At the end of Part 1 of the previous post, this proposition was put forward.
Does the Church exercise this authority of Christ in the world today?
If you have not read the previous post, then this question is a challenging one to reflect upon? (Please see Part 1)
There is spiritual warfare that is constantly going on.
Why?
Satan is God’s adversary.
Satan sought to be like God.
His pride caused his fall and his ultimate damnation along with the one-third of the angelic force that sided with him.
Satan is not a threat to God, His will, or His ultimate plan of salvation for His fallen humanity who rebelled against God at the instigation of Satan.
God has always been and God will always be in complete Sovereign control of His entire creation.
God in His grace and mercy so loves the world, that before its creation, in eternity past, He purposed that His Son, Jesus Christ, would be Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world. (Ephesians 1:1-23)
That is the majesty of the Gospel.
That is the message of the Cross.
That is the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory. (John 3:16)
Adam was given a position by God to be His authority on the earth. (emphasis mine)
Satan challenged that authority, by engaging in a conversation with Eve, getting her to question God’s word regarding the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, enticing her to sin, and so deceiving her that she took of the fruit of the tree, ate it, and then gave it to Adam. (emphasis mine)
What did Adam do?
He responded positively to Eve’s temptation, instead of responding negatively, by choosing to obey God’s word given directly to Him not to eat that tree’s fruit.
The result is called, the fall of man.
Adam’s relationship (and Eve’s) was forfeited with God.
They are in a state of total depravity.
Adam’s authority given by God to him to be exercised through a direct relationship with Him was forfeited and now Adam’s authority was his own self-government empowered by Satan’s influence. (emphasis mine)
Leaving Genesis and jumping ahead to the Gospel of John,
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees.
It is a ‘heated’ moment.
Jesus says to them, John 8:41-45 NASV, “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; (Q: Are they referring to Him being born of a virgin?) we have one Father, even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God (I believe that answers the question about being born of a virgin and not born as a result of fornication), for I have not even come on My own initiative (John 3:16, Ephesians 1), but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? (Jesus will tell us why?) It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father, the devil (Satan), and you want to do the desires of your father . He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks he lies (this is what happened in the Garden of Eden), he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar and the father of lies (and because of Adam’s sin, we are of his nature and a liar, too). But because I speak the truth you do not believe Me.” (inserts mine)
That is as straight forward as it can be explained.
Jesus said it.
Enter the message of the Cross, where God ,the Father’s Justice and Love intersect ,and completely satisfies God’s wrath against mankind and provides His Father’s love for all who will call upon the Name of the Lord to be saved.
That salvation does NOT include Satan and his angelic followers.
Jesus says in Matthew 25:41b NASV, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (this place was not for the humanity God created. However if one does not accept Christ as his personal Savior, then Jesus said, this, too, is your destination).
Compare that to Matthew 25:46 NASV, Jesus speaks of another destination. Jesus says, beginning with the previous individuals that are accursed, He says, “And these(the accursed ones) will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What is the difference?
Jesus explained that in Matthew 25:31-46.
He is speaking of His second coming. All the nations are before Him; and He will separate humanity into two groups.
One group, His sheep (believers in Christ) will be put on His right.
The other group, identified as goats-not His sheep, will be put on His left.
These are NOT their political party affiliation!
It’s more important than that.
It’s having eternal life with God; or it’s being eternally separated from God in hell.
Strong words but that is what Jesus is telling those who are listening to Him; and what He is still telling people today who will listen to His Word.
Fact: God loves you and He wants you to come to Him through Christ.
Do you know Christ as your personal Savior? Yes or No.
Yes, is on the right; No is on the left.
Again, these are NOT political party affiliations!
Matthew 25:34 NASV, “Then the King (Jesus-the One in Authority) will say to those on His right. ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’.” (emphasis mine)
This is God, the Father, heart for mankind.
If you do not know Christ as your personal Savior, I implore you to call upon the Name of the Lord..
Read theses words slowly and carefully.
Romans 10:8-13 NASV, says, “…”THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”. (put to shame) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all who call upon Him; for WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” (emphasis mine) (insert mine)
Q: Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?
Fact: One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:11)
That confession is acknowledging that all Authority has been given unto Him. (emphasis mine)
At that moment, you will be making this confession whether you are a believer in Christ or not a believer in Christ.
And then, the Lord Jesus Christ will separate His sheep from the goats based upon whether or not you have received Him as your personal Savior, those who have call upon His name to be saved.
Fact: God is Sovereign over all His creation.
Fact: Jesus Christ has been given All Authority. (emphasis mine)
Jesus said to His disciples just prior to His ascension, Matthew 28:18 NASV, “All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth.” (emphasis mine)
Ephesians 1:18-23, NASV, Paul prays, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward those who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and Him as head over the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.” (emphasis mine).
In the beginning Adam was given authority by God to govern what He had created. Satan deceived Eve, Adam listened to Eve, and Adam forfeited the authority God had given him, and became self-governing. (emphasis mine)
By nature, fallen humanity is a child of his father, the devil (Jesus’ words).
Satan governs fallen humanity by the influence of his sinful nature.
Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy; but Jesus has come to bring life, and that life more abundantly. (John 10:10)
Today, there is still a wrestling over the issue of authority; should there be?
But God…Colossians 2:6-15 NASV:
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over (of) all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled our the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him(meaning ‘it’, the cross).” (Insert mine from the marginal notes) (emphasis mine)
The Church abides in the Victory of Christ by His blood that forgives us of our sins and His triumph of His resurrection that has completely dismantled Satan’s governing rule, taking back the authority Adam had forfeited through disobedience; because of Christ’s complete obedience as the last Adam. (Romans 5) (emphasis mine)
The Church is governed by the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ.
The Church is empowered by Holy Spirit to guide the Body of Christ to obey the will and purpose of the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ.
The Church is to function according to Word of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, exercising the authority of Christ here on earth. (emphasis mine)
And, yes, there is an Ongoing Battle in the Heavenly. (emphasis mine)
Satan still wars against God’s will being done in the earth.
God is in the Absolute Authority. (emphasis mine)
God uses Satan for His purposes.
And soon, all of Christ’s enemies will be put under His feet by God the Father.
In closing, I want to share the following.
It comes ‘From Daniel’s Desk’, Ancient Truth for Modern Time.
The article is entitled FIVE PRAYER REQUESTS FROM KING DAVID, April 26, 2020, by Daniel Pentimone-in Biblical Studies.
It’s number 4 out of the 5 listed.
It is entitled: Pray for Deliverance from Your Enemies.
He writes,
“Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.” (Psalm 25:19)
God’s people have a variety of enemies. Sometimes they are physical-the sort that David often faced. In such times, it is important to cry out to God for Deliverance from their craftiness. Other times, these enemies are more spiritual in nature.
While you may not have thought of it this way, every Christian is in a fight with the devil, a spiritual enemy who is violently angry with God and His people. As you read about the devil and his various temptations, it is important to recognize the serious nature of the spiritual struggle. The devil (and every other force aiming for your spiritual destruction) is violent, vicious, and lion-like. You are not sufficient to meet this enemy: you need God’s deliverance.”
End of paragraph.
If you can synthesize what I have been sharing, please understand that you and I do not wrestle against flesh and blood, fellow humans; we wrestle against demonic influences that seek to undermine each one of individually, our families, and our nation. (Ephesians 6:12)
We have been considering, the effect that Satan and his demonic forces have had upon our nation, suffocating it mercilessly with destructive rhetoric, evil thinking and evil influence for many years.
But our nation is being brought back to life by the intervention of God’s grace and mercy.
Satan will continue to attack and seek to destroy what God is raising up.
Satan is not victorious, Jesus is!
Satan does not have an authority that can overcome the authority of Christ. (emphasis mine
John 1:4-5, NASV, “In Him (Christ) was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (overpower)it. (insert from marginal notes)
But the Church must ‘be strong and stand’ as Paul says in Ephesians 6:10-11,13 NASV,
“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against schemes of the devil…Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”(emphasis mine)
Church, rise up, take off your grave clothes, get into the Word of God, ask Holy Spirit for His guidance and power, and learn to exercise the authority of Christ here on earth. (emphasis mine)
Blessings, on this journey with you, a brother in Christ, deo
TBC
Living Words of Encouragement 