TRIUMPHING...BY THE CROSS

Having disarmed

  the powers and authorities,

Christ made a public spectacle of them,

triumphing over them by the cross.

Col. 23.15

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.......but is against

the rulers, ...authorities, ...powers of this dark world,

...and the spiritual forces of evil

in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6.12

These “rulers, ...authorities, ...powers of this dark world,...and the spiritual forces” are the sources “of evil” which we must confront and defeat by the power of the cross.

How do we identify these kinds of enemies in real life? 

Consider:

 

1.  Rulers
The “rules” we are required to follow and obey every day of our lives “rule” our lives as they are “internalized” and made to be part of how we think life must be lived, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not. We come to believe that the rules we live under are requirements we cannot escape, that we must follow, no matter how wrong we may think them to be. We may be angry and fearful of them, but we feel we must obey them. “Escaping” through changing circumstances or through “pleasurable” pastimes and indulgences are our recourses.

2.  Authorities

Our parents. Work requirements. Peers. Public opinions. Schools.  Teachers. Government. Courts.

The “Rules” that we follow come from these kinds of sources that we live with and follow as part of the generation of the nation we live in.

These “Authorities” and the culture that produce them, changing, “morphing” generation by generation, are the standards and unconscious presumptions that rule our lives and are enforced upon us in our daily interactions and activities.

3.  Spiritual Forces

Colossians 3.16-23 lists all kinds of commands and regulations imposed by unspiritual minds with worthless notions, regulations imposed by human commands and teachings. Such false teachings and hypocrisy have ever been the plague of the church of the Lord Jesus--"the righteousness of the Law."

These “Forces” come from false claim of those who gain religious leadership—church, teachers, home teachings, books, media, etc. Many are “well-meaning;” others are hypocritical. 

The capacity and tendency for pride and self-righteousness is very great and easily creeps into the beliefs and then the teachings of religious leaders.The most difficult opponents of Jesus were religious leaders, the Pharisees, who influenced and led, the people and government  to crucify Christ. 

The apostle says,

“Beware--be wary of—hollow and deceptive philosophy

...human tradition and the basic principles of this world

rather than on Christ.”

Col. 2.8

4.  Powers

The first three “enemies” are difficult because many of these influences are good.

But the negative sides of these forces become “Powers,”--called“strongholds...of the devil” (2 Cor. 12.5; James 3.15). These we must “wrestle “ and “struggle against” in spiritual warfare to gain the freedom we have in and by Christ Jesus.

“Triumphing...by the Cross”

“Triumphing” comes as we focus on our relationship with Christ, abiding in Him, and following the leadership of the Holy Spirit, daily, hourly.  As we “set our hearts...and minds on the things of Christ,” we are given power to “put off” the enemies of our “old” life and put on the new man of God's creation and image. 

Walk in the Spirit,

and you will not indulge in the desires of the sinful nature...

triumphing over them by the Cross.

Galatians 5.16-23; Col. 2.6-23