In December 1944, a young Japanese intelligence officer named Hiroo Onoda was landed on Lubang, a small, mountainous island in the Philippines. His orders were to hamper the enemy for as long as he could. He was told that he must not surrender, and that whatever happened, his army would come back for him.
Eight months later, in August 1945, Japan surrendered. The Second World War was over. But on Lubang, Onoda and a handful of other soldiers kept fighting. When leaflets announcing the end of the war were dropped over the jungle, they studied them carefully and decided they were enemy propaganda. When newspapers and letters from their families were left for them to find, they concluded that these too were tricks. The war, as far as they were concerned, was still undecided.
The years went by. One of the men eventually walked out of the jungle and gave himself up. Two others were killed in clashes. Onoda carried on alone. He raided farms, burned stores of rice, and fought skirmishes with local people and with the police. Farmers on Lubang lost property, and some lost their lives. For the people of that island, a war that had been decided long before was still dangerous.
Then in February 1974, a young Japanese traveller named Norio Suzuki went looking for him, and found him. Onoda was willing to talk, but he would not lay down his weapons. He would surrender only if his commanding officer came and ordered him to. So in March 1974, nearly thirty years after the war had ended, his former commander, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, by then working in a bookshop, flew to Lubang, walked into the jungle and read him the order that relieved him of duty. Onoda saluted, and later handed over his sword.
I have thought about that story many times, because it helps me understand something the New Testament teaches about the powers of darkness. The war has been decided. The enemy has been defeated. And yet, until the final word is spoken, a defeated enemy can still do harm.
A victory promised in the garden
The story of Christ’s victory begins on the day sin entered the world. After Adam and Eve had listened to the serpent, God spoke a word of judgement over the serpent, and hidden inside it was the first promise of the gospel: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
From that moment, Scripture looks forward to a Champion who would come from the woman’s line. The serpent would wound Him. But He would crush the serpent’s head. The rest of the Old Testament carries that hope through the promises to Abraham, to David and to the prophets. Isaiah sees a Servant who would pour out His soul unto death and then “divide the spoil with the strong” (Isaiah 53:12). The great enemy of humanity would be overthrown, and his captives set free.
When Jesus began His public ministry, the conflict came into the open. Peter later summarised those years in one sentence: God “anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil” (Acts 10:38). Wherever Jesus went, the powers of darkness gave way. Demons cried out in the synagogues. The sick were healed. The dead were raised. John explains the purpose of His coming plainly: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
The stronger man has come
On one occasion, after Jesus had cast a demon out of a man who could not speak, some in the crowd accused Him of working by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Jesus answered them with a short parable:
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
The picture is of a powerful man, fully armed, guarding his house. As long as he is in control, his possessions are safe. Nobody can take them from him. But then someone stronger arrives, overpowers him, strips him of the armour he relied on, and carries off everything he had seized.
Jesus is the stronger man. Satan had held humanity captive, but the Son of God had come to break into his house and set his prisoners free. Every exorcism, every healing, every forgiven sinner was a sign that the strong man’s grip was being broken. When Jesus sent out the seventy and they came back rejoicing that even the devils were subject to them in His name, He told them, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The ministry of the kingdom was already pushing back the darkness, before the cross had even been reached. “If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” The phrase the finger of God recalls the plagues in Egypt, when Pharaoh’s magicians admitted that a greater power was at work. In Jesus, the God of the exodus had come again to bring His people out of bondage.
PunchlineNotice the word armour. “He taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted.” The enemy had defences he relied on. As we shall see, the cross was the place where they were stripped away.
“Now shall the prince of this world be cast out”
As the cross drew near, Jesus spoke about it in language of judgement and victory. A few days before His death, with Greeks asking to see Him and His soul troubled at what lay ahead, He said this:
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.
“Now is the judgment of this world.” The word now points to the hour of His death. The cross would be the moment when the world was judged and its ruler overthrown. “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” On the night of His arrest, Jesus said it again: “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). Satan had no claim on the sinless Son of God. And He promised that when the Spirit came, He would convince the world “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:11).
To the watching world, the crucifixion looked like the devil’s greatest success. The Messiah was rejected, tortured and killed. His followers scattered. But Jesus says that the very moment of His lifting up was the moment of the enemy’s defeat. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” The prince of this world was cast out, and the crucified Lord began to draw people from every nation to Himself.
The triumph of the cross
Paul gives us the fullest account of what happened at the cross in his letter to the Colossians. He writes to believers who were being troubled by teachers who promised spiritual fullness through special rules, visions and the worship of angels. Paul’s answer is to point them back to what Christ has already done.
He begins with forgiveness: “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13). Then he explains how the forgiveness was secured: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14). The phrase handwriting of ordinances translates a word used for a handwritten certificate of debt, a signed record of what a person owed. Our record stood against us. God took it and nailed it to the cross, cancelled.
And then Paul draws the conclusion: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
Notice how closely the two things are tied together. The powers of darkness were disarmed in the same act by which our sins were forgiven. What was the armour in which the strong man trusted? It was the record of our guilt. As long as our sins stood against us, the accuser had a legal claim. He could point to the debt. When Christ cancelled the debt, He took away the enemy’s weapon. The accuser was left with nothing to accuse.
This is why Paul’s description is so bold. Christ “spoiled” the principalities and powers. The word means to strip off, to disarm, as a defeated soldier is stripped of his weapons. And He “made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them.” Paul’s readers knew exactly what that meant. When a Roman general won a great victory, the Senate might grant him a triumph, a procession through the streets of Rome. The victorious general rode in a chariot. Before him went the spoils of war, the treasures and weapons of the conquered people. And in the procession walked the defeated kings and generals in chains, displayed before the crowds as proof that their power was broken.
That is Paul’s picture of the cross. Jesus hung on a Roman instrument of execution, in apparent defeat, and Paul says that in that very place He was riding in triumph, with the powers of darkness led behind Him in chains for the universe to see.
The resurrection and ascension made that triumph public. God raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named” (Ephesians 1:21). The same powers that had seemed to have the last word at Golgotha were placed beneath the feet of the risen Lord. And Paul uses the triumph image once more, this time of the church: “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Believers are not the defeated captives in that procession. We belong to the Victor’s company, and wherever we go with the gospel, the fragrance of His victory goes with us. You do not march to make Him the winner. You march because He already is.
NuggetThe powers of darkness were disarmed in the same act by which your sins were forgiven. The accuser’s armour was the record against you, and Christ nailed it to His cross.
This is the ground on which I have always taught on so-called generational curses. Paul writes that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). The Father “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). A believer may still face troubling patterns in his family that need prayer, wisdom and sometimes counsel. But he does not face them as a cursed person trying to qualify for release. He faces them as someone whose debt has been cancelled and whose enemy has been disarmed. No minister needs to be paid, and no ritual performed, for that victory to apply to you.
The fear of death broken
The writer of Hebrews explains another dimension of Christ’s victory. He writes about the incarnation, the Son of God becoming fully human: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).
The word translated destroy means to render powerless, to put out of action. The devil had held a kind of power over death, using it to keep humanity in fear. Christ entered that territory by taking our flesh and dying our death, and in doing so He broke the enemy’s hold.
And the result is this: He came to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). Fear of death is one of the deepest forms of human bondage. It drives people to charms and rituals, to desperate pursuit of protection, to a lifetime of anxiety. In many parts of our society, every untimely death is explained by an enemy’s attack, and families live in dread of who will be next. Christ came to set people free from that fear.
This does not mean believers never die young or never grieve. They do. But death has lost its sting for those who belong to Christ. Paul says that Christ “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). A believer can stand at a graveside with real tears and real hope, because the One who holds the keys of death has already walked out of the tomb. The risen Christ said to John, “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” (Revelation 1:18). The keys are not in the hands of a jealous relative, a village shrine or an enemy in the office. They are in the hands of the One who loved you and gave Himself for you.
The last enemy
So Christ has triumphed. Does that mean every enemy has already disappeared? The New Testament is honest about this. Paul writes:
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Look carefully at the timing. “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” Christ is reigning now. His victory has been won. But the final putting down of “all rule and all authority and power” lies in the future, when “cometh the end.” And “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Death is still with us. People still get sick. Believers still die. The full outworking of the victory is yet to come.
The writer of Hebrews puts it in a single sentence: “But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus... crowned with glory and honour” (Hebrews 2:8-9). We do not yet see the world fully restored. We do see the King on His throne.
The book of Revelation shows us where history is heading. John hears the heavenly announcement:
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
And then, at the end, the enemy himself is finally removed:
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are , and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The devil who deceived the nations is cast out for ever. There will be no more temptation, no more accusation, no more oppression. And Paul tells the believers in Rome that this is not as far off as it might seem: “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16:20). Notice whose feet. The promise of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled in Christ, and its final outworking will be shared with His people.
Many have found the Second World War a useful picture here. Historians have noted that the war in Europe was effectively decided by the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, though fighting continued for almost another year until victory was declared in May 1945. Between the decisive battle and the final day, there was still real conflict and real loss. But the outcome was no longer in doubt. The Christian lives in that kind of time. The decisive battle was won at the cross and the empty tomb. The final day is coming when Christ returns. Between them, we stand in a victory that is certain, in a world where the enemy is still active.
Confidence and vigilance together
PunchlineThis is why the New Testament holds two things together that we are often tempted to separate.
On the one hand, there is confidence. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). A believer does not need to live in fear of the devil. He does not need to wonder whether the outcome is in doubt. He does not need to fight for a victory that Christ has already won. The powers have been disarmed.
On the other hand, there is vigilance. Peter warns, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Paul tells the Ephesians to put on the whole armour of God so that they may stand against the wiles of the devil. John tells us that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). The enemy is defeated, but he is not yet removed. Revelation explains his rage: “the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12).
If we lose the first truth, we become fearful and frantic. We start to treat the devil as an equal opponent of God, and our Christian lives become a constant struggle to survive his attacks. If we lose the second, we become careless. We assume that because Christ has won, nothing can harm us, and we leave the doors of our lives open to temptation, deception and sin.
The people of Lubang needed both. The war was over, and Japan had surrendered. That was simply true. But for nearly thirty years, there was still a man in the hills with a rifle. Farmers who went into the jungle needed to be careful. Their caution was not a denial of the peace treaty. It was a sensible response to a holdout who had not yet laid down his arms.
There is one important difference. Onoda kept fighting because he did not believe the war was over. The devil knows very well that his time is short. His activity is the rage of a defeated enemy, not the confidence of one who might still win.
Living as people of the victory
What difference does Christ’s victory make to the way you live?
It changes the way you pray. You do not pray as someone trying to win a war against an equal enemy. You pray as someone standing in a victory already won, asking the Father to make that victory visible in your life, your family and your nation. You can pray against evil with confidence, because you are praying in the name of the One who has disarmed it.
It changes the way you face fear. When a frightening diagnosis comes, or a threat is made, or a dream disturbs you, you can bring it to the Lord with the knowledge that He has broken the power of death and delivered you from bondage to fear. You may still need a doctor, a lawyer or a security plan. Those are wise steps. But the deepest fear has lost its grip.
It changes the way you minister to others. The church has always prayed for those who are oppressed by the devil, and I believe Christ still sets captives free. But a ministry that rests on Christ’s finished victory has no need for chains, beatings, starvation or long sessions of shouting at frightened people. It certainly has no right to charge fees for deliverance. Jesus has already stripped the enemy. Those who minister in His name do so with authority and gentleness, in prayer and in the word, with accountability, and with proper care for anyone who is vulnerable or unwell.
It changes the way you think about suffering. Christ’s victory does not promise that you will never face hardship. Paul, who wrote so boldly about the triumph of the cross, was writing to the Colossians from prison. But it does promise that no hardship can separate you from the love of God in Christ, and that the final word belongs to Him.
And it keeps you humble. The victory is His. You did not win it. You entered it by grace, through faith. That is why Paul can speak of the God of peace bruising Satan under our feet. The feet are ours. The power is His.
When Major Taniguchi read the order on Lubang in March 1974, Onoda did not instantly become a different man. He said later that he felt bewildered and empty, as if everything he had lived for over thirty years had collapsed. He had to learn how to live in a peace that had been true for decades. But from that moment, he no longer had to fight. The word of the one with authority to end his war had been spoken.
There are believers who live like Onoda in the jungle. They know the gospel. They have heard that Christ has triumphed. But they treat the announcement as though it might be a trick, and they live as though the outcome of the war were still in doubt. Every day is a desperate struggle against an enemy they believe might still win.
If that is you, hear the word of your Commander. “Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” The war has been decided at the cross. The enemy has been disarmed. You can stay alert, because the defeated enemy is still in the hills for a little while longer. But you do not need to be afraid. Christ must reign until every enemy is under His feet, and the day is coming when the last enemy will be destroyed and God will be all in all.
Lay down the fear. Stand in the victory.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- How does the Roman triumph help you picture what Paul says happened at the cross in Colossians 2:15?
- Why do you think Paul links the forgiveness of sins so closely with the disarming of the powers? What does that mean for the accusations that come against your conscience?
- In what areas of your life are you living as though Christ’s victory were still in doubt?
- How do you hold together the confidence of 1 John 4:4 and the vigilance of 1 Peter 5:8? Which do you tend to neglect?
- How does Hebrews 2:14-15 speak to the fear of death in your family or community?
This Week
This week, read Colossians 2:13-15 each morning and write out verse 15 in your own words. Whenever you feel fear or accusation rising, stop and say aloud, “Christ has disarmed the powers. My debt is cancelled. He is reigning now, and He will reign until every enemy is under His feet.” On one evening, read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 and Revelation 20:10 together, and spend time thanking God for the certainty of the final victory. If you know someone who lives in fear of curses or untimely death, share Hebrews 2:14-15 with them gently.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are the stronger man who came to set the captives free. Thank You that on the cross You cancelled the record of my debt, disarmed the principalities and powers, and triumphed over them openly. Thank You that You destroyed him who had the power of death and delivered me from bondage to fear. I confess that I have sometimes lived as though Your victory were still in doubt. Today I lay down that fear. Keep me sober and watchful while the enemy still rages, and keep me confident in Your finished work. I look forward to the day when every enemy will be put under Your feet and God will be all in all. Reign in me until that day. Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.