We have already seen that the fathers are characterized by having "known Him that is from the beginning." Here (1 John 2:1313I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. (1 John 2:13)) we learn that the young men are characterized by having "overcome the wicked one." In his second address to the young men he mentions the secret of their strength, and warns them against the world. Loving the world and loving the Father are incompatible. All the elements which make the world what it is have their source in the world, not in the Father. Then the world and its lust pass away, while he that does the will of God abides forever.
Let us notice these different points:
The young men have overcome the wicked one. The strength of divine life is in them, and they have been crowned with victory in the conflicts they have sustained with the enemy. It is not that all conflict is ended and all danger past, but they have realized, in conflict, a power which is superior to that of the enemy. If they have a powerful foe, they know and possess a power greater than his which they can use and put the enemy to flight. They are characterized by the remarkable fact that they "have overcome the wicked one." Satan, who rules the darkness of the world and who is the great enemy of God's people, cannot stand before these young men. This is a wondrous fact that may well fill us with holy boldness and courage in meeting this relentless and untiring foe.
The divine life, directed by the Word of God, is the secret of strength in the young men. "Ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." In Ephesians 6, where it is a question of conflict with spiritual powers of wickedness, the Apostle says, "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." This is the source of all strength for conflict. In ourselves we have no strength, but in Him we are strong. Christ is the believer's life, and this is directed in the believer by the Word of God. Against this, Satan has no power. When Satan meets Christ in the believer, he meets One who has already vanquished him, and destroyed his power. In death (expression of utter weakness) Christ destroyed him who had the power of death, so that the weakness of Christ is stronger than the power of Satan. Satan did his worst against Christ at the cross, but Christ rose from the dead in the power of a life that Satan could not touch. Resurrection proclaimed complete, eternal victory for Christ. Satan well knows that he is a vanquished foe and that, at the appointed time, Christ will cast him into the lake of fire. If we meet Satan, therefore, in the power of Christ, he immediately flees. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:77Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7).
It is not only that Christ has personally gained the victory over Satan, but that He did this for our deliverance. He took part in flesh and blood, "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. 2:14, 1514Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14‑15). In the death of Christ all that Satan could use to terrify the conscience, as well as all that could bring down the judgment of God, was swept away,• and thus the believer is emancipated from the condition of bondage and fear into which he had been plunged by sin and the power of Satan.
But this is not all. The believer is made a partaker of divine life. He possesses the very life in which Christ's victory over Satan was displayed-life in resurrection-life as Christ imparted it to His disciples when He breathed on them after His resurrection-life in the Spirit. Christ was made alive in the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)); the believer lives in the Spirit (Gal. 5:2525If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)); and he has "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," as a delivering power (Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)). It is life in Christ, of which the Holy Ghost is the spring and power, in the believer. Satan cannot touch this life. "He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." 1 John 5:1818We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (1 John 5:18).
In this divine life lies the secret of the young men's strength. They have the energy of Christ in them, and the Word of God abiding in them. These direct the divine life according to all that He is as an object filling the heart and governing its desires. The Word of God expresses what that life is in all its varied characteristics, and if the Word abides in us, it forms the heart by filling it with Christ as an object, reproducing His life in us. Paul could say, "For to me to live is Christ." And if this is what Satan finds in us, what can he do? He is in the presence of One who has already conquered him, and he can only flee.
How blessed then to "abide in Him-," as the Apostle exhorts in verse 28, and to have God's Word abiding in us, as in verse 14, so that we always may be able to overcome the wicked one. The power of Satan has been broken in the cross, but he has many wiles, and these we need to withstand. "We are not ignorant of his devices," as the Apostle said to the Corinthians, and we need to watch lest he "get an advantage" (2 Cor. 2:1111Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)). Our safety lies in having God's Word abiding in us. It is this that forms the heart, according to Christ, and directs the movements of the divine life in the soul. It becomes also the sword of the Spirit to the Christian warrior, and enables him to repel every assault of the wicked one. The Word is the Word of God's grace, which is able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them which are sanctified (Acts 20:3232And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)), and it is also the sword of the Spirit. May we prize it, both for what it gives us and for that against which it preserves US.