Angelic Conflict part 224: Human history (the Church) – Heb 10:19-25; Rom 6:13; 2Co 1:3-4; 11:1-15; 1Co 13.Title: Angelic Conflict part 224: Human history (the Church) – Heb 10:19-25; Rom 6:13; 2Co 1:3-4; 11:1-15; 1Co 13.
Christ brought the kingdom of God to the earth in His very person.
Christ's kingdom, from heaven, came to earth and began to show His power over demons, God's opposition, and satan's kingdom.
Luk 11:20 But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
All believers are in the kingdom of God. The CA believer is royalty in this kingdom.
Joh 3:3 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The great enemy and leader of the KOD has been beaten and the sentence will be executed:
Joh 12:31 "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.
The greatest tyranny over fallen man, death, Christ has delivered us from:
Joh 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? "
And so we conclude that the one who ruled this earth, the tyrant satan, has lost what he took from God's kingdom because a stronger man came to earth and took it from him.
Mat 12:22 Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.
Mat 12:23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and began to say, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"
Mat 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."
Mat 12:25 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand.
Mat 12:26 "And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?
Mat 12:27 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.
Mat 12:28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Mat 12:29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
Mat 12:30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Luk 10:17-18 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
Jesus' miraculous ministry won the war, struck the decisive deathblow, vanquished satan, restored humanity, established the kingdom; yet some battles must still be fought before this ultimate victory is fully manifested. Our Lord finished it, but He did not complete every battle, but rather commissioned His disciples, and the whole of the Church that they would begin, to do the same as the Lord had done. He set in motion the creation of a entirely new humanity, one that exercises dominion through His dominion as King of kings and Lord of lords, and as such He has given us power and authority to proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom just as He did.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
2Co 5:18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
2Co 5:19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2Co 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
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.
Joh 20:21 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.
Never before has a person or a body of people been given such a royal commission. It is the most rewarding, challenging, and important commissions ever given. And He has given us all the position, wisdom, and power to do it. This is why your local assembly is so important as well as the ministry and person of your fellow believer or brethren. It is the classroom for the preparation of the witnesses that are so commissioned and every witness is dependent on the ministries of others.
The church is to assemble together whenever possible for encouragement from doctrine and to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, Heb 10:24-25.
Heb 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
Heb 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
The house of God, our house, includes Christ, the head, in heaven and His body on earth.
We are now tied to the earth as the body and we are perfectly positioned in heaven with the head.
Both the head and body have application to work or fruit production in the conflict on earth [ministry of the body] and the peace in victory that all see in heaven [position in the head].
In Heb 12:22 this is described as Mount Zion.
Consider what is involved in this threefold invitation.
"Let us draw near (vs. 22)... Let us hold fast (vs. 23) … Let us consider one another" (vs.24). This threefold invitation hinges on our boldness to enter into the holiest.
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere [alethinos (adj) = true as opposed to hypocritical] heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
“evil conscience” – a lack of confidence from the finished work of Christ, guilt, condemnation, and wrong priorities of self above Christ.
A heart filled with the truth of the completed atonement and the torn veil through which our High Priest has led us leads to a confident abiding presence in the holy of holies, the throne of God. Sincere means truth as opposed to hypocritical. Hypocrites have a superficial knowledge of these truths and divided hearts, but the heart sprinkled clean becomes these truths and the evil conscience of guilt, condemnation, works for sacrifice [the high priest could not enter without the blood of the sacrifice], and priority of self above Christ are all washed clean by the gospel – meaning the entire scripture of good news.
This is how the church is to gather. If a believer has a different attitude then he should gather to listen only and not to minister. When sufficient listening has changed or transformed the mind and the soul's priorities, and the heart's motivation then it becomes time to gather to listen and minister.
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere [alethinos (adj) = true as opposed to hypocritical] heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
“bodies washed” – the ministry of the believer who has a heart of truth that is sprinkled clean by the blood of Christ and the water of the word of God – doctrine of justification.
When the body is in view in reference to spirituality it is a reference to our individual ministries on earth.
Rom 6:13 do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast [hold down or hold firmly] the confession [homologeo - outward manifestation of hope through an inward transformation to hope] of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
The believing Jews of the early church were constantly tempted to go back to the Mosaic Law by their unbelieving countrymen and so they had to hold fast or hold firmly their confession of their confidence in the new and living law and the abolishment of the old law of sin and death. To us now, there are any number of temptations and distractions designed to hinder or extinguish our confession, which is our witness of the truth, the kingdom of God, and the person of Christ in this world.
hope – confident, happy expectation of future deliverance through the work of Christ. He who made these promises is faithful.
If I doubt the promises then I'm not a witness of them. Words alone mean nothing. Proclaiming and demonstrating divine power is the mark of the expert witness, especially when he is under intense cross-examination (pressure testing).
So, we have so far, faith in our position and then confidence – faith and hope, and then love (vs. 24), the greatest of these.
1Co 13:13 But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. |