We know that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, but that does not mean that all his enemies are completely beaten.  You will remember that when the Devil, the Spirit and Lord of Evil, found there was no place for him in Heaven, he came to this world to make it his kingdom.  Ever since then he has been fighting against God, and although he knows he cannot win, yet he will fight on to the end.  His plan is to get us to obey him and to separate us from God.  There is not a single person who can face the Devil alone and beat him.

Jesus and the Devil

But Jesus came from Heaven to rescue us from the Devil’s power.  He taught people to turn away from their sins, to love and obey God and to love one another.  All of this was completely the opposite of what the Devil wanted. 

Before Jesus began this public work, or his Ministry as we call it, he was baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.  Immediately afterwards God’s voice was heard saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (NRSV, Mark 1:11).  After being baptised Jesus went alone into the desert to spend 40 days there getting ready for his great work.  The Devil at once began to tempt him to do wrong.

Jesus is tempted by the Devil

He knew that Jesus wanted to lead people to love and obey God, and so the Devil tried to put ideas into his head to attract the people by using his powers wrongly: by turning stones into bread and giving free food to all who followed him, or by doing tricks such as jumping off high buildings without hurting himself, or lastly to make war on the Romans, defeat their armies, overthrow the Emperor and make himself ruler of the world.

Jesus defeats the Devil

Jesus, however, showed himself stronger than the Devil by refusing to have anything to do with these suggestions.  “Away with you, Satan!” he said (NRSV, Matthew 4:10) and the Devil left him alone, but only for a time (Luke 4:13).  He went on fighting against Jesus and in the end used bad men to crucify him, but he never got Jesus to do as he wanted.  And so when Jesus, just before his death on the Cross, cried, “It is finished” (NRSV, John 19:30) (it is completed), that was a shout announcing his victory over the Devil and the Devil’s defeat.  Three days later Jesus was raised from the dead, having conquered not only the Devil but death as well.  So Jesus is alive for evermore and able to help us too.

The Army of Christ

The death of Jesus on the Cross and his Resurrection for the dead dealt a massive and decisive blow against the Devil and the powers of darkness.  The Devil could never recover from this defeat and in his good time, God will make all things new and sin and evil will be no more.

In the meantime, however, the Devil still continues to fight against God and try to draw people away from God.  And even though Jesus has beaten the Devil, each one of us must still fight bravely against the Devil.  The great thing is that now the Devil does not have everything his own way.

The Church Militant

When Jesus went back to Heaven he left behind him an Army to fight against the Devil and to bring back people to God.  This Army we call the Church Militant or Fighting Church.  We joined it at our Baptism.  That is why, when you were baptised the priest made the sign of the Cross on your forehead (for the Cross is the badge of the Christian Army) and said, “Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified”.  And everyone present said:

“Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ
against sin, the world and the devil,
and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life”. (1)

To each one of us in his Army Christ gives his own power so that we can beat the Devil as he did.  We are given this power when we say our prayers and when we receive the Sacraments of his Church.  For prayer and the Sacraments are weapons against which the Devil is powerless.

Prayer

Each morning in our prayers we should offer ourselves to God to be his completely; and, since he has given to each of us our own holy Guardian Angel to look after us, we should ask our Guardian Angel to keep watch over us during the day.  It was St Michael the Archangel who thrust Satan from Heaven (Revelation 12:7-9), so we can always trust the angels to fight against evil.

During the day we should make every effort to avoid situations which we know may lead us into sin.  But if some sudden temptation comes, we should quickly send a prayer for help, such as, “Jesus, help me”.  We can do that wherever we are, but we must be sure to do it at once and if necessary repeat it.  Such a prayer is always answered – Jesus will always help us. 

But as we know too well, there are times when we give way to temptation and think or say or do wrong things.  It is very important that we come back to God as quickly as possible by telling him we are sorry and will try not to sin again.  It is helpful to think of all that Jesus suffered to save us from our sins and how much he loves us.

The Sacraments

In Confirmation Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit of God to equip us as his soldiers in the world.  And in Holy Communion we are united to Jesus himself in his Risen and Ascended Body; and against Jesus the Devil is powerless.  Many people find it helpful to use the Sacrament of Reconciliation (go to Confession) regularly as a way of receiving God’s forgiveness, grace to carry on the battle and advice from a priest to help us in our own particular situation.

Never giving up the fight

It is for us, in the power of Jesus, always to stand up for what is right and true and fight against what is wrong and false.  Remember, however strong our temptations and trials may be, and however often we fail, yet we shall win through in the end if we keep up with our prayers, go regularly to Communion and always come quickly back to God in sincere sorrow for our sins, asking his forgiveness and trying not to sin again.  The power of evil may be strong but, with the power Jesus gives us, we can be stronger.

SUMMARY

1. Jesus is King of kings and he defeated the Devil on the Cross.  The Devil could never recover from this defeat and in his good time, God will make all things new and sin and evil will be no more.  But in the meantime the Devil, who wants to rule the world, still fights against God.

2. The Devil tries to draw people away from God, but Christ’s Army, the Church Militant (Fighting) fights to bring people back to God.

3. We join this Army at our Baptism when we become soldiers of Christ.  Through the power which Jesus gives us in our prayers and the Sacraments, we also can beat the Devil.

Reference

1. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006) Common Worship.Holy Baptism.Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/initiation/baptism.html(Accessed 19 November 2010) (Internet).