Ephesians; 1:4 – Elected to be blameless. The church presented blameless

Phi 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

Seven steps down: Col 1:19 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him,

Col 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Phi 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (1)

Phi 2:7 but emptied Himself (2), taking the form of a bond-servant (3), and being made in the likeness of men (4).

Phi 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself (5)by becoming obedient to the point of death (6), even death on a cross (7).

Seven steps up:Col 1:15 And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born [prototokos – priority and sovereignty] of all creation.

Col 1:16 For by [in] Him [the: definite article] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him.

Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Col 1:18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.

Phi 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him (1), and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name (2),

Phi 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (3), of those who are in heaven (4), and on earth, and under the earth (5),

Phi 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (6), to the glory of God the Father (7).

He is the preeminent Creator of the universe, the church, and the new resurrection life. He is our King and His kingdom is our kingdom. The cost of including us was His blood.

Angels rebelled, mankind rebelled, and then, at the proper time, Jesus came. Against the heavenly creatures, against the men that were under their control, as the pressure of all of them would seem to crush Him, Jesus did what was foretold that He would do.

Col 2:13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

Col 2:14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Col 2:15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Heb 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

Heb 2:15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

The principalities and powers used our sin and death as power over us. Jesus took that instrument and turned against them to defeat (apekduo = put off from Himself) them.

The dark forces, the domain of darkness used our sin and our death as the means of their power over us. How could they have known that Jesus would turn that very instrument into the instrument of their own defeat and disablement? As He was suspended there, bound hand and foot to the wood in apparent weakness, they imagined they had Him as their mercy, and flung themselves on Him with hostile intent. Apekduo means He put them off from Himself, indicating that they pressed on Him, likely against His own mind as well as using their agents around the cross who were jeering at Him and casting insults at Him. But, far from succumbing to them, as He hung there, He allowed Himself to be forsaken by His Father and judged for the sins of the world, crucifying in Himself the flesh of all who would believe in Him and in so doing, helplessly nailed to a cross, He disarmed them.

Against such forces, containing omnipotence as He did, one would expect Him to meet their force with a greater force, which He did, but not in the way we would have expected. He did not clobber them with fist or sword or spear. He entered Jerusalem to destroy all rebel powers on the back of a colt of a donkey. He would defeat them through His own death. He humbly went to the cross and allowed them to crucify Him. Rather than fight them, He took their judgement and died in their place. He reconciled them to God. He took their penalty upon Himself. His love defeated them. His physical might wasn’t used at all.

He was resurrected three days later and announced that all rule and authority on heaven and on earth had been given to Him. He was the King of kings and now was the undisputed ruler of the kingdom of God as a resurrected man and Son of God. And with that power, He gave us His very life to live. And when we live that life, which is always in subjection to the King, we experience His victory and His defeat of the principalities and powers.

Remember, we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against these powers, and to defeat them, we wear the armor of our King.

Eph 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.

Eph 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Eph 6:13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Eph 6:14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Eph 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.

Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Eph 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints

Truth, righteousness, the good news of peace, faith, salvation, and the only weapon, which is the sword of the Holy Spirit, word of God are what make up this armor. It is the armor of the kingdom of God. They are to be worn in our hearts and to wear them is to live them and not only to know of them. It is one thing to know of armor, it is another to be able to wear it and wear it so skillfully as to be able to fight in it.

Demons still rule the nations, but after their defeat by Christ, they took a more subtle approach. It would seem that in the parts of the world where Christ is hardly known, demonic presence is more open, but I only conjecture this. The more subtle approach is not to use named gods that claim to have supernatural power and are represented to men as carved images, but to use the idols that are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life.

When Balaam didn’t defeat Israel, being unable to curse them, he got another idea. He returned to Midian and gathered up many harlots and sent them into the camp of Israel, and it worked.

Ephesians; 1:4 – Elected to be blameless. The church presented blameless – Col 1:22.