«　WEEK 3　DAY 3　»

　　Col. 2:15 Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

　　2 Tim. 1:10 But now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.

　　No doubt, the Lord Jesus was crucified as the brass serpent in order to deal with Satan, the devil, the old serpent. It was through being crucified as the brass serpent that He crushed the head of the old serpent (Gen. 3:15). In this way the Lord Jesus destroyed the devil, who had the power of death (Heb. 2:14). In His humanity and through His work in His death Christ has destroyed Satan. Therefore, Christ died not only as the Substitute of fallen men, who had been bitten by the serpent, but also to destroy the devil. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 772)

　　[In Colossians 2:15] we see that in His work on the cross Christ caused the rulers and authorities to be stripped off, to be made a display of openly, and to be triumphed over in the cross by God. The rulers and authorities spoken of in this verse are the angelic rulers and authorities....The Greek word for "made a display" means [to] show or exhibit in the sense of putting to an open shame. God openly shamed the evil angelic rulers and authorities on the cross and triumphed over them in it. The Greek words translated "in it" refer to the cross, but they can also be rendered "in Him," referring to Christ.

　　In a very real sense the cross of Christ is the center of the universe. After God created the heavens, the earth, and billions of items in the universe, an archangel rebelled and many angels followed him. This archangel became Satan, and his followers became the evil rulers, powers, and authorities in the heavenlies. Later, the man created by God fell and became sinful. Eventually, Christ, God incarnate, went to the cross to work for the accomplishment of redemption. While Christ was on the cross, many things took place. At that time the cross was the center of the universe. The Savior, sin, Satan, we, and God were all there. While God was judging sin, the evil rulers and authorities were present and were very active, swarming around the crucified Christ, pressing in very closely. If they had not pressed in closely, God could not have stripped them off. The words "stripping off" indicate that the rulers and authorities were very close, as close as our garments are to our body. By stripping off the rulers and authorities God made a display of them openly, putting them to shame and triumphing over them.

　　Colossians 2:15 portrays the warfare that took place at the time of Christ's crucifixion. In His crucifixion Christ was working to accomplish redemption, and God the Father was working to judge sin. At the same time the rulers and authorities were busy in the attempt to frustrate the work of God and Christ. The reference to triumph in Colossians 2:15 implies fighting; it indicates that a war was raging. While Christ was working to accomplish redemption, the rulers and authorities came to interfere, pressing in close to Christ. But at that very juncture God stripped them off,...putting them to an open shame. Christ's work in His death caused all this to take place.

　　In 2 Timothy 1:10 Paul tells us that through His work in His death Christ nullified death. The Greek word translated "nullified" also means make of none effect, bring to naught, do away with, abolish, annul, discard. Through His devil-destroying death, Christ nullified death, making it of none effect. To nullify death does not mean to remove death but to make it of no effect. Death will not be removed until it is cast into the lake of fire after the millennium (Rev. 20:14). Death will be the last enemy destroyed by the Lord (1 Cor. 15:26). Although death has not yet been removed, it is none the less a fact that it has been nullified through Christ's death on the cross. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 774-775, 773-774)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msg. 23