Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
Spoken alone with the eleven after Judas had left, Jesus said He would soon speak little more with them because the ruler of this world was coming against Him. That ruler is Satan, the prince of evil and darkness who claims this fallen world as his own because he caused its fall. Having nothing in Him means Satan had no claim, hold, power or ground for triumph in Jesus, because there was nothing in Him that belonged to evil and He was wholly free from sin. Though the enemy found no thought, feeling, desire or weakness to take advantage of, Jesus faced what was coming in obedience to the Father's command, so the world might know that He loves the Father. That sinless obedience made His death the triumph that judged and cast out the prince of this world, and it stands as the pattern and power by which those united to Him by faith can also resist temptation and overcome as He overcame.
Setting and Wording
The saying was given in the upper chamber alone with the eleven after Judas had left, before leading them out through the city to the Mount of Olives. It was spoken as the last steps of humiliation were to be taken and the deepest sorrow was closing about Him, with a cruel death just before Him at the hour of the power of darkness. He was about to tell of His approaching separation while keeping the great object of His mission before Him and finding joy that His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. These were words of courage and hope near the close of earthly ministry, meant to comfort the followers.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you means Jesus would soon stop speaking at length with His disciples because the ruler of this world was coming against Him. His time for speaking with them was nearly over because that ruler was coming to confront Him.
The prince of this world is Satan, the prince of evil and darkness. He claims all the power of this fallen planet as his possession because he caused humanity's fall, and he claimed possession and tried to make Christ acknowledge his supremacy. His coming in human form renewed the conflict with Christ in a determined effort to overcome Him, whose claim to rule the kingdoms of the world could not stand unless he gained victory over Christ. He came to measure strength with Christ and found One able to resist all his temptations.
The verse is part of Christ's closing talk before He leaves, joined to His teaching that love keeps His sayings which are the Father's. It belongs with the promise that the Father will send the Holy Ghost in His name to teach all things and bring His words to remembrance, and with the gift of His peace unlike the world's to keep hearts untroubled and unafraid. It stands together with His going away and coming again and going to the greater Father for which those who love Him will rejoice, and His foretelling these things beforehand so they will believe when they happen, and it is to be impressed upon minds. It belongs also to His explanation that the Father and the Son are working in partnership.
John 14-17 was spoken knowing every phase of experience, conflict, manifold affliction, and great temptation to lose faith His church would face through unconverted believers, hatred, trial, and severe trying of faith and courage. He mingled dark warnings with bright hopeful lines such as the coming Comforter. It was spoken not from thought for Himself despite the terrible ordeal awaiting Him but to comfort, console, encourage, prepare and strengthen the disciples for their future work and trials. That instruction taught that their ministry must depend on divine power and be built on Christ and helped them remember His love and understand His purposes. In words so simple even children may understand it brings strength, assurance and courage to stand fast in the most trying hour as long as time lasts, is of highest value for every soul consecrating life to God's service, and can be understood with new enlightenment when the mind is reshaped by the Spirit of God.
Christ Without Sin
To have nothing in him means the ruler had no claim, no hold, no power, no foothold, no advantage, no ground for triumph, and no means to condemn, to gain control, or to serve purposes of destruction in Jesus. This was because there was nothing in Him that belonged to evil, and He was wholly free from sin and disloyalty to God, nor did He place Himself where the tempter could gain an advantage. There was nothing in His life that Satan could take advantage of, for not one thought or feeling yielded to temptation.
He did not consent to sin or yield even in thought, and no sinful or cherished desire or point of weakness gave temptation power over Him. He had no evil propensity, gave no response to temptation, never stepped onto Satan's ground, and there was nothing in Him that answered to Satan's suggestions, deception, evil character, or advances. The enemy could find no place in His heart to plant evil, because His life was hidden in God. He kept His Father's commandments and remained wholly loyal to God's law and will.
He never acted contrary to His Father's will or turned from God's way, and could say unchallenged that He always does the things that please the Father, sustained in conflict by trust in His Father's help. Through childhood, youth, and manhood He lived the law of God under the same temptations that always afflict humanity, tempted in all points as humans are. He endured every test and provocation it is possible for man to bear without yielding, without passion or retaliation in word, spirit, or action, and without flaw or guile.
Though His holy nature felt contact with evil as deeply painful, and He was brought into continual painful contact with the enmity, depravity and impurity Satan had brought in, suffering under temptation in proportion to the perfection of His holiness, He remained sinless and uncontaminated while in the world though not of the world, ascending as pure as when He came from the Father. Though jealous eyes searched Him, He had no envy, worldly ambition, pride, or selfishness but was the Holy One of God. With lips free from all guile, hating sin alone yet loving the sinner, His character by contrast exposed evil.
For three years His enemies followed Him trying to find some stain, yet even demons were forced to confess His holiness. Judas declared Him innocent blood and Pilate declared he found no fault in Him, and before angels, men, and demons His character was spotless and untainted, yet though spotless and blameless He was delivered to be crucified. When the prince came he found nothing in Christ, who remained holy, undefiled, pure, and without guile while bearing the sins of the whole world as the spotless Lamb who was both priest and sacrifice, and for this very reason the world did not know Him.
Obedience Unto Sacrifice
Though the ruler had nothing in him, Jesus meets what is coming in obedience to the Father and does as the Father commanded, so that the world may know that he loves the Father. His obedience to the Father's commandment is the showing forth of that love, making it known to the world, for he had no part in the prince's evil but was wholly obedient even as his hour of death drew near. His time for speaking at length with his disciples is nearly over because the ruler is coming against him, yet the ruler has no claim, hold, power rooted in sin, or anything belonging to evil in him. He nevertheless faces what is coming and acts in obedience, and his approaching death in carrying out the Father's command would display that love before the world.
The coming is Satan's final, last attempt to overcome Christ at the close of his earthly life. It comes at the close of a lifelong warfare in which Satan and all his agencies had assailed him with every conceivable temptation, yet found nothing in him and failed to lead him into sin. It is Satan's determined effort to overthrow him after his victory over man in spoiling soul, body, and spirit, but he could find nothing in him to use against him. Christ rested on God's promised word and foresaw that his death cry of completion would bring triumph in heaven, judgment and casting out of the prince of this world, the sounding of the knell of his empire, and the proclaiming of his victory throughout the universe, viewing the work of redemption as completed and representing the great final deliverance as if present though death still lay ahead.
Christ began the work of redemption just where the ruin began, upon the point of appetite where Adam failed. That is the point by which Satan had overcome a large part of the human race and claimed control of this fallen planet and all the power of it as his possession. Satan as the prince of darkness came to measure strength with Christ and found one able to resist all his temptations, with no claim or foothold, no point of weakness answering to temptation, and no ground in his life that Satan could take advantage of or where Satan held power over him. He resisted where Adam had failed, including temptation through appetite, so that Satan could bruise his heel but could not touch his head, and left the battle a conquered foe, defeated and victorious over by Christ.
He could have mastered Satan by a word, but he remained to meet fierce temptation and the test Adam failed, doing as the Father commanded, as a spectacle to unfallen worlds, angels, and men. He endured self-sacrifice by cherishing self-command, meeting every advance of Satan's hosts with the declaration that Satan would find nothing in him to appropriate to his service and that he would not fail or be discouraged, while the hosts of heaven stood at his command as his rear guard. Temptation could not draw him into sin or turn him from God's way, for through childhood, youth, and manhood he endured every test and provocation it is possible for man to bear without yielding, without passion or retaliation in word, spirit, or action, and without flaw or guile. When Satan dared him to throw himself from the temple, Christ answered with Scripture, and Satan could gain nothing by the temptation.
No other being except the one offering his life as a sinless, spotless, living sacrifice for a sinful race, for the honor and glory of God, could make this claim. This sinlessness makes him the Bright and Morning Star, the light and life of the world, exhibiting God's love for fallen man and his own perfect love for the Father. As the Second Adam he triumphed over the conqueror of the first Adam, so that his sinless life justifies, his death redeems, and his resurrection raises humanity. Moved by pity for fallen humanity he accepted humiliation and poverty and identified himself with human weakness to redeem people, and through firm, humble obedience showed that humanity could overcome Adam's failure and regain lost Eden. Though the prince of this world appeared to gain the advantage over him, he still carried out the Father's plan, enduring every test and provocation possible for humanity without yielding, retaliating, or departing from the Father's command.
Triumph Over Prince
Though death still lay ahead, the words were spoken just before the crucifixion at the hour of the power of darkness, when the last steps of humiliation were to be taken and the deepest sorrow was closing about Him. The prince of this world was coming against Him at the close of a lifelong warfare in which Satan and all his agencies had assailed Him with every conceivable temptation, yet had failed to lead Him into sin. He rested on God's promised word and gave Satan no advantage, because the evil one had no foothold of sin or self in Him. Even so He spoke in anticipation of triumph, with prophetic eye on His last great conflict, viewing the work of redemption as completed and representing the great final deliverance as if present, that the prince of the world is judged and cast out and man's salvation is made sure.
He foresaw that His death cry of completion would bring triumph in heaven and judgment on the prince of this world. That judgment would mean his casting out and the sounding of the knell of Satan's empire and the end of his rule. When He declared His work finished, heaven would triumph and His name would be heralded from world to world. His victory would then be proclaimed throughout the universe.
Satan as accuser sought to overthrow Christ with determined effort after his victory over man in spoiling soul, body, and spirit, assaulting Him with all his accusing power and trying to find something in Him that he could use against Him. He could find nothing in Him to condemn, for Christ was pure, holy, undefiled, spotless and untainted by sin and without fault. Christ was therefore conqueror over Satan's determined effort to overthrow Him. For this very reason the world did not know Him. He began the work of redemption just where the ruin began, upon the point of appetite.
Victory for Believers
Christ's victory is the pattern and assurance that people can also come off victors in conflict with Satan and share His life of uninterrupted victories, overcoming as He overcame and preparing the way for them. Satan as prince of darkness claimed all the power of this fallen planet as his possession and came to measure strength with Christ, finding One able to resist all his temptations, including temptation through appetite where Adam failed, so that he could bruise Christ's heel but could not touch His head and left the battle a conquered foe. Having nothing in Christ means there was nothing in His life that Satan could take advantage of, no claim or foothold, no ground where Satan held power over Him, no least advantage or ground for triumph or for claiming that he had prevailed. Temptation need not lead to sin, for falling into temptation need not mean falling under temptation, and Jesus helps those who look to God for support and strength in every emergency so that the trying of faith works patience rather than discouragement and unbelief. Victory requires effort and cooperation and doing their part in trusting God to keep them from yielding, as human effort cooperates with divine power uniting with it to bring victory.
Those united to Him by faith may resist sin through the power of God's Word and share in His divine nature. Christ did not consent to sin or yield even in thought, and nothing in Him answered to Satan's deception and temptations. His humanity was united with divinity and strengthened by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He overcame Satan by relying on God's Word and trust in His Father's help which sustained Him in the conflict. Believers therefore need not remain under sin's dominion but through the Holy Spirit, the Word, and Christ's divine power can have sin's dominion broken, resist temptation, escape sin's dominion, and grow toward perfection of character as God directs faith to rely on Christ's power.
Those who stand through the time of trouble must seek this freedom from sin in this life, separating from sin through faith in Christ's atoning blood and joining their weakness to His strength as God shapes their characters to His likeness and conforms them to His character. Satan could find no sin in Christ to use as a foothold or to gain victory over Him, for Christ kept His Father's commandments and did not yield to temptation even in thought, and no sinful desire gave temptation power over Him. Those who are to stand must likewise be found perfect in Christ while He makes atonement for them, with no cherished sinful desire or foothold through which temptation can gain power or enable Satan to overcome them.
His followers face the same foe and must look to Christ, resist, pray, and struggle as He did in order to overcome. Christ knew the prince of darkness would use his power to paralyze the disciples' senses during the crisis ahead, and their failure to watch and pray left them without the strength they needed so Peter was left to rely on his own weakness and deny Jesus. In contrast to Christ in whom not one thought or feeling yielded to temptation, self-conceit can give Satan a foothold in a person and appeal to sin. Though Christ lived for years in a sinful world and was tempted in every way as humans are, He remained sinless and uncontaminated, ascending as pure as when He came from the Father, and His combined humanity and divinity provides for people to become partakers of the divine nature and develop a character like His, fit for heaven.
The instruction calls for wholehearted service rather than a divided, half-and-half commitment, with parents and children giving themselves fully to the Lord who accepts them. It shows God's love for the whole world and that when people draw near to God He draws near to them so every step toward Jesus is met by His advance. It calls believers to exercise faith in the promises of God and to express cheerfulness and gratitude. Practiced unity and love strengthens them against the enemy's attacks, and lived out it cures dissension and produces unity with one another and with Christ and love that withstands Satan's assaults, giving strength instead of weakness to stand the test in the shaking time. Since Christ Himself faced opposition, His followers should expect opposition as they obey God and, like the parallel of Cain using violence against his righteous brother, meet it with meekness and kindness rather than retaliation, laboring in self-denying effort to bring man back to harmony with the divine plan and bearing reproach cheerfully for His sake without complaining of hardships or oppressing one another though purchased by His blood.
The verse is connected with the danger of Satan's temptations making the world all-absorbing, when those temptations prevail so love for God is driven from the heart and love for the world takes its place. God's power, working with human effort and keeping heaven in view, can dislodge that worldly love.
Prince Opposing World
The prince of this world is the prince of evil, whose power stands opposed to Christ yet finds nothing in Him to claim. Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and for that reason His servants have no lasting home or treasure here. They are to expect conflict and hardship in this world, and they are shielded from the prince of evil's cruel power only because Jesus reigns.
That prince is not distant but an active enemy, working through unseen agencies against the faith of believers. As men and women reject God's truth, he gains increasing control over them. He then uses spiritualism with signs and wonders to oppose Christ and His work. His power operates through organized evil, temptation, and rebellion against God at a time when human laws and traditions are put in place of God's law and governments uphold practices that destroy both body and soul.
He claims earthly dominion, but his power leads people away from obedience to God. His rule is exercised by turning people against God's Sabbath and thereby bringing the world under his control. He works through the man of sin and through human authorities to promote a false sabbath in place of the seventh day. By that means he seeks to make keeping the Sabbath appear disloyal, to draw people into breaking God's law, and to bring God's law into contempt.
Spoken alone with the eleven after Judas had left, Jesus said He would soon speak little more with them because the ruler of this world was coming against Him. That ruler is Satan, the prince of evil and darkness who claims this fallen world as his own because he caused its fall. Having nothing in Him means Satan had no claim, hold, power or ground for triumph in Jesus, because there was nothing in Him that belonged to evil and He was wholly free from sin. Though the enemy found no thought, feeling, desire or weakness to take advantage of, Jesus faced what was coming in obedience to the Father's command, so the world might know that He loves the Father. That sinless obedience made His death the triumph that judged and cast out the prince of this world, and it stands as the pattern and power by which those united to Him by faith can also resist temptation and overcome as He overcame.
Setting and Wording
The saying was given in the upper chamber alone with the eleven after Judas had left, before leading them out through the city to the Mount of Olives. It was spoken as the last steps of humiliation were to be taken and the deepest sorrow was closing about Him, with a cruel death just before Him at the hour of the power of darkness. He was about to tell of His approaching separation while keeping the great object of His mission before Him and finding joy that His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. These were words of courage and hope near the close of earthly ministry, meant to comfort the followers.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you means Jesus would soon stop speaking at length with His disciples because the ruler of this world was coming against Him. His time for speaking with them was nearly over because that ruler was coming to confront Him.
The prince of this world is Satan, the prince of evil and darkness. He claims all the power of this fallen planet as his possession because he caused humanity's fall, and he claimed possession and tried to make Christ acknowledge his supremacy. His coming in human form renewed the conflict with Christ in a determined effort to overcome Him, whose claim to rule the kingdoms of the world could not stand unless he gained victory over Christ. He came to measure strength with Christ and found One able to resist all his temptations.
The verse is part of Christ's closing talk before He leaves, joined to His teaching that love keeps His sayings which are the Father's. It belongs with the promise that the Father will send the Holy Ghost in His name to teach all things and bring His words to remembrance, and with the gift of His peace unlike the world's to keep hearts untroubled and unafraid. It stands together with His going away and coming again and going to the greater Father for which those who love Him will rejoice, and His foretelling these things beforehand so they will believe when they happen, and it is to be impressed upon minds. It belongs also to His explanation that the Father and the Son are working in partnership.
John 14-17 was spoken knowing every phase of experience, conflict, manifold affliction, and great temptation to lose faith His church would face through unconverted believers, hatred, trial, and severe trying of faith and courage. He mingled dark warnings with bright hopeful lines such as the coming Comforter. It was spoken not from thought for Himself despite the terrible ordeal awaiting Him but to comfort, console, encourage, prepare and strengthen the disciples for their future work and trials. That instruction taught that their ministry must depend on divine power and be built on Christ and helped them remember His love and understand His purposes. In words so simple even children may understand it brings strength, assurance and courage to stand fast in the most trying hour as long as time lasts, is of highest value for every soul consecrating life to God's service, and can be understood with new enlightenment when the mind is reshaped by the Spirit of God.
Christ Without Sin
To have nothing in him means the ruler had no claim, no hold, no power, no foothold, no advantage, no ground for triumph, and no means to condemn, to gain control, or to serve purposes of destruction in Jesus. This was because there was nothing in Him that belonged to evil, and He was wholly free from sin and disloyalty to God, nor did He place Himself where the tempter could gain an advantage. There was nothing in His life that Satan could take advantage of, for not one thought or feeling yielded to temptation.
He did not consent to sin or yield even in thought, and no sinful or cherished desire or point of weakness gave temptation power over Him. He had no evil propensity, gave no response to temptation, never stepped onto Satan's ground, and there was nothing in Him that answered to Satan's suggestions, deception, evil character, or advances. The enemy could find no place in His heart to plant evil, because His life was hidden in God. He kept His Father's commandments and remained wholly loyal to God's law and will.
He never acted contrary to His Father's will or turned from God's way, and could say unchallenged that He always does the things that please the Father, sustained in conflict by trust in His Father's help. Through childhood, youth, and manhood He lived the law of God under the same temptations that always afflict humanity, tempted in all points as humans are. He endured every test and provocation it is possible for man to bear without yielding, without passion or retaliation in word, spirit, or action, and without flaw or guile.
Though His holy nature felt contact with evil as deeply painful, and He was brought into continual painful contact with the enmity, depravity and impurity Satan had brought in, suffering under temptation in proportion to the perfection of His holiness, He remained sinless and uncontaminated while in the world though not of the world, ascending as pure as when He came from the Father. Though jealous eyes searched Him, He had no envy, worldly ambition, pride, or selfishness but was the Holy One of God. With lips free from all guile, hating sin alone yet loving the sinner, His character by contrast exposed evil.
For three years His enemies followed Him trying to find some stain, yet even demons were forced to confess His holiness. Judas declared Him innocent blood and Pilate declared he found no fault in Him, and before angels, men, and demons His character was spotless and untainted, yet though spotless and blameless He was delivered to be crucified. When the prince came he found nothing in Christ, who remained holy, undefiled, pure, and without guile while bearing the sins of the whole world as the spotless Lamb who was both priest and sacrifice, and for this very reason the world did not know Him.
Obedience Unto Sacrifice
Though the ruler had nothing in him, Jesus meets what is coming in obedience to the Father and does as the Father commanded, so that the world may know that he loves the Father. His obedience to the Father's commandment is the showing forth of that love, making it known to the world, for he had no part in the prince's evil but was wholly obedient even as his hour of death drew near. His time for speaking at length with his disciples is nearly over because the ruler is coming against him, yet the ruler has no claim, hold, power rooted in sin, or anything belonging to evil in him. He nevertheless faces what is coming and acts in obedience, and his approaching death in carrying out the Father's command would display that love before the world.
The coming is Satan's final, last attempt to overcome Christ at the close of his earthly life. It comes at the close of a lifelong warfare in which Satan and all his agencies had assailed him with every conceivable temptation, yet found nothing in him and failed to lead him into sin. It is Satan's determined effort to overthrow him after his victory over man in spoiling soul, body, and spirit, but he could find nothing in him to use against him. Christ rested on God's promised word and foresaw that his death cry of completion would bring triumph in heaven, judgment and casting out of the prince of this world, the sounding of the knell of his empire, and the proclaiming of his victory throughout the universe, viewing the work of redemption as completed and representing the great final deliverance as if present though death still lay ahead.
Christ began the work of redemption just where the ruin began, upon the point of appetite where Adam failed. That is the point by which Satan had overcome a large part of the human race and claimed control of this fallen planet and all the power of it as his possession. Satan as the prince of darkness came to measure strength with Christ and found one able to resist all his temptations, with no claim or foothold, no point of weakness answering to temptation, and no ground in his life that Satan could take advantage of or where Satan held power over him. He resisted where Adam had failed, including temptation through appetite, so that Satan could bruise his heel but could not touch his head, and left the battle a conquered foe, defeated and victorious over by Christ.
He could have mastered Satan by a word, but he remained to meet fierce temptation and the test Adam failed, doing as the Father commanded, as a spectacle to unfallen worlds, angels, and men. He endured self-sacrifice by cherishing self-command, meeting every advance of Satan's hosts with the declaration that Satan would find nothing in him to appropriate to his service and that he would not fail or be discouraged, while the hosts of heaven stood at his command as his rear guard. Temptation could not draw him into sin or turn him from God's way, for through childhood, youth, and manhood he endured every test and provocation it is possible for man to bear without yielding, without passion or retaliation in word, spirit, or action, and without flaw or guile. When Satan dared him to throw himself from the temple, Christ answered with Scripture, and Satan could gain nothing by the temptation.
No other being except the one offering his life as a sinless, spotless, living sacrifice for a sinful race, for the honor and glory of God, could make this claim. This sinlessness makes him the Bright and Morning Star, the light and life of the world, exhibiting God's love for fallen man and his own perfect love for the Father. As the Second Adam he triumphed over the conqueror of the first Adam, so that his sinless life justifies, his death redeems, and his resurrection raises humanity. Moved by pity for fallen humanity he accepted humiliation and poverty and identified himself with human weakness to redeem people, and through firm, humble obedience showed that humanity could overcome Adam's failure and regain lost Eden. Though the prince of this world appeared to gain the advantage over him, he still carried out the Father's plan, enduring every test and provocation possible for humanity without yielding, retaliating, or departing from the Father's command.
Triumph Over Prince
Though death still lay ahead, the words were spoken just before the crucifixion at the hour of the power of darkness, when the last steps of humiliation were to be taken and the deepest sorrow was closing about Him. The prince of this world was coming against Him at the close of a lifelong warfare in which Satan and all his agencies had assailed Him with every conceivable temptation, yet had failed to lead Him into sin. He rested on God's promised word and gave Satan no advantage, because the evil one had no foothold of sin or self in Him. Even so He spoke in anticipation of triumph, with prophetic eye on His last great conflict, viewing the work of redemption as completed and representing the great final deliverance as if present, that the prince of the world is judged and cast out and man's salvation is made sure.
He foresaw that His death cry of completion would bring triumph in heaven and judgment on the prince of this world. That judgment would mean his casting out and the sounding of the knell of Satan's empire and the end of his rule. When He declared His work finished, heaven would triumph and His name would be heralded from world to world. His victory would then be proclaimed throughout the universe.
Satan as accuser sought to overthrow Christ with determined effort after his victory over man in spoiling soul, body, and spirit, assaulting Him with all his accusing power and trying to find something in Him that he could use against Him. He could find nothing in Him to condemn, for Christ was pure, holy, undefiled, spotless and untainted by sin and without fault. Christ was therefore conqueror over Satan's determined effort to overthrow Him. For this very reason the world did not know Him. He began the work of redemption just where the ruin began, upon the point of appetite.
Victory for Believers
Christ's victory is the pattern and assurance that people can also come off victors in conflict with Satan and share His life of uninterrupted victories, overcoming as He overcame and preparing the way for them. Satan as prince of darkness claimed all the power of this fallen planet as his possession and came to measure strength with Christ, finding One able to resist all his temptations, including temptation through appetite where Adam failed, so that he could bruise Christ's heel but could not touch His head and left the battle a conquered foe. Having nothing in Christ means there was nothing in His life that Satan could take advantage of, no claim or foothold, no ground where Satan held power over Him, no least advantage or ground for triumph or for claiming that he had prevailed. Temptation need not lead to sin, for falling into temptation need not mean falling under temptation, and Jesus helps those who look to God for support and strength in every emergency so that the trying of faith works patience rather than discouragement and unbelief. Victory requires effort and cooperation and doing their part in trusting God to keep them from yielding, as human effort cooperates with divine power uniting with it to bring victory.
Those united to Him by faith may resist sin through the power of God's Word and share in His divine nature. Christ did not consent to sin or yield even in thought, and nothing in Him answered to Satan's deception and temptations. His humanity was united with divinity and strengthened by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He overcame Satan by relying on God's Word and trust in His Father's help which sustained Him in the conflict. Believers therefore need not remain under sin's dominion but through the Holy Spirit, the Word, and Christ's divine power can have sin's dominion broken, resist temptation, escape sin's dominion, and grow toward perfection of character as God directs faith to rely on Christ's power.
Those who stand through the time of trouble must seek this freedom from sin in this life, separating from sin through faith in Christ's atoning blood and joining their weakness to His strength as God shapes their characters to His likeness and conforms them to His character. Satan could find no sin in Christ to use as a foothold or to gain victory over Him, for Christ kept His Father's commandments and did not yield to temptation even in thought, and no sinful desire gave temptation power over Him. Those who are to stand must likewise be found perfect in Christ while He makes atonement for them, with no cherished sinful desire or foothold through which temptation can gain power or enable Satan to overcome them.
His followers face the same foe and must look to Christ, resist, pray, and struggle as He did in order to overcome. Christ knew the prince of darkness would use his power to paralyze the disciples' senses during the crisis ahead, and their failure to watch and pray left them without the strength they needed so Peter was left to rely on his own weakness and deny Jesus. In contrast to Christ in whom not one thought or feeling yielded to temptation, self-conceit can give Satan a foothold in a person and appeal to sin. Though Christ lived for years in a sinful world and was tempted in every way as humans are, He remained sinless and uncontaminated, ascending as pure as when He came from the Father, and His combined humanity and divinity provides for people to become partakers of the divine nature and develop a character like His, fit for heaven.
The instruction calls for wholehearted service rather than a divided, half-and-half commitment, with parents and children giving themselves fully to the Lord who accepts them. It shows God's love for the whole world and that when people draw near to God He draws near to them so every step toward Jesus is met by His advance. It calls believers to exercise faith in the promises of God and to express cheerfulness and gratitude. Practiced unity and love strengthens them against the enemy's attacks, and lived out it cures dissension and produces unity with one another and with Christ and love that withstands Satan's assaults, giving strength instead of weakness to stand the test in the shaking time. Since Christ Himself faced opposition, His followers should expect opposition as they obey God and, like the parallel of Cain using violence against his righteous brother, meet it with meekness and kindness rather than retaliation, laboring in self-denying effort to bring man back to harmony with the divine plan and bearing reproach cheerfully for His sake without complaining of hardships or oppressing one another though purchased by His blood.
The verse is connected with the danger of Satan's temptations making the world all-absorbing, when those temptations prevail so love for God is driven from the heart and love for the world takes its place. God's power, working with human effort and keeping heaven in view, can dislodge that worldly love.
Prince Opposing World
The prince of this world is the prince of evil, whose power stands opposed to Christ yet finds nothing in Him to claim. Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and for that reason His servants have no lasting home or treasure here. They are to expect conflict and hardship in this world, and they are shielded from the prince of evil's cruel power only because Jesus reigns.
That prince is not distant but an active enemy, working through unseen agencies against the faith of believers. As men and women reject God's truth, he gains increasing control over them. He then uses spiritualism with signs and wonders to oppose Christ and His work. His power operates through organized evil, temptation, and rebellion against God at a time when human laws and traditions are put in place of God's law and governments uphold practices that destroy both body and soul.
He claims earthly dominion, but his power leads people away from obedience to God. His rule is exercised by turning people against God's Sabbath and thereby bringing the world under his control. He works through the man of sin and through human authorities to promote a false sabbath in place of the seventh day. By that means he seeks to make keeping the Sabbath appear disloyal, to draw people into breaking God's law, and to bring God's law into contempt.