“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 2:15 NKJV)

“Since all His children have flesh and blood, so Jesus became human to fully identify with us.  He did this, so that he could experience death and annihilate the effects of the intimidating accuser who holds against us the power of death.” (Heb. 2:14 TPT)

In my quest to learn more about the authority I have in Christ, I came across these two scriptures and suddenly a light bulb switched on in my spirit.  Jesus disarmed principalities and powers; He has annihilated the effects of the intimidating accuser.  One of the definitions for “disarm” is to take away the weapons of.  The King James Version uses the word “spoiled” meaning to render useless.  Jesus took away the weapons of principalities and powers of darkness, rendering them useless.  Not only that, He made a public spectacle of them.  I like how The Passion Translation puts it: “And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph.  He was not their prisoner; they were his!” (Col. 2:15 TPT). 

In Hebrews we see that Jesus “annihilated the effects of the intimidating accuser”.  Some other words I found for annihilated are utterly destroyed, obliterated, crushed, thrashed, conquered, overpowered, beaten, and defeated (to name a few).  And who is this intimidating accuser?  “…for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” (Rev. 12:10 NKJV).  Satan is known in the Bible as the accuser, holding the law of sin in our faces and forcing us into slavery by it.  So, in putting these two scriptures together I found that there are useless principalities and powers with no weapons, and an accuser who’s chains that bound me have been extinguished (or any of the other words above you may prefer).  According to these two scriptures, Jesus has plundered the enemies camp and made them unarmed and vulnerable.  So, what does that mean for us?

Well, first we need to recognize our role.  Jesus already accomplished his role and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  We are still here, fighting an army of darkness; a weaponless, defenseless, weak, and wounded army but their intention is still to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).  Since they have no more weapons or record of trespasses to hold us in bondage how do they still manage to wreak havoc in our lives?  The only tactic they really have is to lie.  If they can get us to believe they have power, then we actually end up empowering them.  In other words, we give them our power.  Another way to put it is they locate our weakness and attack that with lies until we let our guard down, believe what they say over what the Word of God says, and they hijack our power.  Bottom line, the only way they have any power is if they use our power.  And yes, we do have power.  We also have authority.  But if we don’t know it, they will take every advantage over us they can find.  So again, what is our role?

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Col. 2:9-10 NIV).  This tells us that Christ is the head over all power and authority.  It also tells us that Christ is the fullness of the Deity (Godhead) and we have been given fullness in Him.  What does it mean to be in Him?  I’ve had trouble with this, but I got a little glimpse of something I’ve never seen before about being “in Christ”.  “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:22-23 NKJV).  Christ is the head; we are the body.  We are the fullness of Him, as He fills us.  Head plus body equals the fullness of Christ.  When you are in the body, you are in Christ.  This also tells us that all things have been put under His feet.  Again, He is the head, and we are the body.  If all things are under His feet and He is the head, where are His feet?  The feet would be a part of the body, that’s us.  So, if all things are under His feet, all things are under us, who are the body!  “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6 NKJV).

Jesus told his followers, “Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.” (Luke 10:19 AMP).  Look at that!  We have authority to tread on serpents and scorpions.  That means they would be under our feet!  Serpents and scorpions would be the demons and evil spirits, those weaponless principalities and powers of darkness.  And we have authority over all the power of Satan.  That means when he or his minions try to bring a storm into our lives, we have the authority to still the storm.  We are His body, we carry His name, the name the wind and waves obey.  God never intended for us to live our life subject to the powers of darkness.  He sent Jesus to render the darkness powerless and gave us authority to reign in life!  Thank you Jesus!

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:17 NKJV).