Jesus the rebel #4

February 11, 2022 (Friday)

 

What did Jesus, being a rebel accomplish? A pack of those accomplishments is found in Colossians 2:13 – 15, “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” [NLT]

 

In verse 13 we see, “you were dead because of your sins.” This is a core Christian doctrine. Outside of Jesus, we are dead in our sins and dead to God. We cannot respond to, reach out to, or receive God’s truth in any way, at least any more than a dead person can respond to a live one. The act of saving us is one of raising us from the (spiritual) dead… just one way to understand/describe it. God makes us alive with Christ. Remember Him? Crucified. Risen. Retuning…

 

Our sins are forgiven, what about the trailing debt to pay? Verse 14 celebrates, “He canceled the record.” In American legal terms, it means God has “expunged” our record, like it never happened. This insures that nobody can go back and dig up or use our record against us. God’s method of canceling our debt and expunging our record? He nailed it to the cross! One of the great mysteries of the universe is how Jesus, who was without sin, could carry our sin to the cross. Maybe that’s the point, only an innocent victim can willing exchange themselves for the guilt of another.

 

Maybe Paul can help us absorb a bit of this truth in Galatians 2:20, “I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.” [NCV] Get it? As followers of Jesus, we identify with Jesus’ death on the cross. Paul understood this identification as baptism (see Romans 6:3). Later in Galatians, Paul asserts, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” [Galatians 5:24 NLT]

 

Finally, Jesus accomplished a dominating victory over Satan and his minions. Literally, disarming and shaming those spiritual forces that seek to keep us in captivity and darkness. The Romans had a tradition where the conquering general would parade through the streets. At the end of the procession were the defeated and humiliated adversaries.

 

There you have it. Our journey from death to life, backwards from nature, is based on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The record of our sin is nailed to the cross. Victory over the spiritual forces that want to keep us imprisoned in sin and darkness.