RAISED UP WITH CHRIST
1. To understand how God has provided for us through the Cross you must understand substitution and identification.
a. A substitute takes the place of another. Jesus took our place at the Cross. Rom 5:8
b. But once Jesus took our place on the Cross, He was identified with us.
1. To identify means to make identical so you can consider or treat the same.
2. On the Cross Jesus became what we were so the Father could treat Him as we should have been treated. II Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13
3. On the Cross Jesus became one with us in our sin and death. Then, all the punishment due to us because of our sin and disobedience went to Jesus.
c. The Bible teaches that we were crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20), died with Christ (Rom 6:8), were buried with Christ (Rom 6:4), were made alive with Christ (Eph 2:5), were raised up with Christ (Eph 2:6).
d. We weren’t there, but what happened there affects us as though we were there. That’s identification.
2. In the past few lessons we’ve been looking in detail at Jesus’ substitution for and identification with us.
a. At the Cross Jesus died our death for us as us. He took our spiritual death on Himself. He was separated from the Father as we were. When His physical body died, He, His spirit, went to hell as we should have. II Cor 5:21; Acts 2:22-32
1. At the Cross Jesus became what we were — dead spiritually and physically. He was cut off from the Father and alienated from the life of God. Matt 27:46; Eph 4:18
2. At the Cross Jesus took the sinner’s place in judgment. Jesus was under the judgment of God. He took our place under the wrath of God for our sins.
c. When the price for sin was paid and the claims of justice against our sins were satisfied, Jesus was justified (made righteous) alive in spirit. I Tim 3:16
1. Jesus was never unrighteous in Himself. He took our unrighteousness on Himself. 2. Unrighteous us died on the Cross and went to hell in the person of our Substitute. Then, unrighteous us had to be justified (made righteous). When Jesus was justified we were justified or made righteous.
3. Once Jesus was justified in spirit, the life of God came back into Jesus’ human spirit and Jesus was reunited with the Father. When Jesus was made alive we were made alive.
I Pet 3:18
d. Once all of these things had taken place in the unseen or spiritual realm, physical death could no longer hold Jesus and He rose from the dead physically.
3. In this lesson, we want to focus on the final portion of Jesus’ substitution for and identification with us — He conquered Satan and sat down at the right hand of the Father
1. Because we are under the dominion of death we are also under the dominion of the devil because he is the lord of death. Heb 2:14
a. Power means dominion. When you are spiritually dead, cut off from God, you are under the dominion of Satan. Eph 2:3; I John 3:10
b. As the lord of death Satan has the right to rule over spiritually dead people. People who are guilty of sin are under the dominion of death.
2. One of the reasons Jesus took on flesh was so that He could die for us. Heb 2:9,14
a. God’s plan was that Jesus would submit to death as a man, go through death as a man, and come out of death as a man — for us as us.
b. Remember, Jesus went to the Cross as the representative man — the Last Adam (I Cor 15:45-47). He went through death for us as us to deliver us from death.
3. Once the price for our sin was paid, death could no longer hold Jesus because He had no sin of His own. Acts 2:24
a. When life came back into Jesus’ spirit and He was raised from the dead or came out of death, we were with Him because of identification. When He was made alive in spirit and raised up, we were, too.
b. Jesus rose from the dead (spiritual and physical) as the Second Man (I Cor 15:45-47), the head of a new race of men who have come out of death (spiritual) into life (spiritual), and will eventually come out of physical death at the resurrection of our physical bodies.
1. Col 1:18–His was the first birth out of death. (Knox)
2. Col 1:18–Being the first to be born again from the dead. (20th Cent)
c. Rom 6:9–Because our sins have been paid for death has no more dominion over Jesus or over us.
4. When Jesus voluntarily submitted to death He really died. Death really had dominion over Him.
a. Because He took our place at the Cross and identified with us, He became what we were — under the dominion of death and under the dominion of the devil. John 12:27; Luke 22:53; Luke 22:3; I Cor 2:8
b. Jesus submitted to death so that by going through death as a man He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. Heb 2:14
1. He might render powerless him whose power lies in death. (20th Cent)
2. For it was only by dying as a man that He could cancel the power of the devil, who rules the realm of death. (Lovett)
3. Heb 2:15–And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives. (Amp)
c. Jesus defeated death by coming out of it. He was the first and only man up to that time to do so.
(Lazarus and the others died again). A man defeated the devil and broke the bondage of death.
5. After three days and nights Jesus’ death and suffering in hell satisfied the claims of justice against us.
a. Because Jesus had no sin of His own, when our sin was paid for, Jesus was made righteous in spirit and made alive in spirit.
b. The moment He was made alive again He became a conqueror again and Satan could not hold Him. Acts 2:24
6. Col 2:15–Jesus spoiled principalities and powers, the devil and all his hosts. Spoiled means wholly put off from oneself. (Thayer’s Lexicon)
a. There Christ stripped the demonic rulers and authorities of their power over him and in his own triumph made a public show of them. (Translator’s New Testament)
b. And then, having drawn the sting of all the powers and authorities ranged against us, He exposed them, shattered them, empty and defeated, in his own triumphant victory. (Phillips)
c. He stripped the rulers and powers of their armor and made a public show of them as He triumphed over them in Christ. (Beck)
d. He openly displayed Jesus’ triumph over Satan, disarming him and his entire band of spirits down to the last demon. (Lovett)
7. Jesus defeated death and the devil for you as you. He didn’t need to defeat either one. You did, but you couldn’t, so He did it for you!!
a. Col 2:15 tells us God made a show over the devil in it. In it, in the Greek, is in Him (EN AUTO). It is used three other times in this chapter — v7, (in Him), v9 (in Him), v10 (in Him).
b. Through identification we were in Christ when He triumphed over the devil. In Christ, in Him, we triumphed over the devil.
c. When Jesus threw off death and conquered the devil, we did, too!!
8. The only reason Satan has a grip on any man is his right as the lord of death to rule over spiritually dead people.
a. Legally, when Jesus came out of death, we came out of death. When Jesus was given life we were legally given life. Eph 2:5
b. Because of that legal act, the life of God came into your spirit at the new birth. Receiving spiritual life (the life of God) released you from spiritual death and the dominion of the devil.
1. To be seated with Christ means we have been given a position of authority, the same position the man Jesus has.
a. He raised us together with him and caused us to share his place of honor in the supernatural world. (Translator’s New Testament).
b. Raised us up too, enthroned us, too, above the heavens in Christ Jesus. (Knox)
c. In our union with Christ Jesus, He raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. (Good News)
2. At the Cross in His death, Jesus got what we got — He took our death (spiritual and physical), our punishment, our curse on Himself.
a. But that was a means to an end — so that in the resurrection we could get what He got.
b. Whatever Jesus got, I got. I am seated with Him. That means I am as far above, as free from the dominion of death in all its forms (sickness, disease, lack, depression, fear, etc.) as Jesus is above it and free from it, and I have the same authority over it He has.
3. Eph 1:19-23–I was made alive and raised up at the same time and by the same power as Jesus.
a. v20b to v23 is a parenthesis in this statement. v20a actually connects with Eph 2:1.
b. In Eph 2:1 “hath he quickened” is in italics which means it is not in the original Greek text. It actually reads: Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and you who were dead in trespasses and sin.
c. That means whatever happened to Jesus in v20b to v23 after He was made alive happened to us because we were made alive with Him.
d. What happened? He, the man Jesus, took the place at the right hand of the Father for us as us with a position of authority above every name that is named. Then, the work of redemption was completed. Heb 1:3
1. Notice where this passage in Eph 1 occurs — in a prayer Paul was inspired to pray for Christians, that they would know the reality of certain things. Eph 1:16-19
a. In order to benefit from the provision of the Cross, we must first know what the Cross of Christ has provided for us. That is why we are taking time to study it.
b. But, we should also pray according to this prayer and ask God to give us revelation and understanding of the reality of the provision of the Cross.
2. As Christians, we do not fight to obtain victory or to conquer. Jesus won the victory. Jesus already conquered Satan, death, hell, and the grave.
a. Through Christ we have been made conquerors, we’ve been born overcomers. Rom 8:37;
I John 5:4
b. Always face Satan and all of his works as defeated foes, defeated enemies — you already beat him through your substitute through identification.
c. We overcome by the Blood of the Lamb (the full provision of the Cross) and the word of our testimony (saying what God says about us, about our circumstances, about Satan). Rev 12:11
3. We do face satanic opposition in this life. He opposes us to try to stop us, to keep us, from walking in all the provision of the Cross.
a. Eph 6:12–Wrestle in the Greek comes from PALLO (PALE\) which means to sway or vibrate. The devil knows he is defeated, was defeated by you, but if he can sway you off of your position of victory, it is as though he won.
b. v11 tells us that his tactics are mental strategies and that our defense is the armor of God.
c. The armor of God is knowledge from God’s word about what the Cross of Christ has done for us, has provided for us. Ps 91:4
4. This is why Christians need the Cross preached to them — so they can know what God has provided through the Cross of Christ. I Cor 1:18; Rom 1:15,16
a. It’s not about getting God to do something for you.
1. He has already done something for you by breaking the power of death over you in all its forms.
2. He has already done something for you by giving you the authority of Christ.
b. Now, it’s about learning how to walk in the provision of the Cross so you won’t be moved by opposition from Satan. More next week!!