Angelic Conflict part 246: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Mar 3:20-27; 1:40-42; Luk 10:17-20; Mat 8:14-17; 9:36-38; Rev 21:3-5.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 246: The Carrier of the kingdom of God - MAR 3:20-27; 1:40-42; LUK 10:17-20; MAT 8:14-17; 9:36-38; REV 21:3-5.

 

 

Though the cosmic warfare motif occurs throughout the OT, it never takes center stage. Whether it is portrayed as Leviathan, Rahab, Yamm, Behemoth, hostile waters, wayward rebellious angels (Prince of Persia, Prince of Greece), Baal, Chemosh, Marduk, Dagon, and a host of other false deities (demons), and the fall of satan and his desire to be like the most high, the OT clearly assumes that something profoundly sinister has entered God's good creation and now perpetually threatens the world. Not all is well in creation.

 

The mediating angelic authority that God had set up at creation had gone bad at the very top. Hence everything in the universe was affected. Fallen angels (1/3) of all, could use their God given authority and ability to wage war against God and infest the world with a satanic government in which the free will of man would follow. God set free these human captives one at a time through faith in the Savior, but the evil of the system perpetuated and many were and are trapped within its deception and lies.

 

God's heavenly council of angels turned into a sinister war that ended up holding man and the earth captive. But then came Christ.

 

Even the believers of the OT were held captive after death within the earth. But then came Christ.

 

Our Lord's teachings, exorcisms, healings, miracles, and Cross are all aggressive attacks on the opposition.

 

Satan is the god of this world. In his temptation of Christ he made it clear that all domain of the world had been handed over to him (by Adam) and that he could give it to whomever he chose. Jesus did not deny that fact.

 

Jesus did not deny that satan had a united organization bent on opposing God, MAR 3:24.

 

MAR 3:20 And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

 

MAR 3:21 And when His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."

 

MAR 3:22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

 

MAR 3:23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?

 

MAR 3:24 "And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

 

MAR 3:25 "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

 

MAR 3:26 "And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished!

 

MAR 3:27 "But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

 

This is exactly what Christ came to do and did. In so doing He freed the captives.

 

Christ bound the strong man (satan) and plundered his house taking the earth and mankind, though the free will of man could say no to Christ.

 

This is another evil behind the false doctrine of the limited atonement - that Christ did not plunder the whole house, but left some behind. All are redeemed, all are reconciled, all are atoned for, yet sadly some reject Christ's atonement and choose to remain in the slave market of the strong man.

 

We who come after the cross are free from the moment of salvation and will never be held captive in the earth.

 

In Luke's account Jesus makes clear that this can only happen when one is stronger than the strong man.

 

LUK 11:21"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his possessions are undisturbed;

 

LUK 11:22 but when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder.

 

This is what Jesus Christ came to do. His whole ministry was about overpowering the "fully armed" strong man who guarded his property, mankind and the earth.

 

It is in Christ's ministry that we first see the casting out of demons in great numbers. This is Christ tying up the strong man.

 

This continues into the early Church as the apostles continued to have power over demons in the book of Acts, but it is absent in the NT epistles.

 

Jesus knew that satan and his demons formed a unified kingdom. They are a tight-knit lethal organization that has a singular focus under a singular general.

 

Hence the Lord could refer to the bunch of them as the devil and his angels.

 

MAT 25:41

"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

 

So when the 70 disciples returned to him after a successful ministry of driving out demons, Jesus proclaims that he saw satan fall from heaven like lightning.

 

LUK 10:17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."

 

LUK 10:18 And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

 

LUK 10:19 "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.

 

LUK 10:20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."

 

Our great rejoicing should not be our abilities in His victory but the spoils of His victory.

 

I believe here that Christ is telling us to work in our ministries in joy, but to ...

 

Have true joy from what you receive and not the results of what you do. He is the one who ultimately does.

 

... and ultimately treads on the serpent while we are His beneficiaries by means of grace.

 

Christ cast out many demons:

 

MAT 8:14 And when Jesus had come to Peter's home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever.

 

MAT 8:15 And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and waited on Him.

 

MAT 8:16 And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill

 

MAT 8:17 in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases."

 

He responded to the people with ailments with compassion, revealing that it was not God's will that we suffer infirmity and showing that He saw them as casualties of war.

 

He did not brush them off with some kind of pious resignation.

 

Sickness is a result of the fall. And although we decided independence from God, satan is the original sinner and instigator, and tempter. God didn't say, "You made your bed, now sleep in it," but rather He came to defeat all evil and deliver us from the domain of darkness. In heaven, where there is only one will again, there will be no more sickness.

 

REV 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,

 

REV 21:4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

 

REV 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

 

Therefore, illness is not God's sovereign will, but a result of the fall.

 

People who blame God for sickness have no compassion on the sick.

 

JAM 2:15-16

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

 

Even if sickness is the result of divine discipline we would not conclude that divine discipline is God's sovereign will. His will is for us to prosper in all things.

 

3Jo 2

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

 

However in a fallen, chaotic world, we find it impossible to do so at all times, but in eternity, where the universe returns to one will, the will of God, there will be prosperity at all times for all creatures.

 

Adam lived to be 930 years old. Noah, ten generations later, lived to be 950 years old. After the flood:

 

Lifespan in years:

Noah          950             Serug                   230

Shem                   600             Nahor                  148

Arpaxad              438             Terah                   205

Shelah                 433             Abraham    175

Eber           464             Isaac           180

Peleg          239             Jacob                   147

Reu                      239             Joseph                 110

 

Each generation lived shorter and shorter lives due to the nature of the fall's affect upon our bodies. God has given us surpassing power to maintain contentment during sickness. Through doctrine, our souls need not be in bondage though our bodies may be.

 

Christ responded to the people with ailments with compassion, revealing that it was not God's will that we suffer infirmity and showing that He saw them as casualties of war.

 

MAR 1:40 And a leper came to Him, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."

 

MAR 1:41 And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand, and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." 

 

MAR 1:42 And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

 

MAT 9:35 And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

 

MAT 9:36 And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.

 

MAT 9:37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

 

MAT 9:38 "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

 

MAT 14:13 Now when Jesus heard it, He withdrew from there in a boat, to a lonely place by Himself; and when the multitudes heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

 

MAT 14:14 And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.

 

Through His compassion, He gave up His alone time with the Father to minister to the people.

 

MAT 20:29 And as they were going out from Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.

 

MAT 20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

 

MAT 20:31 And the multitude sternly told them to be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

 

MAT 20:32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 

 

MAT 20:33 They said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened."

 

MAT 20:34 And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

 

When the Lord healed people that were oppressed by demons, He saw Himself as setting them free from the power, and the whippings, of the devil.

 

ACT 10:38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.

 

Yet this is not to be interpreted as what the Church is to do now. Are we to attempt healings and exocisms? No.

 

JOH 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

 

This is certainly a verse that has great controversy. The gift of healing was a short lived, temporary gift in the early Church.

 

The gift of healing was exercised in the early church, which we see in the book of acts, but not again.