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Ephesians 4:7-10
This is the gift of Christ: before He ascended, He descended into the lower parts of the earth (hell) and for three days He took upon Himself the punishment due to humanity for all our sins. For three days Satan dealt Him all the wrath of our sins, that He felt the punishment due to us. After three days, He was risen from the dead, defeating sin, Satan, and death once for all. The power of Satan was not enough to overcome the power of Christ Jesus which is the reason for the resurrection of Jesus from the grave—the power of God is more powerful than the power of the devil, sin, and eternal damnation which we refer to as hell.
This is the gift of Christ Jesus to humanity.
This is a promise of what Christ has done for us, and what He will do for us.
Jesus led captivity captive—Jesus took Satan, sin, and eternal damnation captive and defeated them once for all and through it all He gives gifts to humanity, being primarily salvation from Satan, sin, and eternal damnation. The Apostle Paul teaches us in Romans 6:5–11 (NKJV), “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If we will confess our sins and accept what Christ did on the cross in dying for us, taking upon Himself our sins, and paying the punishment due to us, He will forgive us and give us eternal life and salvation in Him, “that He might fill all things.”
Jesus has since ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us who will put and keep our faith in Him. We must trust in the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). Christ Jesus defeated sin, Satan, and death for us because of His own great love for us in that we are hopelessly lost in sin and destined to eternal damnation without His intervention to save us; we cannot save ourselves.
Jesus has made the offer to us for salvation from sin, Satan, and eternal damnation if we will open our hearts to Him and confess our need for Him. But we must humble ourselves before Him and ask. This is the hardest part for everyone–to humble ourselves and ask for help.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Jesus continues to instruct us in Matthew 7:7–8 pleading with us to, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Jesus does and will help us every day to overcome the trials and temptations that Satan will throw our way… if we will keep our faith in Him and our focus on Him.
Dear Lord,
Thank You for taking our sins upon Yourself and paying our debt to sin for us. We could never repay You for what You have done for us, but we can put away our old lives of living in the sinful nature and put on the new man in Christ by accepting Your gift to us—salvation in Christ Jesus. Thank You LORD, in Jesus name I pray, amen.