Satan's Reign Has Ended

I'm currently discussing the power of Satan and demons. One of the most interesting Bible passages in the New Testament is the following:

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  Luke 10:18-19

 Several important questions arise:

• What does it mean that the Lord Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning? 
• When, how and why did this happen? 
• What is this authority that the Lord gives to His disciples? 
• And what does it mean to overcome all the enemy's power? 
• In turn, just what power does the enemy have? 

First to the context. Jesus had quite a crowd of advance PR people, if I may call them that, seventy to be exact (Exodus 1:5; 24:1-9). He sent them ahead in pairs to announce His coming. Their task was to go to the villages to announce that Jesus was coming and to share this message: "The kingdom of God has come near to you." Their particular work: "Heal the sick." And stay, He instructed, with those who invite you. If unwelcome in any village, they were to say, "Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near." Then they were to move on since a curse would now fall on the town that rejected the coming Messianic King (Luke 10:12-16).

So what was this "kingdom of God" that was to come near? In fulfillment of prophecy (Daniel 2:44), Jesus came to re-establish God's reign in the hearts and lives of men. It was and is a hidden kingdom, known only to those reborn by the work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-21). The Spirit worked by means of God's Word proclaimed by these same disciples (Luke 9:2) to create this new birth. Evidence of the kingdom's power was seen particularly in the healing of the sick. Jesus himself healed a wide variety of illnesses common among the people (Matt. 4:24), freeing people from demonic control. The disciples in turn received the same power as they proclaimed the good news of the kingdom's arrival. Thus people had strong evidence of who was among them and of what the re-establishment of God's reign meant in practical terms.

This statue by Rocardo Beliver (1877) in Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid, Spain, is probably the only public statue in the world dedicated to the devil. It depicts Lucifer, the fallen angel who was cast out of heaven to become Satan.

There is much to be said and taught about all this. There are great implications for the ministry and work of Jesus' disciples in our day. Note first that our Lord Jesus teaches most clearly that we have a great enemy whose power we dare not take lightly. He is known as Satan, the great spirit who claims to be the rightful ruler of the entire earth (Matthew 4:8-9). Once among the greatest and most powerful of all the angelic powers, he rebelled and was consequently cast out of deep heaven and confined to the earth (Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah 14:3-23). Our Lord Jesus witnessed and commanded this judgment before human history, for Satan appeared in the form of a beautiful serpent already in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-6). He continues to disguise his presence by working through and in men's thoughts, words and actions (Matthew 16:23). 


Locked out of heaven, Satan and the rebel spirits under his control continue their warfare (Ephesians 6:10-20), irrationally determined somehow to win. In their anger, hatred and sorrow they now bring death and destruction to all inhabitants of the earth. They do this by leading kings and rulers into one war after the other all over this planet and by encouraging people at all levels of life to hate, accuse, abuse and murder one another. The havoc, suffering and chaos they promote is nearly unlimited. Uncounted millions have died and millions more will die because of Satan's horrible power over mankind.

Our Lord Jesus has appeared among us to re-assert His rightful rule, but in a strange and wondrous manner. Instead of coming to condemn and destroy all of us humans for our idiotic following of satanic rule, he came to rescue us at the cost of His own priceless life. This is the central message of the reborn sons and daughters of Adam. Christ died for us and rose again. In our baptism He has taken us with Him, out of death and the power of Satan into His own glorious kingdom (Romans 5:6-8; 6:1-11; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 2:14-15).


There is great healing power in that message, that Good News. We do well to realize this and to proclaim it fervently. More on what this has to do with satanic rule another day.