We have looked at various developments in world history when on the occasions when God shared His dominion, His rule with sections of His creation, that that assigned power to rule was often abused. God on many occasions and through different means had to intervene to take back or at least limit the misuse of this assigned power to rule.
So we now come to New Testament times. Between the recorded history of the Old Testament and the New there was a large gap and during that time, it would seem, that human beings did what they thought was right in their worship of God.
At the end of that time the power of Rome had taken over Israel, who, we should remember, in spite of their frequent disobedience remained as God’s chosen people.
Now there comes a momentous occasions in the history of the world. God injects Himself into this scenario and Jesus, God’s son is born. This is the beginning of God’s next step in reclaiming the power and authority that was rightfully His. And let us notice that God was completely in control. The birth of Jesus was an example of the complete sovereignty of God.
GALATIANS.
CHAPTER 4.
4. But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,
Yes He grew from a child to a man and all the while He was obedient to His parents and to the Law. His obedience to the Law was perfect. But His obedience went beyond obedience to the Law to being obedient to His Father, God, whom, although Jesus was in human form He dearly loved.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 8.
29. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
His example is set out for us in Hebrews.
HEBREWS.
CHAPTER 4.
15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
In contrast to His example we have that of those who had continued to exercise the power of religious authority. Chief among them would have been the Pharisees, but Sadducees and elders also get a mention.
They served God hypocritically and from the wrong motive. Their religion had also been affected by politics, it would seem.
Here are some things that are said of their example.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 5.
20. You must obey God’s commands better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law obey them. If you don’t, I promise you that you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
They had many wrong reasons for appearing to be obeying and serving God. They loved their own authority rather than God’s, and outward appearance and popularity. But all the time they were merely hypocrites and not involved in the right and true worship of God.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 23.
2. “The scribes and the Pharisees teach with Moses’ authority.
3. So be careful to do everything they tell you. But don’t follow their example, because they don’t practice what they preach.
4. They make loads that are hard to carry and lay them on the shoulders of the people. However, they are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5. “They do everything to attract people’s attention. They make their headbands large and the tassels on their shawls long.
6. They love the place of honor at dinners and the front seats in synagogues.
7, They love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have people call them Rabbi.
They also craved the financial opportunities that their position gave them.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 16.
13. “No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14. When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money.
They were nit pickers rather than being those serving God with a Godly spirit.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 23.
23. “How horrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give God one-tenth of your mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the most important things in Moses’ Teachings. You should have done these things without neglecting the others.
And Jesus identified hypocrisy as their modus operandi.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 12.
1. Now in the meantime, as an innumerable crowd had gathered together so that they were stepping on one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
In fact on a number of occasions Jesus used the title “hypocrittes” to address them.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 15.
7. You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
LUKE.
CHAPTER 12.
56. Hypocrites! You can look at the earth and the sky and predict the weather; why, then, don’t you know the meaning of this present time?
So, in the view of the Pharisees they had it all. As we shall see as time went on they had political influence and acceptance as well.
MARK.
CHAPTER 3.
6. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
And in this verse Jesus links one with the other, the Pharisees and Herod
MARK.
CHAPTER 8.
15. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
They would rather placate and submit to political authority than take the risk of losing their position.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 11.
48. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
So the perfect righteousness of Jesus was in sharp contrast to the behaviour of the religious leaders and by its very nature exposed their hypocrisy.
It would be expected that as their hypocrisy was exposed, and with their popularity and authority waning that they would oppose Jesus and all He stood for, the rightly motivated and correct worship of God, His Father. So that is what they did. They now challenged the authority of Jesus.
Here is what we read.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 12.
14. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 22.
15. Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 6.
7. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.
And they acted as the most aggressive hecklers.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 11.
53. And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
And their ultimate challenge to Jesus was yet to come.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 18.
3. So Judas led a group of soldiers to the garden. Judas also brought some guards from the leading priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons.
It was into this world of corruption and evil that Jesus came. He was a light shining in the darkness of evil.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 8.
22. Later, Jesus talked to the people again. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. The person that follows me will never live in darkness. That person will have the light that gives life.”
The Jewish nation was under the authority of a corrupt religious leadership. But more than that the whole world was under the authority of the kingdom of darkness and its leader, Satan.
Speaking to some Jews Jesus said this.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 8.
44. Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.
Satan said this in His temptation of Jesus.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 4.
6. The devil said to Jesus, “I will make you king over all these places. You will have power over them and will get all the glory. It has all been given to me. I can give it to any person I want.
Mankind was under the authority of the kingdom of darkness and was held captive and was being oppressed by its rulers.
ACTS.
CHAPTER 10.
38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
And the sad part is that many willingly submitted to and accepted this evil authority.
And now we begin to see a wider picture that involved not just Israel but the entire world.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 3.
19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
But Jesus was there to point the finger of blame at the whole world.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 7.
7. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I keep telling it that its ways are bad.
But by living as light in a dark world, by His teaching and His miracles the authority of darkness began to wane and the authority of Jesus began to increase. People began to have faith, to have belief.
Let us look first at the religious rulers
JOHN.
CHAPTER 12.
42. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
Then there was His teaching and note these first verses refer to Samaria and not Israel and began with Jesus and the woman at the well.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 4.
40. So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.
41. Many more believed because of his message,
42. and they told the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world.”
JOHN.
CHAPTER 8.
30. Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.
31. So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples;
32. you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free
And there were also the miracles.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 2.
23, Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 7.
31. And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ comes, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
JOHN.
CHAPTER 10.
41. Many people came to him. “John performed no miracles,” they said, “but everything he said about this man was true.
42. And many people there believed in him.
After Lazarus was raised from death we read this.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 12.
19. The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, we are not succeeding at all! Look, the whole world is following him!”
We have already noted what these verses say regarding those who were eager to listen to the public teachings of Jesus.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 12.
1. Now in the meantime, as an innumerable crowd had gathered together so that they were stepping on one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
And of course there is this incident.
MARK.
CHAPTER 2.
2. Then so many of them came to the house that there wasn’t even standing room left in front of the door. Jesus was still teaching
3. when four people came up, carrying a crippled man on a mat.
4. But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they made a hole in the roof above him and let the man down in front of everyone.
So here is the summation of His ministry in the world at large and among His people.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 1.
11. He came into his own world, but his own nation did not welcome him.
12. Yet some people accepted him and put their faith in him. So he gave them the right to be the children of God.
13. They were not God’s children by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children.
But of course we all know that it was not going to be His life that was going to have the biggest impact in reclaiming territory from the kingdom of darkness. Belief alone could not eliminate the curse brought on humans by disobedience to the authority of God. The curse among other things brought death. So it was going to be a death which would bring freedom from sin’s curse. As all humans were subject to this curse because of the inherited sin from Adam and Eve as well as what the individual has added of his/her own accord. This disqualified them from being the one to remove that curse,
The removal of sin’s curse required the death of a perfect sacrifice as was even demanded by the law, God’s written principles which were required to be obeyed as a practical demonstration of obedience, of allegiance, to Him.
1 PETER.
CHAPTER 1.
18. You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever.
19. You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb.
And it was that death, the death of Jesus and His resurrection that would rescue us, would save us from captivity and forced allegiance to Satan and bring us freedom in Christ. And it was the events of Calvary and the days immediately after, that would destroy the power of the forces of evil and translate us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, to God’s kingdom.
HEBREWS.
CHAPTER 2.
14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
This is what Jesus Himself said.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 12.
23, And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
And why would He be ascribed special honour? Here is the answer
JOHN.
CHAPTER 12.
31. Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.
32. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.”
And it would seem that the nation’s rulers and the forces of darkness felt they were in control. It would seem that they were contemplating victory and not defeat. How wrong they were. And certainly Satan and his forces were not constrained in any way in attacking Jesus.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 22.
53. When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
And as death was under the control of Satan and was his ultimate weapon, when Jesus died Satan would have felt that he had rid himself of Jesus forever and would now be free from opposition. Again how wrong he was.
The greatest extent of Satan’s power was released and yet he did not prevail.
This is what really happened.
God was in complete control.
ACTS.
CHAPTER 2.
23. In accordance with his own plan God had already decided that Jesus would be handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him.
LUKE.
CHAPTER 22.
22. The Son of Man will die as God has decided, but how terrible for that man who betrays him!”
JOHN.
CHAPTER 12.
23. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 12.
31. Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.
32. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.”
Pilate thought that he was in control but he was wrong. This is what he said and what Jesus said in reply.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 19.
10. So Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to speak to me? You realize, don’t you, that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?”
11. Jesus answered him, “You have no authority over me at all, except what was given to you from above. That’s why the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.
But the death of Jesus was completely under His control as was His rising again from death.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 10.
18. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Do you remember what was said in Hebrews 2?
HEBREWS.
CHAPTER 2.
14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
Well Jesus was now taking back the power over death from Satan. Jesus was now in control. This was a significant step in God’s reclaiming of His dominion and power over death, a power, I might add which He always had but which He only chose to exercise at this point in human history,. Satan no longer controlled death, Jesus did. God and Jesus were in complete control.
And Jesus’ death and resurrection provides that same power and authority to us as well. We have power over Satan and the forces of evil.
COLOSSIANS.
CHAPTER 1.
13, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
ACTS.
CHAPTER 26.
18. You (Paul) will open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God’s. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and a share among God’s people who are made holy by believing in me.’
JAMES.
CHAPTER 4.
7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
COLOSSIANS.
CHAPTER 2.
14. God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross.
15. There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory.
Death no longer has power over us. Through Jesus we have life, everlasting life, and no one or no thing can remove that from us.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 10.
28. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
ROMANS.
CHAPTER 8.
38. I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love–not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future,
39. and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!
ROMANS.
CHAPTER 6,
14,.For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
So now we see that God has another reason to expect our allegiance. We are now not only His because of creation but we are now His by redemption. We have been bought. We are God’s purchased possession, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, by Him reclaiming the power of death from Satan and giving to us life, everlasting life, life that can never be taken away from us.
How good is our God and how deserving of our submission to His authority,