Copyright © 2006 By Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church Reprinted With Permission.
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But, that man would have to live in a world dominated by Satan, a world populated
with those who, wittingly or otherwise, do Satan's bidding. Life would not be easy.
The battle between the forces of good and evil would be constant.
The stakes would be very, very high and one simple little mistake
could ruin everything. Certainly, much suffering would have to be
endured for the sake of righteousness.
We know that God chose to send His only begotten Son, Jesus, to become a
sinless man and to die for us. We know that God preserved Mary, the Mother of
God, from original sin so Jesus would have no contact whatsoever, with sin.
Conceived in Mary's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, having no sinful human
father, Jesus, "the New Adam" was born fully God and fully man. Emmanuel, (God
with us) the promised "seed" of the "woman" would finally and decisively, "crush
the head" of that old serpent, the devil.
Jesus' mission of redemption was threefold
Destroy
Satan's power over the world
Forgive sin and restore
God's grace to man
Inaugurate the Kingdom of God On Earth
For thousands of years Satan caused the deaths of countless good men and
prophets of God, so it was only "natural" for Satan to do the same to Jesus.
Of course, Satan often used willing accomplices to do his dirty work. This
time he used pagan Rome (Pontius Pilate, et al) a corrupt group of Jewish
officials (the Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees) and Judas (one of the
apostles) to achieve his ends.
Luke 22:2 - 5 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put
Jesus to death: but they feared the people. And Satan entered into Judas, who
was surnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve. And he went and discoursed with the
chief priests and the magistrates, how he might betray him to them. And they
were glad and covenanted to give him money.
But Satan made a serious tactical error.
All those who came before were sinners subject to death under the law. But
Jesus never sinned, so no one, (not even the devil, himself) had the
authority to kill Him! Jesus, of course, knew this.
John 10:17 - 18 Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life,
that I may take it again. No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of
myself. And I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again.
This commandment have I received of my Father.
By causing the death of Jesus, a sinless and innocent man (who is also the
Son of God) Satan shattered God's Law of Sin and Death. The moment Jesus
died; Satan once again came under God’s judgment.
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