Take Up the Cross

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
— Romans 16:20

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
— Ephesians 4:8

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
— Isaiah 53:3-4

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
— Daniel 9:26

Satan’s Head Crushed, by Thomas Manton.

It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
— Genesis 3:15 c, d

Every private Christian is one of Christ’s soldiers, for we give up our faculties and powers as weapons: “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments”—or weapons—“of righteousness unto God” Rom 6:13. And the graces of the Spirit are called armor of light: “Let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” Rom 13:12. And we are bidden to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Eph 6:11-12. Ministers and those in a public station are leaders under Christ the General; by office and employment, they are engaged in this warfare against the kingdom of the devil. Therefore, the apostle biddeth Timothy to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” 2Ti 2:3; and the apostle says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” 2Co 10:4. They must set themselves against the devil and his kingdom.

Satan hath a tyrannical usurped power. So the devils are called “rulers of the darkness of this world” Eph 6:12, the blind, idolatrous, superstitious world; and Satan is called “the prince of this world” Joh 14:30 and “the god of this world” 2Co 4:4. God made him an executioner, but we make him a prince, a ruler, and a god. Now as a priest, Christ annuls Satan’s legal power by His death and the merit of His sacrifice; as a true king and head both of men and angels, Christ pulls down Satan as a usurper and delivers the poor captive souls out of his power; as a prophet, He revealeth Satan’s cheats and delusions.

In this conflict, Christ’s heel was wounded, bitten, or bruised by the serpent.

1. It is certain that Christ was bruised in the enterprise. This showeth how much we should value our salvation, since it so dearly cost the precious blood of the incarnate Son of God: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” 1Pe 1:18-19. He did not think His whole humiliation, from first to last, too much to overthrow the devil’s kingdom, nor any price too dear to redeem poor captive souls.

2. But how was He bruised by the serpent? On one hand, Christ’s sufferings were the certain effects of man’s sin, God’s hatred against sin, and His governing justice; for it is said, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him” Isa 53:10. Unless it had pleased the Lord to bruise Him, Satan could never have bruised Him. On the other hand, Christ’s sufferings were also the effects of the malice and rage of the devil and his instruments, who were now with the sword’s point and closing stroke with Christ, and doing the worst he could against Him. In Christ’s whole life, He endured many outward troubles from Satan’s instruments; for all His life long, He was a man of sorrows—wounded and bruised by Satan and his instruments: “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, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” Joh 8:44. But the closing stroke was at last; then did the serpent most eminently bruise His heel. When Judas contrived the plot, it is said, the devil entered him: “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve” Luk 22:3. When the high priest’s servants come to take Him, He telleth them, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness” Luk 22:53. The power of darkness at length did prevail so far as to cause His shameful death; this was their day.

3. It was only His heel that was bruised. It could go no further; for though His bodily life was taken away, yet His head and mediatory power was not touched: “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” Act 2:36. Again, His bodily life was taken away but for a while. God would not leave His soul in the grave: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” Psa 16:10. The counsel and purpose of God concerning man’s redemption would then have been wholly frustrated: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” 1Co 15:17. Once more, though Christ was bruised, yet He was not conquered. When the Jews and Roman soldiers were spoiling Him, and parting His garments, then He was spoiling principalities and powers; and when Satan and his instruments were triumphing over the Son of God, then was He triumphing over all the devils in hell, for by death He destroyed him that had the power of death. This was a necessary means of conquest; and Christ must overcome Satan by suffering Himself to be overcome visibly by him. The devil doth not conquer Christ by death, but Christ doth conquer him. And still all the temptations of the devil are but the wounding of the heel; the loss is not great to Christ or His members: as Dan is compared to “a serpent by the way, or an adder in the path, that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” Gen 49:17. Such is the craft of Satan; he doth not usually bring temptations before our reason, but they enter in at the backdoor of sensual appetite; but though he bites the heel, the life of grace is secured. Satan prevailed so far against Christ that his wicked instruments brought Him to the cross, pursued Him to the death there. But, “Though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God” 2Co 13:4, or, as it is in “Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” 1Pe 3:18. So for Christians, he may wound and afflict us in diverse ways in our outward interests, but the inner man is safe: “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” 2Co 4:16. Nay, we may be bruised in the heel by divers temptations and slips into sin; yet the vitals of grace are not hurt, there is no total extinction of our love to God.

I should come now to the fourth branch, that though Christ was bruised in the conflict, yet it endeth in Satan’s total overthrow. His heel was bruised, but Satan’s head was crushed. But of that anon.

In the meantime, by way of use, let me press you cheerfully to remember and celebrate this victory of Christ. The duty we are engaging in is an eucharist, and we come to rejoice in God our Savior. Let me bespeak you, in the psalmist’s words, “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory” Psa 98:1; or “The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly” Psa 118:15-16; “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can show forth all his praise?” Psa 106:2.

1 The conqueror is the seed of the woman—the Son of God incarnate. Oh! Let us bless God for so great a mercy: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way” Luk 1:68-76. What! Shall the Son of God come from heaven to subdue the kingdom of Satan and to deliver men from this bondage, and shall we be no more affected with it?

2 The manner of overcoming: It is by suffering a shameful, painful, and accursed death. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” Rev 1:5-6. Again, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” Rev 5:12; and, “For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” Rev 5:9, that by a death He did not deserve, He should destroy the death we deserve.

3 Who is overcome? The devil. “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” Rev 12:10. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” Rev 12:11. “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” Rev 12:12. O Christians! What will raise your hearts in thanksgiving to God, if not these three arguments that I have plainly mentioned to you? For the matter needeth no descants. The incarnation of the Son of God, Who came as the seed of the woman, that He might free mankind from the power the devil had over them by sin. Then the merit and satisfaction of our Savior, for He was bruised in His heel. And then the dissolution of Satan’s power and the freeing of mankind out of his hands, either as a tempter or a tormentor.

4 The effects of Christ’s victory when it is applied to us. I shall mention three:

1 Our conversion to God and the destruction of sin in our hearts, or our actual deliverance from Satan: “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils” Luk 11:21-22, This was our condition: all was in a sinful quiet and peace. When wind and tide go together, no wonder if there is calm. Satan’s suggestions and our corruptions suited the one with the other. But blessed be God that this carnal security is disturbed, that the kingdom of God is come upon us; that Christ, by a sacred rescue, hath dispossessed Satan and destroyed sin. Oh! Let us give thanks “unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” Col 1:12-13.

2 Remission of sins: “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” Act 26:18. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” Col 1:13-14. Christ’s subjects have the privileges of His kingdom. Now, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases” Psa 103:1-3.

3 Our own personal victory over Satan’s temptations. In part now: We renew that covenant now, wherein we engaged to fight against Satan: “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one” 1Jo 2:14. Fully hereafter: “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” Rom 16:20—the God of peace, as pacified in Christ. Now this is matter of thanksgiving: “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1Co 15:57—that Christ will take us along with Him in His triumphant chariot, that He will strengthen our weak faith and faint hope, and that we may conquer the tempter and accuser.

Though Christ’s heel was bruised in the conflict, yet it endeth in Satan’s final overthrow; for His head was crushed, which signifieth the subversion of his power and kingdom.

Soldiers of Christ, be aware that you are highly advanced in God’s creation, that you occupy an important station, that you have an arduous work allotted to you, and that you have neither time nor talent to throw away. For you are enlisted under the banner of Christ; you have entered the armies of the Most High and have taken the oath of allegiance to the King of Sion; and you have bound yourselves by an oath to fight the good fight of faith against sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh. What formidable enemies are these! You must encounter all the powers of hell, and their name is Legion. You must fight them now, for you have put on the armor and taken the field to fight all the enemies of God and man. When you survey the enemies’ camp and see their strength, their number, their stratagems, and inveterate malice, and are then made to feel your own weakness and nothingness, you tremble and say, “How shall I go against these mighty hosts! Yet I must conquer them all or die an eternal death.” O soldiers of Christ! Banish all your guilty fears. There is, after all, far more for you than against you. You are on the Lord’s side, Who fighteth for you. He is your refuge and strength, your sun and shield. He is with you in the field to teach your hands to war and to cover your head in the day of battle and hath promised you the victory.
— Thomas Jones

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