Colossians 2:20-23 NLT
[20] “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, [21] “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? [22] Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. [23] These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.”

When Jesus walked out of the tomb, He was the same man they buried three days before but yet very different. He still had all the history of His life on earth from His conception and birth to His crucifixion and death, but He rose from the dead beyond the reach of
sin and death. He had never sinned in His earthly life and He was incapable of sin in His resurrection state. He is now the God/man, our advocate and mediator who is seated at the Father’s right hand in the place of authority and power. He is head of the church and ruler of the universe, sovereign and supreme in all things.

It is this Jesus to whom we have been joined by faith, and in whom we have life and live in the world now. We have a vital spiritual connection with Him like branches in a vine through which flows His life and to whom He provides every resource we need to live in and to overcome the world.

So, Paul says, “Why are you still using worldly methods to battle the spiritual powers against you? Do this! Do that! Don’t do this! Don’t do that!”

“These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.”

None of these seemingly “holy” activities have any influence over our hearts. All they do is clutter our lives with useless prescriptions and create more frustration and failure.

“… But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.”

So, what’s the solution?

Romans 1:17 NLT
[17] “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Paul has already laid the solid foundation…Jesus! Jesus has done it all! All that’s left for us to do is to trust Him. This futile “work” of rules and regulations to gain favour with God went into the tomb with Jesus. He dealt “works” a death blow when He died.

Hebrews 3:14 NLT
[14] “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” God calls our trust in Jesus’ finished work “rest”.

Hebrews 4:2, 6-7, 9-10 NLT
[2] “For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them (the Jews). But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
[6] So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. [7] So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”…
[9] So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. [10] For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors (their efforts to please Him), just as God did after creating the world.”

Against the backdrop of the philosophical nonsense designed to lure these Colossians believers and other readers away from simple trust in all the merits of Jesus, Paul urges them to rest in Jesus because He has done it all for them.

So, we come full circle back to the heart of Paul’s explanation of God’s mystery plan. It’s “Christ in you” that enables us to participate in everything Jesus is and accomplished by His death and resurrection.

IT’S DONE, brothers and sisters! Believe it, rest in it, and live by it. It’s the only way to have a vital part in His mega-plan for us.