"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
The Lord Jesus Christ overcame so many things for us. Because He has overcome the world, we can all take heart and begin to live the life that God has called us to: a life in fellowship with His Son our Lord Jesus, a life of holiness and purpose for His praise and glory.
If ever we are facing some hardship right now, especially things that we used to be in bondage to or things that we can't seem to shake off, we can take heart in the fact that whatever it is, Christ has overcome all of it for our sakes, and in Him we have the victory.
Here are some things that Christ has overcome for us.
1. Sin
Christ defeated the power of sin and death for us, and now that we are in Him, we have the power to say "no" to it. Romans 6:5-11 says,
"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
2. Satan and his minions
Some of us might say that Satan is too powerful for us to fight. Well, if we are apart from Christ he is, but if we are in Christ he is not. Christ defeated Satan and destroyed all his works in our lives. When we are being condemned, harassed or tempted by the enemy, we should remember that he has no power over us, unless we give in to him. Colossians 2:13-15 tells us:
"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."
3. Hopelessness
We might be tempted to think that we are beyond hope because our sins are too hard to break. This is wrong. Christ has defeated sin, disarmed Satan, and has given us hope with His resurrection from the dead. If He was able to defy death by the mighty power of God, we can hope in Him to overcome anything that hinders us from living the abundant, godly life that He wants for us.
1 Peter 1:3 tells us that God, "according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Our hope rests in the risen King.
