For anyone who believes God’s Word, the outcome of the battle between God and the Devil was never in doubt. Back in Genesis 3:15 God said to the serpent, “He (Christ, the promised Messiah) will crush your head, and you will bruise His heel.” The Old Testament is replete with Messianic prophecies of the coming Messiah–the Christ and details of His advent, so we wouldn’t miss Him when He came–details of His lineage, His birth, His ministry, His suffering and death, His resurrection and exaltation to the throne.
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
John 1:29-31
The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand
Finally, in the fullness of time, the arrival of Christ and His Kingdom was heralded by John the Baptizer, who proclaimed loudly and boldly and definitely: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:3) And when Jesus Himself approached, John publicly identified Him as the one he was telling about, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) And as John baptized (anointed) Jesus as the One, it was authenticated by the Father’s voice from heaven: “You are My beloved Son,” and the Holy Spirit affirmed it as well by descending on Him as a dove. (Luke 3:21-22)
After His baptism Jesus immediately engaged in battle with the Devil himself in the temptation in the wilderness. The devil went into that battle undefeated against all of mankind until then, but not any more.
The Devil Knew
Actually, the Devil knew Jesus’ true identity and mission long before, at the time of Jesus’ birth, when he heard the angelic proclamation to the shepherds that sent shivers down his spine (speaking figuratively, of course!), and the Devil enlisted King Herod to get rid of Him (convincing Herod that Jesus posed a threat to his earthly realm). The Book of Revelation, which speaks of things past as well as things present and things to come, describes it thusly (and, as usual, symbolically):
“A great sign was seen in the sky: a woman with the sun for her garment, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out in pain and agony to give birth.
“Another sign was seen in the sky: There was a large fiery dragon with seven heads and ten horns and with seven crowns of his heads. His tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was going to have the Child, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
“She gave birth to a son, a boy, Who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her Child was snatched away and brought to God and to His throne.”
Revelation 12:1-5
The Book of Revelation
Those five verses summarize, with great abbreviation and symbolism, the prehistoric rebellion of Satan and many angels with him, the Old Testament history of God working through Israel, the incarnation of Christ concluding with His ascension. (It assumes you’ve read and understand the whole of the Holy Bible that comes before it, and that you are able to fill in the blanks and interpret the symbolism. So if you haven’t and can’t, it’s probably not best for you to start by trying to interpret and expound on this last book.)
