IN THE BOOK OF HEBREWS , we read and ponder that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8b) Our first scriptural insight to this fact is in the book of beginnings, wherein God curses the serpent. “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) Here, at the dawn of the creation of man, the battle between good and evil begins, between the hero and the villain of the powers and principalities in the spiritual realm.

But the war has tremendous impact throughout the lower realm. Paul clearly reminds us that spiritual warfare exists in both the seen and the unseen realms. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph. 6:12) The battle is real and surreal, the natural and supernatural mixed together in unequal and confusing measure. Peter warns us urgently that, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8b) The devil is “the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10a) But Jesus comes to every generation and every person who will receive him so “that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10b)

The Book of Hebrews emphatically states that our own battle with the devil is won already in the life, death, and resurrection Jesus. “Since we children have flesh and blood, he too shared in our humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Heb. 2:14-15)

As the battle below approaches its climax, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus looms near. With the cross imminent in his future, Jesus states that Satan holds only a limited power, and that specifically for the purposes of God, saying that, “the prince of this world is coming. He holds no power over me.” (John 14:30) The only reason that the devil gains a seeming victory in the physical death of Christ is because “he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” (John 14:31) In Jesus’ mind, there is no doubt of his own resurrection. “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” (John 10:17-18)

As Jesus picks up his life, his eternal victory is recorded in a realm far above the middle realm of the battle in the powers and principalities, and a voice from the throne-room of God declares, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” (Rev. 12:10) And with the defeat of Satan rises the victory of those who have entrusted their lives and eternal destiny to the promises of Jesus Christ. “They triumphed over the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Rev. 12:11)

We have a life-long battle to fight, and we must remember that though we are human, our battle is “not against flesh and blood.” (Eph. 3:12) We must also continually remind ourselves that we have at our disposal “the full armor of God” (cf. Eph. 6:10-17), in which Paul tells us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph. 6:18) And it is Paul also who exhorts us towards the fullness of the heavenly power given to us in Christ. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

In our own battle to destroy the devil’s work, the first and most serious battle, which never ceases, is to destroy whatever work he has done in us. Isaiah prophetically tells us that “by his wounds we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5) Whether our battle-scars have been inflicted by wounds or by sins, we have been given the power of prayer, and this is our path out of bondage. Our wounds require prayers and forgiveness for others. Jesus says, “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matt. 6:14) Our sins require prayers and personal repentance. In Acts, full of the Holy Spirit, Peter says, “Repent, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) In these practical ways, the power of prayer strengthens the spiritual disciplines by which we continue to demolish the devil’s work in our own lives. And it is still this in same power, through prayers of intercession, that we assist the Spirit in demolishing the works of the devil in the lives of those still in bondage.

All this power comes from God by the way of his Son Jesus. Peter says that “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life, so that you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Pet. 1:3-4) James adds, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Q. Is my gaze fixed on my circumstances, or on Jesus?