“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom 16:20, NKJV)
We concluded last week’s teaching with the mandate given to all believers in Acts 26:18: “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”. We thus have to ask ourselves what the blood and the cross of Jesus has brought about in the demonic realm?
1 John 3:8b (NKJV) makes it very clear: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” How does this happen in practical terms? Let’s briefly recap the main parts of this process:
- Man is a complete partner of God in all matters on earth.
- We already know that God is not in control of the earth (1 John 5:19), but only brings about His will through the sons of God (Rom. 8:14).
- He does nothing without first alerting his prophets (Luke 1:70; 2 Pet. 1:21).
- Because He is love and cannot ignore the will of man (or even the will of other spiritual beings), He CHOOSES, according to his nature, to not act except through his sons on earth.
- In other words: out of choice God can not do anything except through his children on earth. Spend a moment to ponder what this means.
- We need to understand God is only the King of his Kingdom through us, the believers, that are seated in the heavens in Christ, practicing God’s authority (Eph. 2:6). This is His choice!
- This was, from the beginning, God’s choice for man – read Gen. 1:26-28, and Ps. 8:3-8. Verse 6 states, “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.”
- The Hebrew word for reign implies “manager, steward, governor, mediator, go-between, representative”!
- Read Ps. 115:16 along with this, which states it in no uncertain terms: “The heaven … the Eternal holds himself, the earth He has assigned to men.”
In his book Intercessory Prayer, Dutch Sheets outlines it beautifully: “So complete and final was God’s decision to do things on earth through human beings that it cost God the Incarnation to regain what Adam gave away.” From this the following promise follows: “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20). For this reason He has, according to Luke 10:19, given us the power to trample on snakes and scorpions, and over all the doings of the enemy; and nothing will ever cause us harm. Jesus is waiting for you and I to make His enemies His footstool (Heb. 10:12-13).
- Selah: You need to believe this teaching in order to walk in it.
- Read: 1-3
- Examine the OT-typology: 1:2 (Tip: Ps. 2:6-9)
