted demonic forces. Jesus says he’s been a murderer from the beginning, and he’s engaged in an all-out war against the forces of good in the universe.

We know as Christians that we have a friend, his name is Jesus. And we know as Christians that we have an enemy, and his name is Satan. Jesus is Lord in heaven, all authority has been given to him, and Satan is the prince of the Earth, he won control of it when he successfully tempted Adam and Eve in the garden.

Satan has a framework of attacks he levies against us. None of them are new, there is nothing new under the sun, and these are the same attacks he's levied against humanity since the beginning of time. Satan's chief weapons are temptations and lies.

The Bible calls him the devil, Satan, the evil one.

Paul tells the Ephesian church to put on the full armor of God, so that they can stand firm against his schemes. James tells Christians that if they resist the devil, he will flee from them. Peter tells believers to beware: he is always on the prowl.

We have an enemy—and if we’re going to stand firm against him, we need to know whom we’re up against.

However, there’s a lot of devil folklore out there. It can be difficult to distinguish traditions from what the Bible actually says about Satan.

The Bible was written millennia ago by people with a far more supernatural worldview than we tend to have today. To truly understand what the Bible says about Satan and spiritual warfare, we need to understand its original authors’ and readers’ perspectives.

Have you ever thought about the long-standing spiritual battle: Satan vs Jesus?

Scripture clearly says that there is a very real war between Jesus and the angels and Satan and the demons; sinners have been taken as captives in war.

1 Jesus himself confirmed this fact at the beginning of his earthly ministry when he said he had come to set captives free.

2 Jesus said this because there is no way that Satan would release us from his captivity and no way that we could liberate ourselves. Therefore, Jesus came as our triumphant warrior and liberator.

First Promise of Victory.

The first promise of Jesus as our victor over Satan came to our first parents. In Genesis 3:15, God preached the first good news (or gospel) of Jesus to our sinful first mother, Eve. God promised that Jesus would be born of a woman and would grow to be a man who would battle with Satan and stomp his head, defeat him, even as the serpent strike his heel killing him, and liberate people from their captivity to Satan, sin, death, and hell through Messiah’s substitutionary death.

Satan’s Attempted Overthrow.

Leading up to the cross, Satan entered one of Jesus’ own disciples, Judas Iscariot, and conspired with him to betray Jesus and hand him over to be crucified. Through the cross, Satan and his demons thought that they had finally defeated Jesus. However, crucifying Jesus was the biggest mistake the Devil ever made. Had he understood what was happening, he would never have killed Jesus.

An essential portion of Scripture on the victory of Jesus over Satan, sin, and death is Colossians 2:13–15:

What the Satan vs Jesus Battle Means to Us.

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. -1st John 2:15-17 (NLT).

You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The End of Satan’s Authority.

So we face an ancient, deadly enemy. This enemy is at war with the human race, and seeks to destroy our souls. Essentially Satan is a suicide bomber. Satan's fate is already sealed because of his rebellion against God. Satan is going to outer darkness. So Satan is like the suicide bomber, blowing himself up, and seeking to take as many with him as possible. There is a malevolence here that staggers the imagination, but there it is.

The world is at war with Christianity, and seeking to subvert it. The church is essentially the forward front of Christ's expanding kingdom. The chief General and strategist of this expansion of the church is the Lord Holy Spirit. He is the strategist battling our enemy Satan. Our job as Christians is to go about holy sabotage efforts to the kingdom of Satan. And Satan is attempting to subvert us, diminish us, discredit us, and destroy us.

Thus, the authority of the Devil and his demons has already ended. Matthew 28:18 makes it very clear that Jesus has all authority now, which means that Satan has no authority over Christians.

As a result, we can now live in accordance with Colossians 1:10–14 and “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. . . . He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The Bible uses the word grace to explain the victory Jesus achieved for us on the cross because there is no logical reason that God would love us and die in our place to liberate us from captivity to Satan, sin, and death, other than his wonderful nature.

When you pray, do you pray against Satan, demons, and evil in the strong name of Jesus?

Col. 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:25–26.

Luke 4:18.

1 Cor. 2:6–9..