I trust you find the title interesting and hopefully you recognize Colossian 2 as the source. Here we will address two questions, the answers to them and ‘it.’ We need to recognize who is being triumphed over then understand both the short – and long-term implications. Along with looking at implications we will address the ‘it,’ which is the source of the efficacy of triumph.
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. 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. Colossians 2:13–15 (NKJV)
We have here a progression. All of us, prior to the new birth, were dead in our sins (see also Ephesians 2:1-10). Through repentance and faith, we were forgiven and made new. We all, even the best of us, had a list of transgressions we had committed that meant we were eternally lost. Our situation is summed up in the lyrics from a 1979 song, “He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay.”
Jesus went to the cross on our behalf and the weight of our sins fell on Him. He took the list of our transgressions, past, present and future, and paid the price for them. This is a metaphorical, not a literal list. In His sacrifice on the cross Paul said that of the spiritual forces arrayed against us, the principalities and powers, Jesus triumphed over them in ‘it,’ the cross. The cross is the source of our victory. Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians as well.
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6–8 (NKJV)
The human ‘rulers of this age’ would have been Caiaphas and Pilate but the powers behind them, the principalities and powers, were the true rulers of the age driving the human rulers to engineer Jesus’ crucifixion.
Where we see the implications played out is in understanding the already not yet nature of the kingdom, an idea popularized by theologian George Eldon Ladd. The idea is compared to D-Day and V-Day in WWII. D-Day was June 6, 1944, the allied invasion of Normandy that was the turning point in the war. V-Day was May 8, 1945. For all intents and purposes, the war was won in June 1944. The victory was finalized in May 1945. The already point is that Jesus accomplished the victory 2,000 years ago on Golgotha. The principalities and powers arrayed against us have been defeated. However, the full realization of His victory, V-Day, will not be realized until His return. For us this means we need to understand and walk in what He has accomplished, His triumph on the cross. We demonstrate that we believe in what Jesus accomplished when we engage in the spiritual warfare Paul describes in Ephesians 6:10-20. When we take up the armour He has given us and stand in faith in the middle of the battel we are in the moment enforcing Jesus’ victory, what was accomplished at the cross. As we continue to stand, we will see it fully realized in our lives at His return or when we step from time into eternity. In any case, our call is to stand in the battle until it is finished and what has been accomplished is fully realized. Let’s stand in faith, confident in Jesus’ triumph over them in it.
