1 John 3:8
"He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil."
Do you think Jesus ever did anything that was NOT according to His purpose? Do you believe that everything He did on Earth was a fulfillment of His purpose?
Yes? Well then...
- healing fulfilled His purpose
- deliverance fulfilled His purpose
- preaching the Kingdom fulfilled it
- prospering the poor fulfilled it
- performing miracles fulfilled it
- forgiving sins fulfilled it
- and going to the cross fulfilled His purpose here in the Earth
But why then did Jesus have to come to Earth in order to destroy the works of the devil? If Jesus is God, He could have sat in His cozy seat in the Throne Room of heaven, looked down from above and zapped that serpent any time and every time that thief messed with one of His own. He could have just let that devil have the ones who belonged to Him according to 1 John 3:8
If Jesus is God (and He is), why couldn't He have just stayed in His heavenly realm to do His divine works?
Well, because - the ability to subdue the works of the enemy was given to mankind - to humanity - through Adam and Eve:
Genesis 1:28
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
Mankind had the power to subdue the enemy. So, the enemy came in and lied to Eve and convinced Adam to disobey and give him the power we should be walking in!
(Genesis 3:14-15)
And so, in order to legally destroy the works of the devil, Jesus became exactly like you and me, and stepped into the power Adam was supposed to walk in, in order to show us what we should be doing and how to do it.
Jesus was manifested in the Earth to destroy the works of satan in the Earth. Then He said when I go, through my Spirit in you, take over for me and continue my work!
John 14:12
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."
The enemy has 3 specific works in the Earth: to kill, to steal and to destroy. (John 10:10) And that thief is quite content to continue stealing your power, money, joy and health and to destroy your life with poverty, strife and sickness in the hopes of killing you down dead in your grave!
The devil wants you dead by any means available!
And, he doesn't necessarily care if you're a sinner and stay alive - he'd rather kill you dead as a believer in Christ, so that you never figure out the power you have over him!
Yes, the scriptures say that the devil knows his time is short, therefore if he can take as many people to hell and keep them in eternal damnation, then great, he gets some numbers - souls - that won't be with their Father in Heaven.
Why does that thrill the devil? Becase he hates God and knows how much God loves YOU!
But more so, the devil's work is in the Earth. The devil's throne is in the Earth. The kingdoms of this world belong to him - he is the "prince of this world"
John 12:31 and John 14:30 talk about the devil being the "prince of this world." And Ephesians 2:2 says, "Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience."
And in Matthew 4:8-9, satan took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the world. Kings have kingdoms. Satan said worship me and I'll give them to you. Satan could say that because he did have power, dominion and jurisdiction over those kingdoms.
- God gave it to Adam and Even
- They gave it to satan
- Jesus came and healed all who had a need because he wants us healed
- Jesus wants us living in the forgiven, abundance of long life
- So that in living our life we can continue to work the works of the Lord and destroy the works of the devil here in the Earth, just as Jesus intended!
Praying your power, love and peace!
~Pastor D
