The reason we can be effective in warfare against Satan and his legions is because of our identity in Christ.
God created us to be sons, heirs, and co-rulers with Christ.
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:29 (NASB95)
Adam was defeated by Satan’s wiles, but God foresaw this and eternally planned that his one and only Son, our Lord Jesus the Messiah, would take our guilt and shame upon himself in order to satisfy the debt incurred against God’s righteousness and bring us into God’s family, with all the attendant privileges, not the least of which is that we are now representatives of God’s kingdom.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. Ephesians 1:4–6 (NLT)
King David wrote that we have been made a little lower than God.
Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, Psalm 8:5–6 (NASB95)
All this is because of what Christ did for us through his death and resurrection.
When our Lord died and rose again, he disabled or disarmed Satan, preventing him from being able to rule over us any longer against our will.
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. Colossians 2:13–15 (NLT)
Satan still exists, but his power to oppress individuals who are submitted to God is severely limited now. The authority that Adam ceded to him in the garden was wrested away from him at the resurrection. As a result, all authority now resides in our Lord. (Matthew 28:18) Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool.
“Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:33–36 (NASB95)
Amazingly, because we are now one with the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17) and “in Christ,” we are seated with him there.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4–6 (NASB95)
From that privileged place and position of authority at God’s right hand, the church already co-rules with Christ in a limited fashion, being his representatives on the earth, who can use his name and authority, which is backed up by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This does not mean we can do whatever we like. The secret to our success is our willingness to walk in step with God’s Spirit, speaking and doing what he directs.
Jesus told his disciples that Satan has fallen.
“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Luke 10:18–20 (NLT)
Satan’s defeat is assured, having been once for all accomplished by our Lord at the resurrection, but God in his wisdom and love has ordained that our enemy’s final crushing will be at the hands of the church. God, as a loving parent, is training and preparing us to co-reign with him for eternity. He wants us to grow up in all things, including warfare.
Abba Father is not a doting parent who does everything for his child, thus robbing him or her of any chance to mature. Instead, our Lord expects us to become mature sons and daughters who represent him well.
One of the great end time prophecies links to one of the first messianic promises in Genesis. In the garden, just after Adam and Eve threw away everything by choosing to follow Satan instead of God, the Lord spoke to the serpent these amazing words of hope.
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NLT)
We now know that this was a veiled promise that God would raise up a Messiah from Eve’s descendants who would render a death blow to Satan, which Jesus did on the cross. What is not so apparent, but which the apostle Paul clearly understood, is that God has included us, the church, in carrying out that victory.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:20 (NASB95)
We are fully identified with Christ through the new birth.
Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 (NLT)
Our spirits are joined to the Holy Spirit in a spiritual union that is difficult to grasp with our minds but is nevertheless real. (1 Corinthians 6:17) What is true of our Lord is also true for us, except that we are not God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NASB95)
However, as David revealed to us, because of our Lord, we are just a little lower than God. We are above angels, not because we are inherently superior. It is quite the opposite. We are but dust, earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7), that God has filled with his Spirit and elevated to the throne!
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 1 John 3:1–2 (NASB95)
While we reside here on earth, we are Christ’s representatives, carrying with us the authority of Christ backed by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:20) Even though “nothing by any means can harm us” (Luke 10:19), we are still mortal and subject to physical death until the resurrection shall free us at last. (1 Corinthians 15:53)
Even though our destiny is to crush Satan, our current reality is that we may physically die in the battle. Our ability to overcome rests mainly on our position of authority and power in Christ and secondarily on our willingness to expend our lives in service to him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” Revelation 12:10–12 (NASB95)
The final crushing of Satan is reserved for the very end when Jesus shall return with his saints. We shall participate in this final victory, which will remove our and God’s enemy at last.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1–4 (NASB95)
When Jesus returns our transformation into glorified sons and daughters in Christ’s image will be complete. (1 John 3:2) As glorified immortal beings, we shall participate in Satan’s final crushing.
In the meantime, we are to function as sons and daughters of the king, his representatives who carry the authority and power of the kingdom wherever we go.
May the church shake off her fear and ignorance and arise to fulfill her destiny! And as we experience the authority of Christ flowing through us to displace the enemy by the power of the Holy Spirit, let us never forget that everything stems from who we are in Christ. Our victory rests upon our identity as redeemed children of the Most High. Our joy rests in the knowledge that our names are written in heaven! (Luke 10:20)
Questions for Further Study and Discussion
- How hard is it for you to see yourself seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand?
- Have you ever exercised the authority Christ has given to us to heal and cast out demons?
- Where do you find the most joy!
