Passage: Colossians 2:15
The Big Idea
At first glance the cross looks like the ultimate defeat. But with the eyes of faith, it’s the most lopsided victory in history. On the cross Jesus disarmed the powers of darkness, took away Satan’s weapons of sin and death, and won back everything the enemy had stolen. We fight a defeated enemy.
How the Cross Looks
At first glance, the cross seems to be about sorrow and shame.
- His friends wept.
- His mother grieved.
- Even the sun refused to shine.
- He was spit on, cursed and shamed.
Yes, God knows what it’s like to be you, to feel what you feel and endure what you’ve endured.
The devil and his demons danced and jeered. They thought they had won, that the almighty Son of God, the eternal Creator, had been killed, destroyed, humiliated and mocked.
On the cross, Jesus seems to give up. Death itself has its way with Him. In the world’s eyes, the cross is forever a symbol of weakness and loss. What loser would let himself be treated with such hatred?
But there’s another way to see it. With the eyes of faith. Our text shows us what we can only see with eyes given by the Spirit of God. Lord, give us those eyes.
The Text (Colossians 2:15)
Having disarmed the rulers and authorities, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
The body of Jesus was nailed to a rough wooden cross. He hung there, seemingly defeated. But in reality, He was fighting. And winning. Conquering.
If you can see it, Jesus on the cross is the greatest picture of victory there is. On the cross Jesus beat the devil. More than that, He crushed him underfoot.
Two lessons from this verse:
- Jesus took everything from His enemies on the cross.
- Jesus displays and celebrates His victory for us.
1. Jesus Disarmed His Enemies
Satan has two great weapons: sin and death.
When Adam and Eve gave in to his temptation in the Garden, they and their children became his slaves, and would have stayed that way forever if God never stepped in to ransom them.
On the very day they fell, God made a promise: a descendant of the woman would one day crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).
It took thousands of years for that promise to come to pass. But it did, at exactly the right time (Galatians 4:4).
Satan knew this Man could destroy him, so he tried to kill Him again and again:
- King Herod had the baby boys of Bethlehem killed (Matthew 2:16).
- An angry crowd in His hometown tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:29).
- People picked up stones to kill Him more than once (John 8:59; 10:31).
But Jesus wouldn’t be killed until it was time.
When His hour came, He was betrayed, convicted, condemned, whipped, mocked, tortured and abandoned. All of it led Him to His true battleground.
The powers of darkness gathered around Him as He was nailed to the cross in weakness. They stared, drunk with glee. The One who ruled heaven and earth had been overcome. Overcome by sin. Overcome by death. Overcome by Satan himself.
Every weapon at the enemy’s command was hurled at Jesus, and Jesus absorbed it all as He hung there.
Yet Satan was rushing to his own destruction.
Something happened that he didn’t expect. The sharp weapons he drove into Jesus, sin and death, were taken from him. As Jesus died on the cross, Satan’s weapons were broken. Crushed. Obliterated.
When Jesus cried out that it was finished, Satan realized his mistake. But it was too late. Jesus died, and the weapons died with Him, broken and lost forever.
Satan has been disarmed. Our enemy has no more weapons. And Jesus accomplished this by His sacrifice on the cross.
In ancient battles, when one general defeated another, he’d strip the enemy of every weapon, sometimes tying their hands behind their backs, so they were no danger at all. That’s what Jesus has done to sin, death and hell. No armor. No weapons. A complete victory. Like a lion with no teeth.
We can’t be threatened by sin. We’re forgiven, our sins removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
We can’t be threatened by death. For us it’s only a doorway into more life.
We can’t be threatened by hell. We’re citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20).
And more than that, Jesus won back the treasures Satan stole in the Garden: joy, happiness, peace. He ripped them out of the enemy’s hands and gave them back to us.
2. What It Means for Us
Don’t be afraid of the weak and defeated enemy of your soul.
We’re in Christ by faith, so His victory is ours. And we follow our Leader the way He went. The devil will harass us all the way to the cross. We pick up our cross and follow Jesus daily. By faith we fight a battle He has already won. Sin, death and hell will be thrown in our faces. But as we keep our eyes on His victory, it becomes our own.
Don’t be afraid. We can’t lose when we trust in Him. He’s already won. We’re fighting a defeated enemy who can only try to lie his way to victory. Don’t believe his lies.
Hold up the cross
- When Satan accuses you: who can bring any charge against God’s chosen ones? (Romans 8:33).
- When you feel condemned: who condemns? Christ died, was raised, sits at God’s right hand, and intercedes for us (Romans 8:34).
- When he tries to separate you from God’s love: nothing in death or life, angels or rulers, present or future, can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38-39).
- When he throws your sins in your face: if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).
- When death stares you down: death has lost its sting and the grave its victory (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Hold up the cross as your shield and weapon. That way you’ll always win in spiritual warfare. The cross can’t lose.
Every attack will end up leading to your freedom and joy. We can rejoice in our troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope (Romans 5:3-4). His attacks will push you to persevere, deepen your character, and finally you’ll see your hope fulfilled.
Jesus wins! And Satan’s attacks only help us understand the fullness of what Jesus won for us, and how abiding in Him is our whole life and our whole warfare.
Do Not Fear
Run into battle against the feeble, broken enemy of your soul. That old toothless lion will fall at your feet and run in terror (James 4:7).
Have courage. Don’t listen to his lies. He can make you feel afraid, but speak courage to your heart through the cross of Jesus.
He can yell, shout and growl. He can sound terrible. But there’s nothing to fear. Every battle for you is the beginning of an eternity of triumph. And for him, every battle is another painful reminder of his loss.
Grace Takeaway
The cross looked like losing, but it was the greatest win of all time. Jesus disarmed every power that stood against you and put them on public display. You don’t fight for victory. You fight from it.
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