Colossians 2:15
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

“When Christ died on the cross,” says author J. Vernon McGee, “He did not die because He broke the law; He was sinless. But it was because we broke the law of God, because we are sinners.”

It was necessary then, for Christ to die. And His death accomplished an opportunity for forgiveness, justification, and salvation. More than that, however, Christ’s death was God’s ultimate triumph over the spiritual tyranny of Satan, death, and sin. They have been shamed and stripped of power. Those who trust in Christ can never fall in their grasp again.

And how do we know that these authorities have been disarmed? Because “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given” to Christ [Matthew 28:20]. Their power has been stripped by the work of Christ, who humbled Himself and was obedient through His death, and has therefore been exalted by God so that His name is above every name [Philippians 2:8-11]. And again, in the Gospel of John, Jesus reminds His followers to “take heart; I have overcome the world” [John 16:33].

So we see that those who foolishly opposed God have been humiliated by the cross. The very means by which they tried to destroy Christ was the method of their own damnation. Commentator Curtis Vaughn describes it this way: “To the casual observer the cross appears to be only an instrument of death, the symbol of Christ's defeat; Paul represents it as Christ's chariot of victory.”

In Christ’s death, our Savior entered the presence of God Himself with His own perfect blood as a sacrifice for our sin. No dark force, no might of evil, no wicked rebellion, can ever undo what Christ has done. Victory is sealed and secure.

In light of Christ’s total victory on the cross, we are reminded of another passage describing what God has accomplished through His Son. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 says this:

Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.