2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
As we continue our discussion on the sixth trait of a kinsman-redeemer, we are brought to a deeper understanding of Christ’s authority to redeem the earth from the hands of a squatter, Satan, and His rightful God-given place in God’s plan. Along the way, the Spirit leads me to reiterate EPH 6: 12, a very key citation in explaining many others in the Bible. “For we are not fighting against human being but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” That’s sometimes hard for us to remember, since it appears that we are battling against evil people. Indeed, it is with them that our hand to hand spiritual combat is taking place, but we must remember the powers that are controlling them. We must also remember that we must never allow Satan and his followers to get a stronghold over us. Because of Christ’s Atonement, we have been given the same power to combat them as God used to raise Christ from death [EPH 1: 18-20]. That power is considerable, to say the least!
Satan’s favorite point of attack is the human mind. I’m fully aware that psychiatrists have logical explanations for mental illness that fit the bounds of physical and biological science. But, we must ask where these maladies come from in the first place. It’s a little like saying, we can explain the physical phenomena of the earth, but do we really know from whence it came? Eventually, the Creation can only logically be traced back to the Creator, our Lord God. I do not believe that mental illness is God’s work; instead, I believe it can be traced back to those evil spiritual forces described in EPH 6: 12. Please understand that this comment is not a judgment of the people who suffer from it, only of the disease itself. This problem is nothing new. Today, we give it fancy names like depression, schizophrenia, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or whatever. In Christ’s day, one was said to be possessed by evil spirits. MK 5: 1-20 tells the story of a man who was so possessed that he was violent and was relegated to living among the tombs chained up. His episodes were so violent that he broke his chains and was too strong for anyone to control him. MK 5: 6-8, “He was some distance away when he saw Jesus; so he ran, fell on his knees before Him, and screamed in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Son of the Most High God! What do you want with me? For God’s sake, I beg you, do not punish me!’ (He said this because Jesus was saying, ‘Evil spirit, come out of this man!’) So Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name!’ the man answered, ‘My name is ‘Mob’ –there are so many of us!’” Many of us have read that story and know that the spirits begged to be sent to a herd of pigs feeding nearby on the hillside. The very fact that spirits made this request help us to see that even they are aware of Christ’s superior power over their own. That the man speaks of “many of us” certainly suggests he was possessed by many evil spirits and in his saner moments knew it.
MK 5: 13, “He [Jesus] let them [the evil spirits] go, and the evil spirits went out of the man and entered the pigs. The whole herd-about two thousand pigs in all-rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned.” Later, the man is seen fully clothed and in his right mind with Jesus by the people who had come there to see what had happened. Due to lack of faith on their part, they were frightened and asked Jesus to leave their territory. The man wanted to go with the Lord, but Christ told him to go back to his family and tell them how much the Lord had done for him and how kind He had been to him. MK 5: 20, “So the man left and went all through the Ten Towns, telling what Jesus had done for him. And all who heard it were amazed.” When we examine this story, two points come to mind. Our senior pastor, Dr. Dean Nadasdy, makes a comment with which I totally agree. “Unless it simply doesn’t make sense, take the Bible literally. The rest may be considered figurative.” He certainly is saying we should believe it all, so this comment has to do with how we interpret the Bible, i.e. hermeneutics. The other point has to do with Christ’s authority over any rulers, authorities, or cosmic powers, seen or unseen. It is superior and only secondary to that of God Himself.
In this rather lengthy discussion of Christ’s responsibility and authority to redeem dominion over the earth from Satan, the squatter, we must also ask: How is this important to our individual lives? In spades, the outcome of God’s plan goes right to the heart of our own existence. We all get caught up in the challenges of our workplaces, family lives, making a living, and other matters pertaining to our mundane everyday lives. But, we must understand that the Lord has informed us of the battles to be fought, told us how to fight them, and given us to means to do so successfully. He never promised us it would be easy. When things don’t go our way, our natural fleshly selves often lead us to anger against God. Yet, it is not God who brings misery into our lives. Getting mad at Christ is as foolish as taking pot shots at the messenger bringing us news we don’t want to hear. A messenger, particularly this Messenger, is not responsible for the problem. He only wants to provide the path to a solution for it. The sin that people are brought to by giving Satan a stronghold in their lives is the cause. Satan and not God is a the bottom of it. It is Satan that we must have the discernment and the courage to battle. Christ’s ultimate authority to rule is at the heart of the permanent solution for the problem of evil and ousting Satan from having dominion over earth. So yes, Dear Ones, every bit of this discussion impacts each of us. Our very access to eternal life depends on it.
PRAYER: O Lord, the natural self, that which we inherited from Adam and Eve, makes us question Christ’s authority. But, You have given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. Therein, a conflict between the outer flesh and the inner Spirit is set up within us. As You allow the circumstances of our lives to force us to work through challenges to our faith, we are strengthened in it and are advanced in our sanctification. Gradually, the Spirit becomes stronger, while the flesh becomes weaker, until that Day when You deem us perfected and call us to a meeting in the air with Christ [1 THESS 4: 13-17]. You have given us many Scriptures that tell us what Christ’s place in Your plan is. PS 2: 6-9, “’On Zion, My sacred hill,’ He says, ‘I have installed My King.’ ‘I will announce,’ says the King, ‘what the Lord has declared. He said to Me: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father. As , and I will give You all the nations; the whole earth will be Yours. You will break them with an iron rod; You will shatter them in pieces like a clay pot.’” How closely this fits with Daniel’s interpretation, that You gave him, of Nebuchadnezzar’s great statue dream. DN 2: 34-35, “While you were looking at it, a great Stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it, struck the iron and clay feet of the statue, and shattered them. At once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold crumbled and became like the dust on a threshing place in summer. The wind carried it all away, leaving not a trace. But the Stone grew to be a mountain that covered the whole earth.” If there was ever any question of Christ’s superior authority over all the rulers, authorities, or cosmic powers, it was answered in DN 7: 13-14. We stand before You today in utter humility to confess our sin, to pledge You our faithful obedience, trust, loyalty, and diligence, to offer You honor, glory, adoration, and worship, and to praise and thank You for all that You are and all that You do for us. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to continue our discussion of Christ’s redemption of the earth from Satan, the squatter. God’s plan and His own great sacrifice and pain in carrying it out are salient manifestations of His profound love for each of us. He deserves from us all that we have pledged to him in the prayer above and more. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn