Pastor and 1st Lady Mims

Mims Chapel Church

Week 13, November 30, 2025

LESSON 13

The Reversal of Fortune
and Triumph of Christ

Lesson Text:

Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 6:12; Titus 3:1;
Revelation 12:10

Memory Verse
"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."
Colossians 2:15

Key Terms
Despoil • Strip of belonging, possessions or value.
Exaltation • The act of raising someone to a more important or higher position.

Reversal of Fortune • The change of a situation from good to bad or vice versa.

Suggested Emphasis

The trend-setting Christian jazz group, Take 6, had a song in their sophomore album So Much 2 Say that comes to mind whenever I read Colossians 2:15. "Sunday's on the Way" imagines a party being held by Satan and his demons to celebrate Jesus' death. For two days the hordes of Hell were enjoying the revelry, but on Sunday morning the Resurrection broke up the festivities. "Sunday's on the Way" is a silly novelty song, but it captures a similar reversal-of-fortune feel that Paul does in this verse. Let's take apart the verse and see why it is so evocative.

Emphasis 1:

Who Are the Principalities
and Powers?

The identity of the "principalities and powers" in view is the first question we must answer. There are two theories commonly offered. We might consider this a reference to ordinary human rules. The same two Greek words are used in Paul's letter to Titus: "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work" (Tit. 3:1). It is not far-fetched that Paul meant human governors and rulers here, as he clearly did in the later letter. And there are some suspects who could easily be identified as the principalities and powers that stripped Jesus and put Him to an open shame. Herod, Pilate, the Jewish authorities, and the Roman soldiers all mocked Him and tried to humiliate Him. The exaltation of Christ, effected by His resurrection, was a personal rebuke of those characters.

Nonetheless, the term more likely applies to supernatural figures. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we read, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). The term refers to the demonic forces here, and if we apply the same definition in the verse from Colossians, then "principalities and powers" are the demonic influences on Herod, Pilate, and the other persecutors of Christ.

Emphasis 2:

How Were They Spoiled?

Paul asserts that these principalities and powers have been "spoiled." The idea is that Christ metaphorically despoiled them of their armor and snatched away their weaponry. It's the picture from Mark 3:27, with Satan bound and having his goods stolen. Specifically, they lost the ground of their accusations against the Saints. This is pictured in Revelation 12:10, when a loud voice in Heaven cries out "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." The demonic prosecutors, intending to bring us up on charges, opened up our case files and found that all the papers had been redacted (see the previous lesson)! "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:33,34).

Emphasis 3:

Christ Triumphed Over Them

And more than just disarm the principalities and powers, the assertion is that Christ embarrassed and humiliated them. This was done when the Father highly exalted Him through the Resurrection_ "Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Eph. 1:20,21). Christ is now "the head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10); moreover, God has put "all things under his feet" (Eph. 1:22). "Triumphing" over the principalities and powers is likely a euphemism for trampling them underfoot.

Missions Application Questions:

1. Why do we believe the principalities and powers that Paul references here are Satan and his demons?
2. How was the "spoiling" of the principalities and powers probably associated with their inability any longer to bring accusation against the Saints?
3. What personal response do you have to the image of Christ trampling His enemies under foot?

World Missions Prayer Points

Let us pray to stay aware of our human enemies and the demonic forces that animate them.
Let us thank God that Satan can no longer be effective as an accuser of the brethren.
Let us pray that the global missions team be encouraged by the mental picture of a triumphant Christ.