The Cross and the Defeat of Evil

What need does Jesus death on the cross address? One of the most significant summaries of what the cross accomplishes is called Christus Victor. This understanding of Jesus' death emphasizes that on the cross God was working to defeat evil. The Scriptures address this theme in many places. Here are two of the more common texts. 

**And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered (Mark 3.26-27).

Indeed, these verses describe Jesus as the Stronger Man who came to bind up Satan, the strong man, and plunder his property! 

**The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3.8b). 

So the Scriptures are clear. Jesus came to defeat Satan and rescue the world from his evil grasp. The question is, how did Jesus defeat the enemy? Take a listen to our most recent messages that describe how God defeated Satan and his domain through Jesus' death and resurrection. Thanks be to God. 

How is Satan defeated by Jesus on the Cross? Click here to download and listen to our message, The Defeat of Satan and the Cross. 

Was Jesus' death a descent into hell? Click here to download and listen to our message, The Defeat of Hell and the Cross. 

Advent Week Four: A Fire in the Belly of God

What motivated the Triune God to come to this dark world to win it back to himself? What was God seeing when he looked at the world prior the incarnation of his only-begotten Son? What was God feeling when he looked at the world? The first thing God sees is his creation, but not as he intended it. This world was created by a self-giving God to be a Temple where God dwells with us to give us life. As sons and daughters of Adam, however, we have refused God’s gracious presence and his gift of life. This is called sin. How does God respond to what he sees? Again, his response is to give himself because this is what God is like (see Philippians 2.5-11). C.B. Kruger writes: “In marked contrast to the gods of human imagination, the Christian God is not self-centered, not a taker at all, but a giver.” This generous, self-emptying nature of God is on display, not only the Story of Creation (Genesis 1-2), but also in the Story of Christmas (Luke 2). This self-emptying love motivated God to send the Savior. Remarkably, the labor pains that lead to the birth of Jesus, point to the fire in God’s belly that is an unquenchable love. This love stoops in humble service to absorb and exhaust the consequences of sin so that we might be raised to God. “Here in Christianity, we have a God who stoops, writes,” C.B. Kruger, “who wants to be united with us and who is prepared to humble Himself and even to suffer to accomplish such a union.”

An unquenchable love in the belly of God is the theological rationale for the Incarnation. It is the love of God come all the way down to us that we celebrate at Christmas. Thanks be to God!

Click here to download and listen to our message, Christmas and the Undoing of Adam.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17, ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)