Bible Reading:
2 Corinthians 9 verses 3 to 5

The Lord Jesus Has Defeated The Cause of War

War is a terrible thing. Modern war with modern weapons is beyond what we could talk about in detail without causing great distress. I read a book once about a 17 year old lad recruited into the german army in the second world war. The book was 2 inches thick and full of the terrible experiences he had in the war on the Russian front during The Second World War. He said in part of the book that nobody could begin to understand what he was writing about if they read it sat in a warm armchair. He said that the book should be read after weeks and weeks with only a few hours sleep now and then, days at a time with no food, and in temperatures well below freezing. The reader should sit in a hole in the ground amid huge explosions and bullets whizzing by with the constant threat of terrible injury or death.
We see the war movies on TV and the news reports but noone really understands war until they have been in it.

There doesn't have to be bombs and bullets for there to be a war. A "Cold War" is where two sides square up to each other and, filled with hatred and suspicion they set out to make life miserable and difficult for the other side. They do all they can to spoil the other sides' plans and cause trouble. They get others to attack while pretending it's nothing to do with them. Such situations can go on for ages and be very horrible and unpleasant.

Despite the horror of it war still goes on. I looked up in my encyclopaedia and there were sixty different wars listed and that is just a drop in the ocean compared to all the wars there have been down through history. There are wars going on now that people don't get to hear much about. Other wars begin and end with scarcely anyone taking any notice except the poor people caught up in them. There was a war in Chad that dragged on for years from the mid 60s to 1989, over 30 years. Do you know what was that war about? Do you even know where Chad is?

You would think, wouldn't you, that mankind would get together and ban war forever. War goes on - why? It is because mens hearts are evil, proud and selfish. Romans 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. War goes on because of a war that has gone on for thousands of years, a war that lots of people do not know about, a war that most people do not like to think about even if they know about it.

You've seen a little child thump another little child because the one who gets thumped is smaller and has something the first child wants. War is just the same attitude on a bigger scale. The possibility of war with Saddam Hussain's Iraq is caused by his warlike attitude. There are allegations that he is preparing terrible weapons to use against surrounding nations. He wants more power and is prepared to do anything he can to get it.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He saw that they were good. When God speaks about good He means perfect like Himself. He made the simplest atom and the most complex organisms. God made the tiniest bug and the mightiest angel. He made the tiniest particle of dust and the greatest star and all He made was perfect and harmonious and designed to show His eternal power and Godhead. The vastness of space and all the planets and stars are there to declare Gods power. All was perfect.

Despite all these demonstrations of God's power satan declared war on God. He started a war that he could never win. All other wars might be won or lost by either side but satans war on God was lost before he started. Although this war is more awful than any other war. Although this war is for much higher stakes than any other war God has already won the war and satan has lost. Satan thought he could be equal to God but God had the measure of him from the beginning of the world.

When, in Isaiah 40, Isaiah was sent by God to comfort the people of God the message was that their warfare was ended, they were delivered from the effect of their sin by Gods dealings with them. Immediately Isaiah begins to speak of events surrounding the coming of The Lord Jesus. This terrible warfare is about sin and deliverance from it. Satan wants everyone to be lost for ever in sin and rebellion aganst God. He wants to drag you and I into hell forever. Satan wants us to sin so we fall under the same condemnation from God that satan himself is under. There is nothing any of us can do to deliver ourselves. Only as God delivers us can we escape and be victorious over all that satan tries to do to defeat us. To commit one sin brings success to satan because one sin brings eternal judgement on the sinner - but we have all done many more sins than just one.

It is through The Lord Jesus that satan has been defeated. The Lord Jesus is central to the victory in this awful warfare. Nothing and nobody can withstand Him.

In Colossians 2:2 Paul speaks about "the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." He goes on in verse 9-10 " For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" and in verse 15 " And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. "

This speaks of the victory won by the Lord Jesus.
In ancient times victorious generals would lead a parade of captives through the streets of their Capital City when they returned from successful campaigns. They'd have the kings and princes of the beaten nations walk in chains to show how they were fallen under the generals power.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
How did The Lord Jesus gain this victory? Did he gather a mighty army with superior weapons to overcome satan? This is not what the Bible tells us He did.
Satan wants us to sin and be condemned. His defeat comes because The Lord Jesus bore the condemnation of God for the sin of all His people when He suffered and died on the cross in the place of His people. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. All who trust The Lord Jesus for forgiveness of their sin are included in His victory over satan. Satan can no longer control such people. They are made eternally safe through what The Lord Jesus has done.

Are you safe? Are you part of the Victory of The Lord Jesus or are you backing satan to win at last. To go the way of satan is extreme foolishness. Satans end is decided. He will be accompanied by many deluded people when he is finally cast into hell on the day of judgement.

Are you deluded and deceived? There is no need to be. Remember you are on one side or the other in this war and if you are not trusting The Lord Jesus to deliver you from judgement and to make you to be His then you are on the side that will lose.