Angelic Conflict part 233: Human history (the Christ) – Col 2:8-15; Eph 3:19; 4:8-10; 1Sa 5:1-5; Psa 68:16-18; Heb 12:18-24.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 233: Human history (the Christ) – Col 2:8-15; Eph 3:19; 4:8-10; 1Sa 5:1-5; Psa 68:16-18; Heb 12:18-24.

Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

Col 2:9For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

Col 2:10and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Four identifications:

Circumcised in Him - cutting off the flesh (OSN).

Alive in Him - figurative baptism - identified with Christ.

Free from the Law in Him - Law nailed to Cross.

Victorious in Him - disarmed, displayed, triumphed enemy.

Col 2:11and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

Col 2:12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

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

Col 2:14having 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 2:15When He had disarmed [war word] the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Jesus had three great victories on the cross mentioned in this verse. He stripped satan and his army of whatever weapons they held. Satan cannot harm the believer who will not harm himself. He exposed satan's deceit and vileness and his ultimate judgment. He won a complete victory in triumph, released the captives, and thoroughly disgraced and defeated satan and his evil kingdom.

His third victory is found in the word triumph, which we now emphasize.

Whenever a Roman general won a great victory on foreign soil, took many captives and much loot, and gained new territory for Rome, he was honored by an official parade known as "the Roman Procession."

Paul alluded to this practice in his Second Letter to the Corinthians as we have recently studied.

2Co 2:14

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

Jesus Christ won a complete victory, and He returned to glory at the right hand of God in a great triumphal procession of all OT saints released from Hades. In this, He disgraced and defeated Satan.

The triumphant procession of the OT saints has already occurred, at the ascension of Christ.

Eph 4:8 Therefore it says,

"When He ascended on high,

He led captive a host of captives,

And He gave gifts to men."

Eph 4:9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

There He made a victorious proclamation to the incarcerated demons and He also used the keys of Hades to release the captives of the OT, all the OT believers.

1Pe 3:19

He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison

Rev 1:18

I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Psa 68:20

God is to us a God of deliverances;

And to God the Lord belong escapes from death.

Eph 4:10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

Eph 4:8 is quoted from Psa 68:8 which had been composed on the occasion that David assembled 30,000 men and removed the ark of the covenant from Kirjath-jerim, where it sat for 20 years in the house of Abinadab, to Mount Zion in Jerusalem [2Sa 6].

The typology concerning the movement of the ark of the covenant is as amazing as so many types of Christ in the NT.

Gen 49:10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

When Christ came to earth, entered enemy territory, He crushed the enemy. In like fashion, or typology, when the ark entered enemy territory, it did the same.

1Sa 5:1 Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

1Sa 5:2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

1Sa 5:3 When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again.

1Sa 5:4 But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

1Sa 5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

A little over 20 years later David conquered Jerusalem, called it the city of David, and on a hill in Jerusalem, which would come to be called Zion, David built a tent or tabernacle and set out with 30,000 men to get the ark of the covenant and bring it to Jerusalem and set it on the hill. It is the climb up that hill with the ark and the celebrating people in procession behind it that is in view in the celebratory song of Psalm 68.

Psa 68 is a song of triumph, celebrating the victories of YAHWEH, and particularly the victories which had been achieved when the ark was at the head of the army.

He then speaks of the hill of God-the Mount Zion to which the ark was about to be moved, and says that it is an "high hill" - " high as the hills of Bashan," the hill where God desired to dwell forever; verse 16.

Psa 68:16 Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, At the mountain which God has desired for His abode?

Surely, the Lord will dwell there forever.

Isa 14:13-14

"But you said in your heart,

'I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God,

And I will sit on the mount of assembly

In the recesses of the north.

'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.'

Is it any wonder that satan hates Jerusalem and the Jews. Is it any wonder that he now has a mosque sitting on this mount right now. God has mocked this desire when the ark came upon this mount around 1000 BC and its picture, Christ in session, is the ultimate defeat.

God is then introduced as ascending that hill, encompassed with thousands of angels, as in Mount Sinai.

Psa 68:17 The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness.

But Mt. Sinai was a place of fear for Israel, a dread, and the place of delivering the Mosaic Law. The Law was condemnation to Israel and to all men who could not make themselves righteous.

And then the poet says that, in doing it, he had triumphed over his enemies, and had led captivity captive; verse 18.

Psa 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captive Thy captives; Thou hast received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there.

The fact that the ark of God thus ascended the hill of Zion, the place of rest; that it was to remain there as its permanent abode, no more to be carried about at the head of armies; was the proof of its triumph.

It had been roughly 400 years since Israel entered the Promised Land and David is on the throne and the foes have been vanquished. There are still battles to fight, but in David, a type of Christ, they are, for the most part, defeated and the kingdom firmly established. This earthly kingdom will not last, in fact it won't outlast two generations, but we must remember that types are not perfect. They are pictures of truth that enable us to understand more deeply.

We are to live in this triumph, for the Ark's ascent to and dwelling on Zion is a type of our Lord's ascent to and session at the right hand of God.

Heb 12:18 For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,

Heb 12:19 and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them.

Heb 12:20 For they could not bear the command, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned."

Heb 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, "I am full of fear and trembling."

Heb 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,

Heb 12:23 to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,

Heb 12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Heb 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;

Heb 9:12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Heb 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,

Heb 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

In the holy place incense was offered as a fragrant aroma to the Lord. Since the believer now dwells in the holy place with Christ at the right hand of God then our ministries on this earth become that fragrant or sweet aroma.

2Co 2:14

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

The ark of the covenant had made everything captive. It had subdued every foe; and by its ascent there would be the means of obtaining invaluable gifts for people; Mercy and truth would go forth from that mountain; and the true faith would spread abroad, even to the rebellious, as the results of the triumph of God, whose symbol was over the tabernacle and the ark.

The placing the ark there was the proof of permanent victory, and would be connected with most important benefits to people.

Psa 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captive Thy captives; Thou hast received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there.

The "ascending on high,' therefore, in the Psalm, refers, to the ascent of the symbol of the Divine Presence accompanying the ark on Mount Zion, or to the placing it "on high" above all its foes.