There are so many, many things to thank Jesus for when we consider Good Friday and His death on the cross. The biggest thing by far is that he took all our sin on Himself and that He took the devil and won. He triumphed over all the principalities and powers that were activated that day. When Jesus cried out from the cross ‘It is finished’, the literal translation reads, ‘It has been finished’. His work had been completed. The devil had pulled out all the stops, and done everything in His power to sabotage Jesus mission to save the world, and he had lost. Jesus work was indeed ‘completed’. Jesus had paid the price and become the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Jesus death in my place has got to be the biggest thing for any of us, as individuals, to thank Him for. There was however a huge battle going on between good and evil, light and dark, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Today let us thank Jesus that He resisted every temptation to abort His mission so that now we can pray with faith ‘Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven’, and we can also know that ‘The Kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever’. Revelation 11:15.
We know that Jesus resisted the devil in the wilderness when satan tempted Him to worship him (satan) in exchange for the Kingdoms of the world, Luke 4:5. In other words he was tempting Jesus to ‘change sides’. He was saying in effect “Worship me and make me the supreme ruler, and you can have all the kingdoms of the world without any further fight”. Jesus turned that offer down and we are told, satan ‘left Him until an opportune time’, Luke4:13.
In that last week before the crucifixion there were many ‘opportune times’ for satan and Jesus resisted them all. He resisted the temptation to quit again and again. There was the crowd on Palm Sunday wanting to make Him their earthly King. Then in the garden He resisted temptation as He considered the awful ordeal before Him. He asked the Father three times if this ‘cup’ could be taken from Him, but stayed with heavens agenda saying ‘Not as I will but as you will’, Matthew 26:38-44.
He resisted temptation at His trial before Pilot, who effectively said “I could set you free if you’d just say the right thing to me now”, Matthew 27:13,14. He resisted the temptation to call twelve legions of angels to His rescue Matthew 26:53, and He of course resisted time and again the temptation to prove Himself when he was taunted by the soldiers and then finally by the chief priests and elders while on the cross itself. Matthew 27:42.
Jesus was tempted again and again to ‘give up’, and we should be so grateful that He didn’t because, had He given in, you and I would still be under the power and authority of sin and the devil. Instead we read, ‘He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross’, Colossians 2:14,15
What happened on the cross was cosmic. The battle He won that day will affect the history of the whole world for all eternity. John ‘saw’ this played out in heaven in his vision, recorded in Revelation. He saw one of the angels with a scroll, and wept because no one was found in heaven or earth to open this scroll, then he is told not to weep because ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah ….has triumphed and is able to open the scroll’. Then John says ‘I saw a lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne’ The Lamb steps forward and takes the scroll and worship breaks out all over heaven. ‘They sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe, language, people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on earth’. Revelation 5:5-10.
Let us thank Him today that He resisted the enemy, and let us thank Him that He withstood all the temptations and refused all the options to abort His mission and that He saw it through to the end. We can thank Him that He secured not just salvation for you and me but that He defeated satan once and for all, and that He now awaits in heaven ‘for His enemies to be made His footstall’ Hebrews 10:13.
