What looked like weakness could not have been any stronger. By attempting to prey on a seemingly defenseless man, his murderers unleashed the full intensity and brilliance of divine power. In the weakest moment imaginable, Jesus defeated the two most intimidating enemies you have ever known: your sin and the armies of Satan against you.

You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)

Nothing could be weaker than hanging from the cross. His hands and feet sewn with nails to agony. His bare and broken body put on display for all to see. His lungs slowly, inescapably collapsing — one excruciating breath at a time. His enemies laugh, delighting in his dying. His friends withdraw and hide. He died between two hostile offenders: affliction and humiliation.

The way the rulers and authorities tortured Jesus was meant to magnify and degrade his weakness. “The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself.’ . . . And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (Matthew 27:41–44). They could have killed him quietly, but they wanted the whole world to see what he could not do. They wanted everyone to see just how weak he really was.

What looked like weakness, however, could not have been any stronger. By attempting to prey on a seemingly defenseless man, his murderers unleashed the full intensity and brilliance of divine power. In the weakest moment imaginable, Jesus defeated the two most intimidating enemies you have ever known: your sin and the armies of Satan against you.

Weakness Bore Your Condemnation

The apostle Paul writes, “You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh . . .” (Colossians 2:13). We won’t appreciate the power of Christ if we don’t recognize just how helpless we were (and are) without him. We were dead in our sin — not sick, not broken, not misguided, not flawed, but dead. From the day we were born, we laid in a grave of our own making, with hearts spiritually and emotionally incapable of loving Jesus. Sin swallowed every ounce of our hope, and yet we still loved our sin (John 3:19).

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