Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)
On Easter Sunday we celebrated the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over our archenemy, the devil. Jesus defeated and disarmed the devil through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection. This week, we are going to look at three ways Jesus disarmed the devil and what that means for us today: we have been given Freedom, Forgiveness, and Faith. Today we will take a close look into the freedom we have received in Christ.
Freedom
Both the devil and death had a hold on us because we were dead in our sins (Colossians 2:13). God appointed Adam to represent all of humanity, so when Adam sinned and was condemned, we, as his offspring, were considered sinners and justly condemned along with Adam. But Jesus has set us free from that “guilty” verdict, “having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us” (Colossians 2:14).
This written code that was cancelled is the Law of God. Jesus came into this world to satisfy the demands of the Law through His perfect obedience and sinless life. The Law of God stood in stark opposition to us because of its demand for perfect obedience, which we could never satisfy, and its requirement of a just payment, which we cold never pay. And so God, in His great grace, “made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
When Jesus went to the cross and died in our place, our debt to the Law was cancelled. This is called the Great Exchange: His righteousness was exchanged for our sin. On the cross, Jesus got what we deserved – punishment for our sin – and we got what we do not deserve: His righteous record.
The devil has been disarmed because our debt has been cancelled, and we no longer stand condemned in the court of heaven. Because of the cross, we have been set free from the penalty of sin, and there will never again will be any condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).
As one of my good friends likes to say, “How cool is that?!” What glorious good news!!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 