BASIS OF OUR VICTORY

By Jemima Rayan

“Christ Jesus has totally defeated Satan and all of his wicked powers and authorities totally and forever”.

The enemy would like to have God’s children ignorant of the fact that Christ already defeated Satan one hundred percent. The battle is won totally and forever.

Colossians 2:13-15 says, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”.

Satan, the accuser:

Why does Satan accuse us? The primary motive behind the accusations of the devil is to make us feel guilty. Satan wants to rob us off the confidence we have to go before God.

Guilt is the key to our defeat and righteousness is our key to victory. God, through the cross, has dealt with this problem of guilt, both in the past and in the future. He has made complete provision for both. How did God deal with the past? Colossians 2:13 says, “ He forgave us all our sins”. God made provision for our future, as seen in Colossians 2:14, “…having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us: he took it away, nailing it to the cross”.

Written Code:

These are the laws of Moses. To obtain righteousness with God, we need to keep all the laws as given to Moses. As long as the laws of Moses was the requirement, every time we broke even one of the most minor requirements, we were guilty before God. But Jesus took the law out of the way and made provision for us to live free from guilt. Isn’t that awesome?

Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference. Christ is not the end of the law as part of God’s Word. Christ is the end of the law as a means to achieve “righteousness with God”. We are not required to keep the law in order to be righteous.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is the divine exchange. Once we grasp the fact that we have been made righteous with the righteousness of Christ, the devil cannot make us feel guilty any longer. Satan’s main weapon will thus be taken from him. Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers by His death on the cross. He took from them their main weapon against us.

Outworking of Christ’s victory through us:

Colossians 2:15 says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

2 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place”.

Notice the words “always” and “in every place”. That means, there is no time and no place when we cannot visibly share the triumph of Christ over Satan’s kingdom.

In Matthew 28: 18-20 Jesus declares: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Here Jesus says that through His death on the cross, He has wrested the authority from Satan, obtained it for Himself and God has vested in Jesus, all authority in heaven and earth. What is the implication of “therefore?” Jesus says, “I have won the authority, you go and exercise it”. You go and demonstrate My victory to the whole world by fulfilling My commission.”

Victory of Jesus:

First, in the wilderness, Jesus defeated Satan on His own behalf. He met Satan, resisted his temptation, and defeated him.

Second, on the cross, Jesus defeated Satan on our behalf, not for Himself. He did not need the victory for Himself because He already had it, but He won the victory for us and defeated our enemy. He disarmed our enemy, stripped him, and made a show of him openly on our behalf. Praise God!

Third, it is now our responsibility to keep the devil where he belongs.

Remember: “Jesus Christ has made victory possible for us “always” and “in every place”. Amen.

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