THURSDAY
This week we are looking at the protection that we have in Jesus. We saw that we are protected in the sphere of Christ, ie. we have eternal security of our salvation in Christ. Yesterday we saw that we are protected from the wrath of God in Christ as well. Today, we come to the other sphere in which the New Testament authors tell us we have protection—the evil one.
We began by looking at Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17:11. If we look ahead a couple of verses we see Jesus praying for protection yet again.
John 17:15 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
We should think of this protection in two senses:
- Prior to knowing Jesus we were enslaved to our sin. Therefore, we were following after Satan and his demons (Eph. 2:2). We were in darkness under the power of Satan (Ac. 26:18). We were darkness (Eph. 5:8). Satan has been given a certain amount of dominion (not full dominion) over the world in this era still (1 Jn 5:19). In this sense then, Jesus has taken us from being willing citizens of Satan’s kingdom to citizens of God’s kingdom. This is the same as salvation which we talked about on Monday and Tuesday.
- Because our enslavement to sin has been broken by Jesus we are no longer helpless against Satan’s temptations. We are no longer citizens of Satan’s kingdom. Yet, Satan still has some dominion and power in this world. Therefore, we must still resist Satan and his demons. In this sense, we have not been taken out of Satan’s domain. While we live in this physical world, until Jesus returns and fully judges Satan, we are foreigners and strangers here. We are living behind enemy lines. Therefore, we will still experience evil and temptation. We will still sin and experience the effects of other’s sin. In this sense, obedience and perseverance are required. But even in this sense, we do not fight on our own, in our own strength. God equips us to resist the devil. We will talk about this tomorrow.
In John 17:15 I think Jesus is praying in the first sense—for us to remain citizens of God’s kingdom. Because Jesus redeemed us and he is interceding for us, Satan cannot have us. We belong to Jesus now and he will keep us as his own. Satan cannot plunder his house and take his kids. We are safe and secure from the enemies of God when we are in the house of God. He has adopted us. He will keep, protect and preserve us.
In Luke 11 Jesus is accused of casting out demons in Satan’s power. Jesus refutes them by saying that their logic is flawed. Satan wouldn’t be casting out his own demons. That would be a kingdom divided. Then he gets to the point of their resistance—they are unwilling to admit that his power over diseases and demons reveals that the kingdom of God has come.
Luke 11:20-22 (NIV) 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
In the short parable of vv. 21-22 Satan is the strong man and Jesus is the stronger man. Jesus has overpowered Satan by living a perfectly righteous life, thereby defeating Satan’s power of temptation to sin. Then, in the cross and resurrection Jesus has made it possible for God’s people to experience freedom from sin and death along with him. He has taken away the armor that Satan trusted in—humanity’s sinfulness—and he has bestowed upon his people the benefits of salvation.
ve been careful with my language in this devotional because, as far as I am aware, the New Testament authors stop short of ever saying that we were enslaved to Satan. They say that we are enslaved to our sin and therefore we follow the temptations of Satan (Eph. 2:2; Rom. 6:6, 7:23; Jn. 8:34). So perhaps we are by extension but not directly. This is where I think the ransom theory of the atonement gets it wrong. It suggests that we were enslaved to Satan and Jesus comes and ransoms us from Satan to bring us to God. Again, the NT authors say that we are enslaved to sin but not to Satan. I think that is to give Satan more power than he has been given on this earth. His power over humanity is in our sinful nature. Once Jesus has broken our enslavement to sin that greatly reduces Satan’s power of us. His power over us is now only in the second sense expressed above.
“But if the Christian pilgrimage is inherently perilous, the safety that only God himself can provide is assured, as certainly as the prayers of God’s own dear Son will be answered.” - D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 565.
Additional Content
Reflection
Take heart in knowing that Jesus is praying for your protection from the evil one. s broken the power of sin over you so you are no longer a slave to sin and to the devil’s temptations. You belong to Jesus now. He is stronger and he will protect you as his adopted child.