The Cross and the Defeat of the Powers of Darkness

Does Spiritual Warfare Matter Today?

Our life is often lived as if we don't believe that Satan and demons actually exist. Most people will say they believe there is a spirit realm that we cannot see and the two sides - good and evil oppose each other. Unfortunately, many people just say this, but in their heart they can't really accept that good and evil are waging spiritual war against one another.

Their enlightened and rational minds just can't believe that something they cannot see actually exists. This is not myth, but a spiritual reality. It shapes the entire story of the cross and Jesus' defeat of the powers of darkness. Do you ever doubt the spirit realm's reality in your daily life?

The Cross and the Defeat of the Powers of Darkness

The perfect world God created was marred and damaged by sin. Death entered into it. The fear of death hung over it. But God devised a glorious plan to, not just salvage that perfect world but re-create it. His plan required the unthinkable. He would take on human flesh, come into the world, and die to take away the condemnation caused by sin. As the Geneva Study Bible says, "The cross was a chariot of triumph." The cross defeats the powers of darkness once and for all.

Satan, in his arrogance, even attempted to tempt Jesus Himself to sin when He was driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit. Failing that, Satan's next plan was to enter the wicked hearts of men and tempt them to slay Jesus on the cross, the most shameful and gruesome death a man could endure.

Satan worked through human sin and wicked hearts to bring about Christ’s death, but men are morally responsible for their choices. Satan’s work didn’t end at the cross, his methods are the same today as then.

Satan’s Tactics: Accusation and Temptation

Satan is a destroyer, as we are told in Revelation. Job tells us that he accuses us of sin before God. "They're guilty," he tells our Father. He actively tempts us to sin just so he can gleefully point out our failings. The law of Moses also accused people of sin. They knew they could not possibly obey every point in the law no matter how hard they tried.

But Jesus says to the law and to Satan that He has not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it (John 3:17). Paul reminds us again in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Our Captain, Jesus, has defeated our enemies. We have gained spiritual life, forgiveness of sin, and our foes destroyed. We have been delivered from the powers of darkness (Colossians 2:13-15). Romans 8:33-34 says because sin has already been punished we cannot be accused. Christ Himself intercedes and advocates for us before the throne of God. It is His righteousness, not our own, that He pleads on our behalf.

Satan continues to tempt the world to sin, but there is no one to condemn us when we walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. Have you felt accused this week? How has it affected your walk, if you have? We see an example of how Satan works in the book, "Pilgrim's Progress" and the allegory of Vanity Fair. This timeless picture of temptation still speaks to us today.

Vanity Fair: An Allegory for Modern Temptation 

In his book, John Bunyan wrote of a city called Vanity. In this city was a Fair, Vanity Fair. Day and night the fair offered all the worldly pleasures one could think of. If you traveled through the city you were expected to take part in the Fair. Those who didn't would be ridiculed and even arrested for not participating.

The Fair was present for one purpose, to pull aside those who were on a godly, righteous path. Who is it that created the Fair, none other than Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion? In our world today we see the Devil working in the lives of many, just like in the city of Vanity.

2 Timothy 3:13 tells us that evil will increase in the last days. We see families being destroyed, lives ended, rampant immorality, and the elevation of self to the point where many believe we are close to those days. I don't know if we are or not, but as time goes by it seems more and more people are accepting the invitation to play at the Vanity Fair. More and more are being tempted away from the narrow path that leads to salvation.

Resisting Today’s Digital Vanity Fair

In our 2025 world, this Fair is similar to social media feeds powered by AI that tempt us with content it thinks we want to see, based on our viewing habits. Like Beelzebub designing the Fair, these algorithms, as they are called, use our data to push personalized content towards us that may stir envy, lust, or division.

This may draw us into addictive cycles of sin. Yet, just as pilgrims resisted Vanity Fair through faith, we can arm ourselves against this digital deception by filtering our feeds and aligning them more with our Christian faith. Be careful not to let the devil get a foothold in your life (Ephesians 4:27).

What Victory Looks Like for Believers Today

But we still have hope in Christ's victory, as Colossians 2:13-14 explains. Paul tells us that once we were dead in our sin but now we have been made alive. How? By the fact that God has forgiven us. This forgiveness is given to those who turn to Christ in repentance and faith, confessing their sins and trusting in His atoning work.

When a Christian is forgiven, Satan can no longer accuse us before God, our sins are not held against us. Satan’s accusations are now powerless before God’s justifying work in Christ. Our slate has been wiped clean. His forgiveness is total, we are no longer under condemnation. The "handwriting of requirements" against us has been nailed to the cross. This means that the record of our transgressions against God was canceled by the cross.

Then in verse 15, one of the most powerful statements in all of the Bible is made, "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." Who are these principalities and powers that have become a public spectacle and how have they been disarmed?

Where Satan assumed Jesus would be the one disarmed, literally stripped, and forced to become a public spectacle by His execution on the cross, it was Satan and his demons. By the resurrection of Jesus, sin and death and Satan and his demons were defeated. No longer does man have to fear death (Hebrews 2:14-15). When you feel accused, remember the cross has canceled the charge.

The devil and his demons have become a public spectacle. In Paul's time, the Romans would make a public spectacle of their defeated enemies. They would parade them in shackles in front of the citizens of the city. Theirs was a very public humiliation. The cross became the greatest weapon in the history of the world for by it evil was defeated.

This cosmic battle between good and evil, light and dark has been won. Instead of being under the domination of evil, we have been brought "into the kingdom of the Son of His love "(Colossians 1:13). We have been spiritually moved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

1 Peter 3:22 agrees and says "angels and powers and authorities" are now subject to Jesus. Ephesians 3:10 explains God's wisdom will be revealed through the church to "principalities and powers in the heavenly places." These are supernatural beings or demonic forces, who have power and influence over the world.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12 that our struggles are not really with flesh and blood humans but with, "principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." In such a fight, who could we want more on our side than God Himself (Exodus 14:14)! Paul reminds us that we don't fight with our power alone, but our strength comes from the Lord (Ephesians 6:10).

Jesus' cross gave us a weapon to defeat evil. His forgiveness and the life it brings lead to righteousness, but not without our putting on the whole armor of God: truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, salvation, and the word of God (Ephesians 6:14-17). Will you put on your armor today and join the fight? This armor equips us to live in the freedom Christ has already won. Wrestling against evil is only successful when we are battle ready.

Through the death of Jesus the devil's power of death has been destroyed (Hebrews 2:14). As Christians we are blessed with eternal life with Jesus. Death no longer has power over us. We don't fear it. It is but a door to life with our Lord.

In God's timing the Devil will be permanently destroyed and thrown into the Lake of Fire for all eternity (Revelation 20:10). The dragon, "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world" (Revelation 12:9) will no longer be the destroyer.

In the meantime, we continue to contend with Satan as he roams the earth like a lion looking for prey to devour. We are devoured when we fall to temptation. We are devoured when we go against the will of God. The devil tempts us but he cannot force us to sin. That is a choice we make on a daily basis. Do we live by faith or do we live in the world, in Vanity Fair? We can't live in two camps. We must choose!

The Final End: Hope Beyond the Battle

Revelation tells us we will see the return of our world to the perfect place it was meant to be. The spiritual realms of evil will no longer exist. This battle we cannot see will be finished and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and tongue confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). This doesn't mean that all will be saved but all will acknowledge who is Lord of all.

Today, look around your world with spiritual eyes and try to realize that you are part of the battle you cannot see. So, does spiritual warfare matter today? Absolutely, but remember, the battle is already won!