His Victory In The Defeat

"He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets." (Col 2:15).

The above verse indicated that Jesus obtained victory right there on the cross. It wasn't after he died and resurrected, no it was on the cross that he was victorious. During the time that Jesus died the cross wasn't a place of victory but a place of shame and defeat. It was meant to crush the pride of the rebels, those who had exalted themselves above the authorities. The cross was used to humiliate them, it was a public display of shame and defeat. To see your revolutionary leader shamefully laid on the crush, it would just break all your hopes and dreams, so you can understand how devastated the disciples felt when they saw Jesus on the cross. But yet, on that same cross, that symbol of defeat, was where the greatest victory in all of eternity was won.

Yes, the cross of defeat is the greatest victory, and this is the wisdom of God (see part two of my post on being led by the Godhead). The cross was meant for a public display of the defeat of the person nailed on it. But yet the Bible says right there on the cross was where Jesus "disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." A place meant for the public display of defeat was turn into a place of the public display of victory and triumphant.

When you look at Jesus on the cross with the light (wisdom) of the world you will cry out, “oh no, the Lord has been shamefully defeated”. But when you look at him on the cross with the light from above you will rejoice crying, “victory is here”. Oh, the wisdom of God, is far higher than that of man, no wonder the spiritual man can never be understood, for he operates in a higher wisdom

“ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor 2:7-8).

What the light of the world portray as defeat is the victory in the wisdom of God. Yes, the defeat is the victory and this is a principle, a wisdom, a light that rules and govern the reality in Christ. The victory of God is wrapped in the mystery of defeat. It is when all our skills, abilities and knowledge are brought to a complete defeat, a complete nothingness, that is when we are actually victorious in Christ. The goal of the indwelling Spirit is to bring us to emptiness; he wants to bring to defeat all the tendencies of our flesh that Christ might ascend the throne in victory, for where we've come to the end of ourselves that is where Christ begins.

The fools would continue to depend on themselves and find sufficiency in themselves no matter how many times they have failed. There are Christians who are trying so hard to be holy and righteous, they keep trying and trying and each time they meet defeat but they never learn their lesson, for they continue to depend on their effort in trying to be holy and that is their folly.

When we find defeat we are to fall at the feet of our Lord and lay hold of his victory. For it is in our defeat that we find his victory. In Christ when we reach a place of defeat, situations that seem like a total failure that is where we find victory, because then we would learn to lean on nothing else but him alone.