The Cross and Spiritual Warfare - Colossians 2

ALL OF YOUR WARFARE ENDED AT THE CROSS OF CALVARY!!!

COLOSSIANS 2

YOUR NEW IDENTITY

13 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,

14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

This Scripture speaks about our death to sin when we come to Christ repenting of our sin and turning to Him Who is the one resurrecting us to live in His overcoming power. And as if that were not enough, His death on the Cross removes our need to adhere to the law which was stacked against us; we could never obey all of it. So He accepts us, kills our evil fallen flesh and causes the human spirit to be alive in Him. In doing so He makes us holy, righteous, clean, and justified (just as if we had never done anything wrong.) So that is our new identity in Christ, 2 Cor. 5:17 calls us new creations, with the passing away the old you, and the arrival of the new you. Now that's exciting! But there's more.

AT THE CROSS: VICTORY IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

This is where we win over the enemy of our souls, who resists and attacks us whether or not we are aware of it.

AT THE CROSS, JESUS:

1. NAILED THE DEAD LAW TO THAT DEAD TREE, 

(THEN HE ADDRESS OUR  ACCUSER BY)

2. COMPLETELY DISARMING SATAN AND HIS DEMONS. As if that weren't enough

3. HE ALSO MADE A PUBLIC SPECTACLE OF THEM, MEANING HE HUMILIATED       THEM, AND FINALLY,

4. TRIUMPHED OVER THEM.

DON'T LET ANYONE STEAL YOUR REWARD IN CHRIST

18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

The Lord knows that even when we know the truth and even when that truth has been revealed to us where we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is truth. The enemy, the world, and at times even we ourselves will go against that revealed truth but we are to "hold fast" to Jesus our Vine, so that we can be continually nourished us and remain in unity as the Body of Christ. As we remain united in Christ, God will bring increase. It's amazing how important unity in Christ is to spiritual warfare. No one makes it as a lone ranger. That's a sure-fire way to be a casualty in this invisible war; a war more dangerous than all natural ones combined. However, even though it is dangerous because the stakes are much higher, it's one that's already been won.

DON'T RETURN TO THE LAW; STAY IN CHRIST

20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations---

Finally, Paul reminds us that in addition to remaining connected to Christ and His Body, we need to avoid the tragedy of returning to the impossibility of life under the law, which He has already "taken out of the way."  The world is under the sway of the law and its penalty for sin. Not so for the believer who has trusted Christ as his Savior. ANYONE CAN BECOME A BELIEVER! He came for everyone. "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE SENT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE." John 3:16.

CONCLUSION

If you remember nothing else, hold fast to the fact that at the Cross Jesus removed our need to fulfill the Law because He has already dealt with that impossibility; and as we follow Him, we do, too. He has disarmed our enemy at the Cross, and has absolutely humiliated Satan and his entire governmental structure, triumphing over them once and for all. In a nutshell, Jesus' death on the Cross ended spiritual warfare. That is the reason He was able to say, "it is finished." He had done His part; now it is our turn to walk in that revelation as we are seated with Him in heavenly places according to Ephesians 2:4-7. It's up to us to stay seated with Christ on His throne of victory.

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

God bless you!