“The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies.” Isaiah 42:13
We have a tendency in our day to seek the Lord Jesus only as the very approachable, meek and lowly Christ, who came to save all men from their sins. We see Him in the flesh, with all His limitations and weaknesses. However, there is about Him the power and glory of God, a glory that stills the storm with a word, speaks to and heals a leper, raises Lazarus from the dead, and eventually pours our His Spirit upon all flesh, so that the testimony of His glory and grace should be known to the ends of the earth. We forget sometimes just who He is now. He remains accessible to all who would truly seek Him, but He is also that one who overcame death’s dark prison, to rise form the dead, having made an open show of all the powers of darkness, the principalities and powers of the enemy, Satan. Paul writes specifically that the Father “…raised Him (Christ) from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 1:20) He goes on to say, that Christ is now, “…far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come.” (1:21) In Paul’s letter to the Colossian believers, he writes concerning Christ’s victory: “…and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (2:15) There is no doubt that Christ’s warfare was a spiritual one, the effects of which were manifested in the physical world. Paul goes on to tell all believers that, in light of Christ’s absolute victory over “…all the power of the enemy,” we are to recognize and grasp the fact that our warfare is also spiritual, as is our victory in Christ. To the Ephesian believers, Paul would continue to write that not only did God “quicken,” or make alive the believer in response to faith in Christ, but He “…raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (2:6) There are many aspects of this position in Christ, one of which applies to the “riches of His grace” in Christ, to be revealed by His dealing with every believer, throughout eternity. But, with regard to the warfare of the Christian, and the triumphal victory of Christ, the believer is actually a participant in that victory. That victory has been declared accomplished in behalf of the believer, so that the believer, trusting fully in Christ, should be the recipent and beneficiary of the effects and power of it. All has become possible over all the power of the enemy by the Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, how are we to live in this world where Paul writes: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12) We are to grasp, to lay hold of, this victorious life, of the Lord Jesus makiing it our own by faith. Though the enemy who would seek to usurp that position, power, and authority, we are in Christ more than conquerors. Though our enemy is a thief, murderer, who seeks only to kill and to destroy, the believer who submits wholly to the authority of Christ, and live a Christ-centered, controlled, and empowered life on earth for the glory of God. God’s kingdom then comes, and His will done. If the Son of God has gone forth to war, and overcome all principality, and power of darkness, how are we thus to live? Are we not called to walk in Christ’s steps, follow in His conquest, so that His victory will be revealed on earth, as in heaven? May we do so for His glory.
Dear Father, Fill us with victorious power today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.