Trampling Over satan
By Kyle Blackwell
The Bible says if Christ is in you, and you in Christ, you are a new creation. Paul went on to say the old things are gone and the new is here. What does he mean by all this? We’re going to explore my favorite chapters in both the Old and New Testaments. It was at least two years into my Christian walk before I truly understood the battle Jesus fought against satan and the minions while He hung on that tree.
The book of Colossians explains the death of Jesus in a way unlike any other illustration in the Bible. Even so, I have never heard a single sermon on the passages we are about to explore.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. -Colossians 2:13-15
The backstory on this passage is the church in Colossae believed Jesus canceled the debt of their sins while dying on the cross. However, just like other churches of that time, and it is still happening now, certain people were infiltrating the synagogue with false doctrines, stating you must do this, you must do that in addition to faith, which is what prompted Paul to write this passage.
One of the false doctrines being peddled was circumcision. You have to love how God made certain ordinances for the sons of Abraham to adhere in which were not fully understood until Jesus came on the scene. Instead of being ceremonially cut in the flesh, we are now circumcised in the circumcision of the heart. So, we are now able to put off the old self, the one who worshipped the god of this world, and we are able to clothe ourselves with the Breastplate of Righteousness, known as the Blood of Jesus which covers our souls.
Paul, guided by Holy Spirit, made a point that is clear throughout the Bible. When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ. God made us alive! It was neither anything we did, nor anything we will do in which could ever qualify us for Heaven, starting with the decision to follow Jesus. He cultivates your heart before the surrender.
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. -Isaiah 64:6
The cross is where Jesus displayed His mercy and grace. We do not deserve it. We cannot earn it. But God forgave our sins by the actions Jesus displayed on a tree. Verses 13 and 14 of Colossians 2 is so beautiful, but that is not why God pressed into my heart the desire to write this article. Verse 15 says Jesus disarmed the powers and authorities of this world, while making a public spectacle of them. Do you understand what is going on here? The writer is giving the visualization of a country invading a foreign land, defeating them, and parading around with all their plunder, soldiers and prisoners, making a fool of them to all who were present.
Instead of Jesus parading with kings and prisoners of men, He canceled the rule of satan and his demonic forces. While in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before He was taken captive, Jesus said the following:
“Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” -Luke 22:53
From the time He was taken in the garden until His death on the cross, satan had his little moment of pitiful glory. But when Jesus hung on that cross He got the last laugh. In Genesis chapter one, the writer constantly mentions evening coming before morning. The reason for this is God does His work in the evening, but glory comes in the morning. Jesus suffered on the cross in the evening time, but when He rose in the morning three days later, glory came to fruition. satan actually thought he had a shot at victory but he does not possess even a small fraction of the power my God holds. Now, he is powerful against myself in my worldly state, but since I have an advocate who fights for me, Holy Spirit, or Paraklete in Greek, and the Blood of Jesus that cleanses my soul, the devil has no power over me.
Another passage that correlates with Jesus trampling over the powers and authorities of this world is the parable of the strong man.
“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” -Luke 11:21-23
The devil is the strong man. This guy is the ruler of this world, but Jesus, the stronger man, stole his thunder in what He did on the cross. Because satan is the god of earth, I am a sojourner walking in a foreign land. I no longer have to walk in fear, but I have the freedom to walk in peace, and that peace is one which surpasses all understanding.
We deserve death, but we earned Life, not through our own works, but through the works of Jesus Christ. This can also be explained in my favorite chapter of the Old Testament, which is Zechariah 3.
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to satan, “The Lord rebuke you, satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. -Zechariah 3:1-3
What a boss my God is. Ain’t He, though? The Lord shut him down with the quickness. Here we see satan acting as a little baby boy. he is talking about how dirty Joshua’s clothes are. Now, this is actually a serious matter, because in order for the high priest to enter the Holy of Holies (and they were the only ones allowed because this was closest to God), their clothes must be clean with no blemish. Even so, God told satan that Joshua is one plucked from the fire, or from hell. He was already saved by God’s grace as his trust was in God, and he walked in the way of the Lord Almighty. It didn’t matter what the little creep had to say. Joshua was entering Heaven no matter what anyone accused him of doing. And my God has my back against the accuser as well.
The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by. The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.” -Zechariah 3:4-7
Joshua is ordered to put on clean clothes, symbolizing the robe of righteousness, and a clean turban, which meant holiness to God. The truth is, if Christ is in your heart, you are no longer subject to the sins of your past life because you are now a new creation.
Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. -Zechariah 3:8-9
In tying this passage back to the main point of this article, God sent the Branch, who is Jesus, also the cornerstone, to this lowly place, and He removed the sins of this world in ONE DAY! And I cannot think of a better way to end this article. Honestly, satan has really tried to distract me from the greater good while writing this piece. The devil did not want me to post this. And he always finds ways to try and get under my skin whenever I expose him for who he truly is, the father of lies and a thief. Thankfully, my God is bigger.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge -Hosea 4:6
