Christ the Victor
Colossians 2:13-15 (NIV) “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
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The death and resurrection of Christ means freedom for all of humanity. Having been buried with Him in His baptism into death, we have been raised up with Him through faith in the working of God (Colossians 2:12). We are now seated spiritually with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and have access to the flow of blessings from this realm (Ephesians 1:3).
Understanding Christ’s victory is key for moving and living in spiritual freedom. As the atoning sacrifice for the sin of humanity, we have been washed clean by His blood. This cleansing allows us to live free from sin consciousness in our minds, connected to the Spirit of the living God (Hebrews 9:14).
In Colossians, Paul writes that Christ’s victory “disarmed the principalities and powers.” He is referring to the invisible spiritual forces that influence humanity from the heavenly realms. Prior to Christ, these “elemental spiritual forces” (Colossians 2:20; Galatians 4:3) held sway over humanity, enticing us to sin. Paul writes in his letters that these elemental spiritual forces derived their power from the Law (a relationship with God based on rules and regulations) because the Law provokes sin (Romans 7:5). The distance that once existed between man and God no longer exists. As such, there is no inhabitable spiritual space for these spirits. We are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).
The lingering influence of these elemental spiritual forces can be recognized in our own experience as feelings of shame, guilt, self-condemnation, and the lustful promptings of the flesh (the pre-Christ nature). Our new nature in Christ makes it possible to live entirely free from these spiritual influences. Our feelings of inability to do so only means we lack revelation in the understanding of our divine sonship. Freedom is not a matter of doing, but being. It is more simple than we would like to admit. The spiritual principle is this: We believe first, then freedom comes.
The sons of God now live in union with Christ and are led entirely by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 8:14). We are under no compulsion to follow merely human rules and regulations. Our conscious is now enlightened and empowered by the Spirit of God Himself. There is no longer any buffer or commandment that separates us from God - no inhabitable space for oppressive spirits. Our ability to intuitively experience His presence and hear His voice is not conditional. We do not need to act a certain way, worship a certain way, or strive to attain holiness. We need to believe the reality that His grace has already accomplished everything we need. When we do, we become free from sin consciousness and alive to the reality of His presence.
Galatians 4:3-7 (NIV) “ So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts…therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Romans 7:6 (NIV) “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
The specter of the Law hangs over modern Christianity. We still use human rules and regulations and a legalistic understanding of the Bible in our attempts to spiritually connect with the Father. The result is that sin consciousness has been given a seat at the table in the corporate Body. Christ’s solution to this issue is the sending of a fresh wind of the Spirit to enlighten us to our true position as sons of the most high God. There is an awakening in our understanding of the Word of God. We are beginning to see more clearly how He sees us. Paul writes that even Creation longs to see us fully awake to our true purpose and identity in Christ:
Romans 8:19-22 (NASB) “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
On the cross, Christ won the victory over the forces of darkness, destroying the enemy’s ability to use the Law against us. In Jesus’ wilderness temptation, there is a foreshadow of this reality. The enemy uses Scripture against Jesus, but the Lord stands firm in the confident reality of His sonship, turning the tables on Satan. If we feel accused or lack confidence in our relationship with the Lord, we must fall back on the reality of our sonship and union with God. There is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). On the cross, the power of the enemy was disarmed once and for all. We must renew our minds to this reality.
