At the cross Satan, the antichrist, “that old serpent ... which deceiveth the whole world,” was totally defeated, judged, and condemned. Here is a truth that all Christians must clearly see and understand. The great controversy which began in heaven between Lucifer and Christ (Rev. 12:7, 8) met its determining end at the cross; for here Satan, the great deceiver, was fully exposed so that the whole universe saw him as he really was, a liar and a murderer. It is only as we too see Satan in the light of the cross that we will know him as he really is.

Following this, Satan unlawfully took dominion of this earth from Adam and Eve and using fallen man as his slave and tool, developed this world into a kingdom of his very own based on the principle of self-love. We saw all this in our study of “The Sin Problem,” Unit No. 1.

For over four thousand years after the fall of Adam, Satan kept secret in his mind that inner desire he cherished in heaven, to murder the Son of God. But one silent night on the hills of Bethlehem, while shepherds were watching their flocks, Satan and his angels heard some strange singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” God who so loved the world had sent His only beloved Son to be the Saviour of fallen humanity (Jn. 3:16).

This news came to Satan as a wonderful opportunity to satisfy his long cherished desire. Now he could fulfill that which he wanted to do in heaven—murder the Son of God. After all, the whole world was under his control (1 Jn. 5:19); what better opportunity could have fallen into his wicked hands than this? Here in his world, Christ, his bitter enemy, had risked His life to come as a helpless babe to redeem that which he (Satan) had unlawfully taken. What could he do to this hated Foe who had defeated him in heaven and cast him out of his heavenly home?

Satan lost no time. Using Herod the Great as his agent, orders were sent to kill every male child under two years old in Bethlehem, in an attempt to kill Jesus (Mat. 2:1-16). This scheme, however, failed—Christ’s hour had not yet come (Jn. 7:30; 8:20). Although the Bible is almost silent about the childhood and early manhood years of Christ, undoubtedly many attempts must have been made by Satan to fulfill his evil desire, which will be disclosed in the judgment.

• Luke 4: 9-11. Satan himself takes Jesus to the top of the temple tower and says, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence....” What could be the motive behind such a suggestion but a desire to kill Christ?

• John 10:31. The Jews, no doubt under the control of the evil one, “took up stones again to stone him.” The word again indicates that this was not the first time the Jews were prompted by the devil to kill Christ.

But all attempts on the life of Christ failed because of one reason: “for His hour was not yet come.” God was protecting His Son and this made it impossible for Satan to fulfill his desire.

But now comes Gethsemane, and Jesus is arrested by a devil-controlled mob. And He responds, “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me, but this is your hour, and the power of darkness [Satan]” (Lk. 22:53). The moment had arrived in the history of the universe when Satan must be exposed. All heaven and earth must see him for what he is. Jesus said to the Jews, “Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth” (Jn. 8:44). Whom did he (the devil) murder in the beginning? Physically no one, but in his heart (mind) he lusted or desired to murder the Son of God when in heaven, as Lucifer, iniquity entered his mind and he wanted the place of God. (Please note: murder to God does not have to be an act; it begins, like all sin, with a cherished desire; Matt. 5:21-28).

At the cross Satan was given full control of Christ, to do with Him as he pleased. Thus only could that evil hidden desire, cherished for so long, come out into the open. Now the whole universe would understand what sin really is and what it will end up doing, if given the chance. Sin is hatred against God; sin is rebelling against Him and His law of love, which if allowed to have its own way will end up murdering God. This is what the cross of Christ exposed about sin and the devil, the originator of sin.

In John 15:18 Jesus declared: “If the world hate you [His disciples], ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” Why should the world hate Christ who went about doing good? Because “the whole world lieth in the wicked one” (1 Jn. 5:19), and the wicked one, who is Satan, hates Christ. It is therefore not surprising that the Jews, under the control of the devil, cried out with one accord, “Away with him, away with him” (Jn. 19:6, 15). At the cross Satan revealed his hatred for God.

With Christ in his control, there was only one direction Satan could go with Him—put Him to public shame, inflict untold suffering upon Him, and finally murder Him. Thus only could the inner desire of the devil be satisfied. Using the world as his tool, all three were heaped upon Christ at the cross—shame, suffering, and death. Note the following texts:

• Hebrews 6:6. At the cross Satan’s world crucified “to themselves the Son of God, . . . and put him to an open shame.”

• Hebrews 12:2. Because He loved us Christ “endured the cross, despising the shame” (see also Philippians 2:8).

Dying on a Roman cross, besides being a most shameful death, reserved only for the worst criminals and runaway slaves (Isa. 53:12), was also a most painful form of death. Roman crucifixion was preceded by flogging which caused much suffering. This was followed by the criminal forced to drag his cross to the place of death; and finally the crucifixion itself produced untold suffering beyond description. Yet Christ endured all this to fulfill the will of God (Lk. 24:26, 46; Acts 3:18; 1 Pet. 2:21).

It is of utmost importance that we realize that the shame and suffering inflicted upon Christ at His crucifixion by cruel men did not come from God, but was prompted by the devil. God, of course, allowed it so that the true character of Satan might be exposed, but He was not responsible for it. We must therefore never equate the physical suffering and shame Christ endured on the cross as the supreme sacrifice that saves us. We must never confuse what Satan did to Christ on the cross with what God did to His Son. God and Satan were not partners at the cross.

Our next section will deal with what God did to His Son on the cross, and that which constitutes the supreme sacrifice which saves us. But the devil, who was solely responsible for the physical suffering of Christ, has somehow deceived the Christian church into believing that the physical suffering on the cross instituted the supreme sacrifice of Christ which has contributed towards our salvation. No! For if we believe so, then the devil has actually helped towards our salvation and this can never be so in the light of the great controversy.

So then, at the cross of Christ the true character of Satan was revealed and this forever has brought his downfall in the eyes of God’s angels and the unfallen worlds. But not only to them, the cross must also unveil the true character of Satan to us; for as Christians we are Christ’s representatives on earth, and therefore “the offence of the cross” which Christ endured for our sake must also become ours (Gal. 5:11).

As Christians we have said goodbye to our position in the world (Jn. 15:19; 17:16) and have been crucified to it (Gal. 6:14), and have become one with Christ. Therefore, we have become enemies of Satan and his world. Consequently, that which Satan, working through the world, did to Christ on the cross he will do to us. This is "the offence of the cross” which all true believers must endure.

The fact that the world does not hate us or put us to shame today is simply because we are so carnal in behavior that the world does not see Christ in us. But let Christ through the power of the gospel be revealed in our lives, and immediately the world will turn against us. It will hate us (see Jn. 7:7; 17:14; 1 Jn. 3:13), put us to shame (Acts 5:41), and persecute us (see Jn. 16:33; Rom. 8:17, 18; 2 Tim. 3:12).

Let us therefore not be deceived when the world is good to us and speaks well of us. Said Jesus, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak will of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Lk. 6:26).

At the cross, the world under Satan had to make a choice between Christ (in whom Pilate the judge could find no fault), and Barabbas (the worst criminal that could be found in the jail). The world without hesitation chose to release Barabbas, for he was one of their own, and to crucify Christ. The world today is still under Satan, and this is the choice it will make if it has to choose between one of its own and the most insignificant but genuine believer. This, dear believer, is the cost of discipleship.

Again, at the time of the cross, the world was divided within itself. There were the Jews who were against the Romans, and the Pharisees against the Sadducees. But Christ was their common enemy and against Him they were united. So also today the world is divided into many factions, but let the character of Christ be reproduced in the church and the world will unite against the saints. This will be the time of great tribulation that will come at the end of time when the church will finally demonstrate the power of the gospel.

At the cross Satan and Christ met again and this time Satan was confident of victory; but his victory was turned into defeat and from this defeat Satan will never recover. Praise the Lord for such a Saviour!

2. The Cross of Christ and the Atonement

In the last section we saw what Satan did to Christ on the cross—put Him to open shame, inflicted untold suffering on Him, and finally placed Him on the cross to die a terrible death. God allowed all this to happen to His only beloved Son, and Christ in turn, willingly submitted to this cruel treatment, so that Satan would be fully and completely exposed before the eyes of the universe.

But far more than this happened at the cross. For God took this opportunity of what humanly speaking looked like defeat for Him, and made it a means by which the whole fallen human race could be saved. In other words, He turned defeat into victory. “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called [saved], both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:23-25).

In this section of our study of the cross we will look beyond the physical suffering of Christ, inflicted upon Him by cruel men and which played no part in the atonement, to the real suffering of Christ, which constitutes the supreme sacrifice and which is the means by which sinful men are reconciled to a holy and righteous God.

We must realize that not only was Satan’s character fully revealed at the cross, but much more, God’s character was also fully revealed. And the just demands of the law were also fully met at the cross. The apostle John declared: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14) and Paul wrote to the Roman Christians: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24-26).

Again we read: “[Christ] was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 3:24, 25; 4:25). It was at the cross that the glory of God (His self-sacrificing love, see Desire of Ages, p. 20) was fully displayed, and we too, like the disciples, must behold His glory if we are to grow in the fulness of Him. “But we all, with open face beholding as in the glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).Welcome To  Gospel Studies Pr Jack Sequeira
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