JUDGING THE WORLD
The death of Christ also judges the world. In John 12:31 the Lord Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out." The world is a satanic system, a satanic organization. This satanic system can be judged only by the death of Christ. When Christ died on the cross, His death spontaneously judged the satanic system of the world organization.
CASTING OUT SATAN
Furthermore, according to John 12:31, the death of Christ casts out the ruler of this world. When Christ died on the cross, He cast out Satan. If we exercise our own strength to reject the world or to fight against the ruler of the world, we shall fail. The best way to overcome the world and to defeat Satan is to be conformed to the death of Christ. If we are willing to be conformed to His death, we shall be victorious over the world and Satan.
DESTROYING THE DEVIL
Hebrews 2:14 reveals that the death of Christ destroys the Devil. This verse says, "Since therefore the children have partaken of blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the Devil." Through death, Christ destroyed not only the Devil, but also death. Since the one who held death has been destroyed, death has been destroyed also. This was accomplished through the death of Christ on the cross.
BLOTTING OUT THE ORDINANCES
Christ’s death has also blotted out the ordinances (Col. 2:14). It is not an easy matter to give up ordinances. If we drop one ordinance, we immediately make another one. If there were no self or flesh, it would be impossible to have ordinances. Thus, the best way to blot out the ordinances is to crucify the flesh and the self. Every ordinance is established by the flesh or by the self. This indicates that the problem is not actually with the ordinances, but with the self and the flesh. By His death on the cross, Christ has blotted out all the ordinances that were according to the law. In order for the one new man to be created, the ordinances had to be blotted out (Eph. 2:15). However, few Christians realize this. That is the reason there are so many ordinances in today’s Christianity. As the years go by, more and more ordinances are created by the self and by the flesh. We need to deal with the flesh and the self so that there will be no more ordinances. If we are conformed to the death of Christ, all the ordinances will be abolished.
(The Experience of Christ, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)
