Jesus Made a Public Spectacle of Death—Romans 6:8-10
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God" (Romans 6:8-10)
It is an amazing thing to know that we will live with Jesus for all eternity. The reason we know this is because he completely defeated sin and death upon the cross and it has no claim over us. All power death had over Jesus while he was on this earth in human form has been broken once for all. Colossians chapter 2 tells us that he made a public spectacle of all powers and authorities upon the cross ( Colossians 2:13-15 ). He did not just defeat them, but he paraded that defeat through the heavenly realms. Somewhere along the lines, the church has missed this parade, and we're suffering for it.
In the Old Testament, when a king and kingdom were defeated, the winning side would cut off the thumbs and big toes of the captives, including the defeated king. Then strip them down until naked and parade them around from place to place announcing their defeat. Letting them soak in their shame and humiliation along the way. This parade accomplished several things. First, since they did not have thumbs they would never be able to hold a sword again. Secondly, since they did not have big toes, they would never be able to stand and fight again. Lastly, they were discredited. After being marched around naked, they were humiliated and shamed in front of everyone who might have previously been intimidated by them. Instead they jeered, laughed and hurled insults at the defeated kingdom. If the defeated king ever did muster up another attempt at an army, multitudes of people would remember their complete defeat and discount them as a threat. Extreme as it was, it was quite effective.
At the time of Jesus' resurrection from the dead that parade of defeat happened and we are witnesses to it. When He arose from the grave, he made a public spectacle of the defeated enemy. He marched Satan, death and his entire dominion through the streets in shame, defeat and discredited them in every way imaginable. They were so defeated that there would never be a hope for them to recover. Death has no dominion over Jesus because it was completely defeated. Jesus rose to live eternally as our high priest before God making intercession for us. "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." ( Romans 6:10 ) On the cross he completely ended his relationship to sin by condemning it once for all. Since then, He is living a life in unbroken fellowship with God and he offers that fellowship and union to us as well.
In the same that death has no mastery over Jesus because he defeated it, it has no control over us either. When we trust in Jesus as our conquering King then we are a part of the winning team. All control and claim that sin and death had on us was removed with Jesus purifying blood. The problem comes when we fail to recognize what happened. However, Paul makes it clear that we will live with Christ, he has conquered death and has reunited us to God the Father. Today it is my prayer that you will renew your mind to these truths and celebrate this victory instead of being subjected to sin's domain. I pray that you find glorious freedom in this revelation of scripture. Amen!
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Original article published October 17, 2009.