Saturday, October 29, 2005
It Is Scriptural
Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
This is a picture of the spiritual warfare raging in a place we cannot see. Could be a dimensional thing, escaping our perception of space and time altogether or maybe this hidden history is simply far away from our empirical grasp. Because earth bound people have been allowed to catch a glimpse, I like the guess it’s very near to our reality. Whatever. Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer, offers the Greek meaning of luo that brought this verse to life for me. “(1) Loose; legally to dissolve a legally binding contract; (2) Physical-to dissolve, break, untie something that is bound.”
Sheets further explains, Jesus held the keys because He broke the hold of Satan and his armies on the Cross. Jesus shared this ultimate Truth with His closest followers before He departed. “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matt. 28:18-19) We the Church break the hold on believers and unbelievers who are bound by sin and deceit, enforcing Jesus’ finished work!
In case I am confusing you with my awkwardness, Jesus’ victory over the power of Satan was completed when He died and raised Himself back to life on the third day. He broke any legal binding Satan had on the earth and acquired the keys, that is all authority. Jesus, the living Christ, then turned around and GAVE that authority to His disciples. As Disciples of Christ, we are to carry on the victory in space and time by receiving that authority over Satan’s power and influence. The mystery is in the understanding of time…Jesus completely won the battle…yet the battle continues as we enforce the New Contract…the New Covenant. Now we bind and loose here on earth, redeeming creation and its people, little by little or in bursts. (The Great Awakening, Paul’s amazing work, etc.) By the power of the Holy Spirit, we break the bonds of sin. “I have given you authority to…overcome all the power of the enemy.” ~Luke 10:19
After the resurrection, Jesus’ work complete, He says, “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” ~John 20:21 Jesus even did a trial run before He turned things over to us! In Luke 10:3, Jesus announced, “I am sending you (72 disciples) out like lambs among wolves.” Do you want amazing? Verse 18, upon hearing their report, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.” ~Jesus
A most fascinating discovery has to do with Psalm 110:1. “Sit at My Right Hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament!! (Jesus in Luke 20:43; Peter in Acts 2:35; Hebrews 1:13) Don’t you love this stuff? It gets better…1 Corinthians 15:25: “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” V. 27: “For He has everything under His feet.” (quoting Psalm 8:6)
There it is again, the time thing. Notice the verb phrases, until He has put all, to be followed with, for He has everything. Dutch Sheets sees this as a Victory complete and simultaneously to be completed. Jesus on earth did a work of completion and upon sending the Spirit, is working it to completion. There is no discrepancy in the quantity…all, everything! It is mysteriously a question of when.
To close, here’s my favorite, no doubt because it is my first revelation of the Scriptural support for God’s ongoing mandate, which I read in How Now Shall We Live. “For by Him all things were created, thing in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or powers or rulers or authorities. He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the Supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him, to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” ~Colossians 1:16-20
Here lies our hope of regeneration and freedom for all!
This is a picture of the spiritual warfare raging in a place we cannot see. Could be a dimensional thing, escaping our perception of space and time altogether or maybe this hidden history is simply far away from our empirical grasp. Because earth bound people have been allowed to catch a glimpse, I like the guess it’s very near to our reality. Whatever. Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer, offers the Greek meaning of luo that brought this verse to life for me. “(1) Loose; legally to dissolve a legally binding contract; (2) Physical-to dissolve, break, untie something that is bound.”
Sheets further explains, Jesus held the keys because He broke the hold of Satan and his armies on the Cross. Jesus shared this ultimate Truth with His closest followers before He departed. “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matt. 28:18-19) We the Church break the hold on believers and unbelievers who are bound by sin and deceit, enforcing Jesus’ finished work!
In case I am confusing you with my awkwardness, Jesus’ victory over the power of Satan was completed when He died and raised Himself back to life on the third day. He broke any legal binding Satan had on the earth and acquired the keys, that is all authority. Jesus, the living Christ, then turned around and GAVE that authority to His disciples. As Disciples of Christ, we are to carry on the victory in space and time by receiving that authority over Satan’s power and influence. The mystery is in the understanding of time…Jesus completely won the battle…yet the battle continues as we enforce the New Contract…the New Covenant. Now we bind and loose here on earth, redeeming creation and its people, little by little or in bursts. (The Great Awakening, Paul’s amazing work, etc.) By the power of the Holy Spirit, we break the bonds of sin. “I have given you authority to…overcome all the power of the enemy.” ~Luke 10:19
After the resurrection, Jesus’ work complete, He says, “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” ~John 20:21 Jesus even did a trial run before He turned things over to us! In Luke 10:3, Jesus announced, “I am sending you (72 disciples) out like lambs among wolves.” Do you want amazing? Verse 18, upon hearing their report, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.” ~Jesus
A most fascinating discovery has to do with Psalm 110:1. “Sit at My Right Hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament!! (Jesus in Luke 20:43; Peter in Acts 2:35; Hebrews 1:13) Don’t you love this stuff? It gets better…1 Corinthians 15:25: “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” V. 27: “For He has everything under His feet.” (quoting Psalm 8:6)
There it is again, the time thing. Notice the verb phrases, until He has put all, to be followed with, for He has everything. Dutch Sheets sees this as a Victory complete and simultaneously to be completed. Jesus on earth did a work of completion and upon sending the Spirit, is working it to completion. There is no discrepancy in the quantity…all, everything! It is mysteriously a question of when.
To close, here’s my favorite, no doubt because it is my first revelation of the Scriptural support for God’s ongoing mandate, which I read in How Now Shall We Live. “For by Him all things were created, thing in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or powers or rulers or authorities. He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the Supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him, to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” ~Colossians 1:16-20
Here lies our hope of regeneration and freedom for all!
