Victory in Jesus - part 1
This week, we begin our look at Easter. Last week, Pastor Bob took us through Numbers 21 in which the Israelites were plagued by serpents because of their rebellion to God. Rather than remove the serpents when they repented, the Lord tells Moses to set up a bronze serpent for them to look at. When they look at the serpent, they will be saved.
This particular story is a great place to pause as we consider Easter because Jesus pointed us to this very story when he was speaking with Nicodemus.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
John 3:14-15
At the very center of our faith is this simple truth: Jesus died for our sins.
The question I would like to pose for us in the next few weeks is this: “How?”
How is it that Jesus going to the cross 2,000 years ago can save us today?
To begin to answer such a question, we will need to start at the beginning of the greatest story ever told.
In the Beginning…
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
In this vast Creation, He creates three main realms: the heavens, the sky, and the sea. In the heavens, He creates the sun, moon, and stars—heavenly creations to rule the heavens and govern the times and seasons. He separates sky from sea, filling them with birds and fish—the birds to rule the skies and the fish to rule the seas. He separated land from the water, filling it with all the creatures great and small. The beasts would rule the ground. And so, each realm was created, and each realm had its own creatures to rule their realms.
He then did something very special. He took dust from the ground and fashioned a human. He breathed life into this human and called it His image. This particular creation would have a very special purpose in being made in the image and likeness of the Creator. He, along with his soon-to-be-created wife, would have dominion over all the fish of the sea, birds of the air, and beasts of the earth.
From this man, he created a woman, and the couple were given a beautiful Garden with all the things they would need in life to build a beautiful existence. They were given a single law: eat from any tree they wish, but do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was a simple command that was meant to establish a covenant of love. By obeying this one command, God’s love could be reciprocated as true love is. They were forced to do nothing. They only were asked to love their Creator.
For some time, the world was perfectly good as the couple obeyed the command.
But one creature was not satisfied with his place in the world. Satan took the form of a serpent and persuaded the man and woman to eat from the forbidden tree. In their disobedience, they learned what it meant to disobey and introduced evil in the world. The cascading effect is the world and humanity have been corrupted by a spiritual disease we call sin.
In the midst of humanity’s Fall, the Lord makes this promise in speaking to the serpent:
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”Genesis 3:15
As the Lord is actively describing the ramifications of the humans’ sin and their punishments, He makes note that one day, this work of the serpent will be undone. The serpent will not live forever, and his destruction will come from a descendant of Eve.
That is what happened in the beginning.
The Reason the Son of Man came…
This promise of the serpent’s demise was fulfilled through Jesus Christ. John writes,
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8b
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, He defeated Satan, sin, and death.
Christ’s death was not defeat, it was a victory.
Consider how Colossians describes the work of Christ on the cross.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Colossians 2:13-15
Paul is drawing from imperial imagery here. In the days of empires, when a kingdom fell, the victors would march the defeated king through the streets as a sign of dominance--sometimes the defeated king might be alive, other times not so much. Satan is called the prince of the air and his demons were known to hold power over regional areas.
Daniel points to this idea in the visions of Daniel 2 and 7. Many great kingdoms would come and go in the times before the Messiah, but when the Messiah comes, he would crush those kingdoms establishing an everlasting kingdom of heaven.
Although God is Sovereign over the Earth, His Creation has been invaded and His authority usurped by Satan through introducing sin. When Jesus died on the cross, He achieved victory over Satan and the resurrection and the days following were Jesus demonstrating his triumph and putting Satan to open shame. The everlasting kingdom Daniel saw has begun. The rock that fell from heaven is actively growing into the mountain that would cover the whole earth.
Each new believer is one more time Satan is put to shame by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Treasure of Heaven
When the disciples asked about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus spoke in many parables to explain it. One is a short verse in Matthew 13:44.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Matthew 13:44
The point of this parable is not what kind of treasure, but rather the value of the treasure. For today, though, as we continue to look at the Atoning Work of Christ, I would like to pretend the treasure is something like a giant gemstone. Something like this illustration.
The “jewel” of the Atonement has all the models of the Atonement working together.
The Victory of Christ is on top of the jewel because it is the capstone of the Atonement. Each model, each way we discuss the Atoning Work of Christ, is one facet of how Jesus accomplishes victory over Satan, sin, and death.
Before we go today, I would like to take a look at one of the faces of the jewel. To see this particular side, we will need to go back in time to the prophet Hosea.
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
Hosea 1:2-9
The Lord tells Hosea to use his marriage as an object lesson for Israel. Israel has strayed far from God by worshipping idols and abandoning their covenant with God. They have done so to the point that God tells Israel they are no longer His people. The names of Hosea's children illustrate:
First child - Jezreel, a reminder of Israel's sin at Jezreel where King Jehu slaughtered King Ahab and his descendants as the means to take the throne. It also means ‘scattered’ which harkens to Israel about to be scattered in the Exile.
Second child - Lo-ruhama, which means ‘No Mercy,’ "for God will not show mercy to Israel's sin”
Third child - Lo-ammi, ‘Not my People’, “Israel is not God's people”
The brokenness of Hosea’s family is illustrative of the brokenness of God’s people.
But there is still hope. In the next verse, the Lord offers hope to Hosea and Israel.
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
Hosea 1:10
Then, in chapter 3, Hosea is told to go find his wife. She has strayed far from home living a life as a slave to sin.
And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
Hosea 3:1-5
Hosea returns to his wife and finds her at the slave auction. There he buys her back from her masters. She has been brought back into the family after her own sin has driven her away. The Lord explains to the Israelites that in the same way, their sin will drive them out of their lands, and they will have no prince or king to their name.
But one day...
One day, they will return to their home and their God. They will seek after their King David and Yahweh their God. They will fear the Lord for His goodness.
That is the picture God gives of his people as they approach the Exile. They are an adulterous nation that deserve no mercy or pity. But because God continues to love them, He will redeem them from the Exile, just as Hosea redeems his wayward wife.
This prophecy was fulfilled many years later. After the Northern Kingdom falls, the Southern Kingdom falls later, and the Israelites experience 70 years of exile. Afterwards, they begin the return to their homeland.
But this prophecy has a greater fulfillment that happened 2000 years ago. The Lord came to us and gave up His Son, Jesus so that God's people can be redeemed from the slavery of their sin and the devil. It was our own sin that put us into slavery...our adulterous idolatry following our own gods...but in His mercy, our Father paid the price of our redemption so that we can be free.
Christ's death is the price for our redemption from the slavery of sin.
The call to obedience for Christians is not a call to be bound by another slave yolk. It is a call to remember we have been freed from sin and death. Hosea prophesied God's children would fear Him for his goodness. Christians fear and honor God because He is so good to us. God sent His own Son to die for our sins so that we can be redeemed from the shackles of sin and death.
Christ is victorious over sin, and one of the ways in which He brings victory is by paying the price for our redemption. We are able to share in the victory, because he breaks the shackles of sin and death. We are no longer slaves. We are no longer the wayward wife. We are redeemed to return to the House of the Lord and live as His children and the Bride of Christ.
Paul calls us to walk in this freedom with love.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:1-2
What else can we do but praise Him? What else should we do but follow Him?
Obedience to Christ is the proper response to our freedom.