Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
When Jesus was resurrected, Satan was mortally wounded. Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled: the serpent (Satan) had indeed "bruised" Christ's "heel" through the crucifixion; but Christ "bruised" his "head." When you smash a serpent's head, you've killed it. So, since the resurrection, Satan has been crushed.
But immediately the question arises in thoughtful minds, "Then why 2000 years of continued sin, cruelty, and misery, created by this same 'serpent' who is supposed to be crushed? Why have global dictators flourished, and why do crime and violence plague the world as it was in the days before the Flood of Noah? Why is Paul's prophecy so terribly fulfilled, that 'evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse'"? (2 Tim. 3:13). "Does all this look like the work of a defeated foe?"
Other questions arise: "Why doesn't Jesus come the second time as He promised to do, and put an end to all of Satan's work? Is God indifferent? Is He just procrastinating until He's finally had enough of it and decides to blow the trumpet and ring the curtain down?" We can search the world for an answer, and must come back to what the Bible says: "A man scatters seed in his field. ... When the grain is ripe, the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has come" (Mark 4:26-29). God's people must grow up and appreciate--"believe"--what Christ accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection, that Satan has been defeated.
Hebrews 2:14 says that Satan has been "paralyzed," as when wildlife experts shoot darts into a rhino or a fierce lion and paralyze it so they can examine its teeth. Satan cannot force us to continue to sin unless we willingly choose to permit him to deceive us. The victory of Christ over Satan in His resurrection was wonderful; now, says Revelation 12:11, God's people must also "overcome him by the blood of the Lamb."
Satan still claims that it is impossible for any human being to keep God's law of love, but it's our privilege to share in Christ's glorious victory. That's something worth living for!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 1998.
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