“Satan’s Premature Victory Dance - Heb 1:10-11, 14-18”
Gladstone Baptist Church – Good Friday 14/4/06
When Jesus Died, Satan started his victory dance
I wonder what went through Satan’s mind when Jesus breathed his last on that cross? I think Mel Gibson has got it right that Satan was celebrating in his ugly way.
He had finally killed God’s Son!!! Can you imagine that. His arch enemy was dead and now was under his control! There was no-one stopping Satan from ruling the world forever!!!!
He had been trying to do this for so long! He had waged a coup in heaven millenniums ago, only to be defeated and be thrown down to earth. Since that time he had waged a guerilla campaign on God – trying to hurt him as much as possible by destroying all that he cared about – his creation and his creatures.
When God decided to visit man in human form, Satan put out a bounty on his head. He had his hired hit man – Herod try to kill the baby Jesus. All baby boys under 2 were put to death, but somehow, the prized scalp of God’s son slipped through the net. Foiled, but there would be other opportunities!!!!
When Jesus was about 30 years old, Satan tried again. This time it was more subtle, he tried to tempt Jesus into putting his own agenda before God’s. If only he could tempt Jesus, to use his powers for his own benefit … If only he could get Jesus to doubt God and put him to the test … If only Jesus would succumb to the desire to redeem the world cheaply … then Satan would have him. He would have committed a sin and would be under condemnation, just like any other man. Instead of Satan killing him, God would have to condemn him to death – because that is what the law said. But alas, Jesus didn’t fall for Satan’s tricks.
Then there was the time a little later when Jesus aroused the fury of a synagogue congregation by claiming to be the Messiah. Satan whipped the crowd up into a frenzy. They were furious and drove him up to the very edge of a cliff with the intent of throwing him off. Yes – he was going to die. But then he just walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
But this time was different. Satan I am sure watched nervously as Jesus had been beaten and flogged. As he had been hauled up to the execution site and then nailed to the rough cross. I’m sure Satan was half expecting some mighty angels to appear and deliver Jesus from the cross and kill all those gathered who were baying for his blood – but it didn’t happen.
Jesus got weaker and weaker. At noon, darkness covered the ground. This looked ominous. But then all of a sudden, there was no longer any movement of his chest. At that moment, there was a sudden earthquake and many people who had risen came back to life. That was bad – for Satan, but he could cope with that – after all, God was dead!!!! Who cares about a few puny humans when you’ve got God.
The soldiers soon came past and noticing that he was already dead, plunged a spear in his side to check this was the case. It was – out came what looked like blood and water. His blood had separated. It had stopped flowing. He was dead! Dead as a doornail and Satan begins his victory dance.
God had just made the biggest blunder imaginable – He had allowed himself to become a weak frail human who could be killed. And he was. Satan believed in himself. He knew he could kill this God-man and he had. He had won. And all of mankind was still in bondage to him. What a victory.
But Satan’s victory dance was a bit premature.
Just 3 days later, Jesus rose from the dead. Death could not contain Jesus. It could not contain God.
How foolish of Satan, to think that his death could contain the almighty God. He had lived in hope, suppressing the gnawing fears that it was too good be true.
Death had no right to claim Jesus because he was perfect. Remember death came into the world as a result of sin. Romans says “The Wages of sin is death.” All who sin, deserve death. In fact, all who sin must die. But Jesus didn’t sin. He was sinless. And so he didn’t deserve to die. Yes he offered to die to pay the penalty for his sin, but death had no rights over him.
So when the right time came, Jesus rose from the dead and death was powerless to stop him. God wasn’t dead, he was alive. But worse than that, Jesus was claiming that his death was sufficient to pay in full the penalty that each sinner owed. He was offering to forgive all sinners. For every sinner, there was a death that had to be paid and Satan knew that death would be theirs. Every person he could cause to sin would be another soul that he could keep from spending eternity with God.
Satan thought he had been incredibly successful – no human before or after Jesus had ever lived a perfect life. Every one had broken the law and everyone was destined to spend eternity with him – away from God’s presence.
But now, his whole understanding had been turned upside down. Jesus was saying that he had just died the death that all sinners owed. Could it be that Satan’s own actions in seeking to kill Jesus, actually played into God’s hands. Could it be that the death of this unique man, could mean total annihilation of all that he had worked so hard for?
Little did Satan know, but the death of Jesus wasn’t his idea.
What Satan failed to grasp, was that the death of Jesus wasn’t his idea. Satan, didn’t dream up that Jesus dying would be a good thing. God thought that up.
God planned Jesus death and that is why he came to earth.
If you have your bibles there, open them upto Heb 2:10-11, 14-18
10 In bringing many sons to glory [What does that mean? Sons is a generic term for humans. Glory is a term to describe the magnificence of God. God wants us to share that brilliance. So in bringing many humans to glory], it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation [That is Jesus] perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy [Jesus] and those who are made holy [humans] are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. …
14 Since the children [us humans] have flesh and blood, he too [that’s Jesus] shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
The writer of this book says that God wanted to bring humans back to a point where they could share in his glory – a state of extreme magnificence. How was this going to occur? Through the work of our brother Jesus.
Now we know that Jesus didn’t do anything wrong – he was perfect. But here the writer says, that Jesus was made perfect through suffering. It is probably better to understand this as being made complete through suffering.
Jesus’ work on earth – in fact the whole purpose of him coming to earth was to suffer and die. It wasn’t Satan’s idea, it was God’s plan from the beginning.
In vs 16-19 it says that Jesus became a man – one of us, our brother - so he could help humans like you and me. He didn’t become a man to help angels or cows or the trees, but to help men and women. This was God’s plan, that he would take the form of a man in order to help men.
Satan didn’t grasp this at all and thought that killing Jesus was a fantastic plan. Little did he realise, he was just a pawn helping to carry out God’s master plan of salvation – in which Jesus came to earth to die. If he had understood this, he would have been wrapping Jesus up in cotton wool and doing everything he could to prevent him from being hurt.
Jesus died for 2 reasons : 1) So he could destroy Satan (14) and 2) So he could free those who were in slavery to fear (15)
Hebrews says that Jesus came to die for 2 reasons.
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
He came to destroy Satan and free us from slavery
Now do you understand why I think that Satan had not idea of what was going to happen here. He was thinking to himself – “I can take this guy. I think I can, I think I can. I’ve been working out in the gym and I’ve earned my black belt in karate and Judo and Fujitsu and chicken stew.” But none of that helped. When Jesus died, he destroyed Satan and set us free.
Let’s look at the first reason – destroying Satan … Hebrews says that Satan holds the power of death.
“Death” can have two meanings in Scripture and I think both are in mind here. First there is the physical death that occurs when our heart stops pumping. The bible says we die once and then we face judgment. That judgment determines whether we die a second time or whether we live. You see there is a second death – a spiritual death which may occur after we die. Death in this context is defined as spending eternity separated from God. You see God is the source of life and love and happiness. And so to be separated from life and love and happiness is to be in a state that can only be described as death.
Hebrews says that Satan holds the power of death. How does Satan have the power of death? Satan doesn’t control death (either physical or spiritual) – God controls when a person’s heart stops beating (Job 2:6, Matt 10:28) and God decides whether a person spends eternity with him. But while Satan doesn’t control either physical or spiritual death, he has introduced sin and death into our lives (physical and spiritual death).
RA Torrey, put it - Every cemetery, every funeral, and every separation by death owes its existence to the devil. Satan was the first sinner and the first to tempt others to sin. Death blights our world only because Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they chose to disobey God. They can’t blame Satan, because the choice was theirs, but Satan was an essential factor in them sinning. Human death is a consequence of that human sin. And Spiritual death – eternal separation from God – also results from our sin. Because we all sin, you could say that we are in slavery to sin and to death. We can’t escape it’s consequences. We are bound to it and can’t get free.
And this is where Satan’s has his power. You see, Satan’s role is as an accuser. He stands before God and accuses us of sinning. And he is right, we have sinned and because of that Satan can demand that we be punished. He hasn’t got any right to punish us because he is not in charge, but he is within his rights to stand there in heaven, reminding God that we deserve to be punished – by dying physically first and then dying spiritually. You see, Satan is ruler in this realm of death. He rules those who have rebelled against God (Those who have sinned; those who are spiritually dead). He has power in the kingdom of death. And he will do anything to ensure that you become part of his kingdom in hell.
Heb 2:14 says that Jesus died to destroy the devil who has power over death. 1 John 3:8 says. It says “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
The devils work is to accuse us before God. He wants to make sure that we are condemned to death because then he has won – then he has stolen away that thing which God loves so much – you and me. So he is doing everything in his power to make us sin. Because he knows sin brings death.
But when Jesus died, he purchased forgiveness and redemption of those who were condemned to death and enslaved by sin. Because we were forgiven, satan didn’t have a leg to stand on as an accuser anymore because Jesus had paid the penalty for people’s sins. He broke Satan’s power to accuse and in making a way of escape from condemnation, he also robbed Satan of his power over people’s souls in hell. He redeemed us and we no longer needed to be slaves of sin and death. We are free to live with God forever. What a relief that is.
Let’s look at the second reason for Jesus’ death – it is intrinsically linked to the first. Heb 2:15 says that Jesus died to
15 free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Have you noticed that most people are scared of death. We don’t like to talk much about our deaths do we. If you haven’t tried it before, start talking about death and dying in a party and watch the conversation die – pun intended. Death is a taboo subject that very few are comfortable with. In fact, we spend heaps of time and money trying to be healthy and stay healthy – why? – so we can postpone death.
We are scared of the pain of death. We are scared of the separation from loved ones that comes with death. We are scared of the unknowns that there is after death. We are scared of death.
But when Jesus died, he destroyed Satan and the hold he had over us and he made a way we could be free from our fear that grips us
We don’t need to be fearful of death any more because we know that physical death is a doorway to eternal life. We are not facing an eternity of separation from God, but a life that is free from the pain and the suffering of this world. People who are disabled will be given new bodies. The sick will be healed. The hungry will be hungry no more. Eternal life in heaven will be so much better than this life and we expect it with 100% confidence because Jesus has died and paid for our sins.
Satan was defeated the very moment Jesus died and the fear of death and subsequent punishment evaporated into a cloud of forgiveness. I’m sure Satan’s victory dance turned to an agonizing wail when he realised what had happened. God had gained ultimate victory by rescuing his people and breaking the power he had over people.
We get to chose whose team we are on
It seems as though this story has a happy ending for us all. Jesus died and we will all now live in heaven with God for ever and ever and ever.
But it is not that simple. The end of the story has not been written – we get to choose how the story ends for each of our lives.
You see, Jesus has died and in so doing he has offered to forgive our sins and redeem us from slavery to fear. But this is just an offer. It doesn’t apply to our lives until we accept the offer.
If I am offered a job, I don’t get that job unless I accept the offer. If I am offered an ice-cream, I don’t get to enjoy that ice-cream unless I accept that offer.
You are offered forgiveness and a freedom from the condemnation and fear of death. But it is only an offer until you accept it.
The choice is yours – you can accept it and gain forgiveness and redemption or you can reject it and remain in slavery to sin, death and fear.
Many people think that they don’t need Jesus to gain acceptance by God. This is what Satan would have you believe. He has lost the war with God, but is still waging a guerilla campaign against God. He is doing everything he can to try to keep you from finding the grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers. Sometimes he uses lies to try to convince you that you can please God through doing good things. Sometimes he uses deception to convince you that there are 100’s of ways to God and you can choose which suits your lifestyle.
But the truth is this that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
How is your story going to end today? Nearly 2000 years ago, Jesus “shared in [our] humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. What are you going to do about Jesus? Are you going to accept his sacrifice for you and surrender your life to him or are you going to keep him at an arms length. I pray that this Good Friday, you would see Jesus’ death as being for you and accept the freedom that he offers you.
