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I John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Did Jesus fulfill what he came to do?  Yes

Then why do we see negative things in the world?

Just because Jesus did his part does not make what he did automatic for mankind.

The question in the garden was a choice of will, a choice of obedience.  Would Adam and Eve, would mankind obey God?

That question still exists.

Will man choose to surrender to Jesus Christ?

Will man choose to obey the Word of God?

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Not everyone…as many…to them….

When you start trying to understand how there can be evil in this world and reconcile that with the fact that Jesus successfully completed his mission, the answer lies in the area of free will.

God did not make robots.

This world is not a “what will be, will be” type of world.

Yes, there are prophecies that Jesus will come back to earth a second time.  But just like in the book of Jonah, when the people repented, the immediate threat to Ninevah was removed for a season (about 150 years).

So even though Jesus successfully fulfilled his mission, for what Jesus accomplished to be fully implemented on the earth in personal lives, in national lives, requires surrender to God and following the Word of God.

Otherwise, satan wins by default.

What does default mean?

Here are some of the definitions from The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

• failure of something
• ignorance
• negligence
• absence of
• failure to act
• failure to perform some legal requirement or obligation
• a judgement given for hte plaintiff on the defendant’s failure to plead or put his answer within the proper time
• failure to act or perform its normal or required function
• wrong act or deed
• failure to perform
• failure to pay

So whose failure can it be?  What Jesus did was a form of legal proceeding.  He satisfied the legal requirements of heaven to deal with sin.

Clearly, Jesus did not fail.

But man can fail.

Satan knows the legalities of what Jesus did at the cross.   And while Jesus defeated satan at the cross,  if man does not surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and from that position of surrender to God, from there legally deal with satan on the basis of the Word of God, then satan will attempt to keep mankind under bondage.  It’s a game of lie and bluff, but, as some of the definitions of default above state, “ignorance, negligence, failure to act”.

It might be said that satan will not fail to capitalize on on what man fails to do….that would be man’s ignorance, negligence, and failure to act according to the Word of God.  Jesus did his part.  Man must follow through with his faith and obedience.

Man can fail in this verse.

James 4:7  7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Man or mankind or nations can fail in this verse.

Matthew 7:24 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. 25 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell—and its fall was great.

There are so many places in the Bible where God requires something.  Faith, yes, but faith is connected to acts of obedience.  Faith does not negate the need to obey the Word of God.

So satan wins by default, even though he was defeated by Jesus, when man fails to:

• recognize what Jesus did
• receive what Jesus did
• surrender to and enforce what Jesus did, in Jesus name

The prison door is open, but man must choose to walk free in Jesus name, by receiving Jesus and the finished work of Christ and all that means.