The Hero

How Christ’s Death Defeated Satan

Picture: How Christ’s Death Defeated Satan 3TC 449.1

Christ had accomplished the work He came to do, and with His dying breath He exclaimed, “It is finished!” John 19:30. He had won the battle. All heaven triumphed in the Savior’s victory. Satan knew his kingdom was lost. It was for the angels and unfallen worlds as well as for us that Jesus had accomplished the great work of redemption. Until the death of Christ, Satan had so thoroughly wrapped himself in deception that even holy beings had not understood his principles nor clearly seen the nature of his rebellion. 3TC 449.2

Lucifer had been the covering cherub, the highest of all created beings. He had been foremost in revealing God’s plans to the universe. After he had sinned, his power to deceive was all the more deceptive, and unmasking his character was more difficult because of the exalted position he had held with the Father. 3TC 449.3

God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers, but He did not do this. Force, compelling power, is found only under Satan’s government. The Lord’s authority rests on goodness, mercy, and love, and He works by presenting these principles. God’s government is moral, and truth and love are to be the power used in it. 3TC 449.4

In the councils of heaven, God decided that Satan must be given time to develop the principles of his government. He had claimed that these were superior to God’s. So God gave time for Satan’s principles to work and for the heavenly universe to see them. For four thousand years, Christ was working to lift up the human race, and Satan to ruin it. And the heavenly universe watched it all. 3TC 449.5

From the time when Jesus appeared as a baby in Bethlehem, Satan worked to destroy Him. He tried to prevent Him from developing a perfect childhood, a faultless manhood, a holy ministry, and an unblemished sacrifice. But he was defeated. He could not lead Jesus into sin. All the efforts of Satan to overcome Him only brought out His spotless character in a purer light. 3TC 449.6

With intense interest heaven and the unfallen worlds followed the closing scenes of the conflict. They heard His bitter cry, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” Matthew 26:39. They saw Him so greatly sorrowful that it exceeded what people experience in the last great struggle with death. The bloody sweat was forced from His pores, and three times the prayer for deliverance was wrung from His lips. Heaven could no longer endure the sight, and a messenger of comfort was sent to the Son of God. 3TC 449.7

Earth the Stage, Heaven the Audience

Heaven witnessed the Victim betrayed and hurried with violence from one tribunal to another. It heard the sneers of His persecutors and the denial, with cursing, by one of His disciples. It saw the Savior dragged back and forth from palace to judgment hall, arraigned twice before the priests, twice before the Sanhedrin, twice before Pilate, and once before Herod, mocked, scourged, condemned, and led out to be crucified. 3TC 450.1

Heaven viewed with amazement Christ hanging on the cross, blood flowing from His wounded temples, His hands, His feet. The wounds gaped as the weight of His body dragged on His hands. He panted under the burden of the sins of the world. All heaven was filled with wonder when Christ prayed in the midst of His terrible suffering, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34. 3TC 450.2

The powers of darkness around the cross cast the hellish shadow of unbelief into the hearts of the people gathered there. Satanic agencies led the people to believe that Christ was the chief of sinners and to make them detest Him. Those who mocked Christ were filled with the spirit of the first great rebel. He inspired their taunts. But Satan gained nothing from all this. 3TC 450.3

If Christ had yielded to Satan in one particular to escape the terrible torture, the enemy would have triumphed. Christ bowed His head and died, but He held tightly to His faith. “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’” Revelation 12:10. 3TC 450.4

Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. From then on he could no longer wait for the angels as they came from the heavenly courts and in their hearing accuse Christ’s followers of being clothed with the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken. 3TC 450.5

Yet the angels did not even then understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake were to be revealed more fully. Human beings as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. Each one must choose whom to serve. 3TC 450.6

In the opening of the great controversy, Satan had declared that no one could obey the law of God, that justice was inconsistent with mercy, and that, if the law were once broken, it would be impossible for the sinner to be pardoned. If God were to cancel the punishment for sin, Satan claimed, He would not be a God of justice. When our first parents broke the law of God, Satan declared that this proved that the law could not be obeyed; mankind could not be forgiven. Because he had been banished from heaven after his rebellion, Satan claimed that the human race must be shut out forever from God’s favor. God could not be just, he argued, and yet show mercy to the sinner. 3TC 450.7

But mankind was in a different situation from that of Satan. Lucifer had sinned in the full light of God’s glory. Understanding the character of God, Satan still chose to follow his own selfish will. There was no more that God could do to save him. But human beings were deceived, their minds darkened by Satan’s subtle reasoning. They did not know the height and depth of the love of God. By beholding His character, they could be drawn back to God. 3TC 451.1

How Justice Is Blended With Mercy

Through Jesus, God’s mercy was exhibited to humanity, but mercy does not set aside justice. The law could not be changed, but God sacrificed Himself in Christ for our redemption. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” 2 Corinthians 5:19. 3TC 451.2

The law requires a righteous life, a perfect character, and this we do not have. But Christ, as a human being, lived a holy life and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive Him. His life stands for their life. In this way they have forgiveness of sins that are past. More than this, Christ fills them with the attributes of God. He builds up the human character in the likeness of the divine character. And so “the righteous requirement of the law” is fulfilled in the believer in Christ. Romans 8:4. God can “be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:26. 3TC 451.3

It had been Satan’s aim to divorce mercy from truth and justice. But Christ showed that in God’s plan they are joined together. The one cannot exist without the other. “Righteousness and peace have kissed.” Psalm 85:10. 3TC 451.4

By His life and His death, Christ proved that God’s justice did not destroy His mercy. He proved that sin could be forgiven and that the law is righteous and can be perfectly obeyed. Christ refuted Satan’s charges. 3TC 451.5

Now Satan would bring forward another deception. He declared that the death of Christ abolished the Father’s law. If it had been possible for the law to be changed or abolished, then Christ would not have needed to die. But to do away with the law would be to immortalize sin and place the world under Satan’s control. Because the law was changeless, Jesus died on the cross. Yet the very means by which Christ established the law, Satan claimed had destroyed it. This will be the focus of the last conflict in the great controversy. 3TC 451.6

Satan’s “New Model” Lie

Satan now puts forward the claim that some portion of the law spoken by God’s own voice has been set aside. He does not need to attack the whole law. If he can lead people to disregard one commandment, he achieves his purpose. For “whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. By consenting to break one commandment, people come under Satan’s power. Concerning the great apostate power, the representative of Satan, prophecy declares, “‘He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand.’”
Daniel 7:25 Human beings will set up laws to work against the laws of God, and in their zeal to enforce these laws they will oppress their fellow men. 3TC 451.7

The warfare against God’s law will continue until the end of time. Everyone will have to choose between God’s law and human laws. There will be only two classes of people. Every character will be fully developed. All will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion. 3TC 452.1

Then the end will come. God will prove the justice of His law and will deliver His people. He will cut off Satan and all who join him in rebellion. Sin and sinners will die, root and branch. See Malachi 4:1. 3TC 452.2

This is not an arbitrary act on God’s part. The rejecters of His mercy reap what they have sown. God is the Fountain of life, and when people choose sin, they cut themselves off from life. Christ says, “All those who hate Me love death.” Proverbs 8:36. God gives them existence for a time so that they can develop their characters and reveal their principles. When this is done, they receive the results of their own choice. Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that the very presence of Him who is love will destroy them. 3TC 452.3

At the beginning of the great controversy, the angels did not understand this. If Satan and his followers had died then, doubt about God’s goodness would have remained in the angels’ minds as evil seed, ready to produce its deadly fruit of sin. 3TC 452.4

But it will not be that way when the great controversy will come to an end. Then, with the plan of redemption having been completed, the character of God stands clearly revealed to all created intelligences. The principles of His law are seen to be perfect and unchangeable. Sin has revealed its nature, Satan his character. The extermination of sin will prove God’s love and establish His honor before the universe. 3TC 452.5

In light of all this, the angels could well rejoice as they looked on the Savior’s cross. Although they did not understand everything then, they knew that Satan’s destruction was made certain, human redemption was assured, and the universe was made eternally secure. 3TC 452.6

Christ Himself looked forward to all these results of His sacrifice when on the cross He cried out, “It is finished!” 3TC 452.7