CHECKMATE
In a game of chess, the motive is to drive your opponent to a checkmate, which ends the game in your favor. Having Persian and French origins, the word means, ‘the king is helpless’. Checkmate happens when you maneuver the opponent king to a position on the board where, no matter where the king moves, he will get captured, ending the game. You have the upper hand while your opponent king is helpless.
In life, the spiritual unseen battle between good and evil is real. And when the battle between God’s good forces and Satan’s evil forces plays out on the chessboard of life on earth, God always has the upper hand. Satan and his army eventually always lose- it is a battle with a predetermined outcome.
When Jesus came down to earth as a man, he was driven to the desert prior to starting his ministry. The devil was given the opportunity to win him over to his side. But Jesus remained firm and sinless and declared his allegiance to God, rejecting the devil. The battle lines were clearly drawn. Satan has tremendous power in this earth and great influence. His single-minded focus was to destroy Jesus and his work. But the power of God flowed unhindered through the life of the sinless Christ. Miracles and incredible teaching followed and he gathered disciples. The only option left was to kill Jesus and the devil worked to incite the then powers of the world to crucify him.
And as he went to the cross, apparently helpless and destroyed, the celebration for the evil army was short-lived. Not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but he also did so after destroying death itself, the greatest weapon Satan has. Nothing in this world intimidates man and wrecks havoc on man as much as the fear of and the reality of death. Because of death, nothing is permanent, and the life on earth is all there is. And if Jesus had not become man and embraced death, he would not have been able to destroy death. But as he rose triumphantly from the grave, not only was death not able to contain the sinless One, but also death found itself embracing the One who would destroy death forever.
Satan’s master move to crucify Jesus had become his greatest mistake. In killing Jesus, he ended up losing his most potent weapon and he no longer can keep mankind bound to the fear and the treachery of death. And for Jesus, he won when he was alive, setting the foundation for his kingdom on earth. But also won when he was killed, because he destroyed death forever. It was a checkmate for those who opposed him.
And this checkmate for everyone who opposes Christ continues. Those who have declared their allegiance to Christ will always win even when everything in their life appears to be a failure. The disciples continued to checkmate opposition and grow the church even when they were sent to prison, flogged and killed. His disciples today have nothing to fear and nothing to lose, because on the chessboard of life, checkmate is real.
