The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. . . However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
Luke 10.17-20
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
1 John 3.8
How did God, through Christ, win the victory over (the devil)? The conquest is depicted in Scripture as unfolding in six stages, although the decisive defeat of Satan took place at the cross.
Stage one is the conquest predicted. The first prediction was given by God himself in the Garden of Eden as part of his judgement on the serpent, ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel ‘ (Gen. 3.15). We identify the woman’s seed as the Messiah, through whom God’s rule of righteousness will be established and the rule of evil eradicated.
The second stage was the conquest begun in the ministry of Jesus. Recognising him as his future conqueror, Satan made many different attempts to get rid of him, for example, through Herod’s murder of the Bethlehem children, through the wilderness temptations to avoid the way of the cross, (etc.) But Jesus was determined to fulfill what had been written of him. He announced that through him, God’s kingdom had come upon that very generation, and that his mighty works were visible evidence of it. We see his kingdom advancing and Satan’s retreating before it, as demons are dismissed, sicknesses are healed and disordered nature itself acknowledges its Lord.
The third and decisive stage (was) the conquest achieved, at the cross. Three times, according to John, Jesus referred to, ‘the prince of this world’, adding that he was about to ‘come’ (i.e. to launch his last offensive), but would be ‘driven out’ and ‘condemned’ (Jn 12.31,14.30,16.11). He was evidently anticipating that at the time of his death the final contest would take place, in which the powers of darkness would be routed. It was by his death that he would ‘destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, ‘and so set his captives free' (Heb. 2.14-15). Perhaps the most important New Testament passage in which the victory of Christ is set forth is Colossians 2.13-15.
Fourthly, the resurrection was the conquest confirmed and announced. We are not to regard the cross as defeat and the resurrection as victory. Rather, the cross was the victory won, and the resurrection was victory endorsed, proclaimed and demonstrated. ‘It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him’, because death had already been defeated. The evil principalities and powers, which had been deprived of their weapons and their dignity at the cross, were in consequence put under his feet and made subject to him (Acts 2.24, Eph. 1.20-23, 1 Pet. 3.22).
Fifthly, the conquest is extended as the church goes out on its mission, in the power of the Spirit, to preach Christ crucified as Lord, and to common people to repent and believe in him. In every true conversion there is a turning not only from sin to Christ, but ‘from darkness to light', ‘from the power of Satan to God’ and ‘from idols to serve the living and true God’, there is also a rescue ‘from the dominion of darkness. . . into the kingdom of the Son God loves' (Acts 26.18, 1 Thess 1.9, Col. 1.13). So every Christian conversion involves a power encounter in which the devil is obliged to relax his hold on somebody’s life and the superior power of Christ is demonstrated.
Sixthly, we are looking forward to the conquest consummated at the Parousia. The interim between the two advents is to be filled with the church’s mission. The Lord’s Anointed is already reigning, but he is also waiting until his enemies become his footstool for his feet. On that day every knee will bow to him and every tongue confess him Lord. The devil will be thrown into the lake of fire, where death and Hades will join him. For the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Then, when all evil dominion, authority and power have been destroyed, the Son will hand over the kingdom to the Father, and he will be all in all (Ps. 110.1, Phil 2.9-11, Rev. 20.10, 14, 1 Cor 15.24-28).
John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p269-275
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