Captives in Christ's Triumphal Procession
November 12, 2022
2 Corinthians 2:14 – “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere.”
We’re a little earlier in 2 Corinthians that we were on Thursday but I think from the scriptures we’ve been seeing by Paul the last couple of months that Paul was a man who looked at life from a positive perspective. Even though he had hardships, he saw them as opportunities to prove how sufficient God’s love is and it took it as a way for him to serve God more faithfully. Instead of constantly dwelling on the negative and pain that he was encountering, Paul focused on the opportunity to extend forgiveness as a representative of Jesus.
When I read this scripture, the first thing that came to my mind is the part where he wrote, He leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession. When I think of a procession, I tend to think of a parade. Like when a sports team wins a championship and the whole town comes out to cheer for them for their victory! The team goes first, followed by the band and cheer leaders and maybe even a few dignitaries from the town. In this case, Paul is painting us a picture of a General coming home from a victory at war. So the picture in my mind is Christ the General and we are part of his entourage following behind Him in victory over our enemies because we have Him as our leader!
He goes on to talk about spreading the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. There are all kinds of smells that get our attention, some of them very negative, but then there are good smells, fresh brewed coffee, cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven, pizza, popcorn, those types of smells give us positive thoughts and desires. Some people respond to the message of Jesus as a life-giving perfume. They are drawn to the message, and when they hear the message of God’s mercy and grace, they embrace it.
The thing we have to remember about Christ’s procession is that we don’t choose to join the procession. Because of God’s prevenient grace, He precedes our human decisions. We are made part of the procession because of God’ rich mercy and grace. It’s only as Christ lives in us and through us that God changes our hearts and allows us to be part of His procession. I want in that parade, how about you?