The cross of Jesus is cosmic in its scope. We usually see the cross as the place where Jesus died for my sin. But we must not escape the fact that the cross stands as a once-and-for-all claim that the kingdoms, and authorities, and rulers of this world have been severed from their power and are awaiting their final destination in the second death. The consequences of man's rebellion in the garden are not limited to man alone. All of creation has been impacted by sin. The heavens as well as the earth suffered the effects of Eden's rebellion and the cross of Christ stands as the restorer of this damage as well. To fail to see this, is to rob the work of Christ of the glorious scope and magnitude of what was actually accomplished.
The various entities that the old King James labeled principalities and powers were all created by God and for God according to Colossians 1:16. In other words, nothing has ever existed outside of the deliberate will and purpose of God, even Satan and his demonic host. Though we are not given the details, following the fall of man spiritual powers co-opting with human institutions and powers, became fortresses of haughty opposition to the Creator. Their work is what scripture calls "darkness". And without much detail, we are also informed that the purpose of God all along was for the Messiah to inaugurate a Kingdom that would crush all of the other kingdoms and the power of darkness that they ruled with (Daniel 2). Paul makes it clear that through the cross and resurrection, "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."(Colossians 2:13-15)
Unpacking this is where the fun starts. Obviously man's fall in Eden brought about a comprehensive corruption to everything including the entities that make up the principalities and powers. What was declared good by the Creator in the very beginning is no longer so good. The fall of humankind stands as the great divide. The authority given to the first humans to be God's stewards of his creation, was breached and handed to the co-op of influential entities that Paul lays out for us in Ephesians 6:12. Behind this distorted ragtag conglomeration of authority was Satan himself who indicates to Jesus in the wilderness of temptation that the kingdoms of the world now belonged to him (Matthew 4).
Spiritual forces, powerful personalities usually in the form of a ruler, and cultural institutions quickly became established in the earth to create an environment that was so corrupted that human thoughts were only evil continually. Enter the flood. Following the flood, we see these same principalities and powers at work to create a tower that would reach into heaven in defiance of God. Rampant idolatry and sorcery followed permeating all nations with a smorgasbord of various gods and goddesses complete with their sordid practices. Within all these nations the creational virtues of justice, beauty, peace, and joy (what the scriptures refer to as Shalom) were distorted into bondage, slavery, pleasure, conflict, and injustice.
The principalities and powers that were created by and for God, now like drunken sailors on shore leave perpetuated the sinful rebellion initiated by man across all creation. Paul tells us that all of creation, heaven and earth, was subjected to bondage and corruption (Romans 8:19-22) because of man's fall from grace. The landscape everywhere varied only in the degree of wickedness that was enacted by the principalities, not in whether or not wickedness was present. I remind you that Camelot only exists in the imaginations of man.
It is perhaps strange to think that humans are not the catalyst for the ongoing darkness. Their rebellion opened the door to darkness but what continued to unfold was a partnership between men and darkness. Spirits need human beings and institutions to operate through and humans need a spiritual catalyst in order to think, decide, and act. Fixing the mess from Eden requires action to be taken on a scale grander than me and Jesus. Sorry to burst the bubble of your own self-importance, but God's plan is bigger than you. God's action to remedy the Edenic fallout begins with a people brought about by a covenant made between the Creator and a man named Abraham. From the start, the remedy would be cosmic in scope and God would set about implementing this remedy through a people called Israel.
When God set his sights on Israel, he ordained a people, his people, that would live free from the principalities and powers that ruled the world. They were to be his people. He was to be their God. They wouldn't have human personalities rule over them, but God would be their leader directing their affairs through his prophets. Their law that governed them was perfect, free from oppression, injustice, and slavery that trademarked the governments of darkness. Their culture was to be permeated with reminders of the One and Good Creator, generosity and justice toward one another, and strict commands to avoid being like the corrupted nations around them. Under God, Israel was to become a "principality-and-power" free zone that was to shine a light to those nations who were not.
But most of you know the story. Israel wanted to be like other nations rather than a light to the nations. They opted for a king just like the other nations. They instituted customs and practices of the darkened cultures around them. Before a couple of centuries had passed, they were just as influenced by the principalities and powers as the most heathen of nations around them. The nation set aside by God to offer hope to the world became the neediest nation of all. If we are to learn anything from them, it is that the powers of darkness are seductive, powerful, and unrelenting. Only a people firmly committed to faith and obedience can ever experience life apart from their grip.
When Jesus sets foot on the banks of the Jordan following his baptism, he proclaims a message of the Kingdom (Matthew 5:17-25). This Kingdom is the antithesis of the kingdoms represented by the principalities and powers. His Sermon on the Mount was about living life apart from the powerful forces of darkness. His words were blatant, radical, declarations that life could and should be lived free from injustice, tyranny, bondage, conflict, and sinful pleasure. His message was about Shalom. His message was shared with the people who were now totally enslaved in darkness. It was also directed to the heart of the powers of darkness and its representatives. that they were put on notice that their days were numbered.
Everywhere he went he was opposed by the evil spirits that manifested in and through people. The powerful religious institution of an empty Judaism and the unrivaled power of the great Roman Empire conspired to do away with him. Even his own disciples, who were fully versed in the cultural expectations and prevailing faith mindset of the day opposed him often. He met each head on and proclaimed and demonstrated that the Kingdom of His Father could and would overcome the kingdoms of this world. The principalities and powers that had never been seriously challenged were now suddenly confronted by One who could not be bought by them. With his "not my will but thy will be done" in Gethsemane's Garden he was fully obedient to God to the point of death. With his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, he became the holder of "all authority in heaven and earth". The powers of darkness never saw it coming.
You say this is a good story, perhaps a sort of fiction, and not the real essence of Jesus' mission. I heartily disagree. The cross was about disarming the rulers and authorities and putting them to open shame. Paul tells us that our salvation is actually being delivered from the domain of darkness and being transferred to the kingdom of his beloved Son(Colossians 1:13-14). Regarding the cross and God's wisdom in it he states, "none of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (2Corinthians 2:8) One modern writer describes Good Friday as "the moment when the principalities and powers overreached themselves." They thought that they ended the existence of the threat to their power only to find that they ignited the very power that would destroy them.
We have been set free from enslavement to the very forces that keep our world broken. We have been issued a kingdom transfer as Paul stated above. And not only that, but we also find ourselves involved in a God-given mission "that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 3:9-11) This wisdom is the plan of God to join Gentiles and Jews as his new people into which he dwells by his Spirit. We now stand like ancient Israel as the people of God that are live a darkness-free life before the rest of the world and be a part of God's repairing his creation.
Like Israel of old our calling is to live under the powers-of-darkness-free zone called God's Kingdom. In doing so we shine our lights to a world held captive to darkness. What if we fail? What if we so crave the things that the principalities and powers offer to the culture around us that we become just like the culture we are called to redeem? Greed, covetousness, strife, betrayal, revenge, and the other things that define our world are not to be named among us. The words of Jesus call us to live differently, uniquely, as citizens of another Kingdom.
It is time to take these words seriously. When we are just as materialistic as those around us, when we divorce our spouses, when we satisfy our covetousness with consumer debt, when we pledge allegiance to a political party, when we split and divide in our churches, and when we continue to do life as the principalities and powers dictate, we forfeit our heritage before God and our mission to the world. Jesus died and rose again so that we might be instruments through which God's Kingdom would come and God's will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven. When we live to do this, we declare to the principalities and powers that they do not reign and that there is a Lord whose name is Jesus who does.
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