Jesus Came to Destroy

In this talk, Ben Stuart walks through part of 1 John to show the true reason why Jesus came to earth, what He accomplished, and how we can join Him in triumph over the one who is out to destroy us.

Just like a brave warrior enters behind enemy lines to rescue those held captive, Christmas should come to mind. Christmas means destruction. The Son of God appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil. Yes, Jesus came to save, rescue, and heal, but that implies that you have been held captive and had a sickness that needed to be cut out.

What did Jesus come to destroy? 1 John 3:8 clearly states that He came to destroy the works of the devil. His name alone betrays who he really is. The accuser. The adversary. In John 12, Jesus called him the ruler of the world. Paul called him the god of this age in 2 Corinthians. In this letter, John calls him the evil one. Hebrews says he is the spirit at work in the sons of disobedience.

What is the devil’s work? 1 John 3:8 continues by calling it sin and saying the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Sin is lawlessness, according to verse 4. It’s not just a list of rules. God’s law is His revealed will for creation. God’s wisdom created the earth. All of wisdom’s ways are peace or shalom in Hebrew. Shalom is more than the absence of conflict; it’s the presence of flourishing. So when everything works as it’s designed to work, everyone wins. Satan came to upend everything, and he’s been doing it from the beginning. In Genesis 3, he deceives Adam and Eve into believing that to enjoy life, they must rebel against their Creator. When they rebelled, something in them broke. God promised that there would be a boy uniquely born of a woman who would crush the head of the evil one. That’s Jesus being spoken about back in Genesis.

How did Jesus destroy the works of the devil? Well, He appeared. The birth of Jesus Christ was a land invasion. This caused a threat to the powers that be by the arrival of this King. As soon as Jesus entered His ministry and was baptized, He entered the wilderness, where the devil attempted to tempt Him to stop doing what He came to do. Jesus refused. When Jesus returned to His hometown, He read a portion of Isaiah and declared that He came to preach. Yes, He came to care for the poor. But He’s really here to set captives free. In Luke 11, He compared Himself to being the strong one who comes in, takes over, and distributes His plunder: us. He’s here to defeat the one who holds you in bondage. Legions of demons screech when Jesus comes because they know what He came to do and how he has the power to do it.

Jesus didn’t come to destroy by perpetrating violence; he took the violence onto Himself. The greatest weapon Satan has against you is that you are guilty and deserving of death. Jesus paid our debt of sin through His death on the Cross and disarmed the enemy. He triumphed with a parade, with him following behind in tow, fully exposed. The captives would also walk in the parade with incense, so the smell would forever bring them back to being set free. What you once feared, you don’t need to worry anymore. 2 Corinthians 2:14 assures us that our King has been victorious, and He has manifested in us the aroma of His victory. Every time Jesus calls someone to be a Christian, the work of the devil is defeated in them. When you have been born of God, you are righteous because He is righteous. You don’t keep sinning because you abide in Him, and His seed abides in you. It’s like a father and child. The seed of the parent is I, the child, and it changes them constitutionally. Something of God is now in you and change you from the inside out.

It says that the one born of God will not keep on sinning in 1 John 3:6. Does this teach that we need to be in sinless perfection? No. The Greek verb is in the present tense, meaning it’s continuous, active, or ongoing. It means practicing sin. If you have been born of God, you don’t consistently, persistently, and unrepentantly indulge in that which your King bled out to destroy. You don’t revel in what your King hates. If you’re born of God, you’ll start looking like your Dad. It’s not perfection, it’s progress.

How do you participate in the destructive works?

You believe in the Son of God. John 1:12 says that those who received Jesus and believed in His name have received the right to become children of God.

We abide as 1 John 2:28 tells us. The one who set us free from sin will one day free us from its very presence. What do we do in the meantime as we wait for His return? We stay right here with Him.

We hope. Jesus, who came in humility, will one day return in triumph, and we will rise to meet Him. Though these are difficult days, the darkness does not win. Our King is coming back, so we have hope and purify ourselves as He is pure.