How to Quit Losing & Start Winning
By. A.L. Gill
EASTER Part 1
Lesson Six: From the Cross to the Throne
DEATH OF JESUS
Satan’s kingdom was being destroyed, and Satan knew that Jesus must be killed. Deception had worked with the angels. It had worked against Adam and Eve. But it had not worked against Jesus!
However, once again, Satan used deception. He deceived the religious leaders of that day into demanding Jesus’ death. He possessed the body of Judas to accomplish the betrayal even as he had entered the body of the serpent to accomplish the deception of Adam and Eve.
Satan hated Jesus so much that not only did he want Him dead, he wanted Him tormented. All of Satan’s principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and wicked spirits came to gloat. They must have been preparing for their moment of greatest victory and celebration when their own destruction came. Jesus was betrayed, beaten, crucified.
Great Deceiver, Deceived
Satan, the great deceiver was himself deceived. In his blind hatred, he did not realize that he had just caused the death of the Person who would, by that death and subsequent resurrection, utterly defeat him and redeem mankind from the results of their sin.
Jesus paid the price for our sin by dying on the cross. He delivered all of our sins, sicknesses, diseases and infirmities to the place of torments. When all the sin of this world was removed from Jesus, the power of God came on Him. The whole world shook during this time of great spiritual warfare. Jesus spoiled Satan and his demons. Satan, since the time of Adam, had been holding men under his authority. Jesus took the keys of authority away from the devil.
WHAT HAPPENED ON EARTH?
There were three days of battle. Jesus had said that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mat 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
- Veil Torn in Two
- Earth Quaked
- Rocks Split
- Graves Opened
No longer were men to be separated from God. The veil in the temple, into the Holy of Holies, was torn in two. The earth shook violently as Jesus broke the bands of death in the heart of the earth.
Mat 27:50 -53 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
WHAT HAPPENED IN SPIRIT WORLD?
The battle was joined between Jesus, our Substitute, and Satan with his demonic hosts. While Jesus was being nailed to the cross, Satan must have summoned all of his demons to witness this crucial event. This was too important for any of them to miss! As Jesus died on the cross, Satan and his demons must have been preparing in fiendish glee for what they thought would be their greatest moment of triumph.
It was not enough for Satan to see Jesus’ lifeless body hanging on the cross. In blind hatred, Satan must have shouted, “He must be cast into the depths of Hades!” Satan and his demons in their ignorant folly must have begun an exhilarated, but short lived celebration as the gates of Hell slammed shut behind Jesus. He descended to the depths of the bottomless pit and there, He buried every sin that was or ever would be committed. He buried all of our sins to be remembered no more.
Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
While Jesus was down in the heart of the earth He also preached to the spirits there , and those who heard Him gladly were freed and arose with Jesus also.
1Pe 3:18 – 20 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Mat 27:52,53 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Foretold by David
David also prophesied about the resurrection of Jesus.
Psa 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Foretold by Isaiah
The prophet Isaiah foretold the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Isa 53:8-12 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Lamb of God
Bore Sins of Many
Interceded for Transgressors
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
On the cross, Jesus fulfilled the function of the sacrificial lambs of the Old Testament.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Scapegoat
As Jesus bore our sins to the depths of the earth, He fulfilled the function pictured by the scapegoat which bore away the sins of the people in the Old Testament.
Lev 16:10,21 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
JESUS COULD NOT BE HELD!
When Jesus delivered our sins into the deepest part of the pit, the power of God came upon Him.
Act 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
The gates of hell (Hades) could not prevail against Jesus. Breaking through the gates of hell, He snatched the keys of death, hell and the grave away from Satan.
Devil and Demons Defeated
The history of ancient battles and the defeat of the enemies gives special insight into the significance of the following verse.
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Powers and authorities, as we have studied before, are references to Satan’s organization of demons.
In ancient times, when an army defeated their enemy, they disarmed them, stripped off their clothes, bound them in chains one to another, and in total dishonor marched them back, as slaves, to the conquering nation.
Jesus personally disarmed Satan and every demon. He took their weapons away from them. He stripped off their clothes. He made a public spectacle of them.
Those who days earlier were celebrating as Jesus hung stripped, naked and humiliated on the cross, were now humiliated in like manner.
Satan defeated Adam and Eve left them naked, stripped of their authority.
Satan thought he had defeated Jesus and left Him stripped, naked hanging on the cross.
However, Jesus defeated Satan and his demons and stripped them of their authority for all eternity!
The Resurrection
Having paid the penalty of sin by His death on the cross and delivering our sins to the depths of the pit, Jesus took the keys of death, hell and the grave away from Satan.
Having defeated Satan and broken his power over death, the tomb could no longer hold Jesus’ body. In an explosion of powerful triumph, Jesus arose from the dead.
Satan and every demon had been defeated!
Eph 1:19-21 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come
JESUS ASCENDED
In Triumph
Jesus triumphantly ascended back to heaven and He led captives in His train.
Eph 4:8-10 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
When Jesus led captivity captive, we have a picture of Jesus as the conquering General leading the defeated enemy in parade – disarmed, stripped, chained, totally humiliated in plain view before all of the angels of heaven. Satan and every demon were totally defeated and in their total disgrace were made a public spectacle.
When Jesus stripped the keys of authority away from Satan, He took back the keys of authority which Adam in his disobedience had surrendered to Satan when he chose to follow Satan instead of God.
As Jesus snatched those keys of authority out of Satan’s hand, He disarmed Satan of his authority over mankind and this earth. Jesus had personally defeated Satan and every one of his demons.
Received with Joy
Certainly there are no words to describe the joy of the heavenly hosts at the return of God’s Son to His rightful place in heaven.
How could man describe that victorious return? David was inspired to give us a description .
Psa 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
Proclaimed Victory!
The apostle John gives us Jesus’ words, as He proclaimed His victory!
Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
JESUS HAD THE KEYS!
Jesus came into heaven shouting, “Father, I have the keys! Satan is defeated and I have the keys!”
Jesus had the keys of authority in His hand which He had taken away from Satan who had stolen them in the garden when he had deceived Adam and Eve.
Importance of Keys
Jesus had taken the keys back from Satan, but He did not keep them. He gave them back to mankind.
In the first revelation of the church, Jesus told the disciples that He would give them the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
In Isaiah there is another reference to keys.
Isa 22:22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
In the past, keys were very large, heavy and ornate. The wealthy men often carried them on their shoulders because of their weight, but more due to their beauty. Often two or three slaves would follow the wealthy man carrying the keys on their shoulders. This was a show of wealth.
When Isaiah prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, he referred to the significance of the keys being carried on the shoulders.
Isa 9:6a For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
The keys, the government and the authority, were in Jesus’ hands! Jesus took those keys and gave them to His church, the body of believers on earth.
Authority on this earth
has been restored
to mankind!
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW
- After His death on the cross, where did Jesus take all of our sins and iniquities?
- What does the Scripture mean when it says that Jesus spoiled principalities and powers and put them to an open shame?
- What is represented by the keys that Jesus mentioned in Revelation 1:18?
See also Authority Lesson Seven: Authority Restored to Mankind