One of the clearest
evidences of a universal scope to Jesus’ death is the downfall of Satan’s
kingdom. For if Jesus’ death only relates to the elect, why does Satan fall
down to the earth? How does Jesus destroy the works of the devil, if the cross
only relates to some of Adam’s race?
The only answer a Calvinist
can give is to amputate God’s will to save those who ultimately perish. They
must reason that since God never intended to save all those outside of the
elect the continuance of Satan’s kingdom is of no consequence.
To hold such a view
indicates gross ignorance about the necessity that God’s honor and integrity
are at stake, if Satan is not dethroned from over what God has created. For if
Satan is still possessed of any measure of authority or dominion over persons,
so that he still owns even some of Adam’s posterity, then he has undermined God
as Creator and has obstructed God’s due glory over what He has created.
Btu how can God cut off
Satan without destroying Adam? How can God judge Satan without Satan still
possessing a usurped rule over Adam?
The key element in Jesus’
victory over the devil in His own resurrection, which necessarily results in
the General Resurrection.
In addition to Hebrews 2:14,
here are some other texts that relate to Jesus’ victory over Satan and his
ultimate downfall.
[The author quotes Gen 3:15;
John 12:31; Rom 16:20; Eph 6:12; Col 2:15; Rev 12:9-11; 20:2,3; 20:7-10]
These verses all imply that
Satan is possessed of an authority in opposition to God and to the harm of
humanity.
How could Satan have such an
authority as he is only a created being and no authority as he is only a
created being and no authority can exist except that which is established by
God?
Just as God has chosen to
deal with humanity He has dealt with the angelic beings. He gives power and the
means to accomplish whatsoever we desire as image bearers of God and then He
holds us to account for our actions.
Satan used his God-given
powers to serve his own interests, which resulted in his irreversible
corruption, because he sinned against the unreserved presence of God, without
any deception.
To avoid his punishment and
out of hatred for God and His image, Satan strategized the fall of Adam and his
posterity. The necessary outcome was the bestowing upon Satan the right of
possession, as now Adam and his posterity had become corrupted after the image
of Satan. Mankind did not cease to be an image bearer of God, for through he
willfully placed himself under Satan’s authority in disobeying God, God has not
annulled man’s continued role as an image bearer of God.
All this work of Satan is
destroyed by the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus annuls Satan’s work over the
entirety of Adam’s fallen posterity, restoring all humanity under God’s direct
rule through a perfectly obedient Man, Who has made a perfect sacrifice of atonement,
and has made human life permanent by means of the resurrection.
The first Adam ruled over
what God had created, as demonstrated by God having him name what was made.
Then Satan because the ruler of the same, when Adam followed him in
disobedience, bringing all that was entrusted to Adam under a curse. Then Jesus
becomes the heir and ruler of all things, demonstrated ultimately in every knee
bowing to Him and in His obtaining the headship over everything, to the end
that the Father is glorified.
The universal work of Christ
is about restoring the creation and all of humanity under a new Adam,
perfecting God’s rule through a Man to His glory. As salvation is about being
conformed into the image of the Son of God all those who continue in the image
of Satan are cast in the hell that was created for the devil and his angels.
Now judgment can fall upon
Satan whenever God desires, without any violence done to the integrity of HIs
purpose to create and to glorify Himself. Satan has fallen to the earth because
Christ has secured God’s honor and has perfected a way of salvation according
to HIs decree that salvation is to be by faith in Jesus.
Death will be abolished that
is not on God’s terms, while that death, which is on God’s terms, will not be
abolished.
Christ fully reverses what
Satan had constructed through the first death. He does this firstly, to regain
the rule of God through humanity that was lost when Adam obeyed Satan and
secondly, so that men can be judged in the body for their sins without the
punishment being incomplete due to the destruction of the body by fire.
God has fully undermined
Satan through the cross so that he no longer has a rule over this world. God
has also provided the way of salvation by faith for whoever believes, so that
Satan cannot hinder any.
God, having reconciled the
world to Himself through Christ, has affected a universal release from Satan’s
dominion. The world is not at all like it was prior to the cross. For Satan is
seen falling from heaven, all things in heaven and on earth are summed up in
Christ, and the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence as every man is forcing his
way into it. (Steven L. Hitchcock, Recanting Calvinism: For A Dynamic Gospel
[Xulon Press, 2011], 382-86)
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