Colossians 2:15 says, "Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it." This is a very deep verse concerning the death of Christ. While Christ was dying on the cross, He did a work to strip off the evil angelic rulers and authorities of the rebellious angels, and made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in the cross.
When Christ was being crucified on the cross, there was a visible scene and an invisible scene. The Roman soldiers were seen by the disciples nailing Christ's physical body to the cross where He suffered and died. This was the visible scene. Behind this visible scene, there was an invisible scene. Man could not see this scene, but the angels could see it. In that invisible scene, Christ was stripping off the rebellious angels, the rulers and authorities in the air, coming to bother Him. When Christ was crucified on the cross, He was not only damaged by the physical soldiers of the Roman Empire, but in the invisible scene, the rulers and the authorities, the fallen angels from the air, came to trouble Him. Christ stripped them off, just as a person would strip off a jacket.
Even though Christ was in the likeness of the flesh of sin, He still had the flesh. The rulers and the authorities of the rebellious angels came to get that flesh, and they tried to remain on that flesh. Thus, He had to strip them off, indicating that this was a battle. This can be compared to a person trying to strip off a jacket while someone else is trying to keep this jacket on him. Christ, however, overcame these rebellious angels by stripping them off and making a display of them openly in the cross. This means that He shamed them openly. Man could not see this invisible scene, but all the angels, both good and bad, saw it. Christ triumphed over these rebellious angels in the cross.
Colossians 2:15 is a piece of the big puzzle of Christ's death, but who has collected this piece? We need to see that while Christ was being crucified on the cross, He was struggling with all the evil angelic rulers and authorities. Christ on the cross did not deal merely with sin and with Satan. Satan is not that simple. He has many followers. According to Revelation 12:4, one-third of the angels followed Satan in his rebellion. He had a big following, and among all these rebellious angels, some are the rulers and authorities in the air.
Satan has a kingdom in a realm that covers the air, the earth, and the water. In the air, Satan has angels; on the earth, Satan has the fallen people; and in the water, Satan has the demons (Eph. 2:1-2; Matt. 8:31-32; 12:43-44). Satan has a kingdom of which he is the ruler and the king. He has his subordinates in the air, his subjects on the earth, and his evil servants, the demons, in the water. This shows us again that behind the visible scene, there is an invisible scene. This is why the nightclubs and sinful places of amusement are so attractive to fallen man. Behind these things there is the unseen world of the fallen angels and demons.