The Most Important Weapon
Early in the life of Christ, when the Roman soldiers slew all the infants they found in Bethlehem, Satan made an attempt to kill Jesus. Men in His hometown of Nazareth attempted to throw Christ off a cliff (Luke 4:29-30). Later a storm struck the Sea of Galilee when Christ was in a boat that became full of water yet never sank—another attempt by Satan to kill Christ (Mark 4:37-38). On another occasion men planned to stone Christ when He claimed to be the Son of God, but again He escaped (John 10:31-39). During the 42 months of Christ’s earthly ministry, we can see the invisible hand of the enemy guiding the subtle attacks against Christ. On one occasion—in the Garden of Gethsemane—Satan himself was present, but not even he had any influence or control over the situation.
In John 14:30, Jesus tells His disciples, “I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me]” (AMP).
Christ was identifying Satan as the prince of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). Jesus knew He was about to endure the most agonizing hours of His life. The sins of the world were being placed upon Him in the garden (2 Cor. 5:21), and the sinless Lamb of God was feeling the burden of the entire world upon Him. Prior to these three hours in the garden, Christ wanted His disciples to know that the enemy was coming, but what they were about to see was not Satan attacking Him. It was the plan of God—not Satan. The adversary was coming, but he had no hold on Christ, nothing in Him and no power over Him. This was one moment that Satan had no power over Christ, because the sin placed on Christ was not His own but the sins of others being placed upon Him.
Our greatest weapon is the power of righteousness, or being in right standing with God. Satan could not hold on to Christ and had no power over Him as Christ was walking free from sin (John 14:30). When we are free from walking in sin, we are also free from guilt and condemnation, which is one of Satan’s most powerful tools to stop our confidence in our relationship with God (1 John 3:20-21). If we abide in sin, the enemy holds on to us. But if we walk in obedience to God and abide in Christ, we wield the most powerful weapon in our daily spiritual arsenal.
