With the NFL draft upon us, I’ve got a true story for you. there was a professional football player who had made quite a reputation for himself. Even so, his head didn't swell, and he never forgot his alma mater and the help he had received in getting him to where he was. That's why, when his old college coach came and asked him to help with some recruiting, he was more than glad to do what he could. Looking for some guidelines, the football player asked, "Can you tell me, Coach, exactly what kind of player are you looking for?" The coach thought for just a second and then he replied, "There are all kinds of football players. You've met most of them. For example, you've seen the guy that when he's hit hard, he stays down." The professional player interrupted and said, "I'm pretty sure we don't want that guy, do we, Coach?" "Nope, we don't want that guy."

"Then there's the player that when you knock him down, he gets up but when you knock him down a second time, he stays down." "We don't want that guy either do we, Coach?" "Nope, we don't want him, either." The Coach continued. "Then there's the fellow who, when you knock him down, he gets up; and you knock him down again, and he gets up; and every time he's knocked down he keeps getting up." "Now that's the kind of player we're looking for to play on the team, isn't it, Coach?" This time there was no hesitation in the Coach's response, he said: "No, we don't want that fellow either. I want you to find the player who's knocking everyone down. The guy who knocks down all the others... that's the guy we want."

Now, if I did a poll of ordinary people, and if I asked them, "Who is Jesus in that story," and if they answered honestly, I'd get some interesting replies. For example, there are some folks who would say, "Jesus is the fellow who, when you knock Him down, He stays down… not a tough guy at all. He’s a turn the other cheek type, you know."

Then, there are those who would jump to the conclusion that Jesus is guy who got knocked down time after time – by the Pharisees, by the Chief priests, by the Romans – but each and every time he was knocked down, he got back up.  In fact, some would say that the Easter story is the quintessential “down--but up again” story… that even though they killed the Lord Jesus on the cross, he rose up again on the third day.  The only problem with that view of things is that it still makes Jesus a victim.  

No.  The truth is, the story of the cross and the resurrection is the story of the God who did the knocking.  Satan had things well in hand.  We humans, despite all of our best efforts, could never live up to a standard worthy of existing in the presence of a Holy God.  His pure holiness would destroy us, and our sins, in a burst of holy, consuming fire.  His immutable justice would cast us out with all of our short-comings and filthiness even on our best day.  Romans 3:10 echoes the words of the Psalmist, “there is no one that is righteous, no not one.”  You, and I, and all the others that have preceded us are stained with guilt.  Satan knew it.  (He’s been knocking us humans down since the dawn of time.)  

But one day God said, “enough… I’ve seen enough of the devil harming and destroying the people I created and love.”  Consulting with the Trinity He said, “what are we going to do about it?”

Jesus said, “I’ll go… I’ll pay the price for sin once and for all.  I’ll take everything thing the devil can throw at me straight on… I’ll suffer to fullest extent so that anyone who puts their trust in me will never have to suffer..”

 
And He did.  He died on the cross—the cruelest of deaths.  He suffered unimaginable pain and died an undeserved death for every sin that ever was (or ever will be) committed.  He died for me and he died for you.  In so doing He administered a shocking blow to Satan that still reverberates to this day.  And even though he had broken the devil’s power on the cross, by freeing mankind from the grip and penalty of sin, he said, “It’s not enough… Satan you’re going down again.”  

So, in the stillness of a tomb a strange and foreign sound can be heard—breathing—from within grave clothes?  Suddenly a brilliant, blinding light explodes and beside the place where a broken and bloodied body had once laid, a glorious figure of a man now stands.  But he is more than a man.  He is a king… a King of Kings.  He is a lord… the Lord of Lords.  He is a Lion and a Lamb, a Savior and Servant, both a Prince of Peace and a Conquering Hero.  Best of all, this resurrected Christ has just dealt Satan--that purveyor of death--a blow from which he will never recover.

As Paul reminds us, “Death is swallowed up in victory -- O Death, where is your sting? O grave where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians15)

 
And since Jesus is the winner, then Satan is the looser!

 
“I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him… and threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore.”      (excerpted from Revelation 20)

 Friends, remember the story that I started with about the football players?  Jesus isn’t the one who got knocked down and got back up.  No, we celebrate the one who did the knocking.  He knocked the devil down by destroying the power of sin on the cross.  He knocked him down again defeating death and robbing the grave of its hold over us.  And, when the serpent tries to rise again the “Player” on our side is going to knock him down so far into the pit that he’ll never get up, never get out, and never give us any grief ever again. 

So how about a big cheer for our Guy!