Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30
2. Jesus Addressed “It is Finished” to Satan – Continued
From Last Lesson: Dear believer, remember that Jesus quoted Scripture, too. He proved to the enemy and to all that it is not merely a matter of the words of Scripture but of their sense and meaning. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit has to this very day established the true sense of Scripture in its bearing upon what He as the Messiah came to do. Jesus established the kingdom of truth and of righteousness against the kingdom of the lie and of unrighteousness. Jesus has exposed the enemy for the arch-liar that he is.
Think of this dear reader, for three years the enemy had watched Jesus through His earthly ministry and not once could he convict Jesus of any sin. Jesus came to die so that the sins of all people could be blotted out. The devil must surely know by now and understand that his certain destruction is not only at hand, but sealed that day on the cross.
Did the enemy think he was successful when he instigated Pilate to say, “What is truth?” Satan now knows, as never before, that Jesus, the “I am” of God, is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that neither he nor any of his followers can speak a final or lasting word against the truth.
If you, the believer, can meditate or try to contemplate, consider what an unspeakably horrible existence the devil will have after this. It will be impossible, from the point of the cross forward for Satan, to deceive himself the way he had done until that point. The devil does know he is already defeated. He knows now that all the powers of hell, of which he is commander in chief, can’t prevail against the Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus Christ has established. He certainly knows all this now, and from the point of the cross until he is thrown into the abyss, he will always tremble, realizing his time is so limited.
As believers, we must remember that his fury against the people of Christ Jesus will increase. It will be a desperate fury. Yet because of the cross and the resurrection, God’s people will always be safe. Believing martyrs will be without fear even as they are burned at the stake. When the enemy sees them at the stake, they and the enemy’s hosts will tremble all the more. The devil’s minions may have them “stoned, . . . sawn in two, . . . killed with the sword. [Going] about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated . . . wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:37) but the enemy will never, no never, succeed in bringing them down to destruction with himself. When Satan heard Jesus say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46), this was in order that those whom the Father has given Jesus might always know they will never be forsaken of Him. I can just imagine Jesus saying, “Get behind me, Satan and beware not to touch those for whom I have died, for it won’t be them, but rather you and your followers who are forever forsaken of God!”
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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