The NT writers make the bold claim that the Satan and all the evil powers of the cosmos were defeated at the Christ event (the death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus of Nazareth).
Here’s some of their outlandish language:
“In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross…You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world” (Col. 2:15, 20).
The Gospel writers talked about the need to bind the strong man before plundering his house (Matt. 12:29; Mk. 3:27), which they believed was accomplished in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
Various other NT passages describe the impact of Christ’s work on the Satan and evil powers (Luke 10:17-20; Acts 10:38; 26:18; Rom. 16:20; Eph. 6:11; Jas. 4:7; 1 Jn. 3:8). The claim is even made that Christ’s presence with His people binds evil powers (2 Thes. 2:5-8).
Why, then, do these same authors describe the devil as a roaring lion seeking to devour people (1 Pet. 5:8), and that he is still yet to be destroyed (Rev. 20:7-10)?
The answer is that we live in the overlap of the old and new.
Salvation from the evil powers of the cosmos has come already in Jesus. The present evil day and age has been disarmed and judged. There’s a sense in which the new creation has already come. The new creation has been and is being poured out.
But there’s also the overlap of the old, evil age. It is still the present evil age because it has yet to be totally obliterated. It’s not fully done away with. We are still looking forward to a future day in which God’s salvation is fully worked out and consummated.
So in NT theology and in Pauline theology, we talk about the “already” and the “not yet.” The present, evil age has been judged and destroyed. But it’s not yet fully destroyed.
The new day of Christ and His Spirit has begun, but it’s still not yet fully here.
The Church today lives in a time between the times, in the overlap of two ages, between the time of Christ and the time of Christ, between the Day of the Lord and the Day of the Lord, between the day of salvation and the day of salvation.
Dawn has come. We are waiting for the noonday sun.
In the overlap of cosmic realities, we feel the effects of both of the ages at once. We have been transferred to the new creation age but still overlap with the old age until Jesus comes again.