Jesus Turns defeat Into Victory

God has a habit of turning dire situations into amazing victories. The cross itself existed for centuries as the worst execution and the most horrible thing that could happen to a person. The word “excruciating” comes from the Latin phrase “from crucifixion”. Yet what Jesus did on that cross has made the cross the greatest symbol of hope and love the world has ever known.

The cross changed from a symbol of horror to one of love because of what Christ accomplished. We were all doomed to spend eternity with Satan in hell, in complete misery. But through His death and resurrection, Christ took our place for our sins on our cross. We now have another choice—the choice to live in complete communion with God. Just as the conversation between God and Lucifer explained, Jesus was absolutely and completely innocent, doing for us what no one could ever be expected to do, expressing the greatest love the world has ever known.

So why doesn’t the entire world live with Incredible joy and enthusiasm and love for what Christ has done for us? I think for many people, even sometimes Christians, the story has just never been told in a way that allows them to grasp the magnificence of it. There is a wonderful book out there called Rescued by Father John Riccardo, and I wish I could say it as well as he does, but I can’t. So I’m just going to quote from his book:

I It’s June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France. Military forces from the United States, England, and Canada have converged in Europe and are landing on five separate beaches. Why are they there?

Is it because they’ve heard that the beaches in France are awesome? Or that the coffee on the Champs-Elysées, on the main street of Paris, is to die for? Maybe it’s because they’re chomping at the bit to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre after hearing so much about her.

No, of course not. The Allies are storming the beaches in France for a single reason: to fight.

A tyrannical dictator has invaded, oppressing and killing people for his own megalomaniacal purposes. They are there to fight this monster.

Now imagine another scene: a manger in a cave in Bethlehem. A young Jewish woman named Mary has just given birth. She is holding her baby; her husband, Joseph, is by her side. They gaze upon the child who has just landed on this earth. Now ask a similar question: “Why is He there?”

Do we have as quick and obvious an answer to that question? Perhaps not, but we should. Because once we understand why God became a man in Jesus and what He came to do, we feel compelled to surrender to Him in faith.

Let’s return for a moment to the first scene we conjured up. Imagine you live in France in 1944. Your country is occupied, and you have family members who have been kidnapped and sent to a concentration camp. You live every agonizing day under the shadow of the Nazi regime, dwelling in darkness and the shadow of death. You wonder if you will be saved—if you and your people can be saved from the tyrant who has invaded your land.

Then, on June 7, 1944, you wake up, get the newspaper, and sit down with your spouse at the kitchen table. You open the paper and see the massive headline: The Allies Landed at Normandy. Your spouse asks, “Anything happen yesterday?” You reply, “Nah, not really. The Allies landed on our western shores to rescue us, but that’s about it. Looks like it’s going to rain today.”

Is that how you’d read the headline? Not a chance!

“The Allies landed!” you’d exclaim. “They’re here to fight for us! To rescue us! The horror can finally end!” You would weep with joy, relief, and a hope for the future that you’d stopped dreaming was possible. Because this isn’t just mundane, everyday news; this is the news—extraordinary, life-changing news. In France on June 7, 1944, everyone knew that something unprecedented had happened. It was the event that changed everything for them from that day forward.

As great as that news was, the gospel—the proclamation of what God, who knows you by your name, has done for you and me personally—is infinitely better. And it’s longing to be unleashed through you and me, by our words and by our actions.

Just as the Allies landing on D-Day presupposes Hitler and the Nazis, God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus presupposes an enemy. And just as the Allies didn’t come to France to see the sights or drink great coffee, God didn’t land as a tourist. He became a man to fight.

​When we see Jesus dying on the cross and then rising from the dead, we see Him as Satan’s victim, but that’s not what He was. Father John Riccardo describes Jesus as an “ambush predator.” This term may seem unusual, but it vividly captures Jesus’ role on the cross. Ambush predators appear vulnerable to lure their prey before striking. Jesus cloaked His divinity in our humanity, appearing weak and defeated on the cross only to deliver a decisive blow to sin and death from within.

Early church fathers like Saint Ephrem the Syrian echoed this sentiment. Saint Ephrem wrote, “Death slew Him by means of the body which He assumed, but that same body proved to be the weapon with which He conquered death. Concealed beneath the cloak of His manhood, His godhead engaged death in combat, but in slaying our Lord, death itself was slain.”

You see, Jesus was not Satan’s victim. Instead, Satan, death, and sin were Jesus’ victims. Satan wasn’t going to take on God directly, knowing he couldn’t win. So God disguised Himself in human flesh, lived meekly, and lured Satan into a trap. At that moment of His seeming defeat, Jesus achieved the ultimate victory.

We think of Jesus, and rightly so, as kind, loving, meek, and mild. And He is all those things and much more, and thank God for it. But He was also the ultimate warrior for us. Jesus’ victory on the cross was the ultimate rescue mission. From what seemed like total defeat, He achieved a grand victory, rescuing us from eternal damnation and spiritual death. Because of His sacrifice, we are destined not for death but for life. And not just for life, but for a grand life. Not for damnation and misery, but for eternal communion with Him, with God.

All who believe in Jesus and have faith in His sacrifice for their sins are freed. Those who do not believe are waiting for someone to tell them, in a way that they will understand, that Jesus has set them free. So, having been so gloriously rescued, what are we called to do?

Jesus defeated Satan, sin, and death, but He didn’t stop there. While He achieved victory over these forces, this world has not been fully conquered. He has invited us to join Him in that battle to save souls and conquer this world. Remember those three traps that Satan uses: not knowing or clearly articulating our purpose, not having a plan and some measure of progress, and not having the accountability and support we need from people very close to us in our lives? Through His resurrection and the formation of the early church by the Holy Spirit, Jesus showed us how to overcome the three traps Satan sets for us. He provided us with a model to escape these traps and live out our divine purpose.

Look at how the church was formed by the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Because of His victory, the apostles and members of the early church, filled with the Holy Spirit, were not afraid to be bold. They were persecuted, yes, chased down and hunted, but they were bold and wildly different from the world around them. They suddenly knew their purpose, so clearly articulated in the Great Commission from Jesus Himself: “Go out into all the world and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.

Jesus then sent His Holy Spirit not just to live among us but to live within us. Because the Holy Spirit lives within us, we can discover the purpose God created us for. When we discover that purpose, we can be led by the Spirit to come up with plans, and ways to track and measure our progress towards fulfilling that purpose. Even though our human plans may fail, the Holy Spirit is guiding us. When the Spirit shifts gears, we still get up every day and make progress in that new direction, following those plans towards a purpose we know and understand.

Finally, Jesus made us all brothers and sisters, infused with that same Spirit. Look at the early church: they changed the world together. There are very few stories of the apostles or other people in the church going out alone. They lived in community with each other, holding each other accountable. Paul went back to Jerusalem to settle an issue about circumcision, and Paul held Peter accountable at another time regarding eating with Gentiles. The whole of the Bible holds us accountable, but this unity among brothers and sisters in Christ, as one body within the Holy Spirit, did not exist before Christ’s death, resurrection, and the sending of the Spirit to us.

God has blessed us with the spiritual tools to be free from those traps and to fulfill the purpose God created us for. The victory has been won, the plan is created, and the question is: what are we going to do next?