The Disarming

Read: Colossians 2:13-15

In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. Colossians 2:15

IN WORD

You were dead. Now you’re alive. That’s the simplified version of your role in the story of God’s rescue mission to recover the lost captives of His world, but on His end it was a lot more complicated than that. We see the suffering Jesus endured; that’s plainly explained to us in the Gospels. But behind the scenes was a raging spiritual battle that pitted the enemy against the Son, one trying to exterminate or corrupt the other until the end, when it looked like the rescue had failed. As we know, it didn’t fail at all; the end wasn’t the end. And somewhere mixed in with the Cross and Resurrection was a humiliating defeat for the enemy and his forces.

We’re told that Jesus disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. We didn’t see that battle; we had to be informed of it by the revelation of the Spirit. We sometimes even wonder if we’re experiencing it because it isn’t always visible in our lives. But here’s what we do know: If Jesus disarmed the rulers by canceling all our offenses and debts against God, then they must have been armed with those same offenses and debts. That was their ammunition against us. We were being held under the legal penalty for rebellion against God, a curse of separation from Him—and from life. And spiritual forces opposed to Him were making sure the penalty was enforced.

In removing the penalty by paying for our offenses and debts, Jesus didn’t just provide for our forgiveness. He provided for our release from the eternal debtor’s prison. Rather than spending forever in the soul’s darkest dungeons, we’ve been placed in a garden of life and a city of God, fully enjoying the experience.

IN DEED

Don’t squander that release by paying any more visits to the soul’s darkest dungeons. Refuse to live under the pressure that has legally been removed. Repudiate all guilt and shame and choose to thrive in the light. Those who have been set free are free indeed.

ADDITIONAL READING: John 8:34-36

Jesus Christ is the key which unlocks the door of the prison cell of our own making and sets us free to live in the wide world of God’s love and purpose.

KENNETH PILLAR