When God raised Christ from the dead, he set him higher than every name that is named.
Ephesians 1:20-23 APNT
[This is] he who worked in Christ and raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heaven,
higher than all rulers and authorities and powers and lordships and higher than every name that is named, not only in this world, but in the coming [one] also.
And he subjected everything under his feet and he gave him who is higher than all [to be] the head of the church,
which is his body and the fullness of him who is filling all in all.
God put everything under Christ’s feet and that includes every name that is named. The KJV of verse 21 has “far above every name that is named.” Whatever name we want to put in there is under Christ’s feet. Everything going on in our country and world right is a name that has to be under his feet. He is higher than all powers and all authorities in this world. We are his body, so everything is under our feet too.
The phrase “everything under his feet” also refers to a custom in the Old Testament. There was a victory in a battle in Joshua 10 where Joshua and Israel were fighting a group of five kings. When they won the battle, Joshua told the captains to come and put their feet on the necks of the kings to symbolize their complete defeat.
Joshua 10:24-25 KJV
And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.
And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.
God put all things under Christ’s feet and that means he has won the victory for us and we have the victory. We should take that exhortation that Joshua made personally and fear not, nor be dismayed!
There is another promise that Satan will soon be crushed under our feet.
Romans 16:20 KJV
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The God who promotes peace will bruise Satan under your feet! The word bruise is suntribo in Greek and has a number of definitions. It can mean break, break in pieces, crush, shatter one’s strength, demolish or trample. All of these definitions have the idea of complete conquering. That reminds me of Genesis 3:15 where God gave the prophecy of the coming Messiah.
Genesis 3:15 ESV
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
The promised offspring of the woman was the Lord Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus from the dead and then seated him at his right hand. That is when all things became under his feet. The victory has been won, but now we have this promise in Romans that God will bruise Satan under OUR feet shortly.
The word shortly could be soon (as in time) or also suddenly or unexpectedly. We need to expect that in our everyday lives God will help us to be “more than conquerors.” Satan’s purposes can TODAY be thwarted, his influence destroyed and his powers paralyzed. What is true is that everything is under our feet because it is under Christ’s feet.
I recently heard a quote by Andrew Wommack: “If you want to give the devil a message, write it on the bottom of your shoes.” This was vividly brought home to me one time when I went to see an exhibit about King Tut in the Natural History Museum. One of the displays contained a pair of his gold sandals. On the bottom of the sandal he wrote the names of his enemies. Then every time he wore those sandals, he was declaring that those enemies were under his feet and were defeated! What enemies would you like to write on the bottom of your shoes?
One of the pieces of the armor of God in Ephesians 6 is the sandals of the preparation of the gospel of peace. God wants us to live in peace. He wants us to also stand together. The sandals of the Roman soldier had studs on the bottom of them so he could have a firm platform to stand on in any kind of terrain. We have the firm platform of the victory Christ won at Calvary over all his enemies and now we can stand together and walk in that victory each day. We can walk with authority and declare that the God of peace is going to bruise Satan under our feet SHORTLY.
For audio version of this teaching on Conference Call Fellowships with Acts Now Fellowship:
