THE AUTHORITY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST: Part 2 of 6: The Devil is Defeated - Jesus Christ is Lord

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REVIEW: In Part 1 we saw the Scriptures clearly declare that God had been repeatedly promising that the promised Christ would sit on the throne of David, king of Israel. It was also repeatedly promised that his government would be an everlasting government to rule over all peoples, nations and languages. He is the promised King of kings and Lord of lords to rule over all for all of eternity under God, his Father.

Part 2 - The Devil is Defeated - Jesus Christ is Lord

God originally designed man to rule over His creation:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping animal that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living animal that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28 WEBSTER)

“have dominion” means to rule, subjugate, have dominion, dominate, tread down.

“subdue it” means to make subservient, to force or dominate, to subdue.

The word “over,” (used eight times in Genesis 1:26-28) according to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, means

• “Above in place or position; opposed to below.”
  
• “Above, denoting superiority in excellence, dignity or value; as the advantages which the Christian world has over the heathen.”
  
• “Above in authority, implying the right or power of superintending or governing; opposed to under. "Thou shalt be over my house" (Genesis 41:40), and "I will make thee ruler over many things." (Matthew 25:21)
  

Psalms 8:3-6 (ASV) - "3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory and honor. 6 Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet:”

The devil became the ruler of this world through Adam’s disobedience:

• “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31 ASV)
  
• “I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me;” (John 14:30 ASV)
  
• “wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;” (Ephesians 2:2 ASV)
  

See also 2 Corinthians 2:8, 1 Corinthians 15:24, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12, Colossians 2:15

The prince of this world has been rejected, cast out. Jesus Christ has been given the position by God of having dominion over everything. Psalm 8:3-6 are quoted in Hebrews 2 regarding Jesus Christ:

“For to the angels he hath not put in subjection the world to come, concerning which we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing [that is] not made subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him.” (Hebrews 2:5-8 WEBSTER)

There is a record in 1 Samuel 15 regarding King Saul. The LORD had rejected Saul from being king over Israel. David was anointed by God to be king over Israel in 1 Samual 16. Yet, Saul still functioned as king until 15 chapters later. This is a type of the devil being rejected as prince of this world, and all things being put in subjection to Christ while in function they appear to still be under the devil’s dominion. “All things under his feet” includes the devil and any of his cohorts, all sin and any of its consequences, and all authorities, rulerships and dominions. All is under Christ’s feet.

Jesus knew who he was, the Prince to rule all peoples and dominions. He knew he was the Christ, and therefore, he wielded his God-given position OVER the earth:

1. Matthew 8:23-27: “… even the winds and the sea obey him.”
   
2. Matthew 8:3: “Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing, be cleansed.”
   
3. Matthew 8:13: “And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go, it shall be done for you as you have believed.”
   
4. Matthew 8:15: “He touched her, and the fever left her;”
   
5. Matthew 9:6 & 8: “But so that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins – then He said to the paralytic, ‘Get up, pick up your bed and go home” “But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”
   
6. Matthew 14: 22ff: “He came to them, walking on the sea.”
   
7. Matthew 21:19: He cursed a fig tree, “And at once the fig tree withered.”
   
8. Mark 1:27: The crowd said, “He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
   
9. Luke 4:30 When a raged mob was attempting to kill him, Jesus, “passing through their midst, he went his way.”
   
10. John 4:46: He “turned water into wine”
    
11. Luke 5:4-9: After Peter and his fishing partners had fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus tells Peter to go out to the deep and let down the nets for a catch. The boats were filled with fish.
    

Jesus Christ lived as one having dominion over the earth.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy, to overthrow the works of the devil. The devil is defeated:

1 John 3:8b: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

• "For this purpose": "For" is eis in the Greek; meaning “moving in the direction of, with the purpose of reaching.”
  
• "this purpose" is touto in the Greek ; meaning “for this cause or purpose.”
  
• "manifested" is phaneroo in the Greek; meaning “to make manifest, visible, or known what has been unknown; to manifest whether by words or deeds or any other way.”
  
• "destroy" is luo in the Greek; meaning “to loose any person or thing tied or fastened, to loose one who is bound, to release from bonds, to break free, dissolve, break up, break down, destroy, to overthrow or do away with, or demolish.” We might say, “to loose the grip of.”
  
• "works" is ergon in the Greek; meaning “work, deeds, doing, labour; business, employment, that with which any one is occupied.”
  

Literal: Unto this purpose the Son of God was manifested, so that he might undo the devil’s doings.

Ephesians 4:8 - "He led captive a host of captivators" (Weymouth Translation).

• “led captive” means “to make prisoners of war.” E.W. BULLINGER. He did this “when he ascended up on high”.
  

Hebrews 2:14: “Since then the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;”

• "he might destroy" is in the aorist tense in the Greek meaning that the action was done, and includes the idea of ongoing results. The Greek word is katargeo; meaning to render inactive, idle, unemployed, inoperative; esp. of land to spoil, make useless, void, abolish, make without effect.
  

• It says that “through death” this would be accomplished. It doesn’t say that when he returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. It is a NOW reality based on a past reality – his death.
  

Literal: …that through death he might render inoperative him (the devil) who had the power of death.

Colossians 2:15: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

• "spoiled" disarmed (to deprive of arms or weapons by authority. To deprive of means of attack, as to disarm a venomous snake. To render harmless, to strip of anything injurious or threatening), despoiled (to strip, to take away by force, to deprive) Jesus Christ took away the authority and power of the …
  
• "principalities" governmental rulers or authorities.
  
• "powers" exousia means “delegated authority; liberty or authority to do anything; combining the two ideas of right and might.” BULLINGER.
  

Expanded. Literal.: And having stripped away all authority and power from the demonic governmental rulers and authorities, Jesus Christ exhibited a victory over them by the cross.

Weymouth translated Colossians 2:15 as such, “And the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly displayed them as His conquests, when by the Cross He triumphed over them.”

Again, when was this accomplished? Since it was “by the cross”, then it is a NOW reality. Jesus Christ came to undo the doings of the devil. He stripped away all the authority and power of the devil and his cohorts. He accomplished this by the cross, rendering the devil inoperative. This is an accomplished, spiritual reality!

The church is built on Christ – the rock, and therefore, the powers and councils of hell shall not prevail against it:

Matthew 16:18: “And I say also to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 WEBSTER)

• "prevail against": to be strong to another's detriment, to prevail against, to be superior in strength, to overcome, to prevail. “Prevail” according to Webster 1828: “To overcome, to gain the victory or superiority, to gain the advantage.” The collected counsels of hell shall not gain the victory against the church because the church is built on Christ, the rock. (See 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, Ephesians 2:19-22).
  

Where the Church is built on Christ, the councils of hell shall not gain the victory over it!

God originally designed man to have dominion over all the earth. Adam gave up that dominion in sin through his disobedience. The devil seized that governmental position over all the earth. Many years later, Jesus Christ walked in authority over the earth because he was without sin, and therefore, the devil had no authority to govern him. He defeated the devil by his payment for sin on the cross. Jesus Christ’s redemptive work stripped the devil of his authority over man and the earth. God has woven this powerful truth into the fabric of our identity in Christ so that it can be woven into our hearts. As we mature into the doctrine of these truths, and then into the practice of them, we shall see the powers of darkness lose their grip from our lives, and from those to whom we minister.

The devil is defeated.

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD