Jesus Did It All

"HE IS CHRIST."

WHEN THE North accepted the South’s surrender, there were no more battles. The South was now part of the North and had to be obedient to it for quite some time. If Southern soldiers chose to keep fighting, they were imprisoned and punished, although there were no executions. When Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne, at the end of the Napoleonic wars, he lost all his authority and was exiled to Saint Helena, where eventually he died. At the end of World War II, following Hitler’s suicidal death, those who had served under him were either arrested and tried or fled to other countries to escape conviction. Put simply, they did not want to be found.

Yet when the devil, Satan, was judged, John 16:11, when he was destroyed, Hebrews 2:14, a word meaning “rendered useless”, when his works were destroyed, 1 John 3:8, apparently we think God set him free to continue to cause pain and death. And though he fell like lightning from heaven, Luke 10:18, something Jesus witnessed and remembered when He was living on the earth, he apparently gained a whole lot of hutzpah, despite no longer being filled with God who is all things, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16. That one rebellious act, also known as SIN, we think helped him create a kingdom, gain a throne, and have more than enough power and authority to forever torment mankind. We talk like no one’s safe, not individuals, not nations.

By thinking that way, he has become the first defeated enemy to retain all he had. We teach we’d better be prayed up, fully armored, and ready for battle because the threat is real.

Where is Colossians 1:15 in that? “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Spoiled, meaning to strip of clothing. Triumphing, to conquer, to give victory.

Where is Ephesians 6:12? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” This is a trick question because this verse does not say the devil has power and an organized kingdom. Luke 10:19 strips that away. Acts 2:4 strips that away. We have the power, exousia, and the power, dunamis.

The only “enemy” we have now is sin. Principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world are sin. Spiritual wickedness in high places is idolatry. Which is sin. And sin destroyed the devil, turning him from an angel of light into nothing. And sin destroys humans in exactly the same way. It isn’t the devil’s weapon, but his destruction, just as it is ours.

Sin brings with it death, and death brings sickness and disease. Jesus abolished death, 2 Timothy 1:10. He rendered it useless, the same word as Hebrews 2:14. He promised salvation to all men – to the Jews in the Old Covenant, to the Gentiles in the New. By being the sacrifice for sin, because He is Christ, the Spirit upon Him without measure (John 3:34), the Holy Spirit, lifted up and carried off all our iniquities, Isaiah 53:4-5. By His stripes, to the extent He was healed, we are healed.

We need to take the words “the enemy” out of our vocabulary. The images we have formed and the false narrative we’ve created are battles we don’t need to fight. Jesus did it all. And there was no war. No opposing armies. No weaponry. All He had to do was lay down His life in obedience to the Father. Once He was dead, physically, His spirit was alive. He never subjected His spirit to the destroyed enemy, the devil. HE IS CHRIST. That very day, He was in Paradise, Luke 23:43.

God won without causing anyone to lift a finger fighting. Looking back at the Old Covenant, we see this pattern a lot. King Jehoshaphat. Gideon. Jericho. The prophet Elijah. Samson, at the very end. Queen Esther. The entire nation of Israel when they were freed from Egypt. God intended to restore mankind through peace. So He did.

Our life is everlasting life, length of life and quality of life. Jesus is everything we ever need. He’s the victory over sin, the Healer of our body and mind, our deliverance from death (Hebrews 2:15). He is the name “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Ephesians 1:21).”

Photo by Keagan Henman on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com