Angelic Conflict part 248: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Luk 4; 11:14-26; Mat 12:45; Mar 1-3; 2Co 5:18; Rom 1:16; Joh 14:30.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 248: The Carrier of the kingdom of God - Luk 4; 11:14-26; MAT 12:45; Mar 1-3; 2CO 5:18; ROM 1:16; JOH 14:30.

 

 

Therefore, when Christ came He brought the kingdom of God to the earth with the expressed goal of dethroning satan's kingdom.

 

LUK 11:14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was dumb; and it came about that when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.

 

LUK 11:15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

 

LUK 11:16 And others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.

 

LUK 11:17 But He knew their thoughts, and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.

 

LUK 11:18 "And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

 

LUK 11:19 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.

 

LUK 11:20 "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

 

Something more powerful than the kingdom of darkness is upon them - the kingdom of God.

 

The power of the kingdom of God has been poured into the CA believer then he also possesses the power to overcome the KOD and their world system.

 

PHI 4:13

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me [who keeps on pouring His power into me].

 

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 [schemes, deceptions, lies, fear], and distributes his plunder.

 

LUK 11:23 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me [the plunder], scatters.

 

This is a unique proverb that doesn't find a parallel in Jewish, Greek, or Roman literature. It is clear that the gathering applies to those who are with Christ and the scattering applies to those who are against Him. What He is gathering is the plunder of the strong man which is the earth and mankind. We cannot gather lands spiritually nor men by force. Christ has redeemed all men and all the earth is now His as the Kok and Lol. Therefore, if we gather with Him we gather authority over the nations in resurrection body as a part of our inheritance and so the gathering is the heirship of Christ that we share. We are also commanded to gather men through the gospel as communicators or ambassadors for the gospel.

 

The believer "with Christ" gathers the plunder of the kingdom of God. He receives Christ's inheritance and is a witness of the gospel of Christ unto the salvation of men.

 

The word for scattering is used one time in a positive sense for giving graciously and two other times in a negative sense for the false teachers who scatter the sheep and the scattering of the disciples at Jesus' arrest.

 

When the sheep are scattered when the wolf captures them. They are captured by the wolf because they are led by false shepherds or false teachers. This would also apply to false witnesses or false ambassadors who scatter or disperse the unbeliever rather than drawing them to the gospel of Christ. The disciples scattered out of fear of arrest and possibly execution. Their fear of punishment and death caused them to scatter. The believer living in fear does not possess virtue love, for perfect love casts out fear [1JO 4:18]. They left Christ and did not remain with Him and through grace they recovered. Therefore scattering also refers to dispersing our inheritance through fear of the suffering and adversity we will face. To take the strong mans house one cannot fear the strong man. Christ did not fear him. He said that the devil had nothing in Him nor had any power over Him. He faced satan before His ministry ever began in order to show us His power over him, and not in His deity alone, but in His humanity in obedience under the plan of the Father.

 

The believer "against Christ" scatters or disperses abroad Christ's inheritance and does not draw men to the gospel but scatters them.

 

LUK 11:24 "When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'

 

LUK 11:25 "And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 

 

LUK 11:26 "Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

 

MAT 12:45

"Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."

 

By Matthew's account it is likely that this proverb, again without parallel, applies to Israel. The best interpretation is of the nation that through exile (5th cycle of discipline) returned to Jerusalem having purged themselves from idol worship. That unclean spirit, idolatry, went out of the nation and the demons responsible likely wandered around the desert looking for trouble (or so we can imagine). But we noted what slowly happened to Israel. The Sanhedrin became increasingly corrupt. The Hasidians became the Pharisees and the priests became the Sadducees. The Sanhedrin was corrupted with Hellenism and the Jews traded in their idolatry for a severe legalism under the Mosaic Law to which they added even more laws in the oral traditions passed down by the Rabbis. Hence the wandering spirit of idolatry returned to Israel finding it swept and clean of idolatry and decided more corruption was possible, but with some help - 7 more even more wicked than himself, and they, over the course of about 3 centuries, plunged the leadership of Israel into what Christ faced, those willing to kill their own Messiah over loss of power, wealth, and reputation. So it was with that generation, and that generation, 40 years in the future, would witness the complete destruction of their beloved temple and city!

 

Let's apply this back to the Messiah taking the strong man. Not only could the Pharisees not cast out demons, but they were ruled by several of them. Not only could they not plunder men and the world but they were slaves of both, seeking approval of men and controlled by the lust for wealth, land, and power. We lost everything at the fall, the earth and ourselves. Those who are not with Christ scatter away when He conquered in victory, that which He has reclaimed, but made even better - heaven, a new earth, and a new life. Those who are with Christ gather the plunder with Him, by means of His victory, and they do so aggressively and happily.

 

Religion is not powerful. Idolatry is not powerful. Neither of them are more powerful than the KOD but are inferior servants of them.

 

So we could say that the arrival of the kingdom of God is simultaneous with and manifested in the routing of demons.

 

The kingdom of God is illustrated in the Gospels and each gospel is written to a different audience. The synoptic gospels are not chronological throughout, while John's gospel stands out as much more chronological. We can gain a lot of insight as to how the synoptic gospels present the beginning of Jesus' ministry in pronouncing the kingdom of God and demonstrating its power.

 

We will use Mark and Luke as examples.

 

In the opening of Mark's gospel, Jesus begins His ministry by announcing:

 

MAR 1:14 And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

 

MAR 1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

 

Mark is saying that this was the main body of His teaching in Galilee.

 

The main body of Christ’s teaching in Galilee as He began His ministry was that the kingdom of God was at hand and that Israel needed to repent and believe in the gospel.

 

Then Mark continues to inform us of what this kingdom teaching means, and he does so by illustration.

 

After calling his disciples, Jesus amazes the people with the authority of his teaching.

 

MAR 1:16 And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.

 

MAR 1:17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." 

 

MAR 1:18 And they immediately left the nets and followed Him.

 

MAR 1:19 And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.

 

MAR 1:20 And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.

 

MAR 1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach.

 

MAR 1:22 And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

 

Immediately, however, a man demonized by an unclean spirit cries out:

 

MAR 1:23 And just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out [singular],

 

MAR 1:24 saying, "What do we [plural - speaking on behalf of all demons] have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are —  the Holy One of God!"

 

In contrast to all the people around Jesus at the time, those in the demonic kingdom know exactly who Jesus is and have suspicions about what he has come to earth to do.

 

MAR 1:34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

 

MAR 3:11

And whenever the unclean spirits beheld Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, saying, "You are the Son of God!

 

MAR 1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" 

 

Jesus rebukes the demon, telling him to be silent, or literally "muzzled."

 

After Jesus muzzles the demon with his divine authority, the demon throws the man to the ground and leaves him with a shriek.

 

The demon leaves kicking and screaming. Demons throw tantrums when they don’t get what they want.

 

MAR 1:26 And throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice, and came out of him.

 

This is the kingdom of God and what it means when it comes to the earth in Christ.

 

Mark then notes that the people were again "amazed" at this new teaching and new authority, showing that the two go hand in hand.

 

Every CA believer has been given the new teaching, and even more new teaching, as well as the authority to communicate it. Therefore, we should teach and communicate with confidence and authority without compromise.

 

2CO 5:17-18

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

 

ROM 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous  man shall live by faith. "