The Grace Parade

Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men" (Eph 4:8). 

Ever been to a victory parade?  I'm not talking about some lame small town homecoming hoo-ha with rinky dink floats and out of tune bands.  I'm talking about one of those citywide we-are-the-champions celebrations to shower the local team with applause and ticker tape.  Yeah, THAT kind of victory parade!  Well, Paul lets us know that there's an even bigger bash to come.  And we're invited.  There's gonna be a parade that will dwarf the combined celebrations of the Tournament of Roses, Mardi Gras, Carnivale and the St. Patrick's Day scene from "Ferris Bueller."

"Therefore it says, 'When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men'" (v8).  It's a crazy scene.  Wild cheers.  Ticker tape.  Loud music.  It's the ultimate victory celebration.  And there's the Hero!  It's our Savior!!  Jesus WINS!!!  And that's not all, He's giving away gifts along the way.  No, these aren't cheap beads or handfuls of penny candy.  He's handing out spiritual gifts to His followers.  

Welcome to the Grace Parade.

Here in this letter to his friends back in Ephesus, Paul uses a passage from the Old Testament to illustrate what he's just written to them.  He reaches back into David's greatest hits album and pulls out Ps 68:18.  Think of it as a divinely inspired cover.  King David originally composed this tune to celebrate the capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites (2Sam 6-7; 1Chr 13).  The lyrics describe how God ascended to the top of Mt. Zion in victory.  Paul sees these lines from the original song as singing out Jesus' heavenly ticker tape parade after His once-and-for-all defeat of sin and death at Calvary.  The apostle tells the Corinthians that we're right behind our victorious Savior in the parade (2Cor 2:14).  

From the joint in Rome, the man from Tarsus desperately wants us to know that Jesus is victorious.  No matter what may come our way on this side of eternity, Jesus WINS!!!  Don't listen to the lies.  Don't listen to the naysayers.  Don't listen to the doubters.  Jesus WINS!!!  It's our Savior's ultimate victory that empowers Paul while he rots in a Roman prison.  When we're in doubt or when life has punched us in the throat, remember this: Jesus WINS!!!

We get a glimpse of the crazy celebration at the Grace Parade over in Paul's letter to the folks in Colossae.  He describes how the demonic enemies bring up the rear behind Jesus  (Col 2:15).  The ultimate walk of shame.  Satan and his toadies can no longer torment God's people.  Christ has stripped them of their weapons.  Jesus WINS!!!

Meanwhile, back over in Ephesians, Paul quotes David, "He led a host of captives" (v8).  The Greek verb here is aichmaloteuo.  It means to capture in battle and take prisoners of war.  It's technical term used in the military.  Taking POWs.  But something kinda funky is happening in the original text.  The apostle repeats himself by using the noun version of the verb he just used: aichmalosia.  It describes the state of being taken as a POW and kept captive, a prisoner of war or a captive multitude.  What might seem like goofy English actually is great Greek.  This is not from the Department of Redundancy Department.  This grammar emphasizes the vast number of the prisoners taken.  You could actually translate this phrase "He led captivity captive" or "He led POWs as POWs."  But the idea here is that Jesus leads a massive number of prisoners in this victory parade.  There aren't just a couple of captives.  There's an endless number of losers bringing up the rear.  Jesus WINS!!!

Let's not miss the point about what's going on BEFORE the big Grace Parade.  We're in a war.  We're under attack.  But there's no doubt of the outcome.  The good guys win.  If you have any doubt about it, go ahead and flip to the end of the book.  Check out Revelation.  Jesus WINS!!!  You can take His victory to the bank.  It's a lead-pipe lock.  In the meantime, our enemy is still trying to cause as much harm as he can.  Just because Satan's troops have lost doesn't mean they can't cause trouble.  But know without at doubt that Jesus WINS!!!  And there's going to be a parade.  A BIG parade.  The Grace Parade.

Let's check out our victorious Hero back at the front of celebration.  Paul tells us that "He gave gifts to men" (v8).  He's simply restating what he just said.  Jesus is the God who just keeps giving (Eph 4:7).  While the ticker tape flutters down, Christ tosses out His gifts back to us.  These aren't baubles from the dollar store.  He's giving out gifts of countless value.  We find out in a couple of verses that these are spiritual gifts of leadership that He passes on to the church for our growth and maturity (Eph 4:11-13).  Even at the Grace Parade in His honor, Jesus gives.  You simply cannot out-give God.  You can't.  Not possible.  Give Him praise.  He gives gifts.

It's called the Grace Parade.