Gimme the loot!
90s hip hop artist Notorious B.I.G. famously uttered these words (professional advice: don’t listen to the song). Another emcee spelled out the matter as follows:
Surrender your goods and your merchandise for no purchase price, it’s certainly a heist.
It’s a stick up!
We all know that our Lord likens himself to a thief in the night. By this he intends, of course, his stealthy return. But, shockingly, he also pictures salvation as a straight up armed robbery (Luke 11:21-22). Satan is a strong man, well-armed, who imprisons sinners as his valuables. But a Stronger Than He lays assault to his castle, kicks in the door, waves the 4-4, and says (if you will), “Gimme the loot! Gimme the loot!”
In his death, Jesus stripped Satan of his armor and snatched up his armaments, undoing his work, ransacking his vaults, and setting us free from the kingdom of death. Our loving Savior launched a full-scale spiritual operation for the recovery of sinners like us. No purchase price. He took us from the devil by force; we are his beloved spoils of war. The cross was a cosmic stick up at the devil’s front door in broad daylight.