Romans 16:20 reveals that God crushes Satan under the feet of the believers: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” To the believers, even the crushing of Satan is a matter of God’s dispensing.
According to the context of Romans 16, the crushing of Satan by God is related to the church life. If we are not in the church and do not practice the church life, it will be difficult for us to have Satan crushed under our feet by God. The church life is the strongest means by which God overcomes Satan. Whenever we are separated from the church, we become a prey for Satan, for it is difficult for us to fight Satan individually. But when we are in the church and are one with the Body, Satan is under our feet, and through the divine dispensing we enjoy God as the God of peace in the church life.
The Greek word rendered “your” in 16:20 is plural; this points to the Body. God will crush Satan under the feet of the Body. Romans 16 does not refer to the Body in a universal sense, but refers to the local and practical expression of the Body. This indicates that Satan can be crushed only under the feet of the practical expression of the Body in the local churches. It is only when we have a proper local church as the practical expression of the Body that Satan is crushed under our feet.
Both the Body and the divine life are crucial in God’s crushing of Satan under the believers’ feet. Life is nothing less than the Triune God dispensed into us to be our content. According to the book of Romans, life and the Body are one; they are inseparable. If there were no life, then there could be no Body. Life is the content, and the Body is the expression. The practical expression of the Body in the local churches is possible only through the divine life. We may have the experience of redemption and salvation, but if we do not experience the dispensing of God into us as life, it will be impossible to have the practical expression of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is built up with Christ as life. God crushes Satan under our feet by the divine life and by the Body.
It is significant that the One who crushes Satan under our feet is the God of peace. The God of peace and the peace of God are one. When God is dispensed into us, peace is dispensed into us also, for the genuine peace we enjoy is God Himself. We trust in God, and He crushes Satan under our feet. As God crushes Satan under our feet in the church life, we have the peace of God as a token of this victory over him. Through the divine dispensing, both the crushing of Satan and the peace of God are experienced by the believers in the church life.
The believers experience and enjoy God as the Father in His love by His answering their cry and avenging them. The parable of persistent prayer in Luke 18:1-8 indicates this. The unrighteous judge (vv. 6-7) refers to the righteous God, and the widow (v. 3) signifies the believers. In a sense, the believers in Christ are a widow in the present age because their Husband Christ (2 Cor. 11:2) is absent from them. The believers in Christ also have an opponent, Satan the Devil, concerning whom we need God’s avenging. We ought to pray persistently for this avenging and not lose heart.
This parable indicates the suffering we have from our opponent during the Lord’s apparent absence. During His apparent absence, we are a widow, and our opposer is troubling us all the time. While our opposer is persecuting us, it seems that our God is not righteous, for He allows His children to be unrighteously persecuted. Throughout the centuries thousands upon thousands of faithful followers of the Lord Jesus have suffered unrighteous persecution. Even today we are still undergoing unrighteous mistreatment. Our God seems to be unrighteous, since He does not immediately come in to judge and vindicate. When our Husband is apparently absent and we are left on earth as a widow, temporarily our God seems to be an unrighteous judge. Although He appears to be unrighteous, we still must appeal to Him, pray persistently, and bother Him again and again. Eventually, God will answer our cry and avenge us. “God, shall He not by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night; and yet He is longsuffering over them? I tell you that He will carry out their avenging quickly” (vv. 7-8a).
On the one hand, this parable indicates that the Judge, the righteous God, is sovereign. As the sovereign Lord, He judges whenever He chooses. On the other hand, this parable indicates that we need to bother the Lord by praying persistently, knowing that He will answer our cry and avenge us. Even the Father’s answering and avenging is a matter of His dispensing. As He answers our cry and avenges us against our enemy, He dispenses Himself into us that we may experience and enjoy Him in His love.
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