“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
The word “manifested” here is the same as in 1 Corinthians 12:7, when it says, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” It is the Greek word phanerosis which means “to make visible; to make an open display of.” Christ came to make visible the defeat of satan. He came to make an open display of it! He came to totally, utterly, and forevermore, defeat satan and let the whole earth know it!
Colossians 2:15, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Spoiled here means “to strip off the clothes of another.” This means that satan and his forces were stripped of their power to condemn and kill the human race. When it says that Jesus “made a show of them openly,” it means that He exposed them in public to their great shame! The allusion is to the custom of conquerors making a public demonstration of their conquered enemies. When two enemies would gather in battle against each other, once the battle was over, it was customary for the conquering king to either (a) capture the opposing force king, put him in chains and then march him back to the conquering king's land, where the conquering king would then make the defeated king to lie down on the ground, where the conquering king would then place his foot on the neck of the defeated king in a show of triumphant victory over him. Or (b) would cut the head of the defeated king off and then carry it back to the conquering king's homeland, where the victorious king would show the severed head of the defeated king to his people letting them know that victory had been won. Either way, victory was shown to all the people.
Well, may I tell you right here that King Jesus has stripped the enemy of his power? He has stripped the devil of his authority here on earth. Now, God wants us to display satan’s defeat. Just like Jesus made an open show of the stripping off of satan’s power, now we need to, through the power of the Holy Spirit, let the whole world know that satan is defeated. He is not only defeated, but he has also been crushed by the heel of the Holy One! Proclaim it to the world. Shout it from the mountaintops. Our Savior Jesus Christ is the victor! And, as His children, we are able to share in that victory! Let's make the devil so far removed from us that he is nothing but a distant memory. He hasn't defeated us – we have defeated him through the power of Jesus Christ!
Now, the devil's in a phone booth dialing 9-1-1 … and guess what? And ain't nobody coming to his rescue!