What was the work that Jesus destroyed.

What does it mean that in 1 John 3 it says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil?

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

Notice that it talks about the Son of God being manifest. This is speaking not of Jesus birth but of His resurrection. While Jesus was certainly the son of God when He walked the earth, Paul tells us in Romans 1:4 that He was manifest to be the son of God in the resurrection.

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: Romans 1:4

So what are the works of the devil and how were they destroyed in the resurrection of Jesus?

First, let’s see how Jesus defined works.

The Pharisees said to Jesus, Abraham is our father. And Jesus responded and said:

Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. John 8:39

What were the works of Abraham?

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Gensis 15:6

The work of Abraham was that he believed God. Jesus defined the works by what Abraham was believing in his heart.
So also, when a group asked Him, what must we do to do the works of God?

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:29

The works are what you are believing. So what did the devil believe?

We see just 4 verses later in 1 John 3:12 it says that Cain killed his brother because his works were evil.

The works of Cain that were evil are not the murder (that was the fruit) ... the works that were evil rather produced (the fruit) the hate, the jealousy, the murder. The works are the wisdom of the serpent that he was believing. The wisdom that by the fruit of his own hands, he could have life. In fact, this was so in his heart that he rejected every opportunity to change his mind; even when God provided (as he did for us) a sin offering for him.

The work(s) of the devil is the corrupt wisdom of death. It’s a belief system that says I can have life by my works; by what I can do, what I can get or become and what I can have. By the knowledge of good and evil, and in my own strength.

Paul asked the Galatians who were trying to obtain to God’s life through the works of the law this question:
This only would I ask you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith?

You see the Spirit is the spirit of life, so what I would ask you is, can you raise yourself up from the dead immortal in your own works, or own strength?

Jesus was baptized at the Jordan into the sin of the world. Even though Jesus had no sin of His own (He needed to have your sin, so you could see yourself in Him). Taking all the sin and death of the world into Himself, He hung on a cross, it says He was unrecognizable… a picture that sin mars the image of man. He refused to lift one finger to save Himself but trusted the Father’s promise to not leave His soul in Hades or allow Him to see corruption.

He was naked and unashamed, because He saw it was not by His strength or ability that He would be exalted only by the strength of the Father’s hand.

Being fully persuaded of this, He said into your hands Father, do I commit my life. And on the third day Jesus came from the grave, flesh and bone, immortal. No man had ever come out of the grave immortal (never to died again).

No less, A man who died with the sin of the entire world on Him, and then is exhalated and glorified with immortality and seated at the right hand of the Father. This makes foolish the corrupt wisdom of those who are perishing trying to give themselves life that can never raise them to life.

Death is swallowed up in immortality. The sting of sin and the sting of death are instantly swallowed up in the resurrection.

This has destroyed the works of the devil.

And when we can see that our life and our inheritance is preserved in Christ; it will swallowed up the death and corrupt in the world when it comes to speak a word to us that we lack life or any good thing.

The death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus have destroyed the work of the devil. The final manifestation of this will be in Jesus return to bring heaven to earth, in the new heaven and new earth, free from all sin and death and corruption. Maranatha.

How Jesus Saw God as Abba
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