OUR ENEMY IS DEFEATED!
PART 2
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Ons vyand is verslaan 2
Translator: Lynda Botha
In my previous letter regarding this question:
"Does the devil still have power over death?"
I said, amongst other things:
You and my only salvation of Satan is Jesus Christ.
The ónly One (nothing or no one else) who can save you and me from this horrible eternal death in hell, is Jesus Christ – through His sacrifice He made for mankind on Golgotha.
JOHN 3:14-17
14 “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness (You can read that history in Numbers 21, from verse 5), so the Son of Man must be lifted up,”
15 “so that everyone who believes in Him will hae eternal life.”
16 "For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
17 “God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
I have to accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour.
How do you do it?
We read:
ACTS 2:37-39
37 “Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
39 “This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away – all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
In the Amplified version Acts 2:39 reads as follows:
ACTS 2:39 “For the promise (of the Holy Spirit) is for you and your children and for all who are far away (including the Gentiles), as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.”
How wonderful that we can remind each other during joyous or burdened times on earth, that when we adopt Jesus Christ as our Saviour:
JAM 4:7 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Then to summarize regarding the question:
"Does the devil still have power over death?"
Satan only has power of death, my spiritual death, if I give him the power over it.
The people who have not adopted Jesus Christ as their Saviour, gives satan that power to kill them spiritually and they will die a horrible death forever in hell, and yet they will never actually die.
Not because satan automatically has power over death, their spiritual death, but because they gave satan power over their lives out of their own free will which our Lord created them with.
An example of the fate that awaits such people, we get in Luke 16:24 and it is Jesus Himself who quoted this man’s words in hell:
LUKE 16:24 "The rich man shouted, “Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.”
It is now more than 2,000 years later when Jesus told us about this man's words and nothing has changed since then for that man and nothing will ever change in all eternity for him.
How wonderful that the gospel of Jesus Christ was brought to me and you and that we opened our hearts when Jesus knocked!
For every person who departs out of this life and arrives on the other side of the grave without adopting Jesus Christ as Saviour, will forever be in the same situation as the man who Jesus tells us about above.
How extremely grateful I am, when I read in the Word of God what my situation was before Jesus revealed Himself to me. I am reading:
EPH 2:12 “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”
EPH 2:13 “But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ.”
He tells some of us, people who have adopted Jesus as their Saviour and who follows Him all the way through their lifes:
JOHN 5:24 "I tell you the truth, those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
In other words –
As followers of Jesus Christ were concerned, death does not exist anymore!
Of course, our mortal bodies will one day cease but we can sing:
1 COR 15:55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? "
I conclude with just the following:
I have adopted Jesus Christ as my Saviour –
Now I must not reason in this way that I no longer have to concern myself with satan.
Satan is now going to try even harder to succeed that I turn my back on our Lord which will land me in hell. Therefore, we read:
1 PET 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
1 PET 5:9 “Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”
How wonderful to read this as I also remember these words from our Lord:
MAT 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Also:
REV 3:21 “Those who are victorious will sit with Me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat with My Father on His throne.”
REV 3:22 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.”
Greetings,
Sakkie