Pondering the Defeat of the Devil

Two days ago we pondered the Proclamation of Proclamations recorded in the Revelation of Jesus Christ: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and forever”” (Revelation 11:15). This watershed event proclaims Christ’s conquest of the world and perhaps more significantly the transformation of those who follow Him from mere mortal to pulsating Spirit life Eternal.

However significant this transformation, an event immediately following is worth pondering as well: “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-2). This might be correctly called the Defeat of the Devil. Chained within the confines of the bottomless pit, he will no longer be able to conduct his wily work that has as its core premise the unholy trinity of Me, Myself, and I. Notice his modus operanda when he ascended on high: “For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest side of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Really? Will this self-aggrandizing, ambitious cherub accomplish his unholy objectives? Not a chance! Isaiah foretells his humiliating defeat with journalistic precision: “You shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest part of the [bottomless] Pit” (Isaiah 14:15). While his inevitable demise is foretold from the beginning, it is noteworthy to consider the context and the timing—Satan’s defeat occurs after, not before, Christ’s conquest of the kingdoms of this world. This demonstrates, I believe, the sovereignty of Christ. Christ is so powerful that He can take possession of the kingdoms before defeating the ultimate enemy—not the normal course of conquest. This provides an instructive model for us to ponder. Even today, the power of “Christ in us” (Galatians 2:20) is able to defeat the “devil in us” if we follow the model of the authentic Church: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11). So strong is the redemptive power of Christ that we can conquer the destructive forces of the devil in our lives before he is ultimately deposed from this world. May these words serve as a guiding principle as we ponder the Defeat of the Devil on the day that pictures that event—the Day of Atonement.