Jesus Christ the Conqueror

I want to examine one aspect of Jesus Christ: Christ as the Conqueror. To see this, let us look at Romans 8. Since the passage is so long, you can read it here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%20&version=NASB

Make sure to read it first and, after doing so, you can see how powerful of a position we are in as Christians! Christ has so much tremendous power, we cannot even comprehend it. Let's examine what Jesus gives us by His position as a Conqueror.

What Did Jesus Conquer?

1. Death

1 Corinthians 15:54:57, "54But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. ⁵⁵"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; ⁵⁷but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Jesus conquered death. He removed the sting and power of death: sin and the Law respectively. The Law is what gives sin power. Sin having power gives rise to death (Ezekiel 18:20). The Law (meaning the Mosiac Law) gives sin power because it acts like a mirror. Without law, there is nothing to say sin is sin. How can sin be sin if there is nothing that LABELS it as sin. Paul explains this in his letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 3:22-23, "²²But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. ²³But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed."

Paul says the law keeps us under custody. We were shut out from the faith because of the Law. Why? The Law is what makes our sin, sin. It calls it out, gives it a name, and more importantly requires a punishment. Death. Without Jesus to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), we would still be sacrificing animals to atone for our sins.

It took the death of GOD (the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign, eternal CREATOR of the universe and Heaven) to pay for our sin (1 John 2:2). That should tell you something about both mankind's sinfulness and God's love for us (Romans 5:6, Romans 5:8-21).

2. Separation from His Love

Romans 8:35-37:

^"35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁶Just as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."

³⁷But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us."

Jesus defeats separation from His love! That's an odd concept to wrap our mind around, but think about it. Paul says in verse 35 "will these things separate us from God's love?" and in verse 36 "are we going to be like what God talked about in the Law and Prophets [Old Testament]?" and resolutely in verse 37 "NO! Jesus is so powerful that we overwhelmingly conquer the things that you think will separate you from His love."

3. Life's Troubles

Don't take the title to mean God promises we will never have distress (to the contrary He promises we WILL have tribulation--John 16:33). In the above verse Paul is also saying that we as Christians conquer tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and/or sword! All these things Jesus has overwhelmingly conquered.

How Powerful is the Conqueror?

Romans 8:37-39, "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul continues his passage in Romans 8 by saying he was convinced nothing in existence (for God has created everything--Colossians 1:16) could separate us from the Love of God. Jesus is THAT powerful. Absolutely nothing can separate us from God's love through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Conclusion

Do you feel worried about life? Are you ever afraid of what might or could happen? Do not fear! Jesus Christ the almighty conqueror is at your side! If you don't have Jesus in your life I pray you accept Him as Savior by following John 3:16. Believe (better stated trust) Jesus with your life. He died for you (1 John 2:2) and wants to save you (1 Timothy 3:3-4). All you have to do is:

1. Realize and confess you're a sinner (meaning you commit acts that are wrong in God's eyes. If you've ever done anything wrong, you've sinned. See Ezekiel 18:20, Romans 3:23)

2. Only Jesus Christ can fix that (1 John 2:2)

3. Believe that He is the Son of God who died on the Cross for your sins (1 Peter 3:18) and was brought back to life (resurrected) by God the Father (Acts 13:29-32).

4. Trust Him as your savior (John 3:16)

Once you do that and tell it to God you are saved by His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), given the Holy Spirit and sealed with Him forever (Ephesians 1:13-14 and Ephesians 4:30), and are a Child of God forever (Romans 8:29-31 with R0mans 11:29). God is good!! Buy a Bible and start reading it everyday, pray to God everyday, get in a good, Bible based Church, and tell others about what you've just experienced!

If you have questions about salvation, please do not hesitate to contact me at rrproclaim@gmail.com.

God bless,

Robert A. Rowlett