What comfort is in the words, “with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him”?

The term angels refers to the ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14; Psalm 103:21) that God created to act as his servants in caring for his people. Some of them have fallen in the angelic rebellion of the beginning (1 Peter 3:19). All, however, are subjected to Jesus Christ upon his arrival in heaven. The term authorities describes those angelic beings to whom God entrusted a position of high authority (e.g., Michael in Daniel 10:13). As such angels were enabled to exercise force, they are also called powers. None of the three terms used here makes a distinction between good angels or bad, obedient or rebellious. The point that the apostle makes is that Christ’s ascension is such a display of victory that all angelic beings—including the spirits in prison—are made subject to him. That means that they shall never escape their imprisonment so as to rule freely over God’s world. Instead, they shall be consigned to hell eternal (Revelation 20:10). As Christians suffer for their faith, the fact of Jesus’ absolute sovereignty over all—including the forces that move persecutors—is a source of comfort. While a mere eight may have been saved in the flood, the victory of Christ assures the salvation of an innumerable multitude, despite the suffering Christians experience in this life.