Spurgeon Saturday

To Destroy the Works of the Devil

I recently finished the manuscript for The Newborn King: 25 Devotions for Advent with C. H. Spurgeon, releasing next year for the Christmas season.

Here’s a a portion of an entry that ended up being cut. It’s good, but what took its place is even sweeter. I can’t wait to share the final book with y’all!

1 John 3:8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

“Ring out sweetly all the silver bells of earth, and all the golden harps of heaven, for God has purposed that every atom of the terrible work of the devil upon the earth shall be destroyed! Christ’s incarnation was a fatal blow to the works of Satan. Uprising from his divine retreat in the silences of eternity, he appeared in human form, and thereby scattered and utterly destroyed the works of darkness. Did God come down to men? Was he incarnate in the infant that slept in Bethlehem’s manger? Then the Almighty has not given up our nature to be the prey of sin. Despair not! If one is born on earth who is divine as well as human, then rejoice, O race of Adam! Recall the song, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’ (Luke 2:14).

For the Lord Jesus will so break the head of the old dragon that he shall never wear the crown again. It was in his death that Jesus chiefly overthrew Satan and destroyed his works. Marvel of marvels, the Judge stands where the criminal should have stood and is “numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12)! Behold, the wrath of God falls upon his Well-beloved; Jesus suffers that he may reconcile us to God, and heal the breach which sin had caused. The deed was done. Jesus has, by his unutterable beauties, removed the deformities of all who are in him. By his obedience unto death the law is vindicated, justice is honored, grace is glorified. Our Lord’s rising again, his ascension into glory, his sitting at the right hand of the Father, his coming again in the latter days—all these are parts of the manifestation of the Son of God by which the works of the devil shall be destroyed.”