Romans 16:20

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

Satan bruised by the God of peace

There were two victories to be obtained over Satan. By the first, his head was to be bruised under the feet of Christ; and by the second, the rest of his body will be bruised under the feet of believers. Of the second of these victories, Paul here speaks. In the first prediction, God speaks as the Lord of Hosts, the God of war--“I will put enmity.” The war continues till the bruising of Satan’s head has taken place and his empire is overthrown, and when it is subverted, peace is made, and God is the God of peace. As, then, the Seed of the woman has bruised the head of the serpent, so His people will, through Christ, likewise bruise Satan. The apostle says not we shall bruise him under our feet, but God shall do it; yet he says not He shall bruise him under His own feet, but under yours. The victory shall be ours though wrought by Him; and He shall do it shortly. Some understand this of the final victory that all the Lord’s people will obtain at last over Satan and all his emissaries. But though they will not be free from the attacks of this subtle adversary as long as they are in the body, yet from the phrase “speedily,” or “shortly,” as well as from the immediate reference to the power of God in the Church, it appears rather to refer to a present victory. It is consistent with God’s wisdom to permit Satan to try His people; but when they are sufficiently tried, they are delivered from the temptation. So it was with the Son of God Himself. Satan was for a time permitted to harass Him, but at last he was dismissed. In like manner, Churches and individual Christians are all to be tried in various ways; but if they abide the trial they shall be delivered from the temptation, and, in the most emphatic and extensive sense, they shall all at last bruise Satan under their feet. They shall obtain a complete victory over him in the day of the appearing of their Almighty Lord, who will then cast him into the lake of fire and brimstone. On that day the full import of this expression will be seen. (R. Haldane.)

Victory over the disturber of peace

Consider:--

I. How satan disturbs the church. By divisions, etc. (Romans 16:17).

II. The certainty of our deliverance. By the God of peace.

III. The signal manner in which he will effect it. He will bruise, etc. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

The wonderful conquest

Earth is the scene of a great moral struggle between truth and error, right and wrong, God and Satan. This fact invests our planet with an interest which perhaps attaches to no other portion of the universe. The text prophesies a conquest, in every aspect wonderful on account of--

I. The gigantic foe that is overcome. “Satan.”

1. The word means first an accuser, a calumniator, and then an enemy. The Bible represents him as the introducer of evil into the universe, the leader of all the hosts of wickedness, in hell and on earth; at once the instigator and the strength of all opposition to the cause of virtue and the well-being of humanity.

2. To crush him is to destroy the root of the upas, to dry up the fountain of sin and misery. He shall be “bruised”; his purposes thwarted, his influence destroyed, his powers paralysed; the crushed victim of his own gigantic follies and stupendous wickedness. What a blessed event in the history of the universe this will be

III. The character of the glorious conqueror. “God of Peace.” How sublimely strange--not the God of vengeance, the God of war. Note--

1. That God has the consciousness of a sufficiency of power for the work. There can be no peace of mind to one who has the faintest suspicion of his own insufficiency. Anxious doubt would fill the spirit with agitation. Mighty as Satan is, he is feebleness itself in the grasp of Omnipotence.

2. That God is free from all malevolent emotions in the work. Where anger, revenge, etc., exist, there can be no peace. They agitate the heart. God crushes Satan from impulses the most benevolent.

3. That God has a consciousness of rectitude in the work. Whenever a being has misgivings as to the rightness of a course of action, he cannot be in the enjoyment of peace. God feels He has aright to crush Satan the usurper, etc.

III. On account of the creatures from whom the conquest is achieved. Satan is under the feet of angels. They tower in virtue, blessedness, and dignity, in spheres above his influence. It is over men he has control. God will put him under men’s feet.

1. Completely. “Under your feet,” indicating entire subjection. He will rise no more.

2. Speedily. “Shortly.” The conquest is not far off--(l) In the individual history of good men. At death, by God’s grace, they obtain the entire mastery over Satan. Death will be “shortly” with all of us.

(2) In the general history of this world. Satan has been ruling the world for ages, still a period shall come when he shall be put under its feet. Though this period may be many ages distant, still in a sense it is close at hand--

(a) To us. We die, and the intervening period is as nothing. Only as the few hours of a refreshing sleep.

(b) To God. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years,” etc. Let us, then, take heart. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Satan under the control of God

We looked into the Botanical Gardens at Rome, and saw a leopard walking to and fro upon the terrace. He appeared to be quite loose, but we were morally certain that he was chained in some way. We saw no chain, but we were as much at ease as if we could, because we were sure there must be one somewhere. So is it with Satan, affliction, temptation or trial--there is a Divine restraint upon them; whether we see it or not, the tether is there. Let us trust and not be afraid. God will take in the enemy a link or two if he becomes too malicious. Dread not the foe, but bless God for the chain. (C. H. Spurgeon.)