Crushing Our Enemy

Day 215: Romans 16:10-27

“For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” - Romans‬ ‭16:19-20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We have to start today’s post with this quote from Jack Cottrell's commentary on Romans: “The power that wins this victory is God’s power; he is the one who actually crushes Satan. But the enemy is crushed under our feet, i.e., in our own experience. The word for crush (συντρίβω, syntribō) is very strong; it means shatter, smash, crush, leaving no doubt as to who is the winner in this battle."

Don’t you love the way that God includes us in the crushing of Satan? God doesn’t need us to defeat him. In reality, He’s the one who disarmed him by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The final book in the Bible also reveals that there will be a final smashing of Satan:  "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." - Revelation 20:10 NIV

Still, when we look around our world today, we seem to be “shattering” each other instead of our enemy, the Devil. This is something we have to start getting right for the sake of our witness and also our unity as believers.

God, flood us with your grace and peace. May we recognize who our enemy is (not each other) and how we will win the victory. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.