In His ascension the victorious Christ led captive those taken captive, and He led a train of captives to the height. This is very wonderful yet so mysterious.
Christ fought the spiritual warfare since His incarnation through His human living, His death, and His resurrection, and now even in His ascension He still fights the warfare as a victorious General. Hallelujah for our Christ, the victorious One!
He as a man defeated the devil in His human living, He as a man destroyed the devil through His death, and He as a man was victorious over death in His resurrection. What a victory He had over death, for a Man has risen from the dead!
He entered into death, being put to death on the cross, and He walked out of death, being raised by God. And the Bible says that it was impossible for Him to be held by death. Death and Hades tried to keep the Lord there, but they did not succeed.
Christ is not only a man, but He is God and resurrection, and as such a One, He cannot be held by death. Christ possesses an indestructible life, and death cannot hold Him. He defeated death and rose from the dead.
And when He walked out of death, He took the keys of death and Hades with Him. Now Christ is the One who became dead and behold, He lives, and He is living forever. Christ lives forever, He has an indestructible life, and He holds the keys of death and Hades.
Death is still here to collect all sinful and mortal men, and Hades still operates to contain these men until a certain time, but Christ took away its sting, its power, and the fear of death.
Now whenever we give the Lord the full ground among us to move and act, He swallows any death and removes any fear of death and of Hades. But if we don’t give the Lord the full ground among us, death operates and Hades is here also. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we in the church life be full of life, full of the death-swallowing resurrection life of Christ, and may we give the Lord the full ground among us for Him to operate and remove any death in us and among us.
This is how we fight the spiritual warfare, by giving the Lord the full ground in us, and by standing in the victory of Christ.
Christ has already won the victory, and in His ascension He led captive those taken captive, and He brought us to Himself to the height, in the heavenlies, for us to enjoy Him in a heavenly atmosphere and condition.
May we remain one spirit with Him, sharing in His victory over His enemy, and may we apply this victory to His enemy today, so that we may bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
In His Ascension the Victorious Christ Led Captive those taken Captive, Displaying His Victory
After passing through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection, Christ entered into ascension.
The Bible doesn’t tell us everything that happened to Christ in all the stages He went through, but it tells us a few details about every stage. In Eph. 4:8 we are told that in His ascension the victorious Christ led captive those taken captive.
It seemed that the fighting would be over after the Lord won a decisive and full victory over His enemy through His death on the cross and His resurrection, but it seems like Christ is still in a spiritual warfare ever in His ascension.
Both in His earthly ministry and in His heavenly ministry Christ is fighting the spiritual warfare. In His ascension God exalted Jesus Christ as a man, and He made this Man to be Lord and Christ.
In His divinity, as God, Christ was already the Lord, but now as a man, Jesus Christ was made Lord over all things in His ascension.
The Lord ascended to the height, and He led a train of vanquished foes (as the Amplified Version of the Bible says). This height refers to the Mount Zion, as seen in Psa. 68, and it is related to God’s move in the tabernacle with the ark as its center.
Just as the presence of the ark brought God’s people into victory, so the Lord went in victory and ascended triumphantly to the heavens.
As for the vanquished foes, this must refer both to Satan, his angelic powers, and us, the defeated sinners. We were taken captive by Satan, but when Christ came, He defeated Satan and took us as His captives.
Through His death and resurrection Christ defeated Satan and his kingdom, and He rescued us from Satan’s captivity and took us to Himself.
Now we who were Satan’s captives have become part of the train of vanquished foes following our victorious General Jesus Christ.
In the ancient times there was the custom that, once a general returns in victory, he would have a train of vanquished foes following him, and he would parade them for others to see his victory over his enemy.
The vanquished does in this verse may refer to Satan, his angels, and to us sinners. This indicates Christ’s victory over Satan, sin, and death.
In His ascension there was a procession of vanquished goes, led as captives from a war for a celebration of Christ’s victory (2 Cor. 2:14).
These verses offer us another window into the unseen spiritual realm, where we see that, when Christ ascended to God, He didn’t ascend alone – He led captive those taken captive, and train of vanquished foes were following Him.
And in His ascension God and Christ celebrated His victory over His enemy.
Praise the Lord, our victorious Christ came to undo the work of the enemy, He defeated Satan, He led captive those taken captive by him, and He led us in His ascension in a train of vanquished foes, even in His victory.
Hallelujah for Christ’s ascension!
Lord Jesus, we praise You for Your victory of Your enemy in Your ascension! You were ascended by God and made Lord and Christ over the whole universe, and You led captive those taken captive by Satan. Praise the Lord, Christ has undone the works of the enemy, He defeated Satan, and He took us – the captives of Satan – and made us His captives. Now we are part of Christ’s triumphant procession, following Him as our victorious General and declaring His victory wherever we go! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our victorious General, who has ascended to the height and was made Lord of all!
Christ Released us from Satan’s Usurping Hand and Brought us to the Heavenlies as Sons of God and Members of Christ
As believers in Christ, we are now in the heavens, for when Christ ascended to the heavens, we were in the train of captives led by Him “to the height” (Eph. 4:8).
The height here symbolizes the third heavens, the place where God dwells; the height is actually God Himself. In His ascension Christ released us from Satan’s usurpation and led us into Himself, into the heavens!
We used to be the captives of Satan, for he illegally usurped us and held us in captivity without our consent; but when Christ came, He defeated Satan, he captured Satan’s captives through His death and resurrection, and He led us as His captives to the heavens as a train, a procession.
Now we are with Christ in the heavens, ascended with Him, led by Him to the highest place in the universe. This is confirmed by Eph. 2:6 where we are told that God raised us up together with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
God not only raised us up from the position of death, but He seated us with Christ in the heavenlies, the highest place in the universe. The word “heavenlies” refers not only to a place but also to an atmosphere with a certain nature and characteristic.
God’s salvation has brought us, the believers in Christ, into a heavenly atmosphere with a heavenly characteristic.
God seated us all together in Christ, once for all; this was accomplished when Christ ascended to the heavens, and it was supplied to us by the Spirit of Christ when we believed in Him. When today we exercise our spirit and believe in the accomplished fact, we realize this in our experience.
Christ has released us from Satan’s usurping hand and He has brought us to the heavens where we are now sitting – not as captives, but as sons of God and members of Christ.
Hallelujah, we were Satan’s captives but now we are the sons of God and the members of the Body of Christ, and we have been raised together with Christ and seated together with Him in the heavenlies!
In His ascension the victorious Christ has brought us, the believers in Christ, to the highest place in the universe (Eph. 4:8). He brought us not just to a place but into an atmosphere with a heavenly nature and characteristic.
We have been saved from the usurping hand of Satan through Christ’s death and resurrection; by faith in Christ we are released from Satan’s usurpation. Now we are in the heavens sitting together with Christ, not as captives but as sons of God and members of Christ.
This is what the victorious Christ did in His ascension, and this should be our enjoyment and experience today!
Thank You Lord Jesus for releasing us from the usurping hand of Satan and bringing us together with You to the heavens to sit with You in the heavenlies in ascension! Hallelujah, what a wonderful fact: we are now seated with Christ in a heavenly atmosphere with a heavenly characteristic. We are no longer captives but sons of God and members of Christ, and we are one with Christ in His ascension, partaking of His victory! Lord, we exercise our spirit to realise and experience this reality through faith in this accomplished fact!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 808-809 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 3, The Victorious Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lo, on high Christ hath ascended, / Leading captives in His train; / These as gifts He has perfected / That the Lord may dwell with them. / Brothers, sisters, we are those, / We’re those transformed, vanquished foes! / Hallelujah, hallelujah, / Hallelujah, Amen! (Hymns #1100)
# The new covenant ministers / Are captives in a procession, / Defeated and subdued by Christ / For His victorious celebration. / Lord, make me Your captive. / Never let me win. / Defeat me all the time. / Lord, make home in me. (Song on, The new covenant ministers)
# In the Body, by the Headship, / Sitting in the heavenlies, / Struggle with the wicked spirits / And the principalities. (Hymns #885)
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