“A DEFEATED FOE”

20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Romans 16:20

The Bible presents Satan as a powerful adversary. He has an army of demons at his disposal. He works tirelessly to steal, kill, and destroy. But Christians should know one critical truth about this nemesis.

In our previous blog, we mentioned that Christians are to seek wisdom and make biblically sound decisions. Here’s another important reminder for you and me:

Christians are to understand that Satan is a defeated foe.

The passage from which today’s verse is taken shows Paul’s warning against false teachers spewing lies and causing confusion among the believers in Rome. That said, he expresses his confidence that the Roman Christians will do the right thing. He associates these false teachers with Satan, also known as the father of lies. He assures his readers that God will soon crush Satan under their feet, i.e. God will frustrate Satan’s work and execute His promise of victory (Genesis 3:15).

This assurance gives believers a solid reason to avoid false teaching. Since these deceitful preachers are linked to Satan and twist Scripture for personal gain, they will be ultimately destroyed. On the other hand, those who remain faithful to Christ will stand with God forever.

Despite the plethora of biblical passages telling us of Satan’s ultimate defeat, some of us Christians fear him; we shouldn’t. Satan is not omnipotent, so he can’t do what he pleases. He is not equal to God and he is not the ruler of hell. On our own, we cannot defeat him, but the Bible prophesies our victory over him.

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Revelation 12:11

Yes, Satan is a formidable enemy, but he is no match for our King. But let’s not forget that God does the crushing, not us. The Bible does not tell us to rebuke the devil, but it does say that we should resist him.

God is the One to whom we should submit ourselves. When we do, He will give us discernment, wisdom, and confidence to overcome the Enemy. And let’s not forget: “Greater is He that is in us than he who is in this world (1 John 4:4).

Conclusion

To live a victorious Christian life, we should:

• Exercise discernment and reject false teachings,
• seek wisdom and make biblically sound decisions,
• understand that Satan is a defeated foe.

Pursue the Savior today!

Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash