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A
Very Large Picture So
then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who
gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will
receive his own reward according to his own labors. For we are God’s
fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
(1 Cor. 3:7-9) (NKJV). I want to spread out a very large picture. God intends that we grasp how long and how wide and how deep His love is for us. He wants us to know the purposes of God for which we have been called, looking to Christ who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. So when we go through the light and momentary trials, which in themselves are gaining for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them, we might endure. Two Realms There are two realms. There is the realm of time, and there is the realm of the eternal. The realm of the eternal exists outside of time and space. Everything within the realm of time is affected by the reality of the eternal. The realm of time is like a fold in a garment, created by God for the benefit of human kind. The intent of God from the beginning was to have children. No, God was not alone, and He was not incomplete and He was not lonely. His nature, however, is to love. He desired the objects of His love. So He established in His own mind that He intended to have children, children to whom He would give what Hi is. But, to give them what He is, they had to be able to receive what He had to give. And so God undertook to create beings with the potential of becoming just like He is. In the fullness of time God fashioned a man. From the dust of the ground with His own hands, he created man with whom to conduct this great purpose. After six days of creating an entire universe to accommodate this creature…and more than that, to remind the creature at every turn of the great nature, the grand benevolence of his Creator…then and only then, God formed man from the dust of the ground. Now, in every other case where God created He said, “Let there be…” and there was. But God put His hands into the making of man. This was the purpose for all else that He had made. God formed man from the dust of the ground and, into this lump of clay He fashioned, He breathed life. This creature stood up from the dust of the earth and opened his eyes to what must surely have been an inexplicable, grand and majestic scene. The Realm of Time From the beginning it was the intent of God that man be like Him. God carefully thought about the purpose and destiny of man before He made him. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our own likeness and after Our image and let Us demonstrate that he’s made to be like Us by giving him dominion; giving him what We alone have – the right to rule.” God invested him with that right, which is the clearest indication that man was made distinctly different from everything else that God had made. Adam was the Son of God – first in nature, first in time – the Son of God. It was neither unclear nor ambiguous what God was doing. God undertook the role of a father. From the dust of the ground God raised up His own unique creation conceived in the mind of the Eternal God. Fashioned from created matter, invested with the possibility of being like God. The Right to Rule Into the garden, this great paradise that God had made for man, came the enemy of mankind. He, too, had a deliberate purpose. His intent, even in his fallen state and upon this planet, was to live out a grand design - to be as God. He had attempted to move God from the throne and had failed as he might well have known; but he didn’t, for this is an extraordinary creature. He was made to carry the glory of God. He coveted the glory of the only true God and imagined himself glorious as God apart from God. His fall was inherent. He was just a creature and apart from the creator neither glory nor life is possible. He came into the garden, this formerly grand being, still impressed with the glory of his appearing and the wisdom that crowned his head. Here he saw the opportunity, to be as God, among the creatures who would be the progeny of Adam. No right to rule having been granted to him, Satan understood that to be as God, he must gain the right to rule. A gift of God that had been given to humanity. God chose the site of the conflict. Earth. The same place He had chosen to bring forth His crowning glory. So the interest of God and the interest of Satan clashed in the garden and man was at the center of the conflict. Satan said to Eve, “You shall not surely die, for God knows that the day that you eat thereof your eyes will be opened, you will be as gods, knowing good and evil and you will live forever.” (Gen. 3:4) The creatures were seduced. The fruit appeared pleasing to her eyes and appealed to the woman through her soul, to her desire to be wise like God. The eyes are the windows to the soul. It appealed to her taste and so she ate it and then gave it to her husband who was with her. He elected to join her in this disobedience, not by deception but by willfulness. So Satan’s first attempt to gain entrance was successful. He observed that all created beings capable of independent thought and action want to be like their creator, with or without Him. By appealing to this he brought mankind under the sway of his will. And he decided that all of man’s generations could be approached this way. By appealing to their desire to be gods apart from God…to be their own gods. The same temptation that worked successfully against a third of the angels now worked against man. When Adam sinned, Satan immediately gained what he was after. He gained the right to rule over these unique creatures. He knew God would permit them to live within the created realm in any manner in which they chose to live, because He had given the right to rule it to Adam. Satan established his realm over the physical creation by gaining the right to rule over the ones who had the authority over that realm. A System Having gained a substantial advantage, Satan moved to fully exploit his success over the conflict. He created a system that was designed to trap them in the lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, and the pride of their lives. As long as they would submit their souls to him, her could maintain the right to rule over them, it didn’t matter what they did with the earth. So long as they continued in alienation to God they would be no more than his surrogates, generations of Adam multiplied. To control this system Satan assigned demon spirits to rule over the tribes of mankind, to maintain a government, to maintain an order. Though it was chaotic, he would rule the earth through it and extend his influence. The demonic princes were promoted according to how they reflected the nature of their leader. And they were given to a single-minded devotion to the entrapment of the progeny of Adam. As human beings became more sophisticated, the enemy was all the more clever in exploiting their Adamic natures. The system became as a web spread before them. It began with the rule of one man over the rest of them – a rule of terror by the might of arms – much like the system with which the demons were familiar. But as humanity increased it was not possible for one man to control it, and so he lured them to another form of government. Among the ancient Greeks, the Prince of Greece introduced democracy, which is sovereignty in the people – the people are as gods. They had the right to elect their leaders, because the power to rule came from the consent of the people. The Greeks used to say, “The voice of the people is the voice of God.” Driven by the great lust of their flesh, expressing themselves through their artistic forms, they began to adore and worship the created being. They left off the worship of the Creator to worship the creation. God gave them over finally to do whatever it was that they would choose to do. (Romans 1:28). And so it continued through the ages. As seen in the late 20th Century men like Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), who pioneered in the extremes of worship of the human form, became gods to themselves. They rejected the Creator and worshiped the creation. Both lifestyles and art forms came to reflect the rejection of God and the worship of man. Striving for independence they chose to heal themselves rather than seeking it from their creator. So they were given a system of medicine, the roots of which are pharmakeia, which is witchcraft. They wanted a form of security, so Satan gave them a monetary system. He taught them, through the process of interest, how to gain and control wealth. They found their security in the projection of power that comes from wealth. He gave them a legal system to adjudicate their disputes. He made them adversaries in the process, thus causing them to elevate the value of the thing in dispute over the value of their relationships. They considered it good for it seemed to them that they were equal to God, “knowing what is good and knowing what is evil.” Occasionally some of them would rise up and struggle against the system, knowing that it was inherently wrong. But the further they struggled the more they came to rely upon the force and the power of arms and of their own science. The more they struggled, the more deeply entrapped they became in the system. When the system is complete, the entrapment will be final. It will eventually culminate in the global control of mankind without recourse. The system of the Kosmos, its art, education, politics, economics, medicine, law, and religion are all the creation of the Kosmo-krator. He designed them to rule all who choose to place their trust in themselves instead of the living God. The Eternal Realm Concurrent with that theme, there has been another theme, an eternal theme. God is pursuing having children. So He sent One for all of mankind, born of a woman and born of God. He released Him into the world without granting to Him the right to resist the system by His own divine authority. He was to be born into the Kosmos but He could only resist by obedience to God, the same path of resistance available to all of mankind. For the way of redemption for the world and the way of arresting the decline that had come into the world through the system had to be from God Himself. For it was now no longer adequate for man simply to know God as Adam did. Now he had to choose. The Conflict He sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the system. And He came into the world to confront the one who had deceived Adam and who had spread out his net to entrap the progeny of Adam and in His first confrontation with the evil one, He was tempted three times. He was tempted with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He was hungry, and the tree was pleasing to the eye. After going without food for forty days He was hungry with a ravenous hunger; the kind of hunger that says, “If you don’t eat, you will die.” And Satan said, “Command that these stones be made bread.” Why should he change his tactics? All of the progeny of Adam had successfully been brought under dominion this way. The enemy came and he addressed Him, “Fill your stomach to prove you are the Son of God.” But long before that God had already established the truth: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Your soul must be brought under subjection to the will of God. God had told the Israelites, in Deut. 8:3, “I led you through this desolate country with its poisonous snakes and scorpions”– what a wonderful analogy – both types of the destroyer. I led you through this country to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. For I intended to bring you into the rest and I want to restore Eden to you, where you cease from your labors. I want to put you back where you were before you agreed with your enemy. I want to restore to you the right to rest in who I am, because I am your Father. So now here you are again on the borders of another Eden with My provisions for you, fruit trees you did not plant and houses you did not build. Remember now, you do not live by bread alone. It’s not the thing that’s pleasing to the eye, but what I have said to you. In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die. What I’ve said to you is the way by which you ought to live and possess this land. But they forgot. And so once again, God came to a man in the wilderness who had met serpents and poisonous scorpions and once again the conflict is there, “By what shall you live?” He Himself had been led up into the wilderness by the Spirit of God to be tempted by the devil. Once again all of creation stood still, and all of heaven waited. Is this the One? And He rose to His full stature, and He said, “Man does not live by his soul; he lives by placing his confidence in the living God.” The enemy said, “Who is this? It didn’t work! It didn’t work! This is a first! It didn’t work! He must be the Son of God! He must be the One, the One with healing in His wings. I must test it and see. If He is the One, I’ll appeal to His interest. If He has come to save the world, I’ll offer Him a deal. I will show Him the Kingdoms of the world.” So he took Him to a high mountain and showed Him the Kingdoms of the Earth, and he said, “If you will fall down and worship me, I will give them all to you, because they are mine to give. I got them from Adam. Adam’s progeny rules them for me. So I’ll give them to You. If You are the Son of God and You have come to save them, I offer You a way of saving them and Your own soul in the process. Your soul will not have to endure facing the Cross, facing whatever it takes, all You have to do is bow down and worship me and I’ll give them to You.” Jesus knew that if He bowed, He would legitimize, He would give credence to this creature who had stolen the authority that he had. He would acknowledge it and recognize it, and once He bowed, He would be no different from Adam. He would simply be another through whom the enemy would rule. So he offered Him nothing, hoping to gain everything. This One said to him again – concerning this temptation common to man, to which Adam’s progeny routinely gave in – He said, “Let Me explain to you how sovereignty works. I am from above. You are beneath My feet. You will bow to Me.” By then the enemy knew this surely must be the One. “It’s not working; I cannot penetrate; His nature is not open to me. His soul resists me. Well, I have one final shot. The first two worked on Eve; this last one worked on Adam.” You see Adam had something that he could not give up – it was his wife. And so the enemy used his wife to get Adam through that which he could not give up. And so the enemy would use this on Jesus. “Let me locate the soul now, in terms of where Jesus places value. Let me find that which He cannot give up. If He places value in being the Son of God, He will prove that He is; I will locate His value.” And you could see something of a smile come over his face. “This one got Adam. It’s my best; I’ve saved it for last.” He was permitted to whisk Him away to the pinnacle of the temple. This temptation is extraordinarily cunning. Twice he had heard this One assert the spoken Word and stand on the Word, “Man shall not live on bread alone: and “It is written, you will worship Me.” “Ah, I will give Him an excuse; I will introduce Him to religion,” the devil thought to himself. “Cast Yourself off the pinnacle of the temple,” he said, “because it is written, ‘He will give His angels charge concerning You and they will bear You up lest You should strike Your foot against a stone.’ Are You really the Son of God? Then prove it. How can You object since I’ve given You scripture?” The unanointed Word will always minister death. The letter will always kill. It’s not enough to have scripture for what you do. Jesus is given a religious excuse, and the value, the vanity to this claimed assumption is what was being exposed. Was He vain or proud about being the Son of God? “We’ll see how grounded He is, how well-founded His soul is. I’ll give Him the scripture to go along with this.” But Jesus simply turned to him and said, “Get behind Me, Satan.” Then He didn’t quote scripture to him; He exercised the authority of a soul fully under the subjection of the spirit. He rose up to His stature as what He was and is: the Anointed One. And the enemy fled in terror, for he knew the light had come into the darkness. The System Defeated That day Eden and Canaan returned to the earth. One Man began the deliberate process of entering life, possessing His soul, and establishing His Sonship. From that moment on, the devil was never far from Him. He would press Him and prove Him and tempt Him and try Him; but he was never open about it again. But he wouldn’t relent. He would use deception, craft, and even others to deceive Jesus. He thought at one time to keep Him from the Cross. Satan worked in one of the disciples, one of the ones closest to His heart. Through him he said, “Tell Him that He does not have to die. It’s not like Him; this is an event significantly lacking in dignity. He is the Son of God. Say to Him, ‘Surely You won’t go to the Cross; You’re the King, this is how kings are. We believe that You are the Son of God. I was the one who said it. You told me that I had heard that from God. You can’t be serious about going to the Cross and ending everything. You came to restore the Kingdom to Israel, to sit on David’s throne. What are You doing? If You were to die on the Cross, how could that possibly come about?’” The Lord Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Shut up, Satan!” (Mt. 16:23) Now He knew who Peter was, but He also knew who was really talking. So He told Satan to shut up! He fixed His eyes on the Cross; there, on the appointed day, the price was paid. Sin was redeemed, and the head of the enemy was crushed. To prove it, God raised Him from the dead on the third day. While His body was in the grave, He presented His credentials to two spirits: the spirits of Death and Hell. He said to them, “I have overcome you, for I have never come under you. Therefore, give Me the symbols of your authority. Give Me your keys. You no longer have the right to imprison anyone who follows Me.” Later Jesus would appear to John and He would say, “I am He who was dead and is alive forevermore, and behold, I have the keys of Death and Hell. I have the authority of the imprisoning spirits. And concerning you, Death no longer has the right over you, for I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never be subject to the authority of Death. I have the keys.” (Rev. 1:18) During the time He was in the tomb He made presentation of His indestructible life to these creatures. In carrying out the rule of their master, they held untold numbers of souls captive in the domain of Death. By Death they were lawfully taken and delivered to the spirit of Hell, who kept them in a place named after him. With the impending fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, He took the keys and He opened the portals of Hell. From the realm known as Paradise or Abraham’s bosom, He led forth those who had died in the hope that the Righteous One would appear. When He came, He put the key in the lock, turned it and led them out of Hell. They rose upon the earth and walked around in human form for a season of about forty days. They demonstrated for all of mankind that Death could not hold them, Death had to free them, and Hell had to give them up. Forty days later, after Jesus was seen alive by many, 500 on one occasion, it was time for Him to finish what He had come into Time to accomplish. He commissioned the eleven who had been with Him and He went with about 160 of them out to the place called the Mount of Olives. With them watching, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. The System Replaced He proceeded to the realm of the second heaven to accomplish one last bit of business. He stood before the seat of Satan and He called to him who by now had found for himself the safest recesses. The Grand Commander called the vanquished foe to attention. He said to him, “Now present yourself to be stripped of your authority, for you have been defeated. All the loss and ruin from Adam’s sin will be restored. All the authority you have gained by deceiving them will be returned.” “For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”(1 Jn. 3:8). He led him throughout His entire domain. He led him captive in the train of a great, triumphant procession so that all might see what had been accomplished by the sojourn of the Righteous One upon the earth. Having vanquished him and charged him with specific duties of surrender, He made His final ascent into the third heaven. There, as He came to the magnificent gates of heaven, and with the entire host that had been held in captivity looking on, He called out and said, “Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, that the King of Glory might come in.” From behind the wall was heard, “And who is the King of Glory?” With His own voice He shouted back, “The Lord Strong and Mighty, He is the King of Glory. Therefore, lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up that the King of Glory might come in.” (Ps. 24:7-10). The gates were thrown open and all the inhabitants spontaneously rejoiced with the sound of triumph that roared and reverberated throughout the untold reaches of heaven. In great procession the angels lined the streets to the great throne as the King came in, leading the redeemed of the earth with Him as the first fruits of those who slept. He bowed before the Father who called for an attending angel to bring Him the crown. Many crowns were brought, for He had accomplished much. First, one crown with great dignity was placed upon His brow, and then another, and then another…there was an investiture of Him with the right again to rule – to rule all of the earth and to rule all of the heavens. A mighty scepter was placed in His hand. The Ancient of Days said to Him, “Behold, this day you are the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords. Your Kingdom shall be an everlasting Kingdom that will never pass away. Your subjects shall be drawn from every tribe and tongue and language and nation. For You shall have no opposition, and everything that rises against Your Kingdom shall be shattered by the power that You possess and that I recognize this day. You must rule until the restoration of all things and all opposition has been placed under Your feet through Your subjects. (Acts 3:21, 1 Cor. 15:24). They will be My sons and I will be their Father. And I will be in them, and they will be in Me. And I will be all in all.” So, this day He sits upon the throne on the highest seat, far above all authority and rule, and He is the possessor of every title that can be given. Everything has been placed under His feet for the benefit of the called out ones. Upon the earth, the devil and his angels, knowing their time is short, have become frantic, for they have lost their right to rule over the sons of righteousness. Their intent is to change the set times and the laws, hoping for some reprieve, but not knowing whether or if it will come. By the Spirit of the Living God sent into the hearts of His sons, He continues to unveil to them His purposes known from the beginning. Little by little, individual after individual, group after group, the message of righteousness in Christ, the peace of God, and the joy of His presence takes root in their hearts. Their eyes are opened from the long slumber in Adam. The darkness in them is pressed back, and the morning star rises in their hearts, announcing the coming of the King. And now, with vision renewed and hope born afresh, they say, “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.” |