As I have been making my way through O. Palmer Robertson's recent book, The Christ of the Consummation: A New Testament Biblical Theology (vol. 1), I came across something I had not fully considered about Christ's victory over Satan. In his section on Jesus' confrontation with the devil (pp. 35ff.), Robertson explains that Jesus' victory over the evil one surfaces at three periods of his Messianic ministry––at the beginning of his ministry when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, at the point of Peter's confession of Christ's messianic identity at Caesarea Philippi, and at at the close of his ministry in the garden and on the cross. While we often meditate on how Christ overcame Satan by his obedience to his Father in the wilderness and in his ultimate victory over the evil one on the cross, it is possible that we have not given adequate attention to the fact that Jesus was conquering the devil with every conscious act of obedience to the will of his Father. 

After his victory in the wilderness, Christ's victorious obedience is seen in his response to Satan when he was working through Simon Peter to keep Jesus from going to the cross. Robertson explains, 

"When Peter seeks to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross, the Lord immediately identifies the ultimate source of this devilish suggestion. His closest disciple cannot dissuade him from his commitment to complete the mission given by his heavenly Father." 

There is another conflict when Satan entered Judas so that he would betray the Lord. This happened the same night that Jesus entered the garden of Gethsemane. Though Scripture does not tell us that Satan was present in the garden, the garden is another critical moment in which that Jesus enters into conflict with the evil one. Robertson explains, 

"How, then, does Jesus conquer Satan? He overcomes Satan by submitting without reservation to the will of the Father. Rather than asserting his own will above the Father’s, as did the first Adam, this second Adam drinks to the dregs the cup the Father had given him. Even though it involves a genuine struggle of will, Jesus learns to greater and greater depths the full meaning of obedient submissiveness to the Father:

My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. (Matt. 26:39)

My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done. (Matt. 26:42)

The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11)

Jesus purposely dismisses Judas from the upper room to allow him to fulfill his treacherous task: 'That which you do, do quickly' (John 13:27). He could have easily exposed Judas to the other disciples, which would possibly have ended his intrigues. But instead, he releases him—yes, commissions him—to complete his act of betrayal. In the garden of his arrest, he explains that he could call to his Father, who would promptly put at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels (Matt. 26:53). But by submitting to the will of the Father, he triumphs over the devil."2

It is only as we take these three critical moments of conflict from the Savior's life together (i.e.,at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of Jesus' messianic ministry) that we come to understand the principle way that Jesus defeated the evil one. The victory lay in his conscious determination to render obedience to his Father in order to fulfill the eternal pact between he and his Father for the redemption of his people. By submitting himself sinlessly to the father's plan for redemption, the Son acted as the last Adam (Rom. 5:12-21) and true Israel of God (Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15), overcoming Satan in the only way that he could have been conquered. The evil one was constantly seeking to divert Christ from doing the will of his Father. Yet at each point in his life and ministry, Jesus resisted that temptation. This qualified him to strike the final, decisive blow to Satan when he hung on the cross. The Apostle Paul tells us that in that final moment, when Christ was nailed to the tree, "he disarmed principalities and power, making a public spectacle of them by triumphing over him" in his death. May we ever rejoice in the victorious obedience of the Son––who has conquered the one who conquered man! 

1. O. Palmer Robertson, Christ of the Consummation: A New Testament Biblical Theology, vol. I (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2022), 35.

2. O. Palmer Robertson, Christ of the Consummation: A New Testament Biblical Theology, vol. I (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2022), 36.