Every week in the past, on Good Friday, we remembered and mirrored on the crucifixion of Jesus and what it meant for Christians particularly. Nonetheless, simply because Good Friday has come and gone doesn’t imply we cease remembering and reflecting. There are some necessary truths that we should not neglect. At first look, the cross seemed like a victory for darkness. Jesus—crushed, mocked, bleeding—hung suspended between earth and sky, surrounded by jeers and silence from heaven. It appeared the enemy had received. However Calvary was not Devil’s triumph. It was his final defeat. Paul writes of Jesus, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15, NIV).
The cross was a battleground, and Jesus was the warrior. However He didn’t battle with swords or drive. He fought with give up. Each nail, each insult, each drop of blood was a part of the divine plan to interrupt the curse of sin and silence the accuser as soon as and for all. Devil had wielded two weapons in opposition to humanity: sin and dying. Via sin, he enslaved; by way of dying, he terrorized. However Jesus took the complete weight of sin upon Himself—not His personal, however ours—and allowed dying to swallow Him. What Devil didn’t understand was that by crucifying the Son of God, he was sealing his personal doom.
Paul writes in Colossians 2:15 that Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities.” He stripped them of their energy. Sin’s penalty was paid. Dying’s sting was eliminated. The legislation’s calls for have been happy. And Devil, the nice accuser, had nothing left to carry in opposition to the redeemed. The cross was not a second of weak spot—it was a show of divine authority. Jesus “made a public spectacle” of the demonic powers, exposing their limits and crushing their affect. And He didn’t do it in secret. The heavens noticed. The earth shook. The veil was torn. The tombs have been opened. And Devil knew—his reign of terror was completed. Sure, the enemy nonetheless roars (1 Peter 5:8), nevertheless it’s the roar of a defeated foe. His doom was sealed at Calvary. He might tempt, however he can not condemn. He might accuse, however he can not management. He might rage, however he can not reign—not over those that belong to Christ.
Hebrews 2:14 declares, “He too shared of their humanity in order that by His dying He may destroy him who holds the ability of dying—that’s, the satan.” Jesus entered dying, to not be conquered by it, however to destroy it from the within out. So while you and I stand on the foot of the cross, allow us to not simply see the struggling—see the victory. The blood that poured down didn’t cry “defeat,” it cried “freedom.” Devil misplaced his grip that day. And due to Calvary, each believer walks within the energy of Christ’s triumph. Reward God!
