I want to start by apologizing that I will be repeating many of the arguments that I have presented in other threads. This is unfortunate, but apparently there are those who think that this horse isn’t quite dead yet and needs some more flogging.
I will start by listing some of the main texts concerning the death of the Lord Jesus.
Isaiah 53:10.
‘Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise [or ‘crush’ or ‘strike’]
Him; He has put Him to grief.’ Where is Satan here? Nowhere! Note that the Lord does not bruise or crush our Lord’s heel; He crushes the whole Person.
Zechariah 13:7.
‘”Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”’ Our Lord makes it very clear in Matthew 26:31 who is doing the striking:
“I will strike the Shepherd…..’ Any mention of Satan? Nope!
John 10:17-18.
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This command I have received from My Father.” No one can kill God, and that includes Satan. At the ninth hour, when He had accomplished salvation for His people, the Lord Jesus
‘gave up [literally, ‘dismissed’]
His spirit.’ (John 19:30). The verses that follow must be read in the light of this.
Acts of the Apostles 2:22.
“[Christ], being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you haven taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.” Any sign of Satan here? Nope! Only the determined purpose of God.
Acts of the Apostles 3:14-15, 17.
“But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life…. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” Where is Satan here? Nowhere! Was Satan the cause of the Jews crucifying Christ? No. They did it in ignorance.
Acts of the Apostles 4:27-28.
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined to be done.” Whose hand? Whose determined purpose? Not Satan’s.
And now my favourite: Romans 3:25-26.
‘Whom God set forth as a propitiation by [or ‘through’ or ‘in’]
His blood.’ That is, God sent our Lord to earth as a sacrifice that takes away wrath, and He could do that only through death – the shedding of His blood. And God did this
‘to demonstrate His righteousness.’ He could not forgive sins and still be just without extracting a just penalty, and this He did through the Lord Jesus,
‘To demonstrate His righteousness’ in forgiving the sins of the O.T. saints their sins – that is why Christ is called,
‘The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ – and
‘to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus.’ So where is the devil in all this? Nowhere to be seen.
But he’s there hiding somewhere, isn’t he? Because 1 John 3:8 tells us,
‘For this reason the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.’ What were the works of the devil? To lure mankind via Adam and Eve into sin. And through this, Satan has a certain power before God. He is the
‘accuser of our brethren, who accuses them day and night before God’ (Revelation 12:10). In
Job 1 & 2, we see Satan come right into the presence of God to accuse Job, and in
Zechariah 3:1, we see him in the presence of the Angel of the Lord, to accuse Joshua the High Priest. He has this power because there is truth in his accusations. We are sinners; we do deserve punishment, and if God is just, says Satan, He must punish all mankind.
But through His atoning death, Christ has paid the penalty for all His people in full.
‘There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). Therefore Satan is cast down, for he has nothing with which to accuse God’s people.
‘Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?’ Not Satan; not any more!
‘It is God who justifies, who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us’ (Romans 8:33-34).
Now Satan was no fool. He knew the Scriptures (c.f. Matthew 4:6). And therefore would have known the prophesies. So if he was to prevent Christ from destroying his works by atoning for His people’s sins on the cross, he had to do one of two things. He had either to lure our Lord into disobeying His Father, so that He would no longer be a perfect sacrifice, or He had to prevent Him from dying on the cross. This he could do either by killing Him before He came to the cross, or by tempting Him not to go there.
[To be continued, including dealing with Genesis 3:15 and John 8]
