--Jesus
Klashing Kingdoms
Kingdom (definition):
- sovereignty,
- dominion,
- royal power;
- the territory or people over whom a king rules;
- the sphere of a King's rule;
- the sphere in which, at any given time, His rule is acknowledged."
"Jesus is a King because his business is to bear witness to the truth. What truth? All truth; all verity of relation throughout the universe--first of all, that his father is Good, perfectly good; and that the crown and joy of life is to desire and do the will of the eternal source of will, and of all life." -MacDonald
With a nod to comedian Flip Wilson,
"The Devil made him do it!"
is always an easy way for accusers of the righteous to try to grab the moral high ground against their perceived enemies. The Chosen, a tv series on the life of Christ and the Twelve disciples, does a terrific job of depicting the egregious hostility by the religious overlords of the day toward the Son of God, often accusing him of being in collaboration with the devil!
What gets lost in the ensuing debate is that the devil is actually quite capable of enormous destruction in the lives of people. Matthew describes an especially violent encounter with two demoniacs in 8:28:
Before Jesus liberated the demoniacs, they'd made a habit of charging out of the caves along the road that ran along the eastern side of the sea of Galilee, terrifying people who tried to pass by on the seaside road near their dwellings in the caves and tombs. These men presented a real danger which caused the people in that region to avoid this area and keep a distance between themselves and those demoniacs, aware that they were walking into a hazardous situation.
But, as was His practice, rather than avoid the area, Jesus met the danger head on! The result was liberation and peace not only for the demoniacs but the people of the area and travelers on the sea side road!
And yet, the overlords found reason to criticize...
What is the greater danger: exceedingly fierce demon possession or spiritual pride-induced blindness? If I recall correctly, it was the spiritually blind who eventually contrived to put Jesus to death. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is this: the demon possessed can be set free through the liberating power of the Holy Spirit; the demon-deceived are the ones who cause the real problems for the righteous!
Exceedingly fierce times are coming when all Hell will break loose on the earth! In fact, every measure points to the fact that we are the ones chosen to live in the perilous times Paul describes in II Timothy 3:1, where he uses the same Greek word, chalepos, to describe this time period--"when time has sailed to its last port and no more time remains for the journey." Like the demoniacs Jesus liberated, the time will be "exceeding fierce" characterized by harsh, harmful, cruel, ruthless, cutting and wounding that is emotionally difficult to bear.
Victors Not Victims
Jesus is our Example. What terrified others called Him to action. The same should be true of his Followers in today's volatile climate.
What gets lost in the ensuing debate is that the devil is actually quite capable of enormous destruction in the lives of people. Matthew describes an especially violent encounter with two demoniacs in 8:28:
"And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.."Pastor/author Rick Renner explains that the Greek word used to describe the demoniacs as "exceeding fierce" is chalepos and means danger, risk, hurt, hazard, and potential wounding, like wild, vicious, and uncontrollable animals. They were unpredictable and dangerous. In fact, they were potentially treacherous and hurtful to anyone who tried to pass by that way. As a result of their well-known, dangerous behaviors, people found this situation emotionally hard to bear. This is what the word chalepos conveys: harsh, harmful, cruel, ruthless, cutting and wounding that is unpredictable, dangerous and emotionally difficult.
Before Jesus liberated the demoniacs, they'd made a habit of charging out of the caves along the road that ran along the eastern side of the sea of Galilee, terrifying people who tried to pass by on the seaside road near their dwellings in the caves and tombs. These men presented a real danger which caused the people in that region to avoid this area and keep a distance between themselves and those demoniacs, aware that they were walking into a hazardous situation.
But, as was His practice, rather than avoid the area, Jesus met the danger head on! The result was liberation and peace not only for the demoniacs but the people of the area and travelers on the sea side road!
And yet, the overlords found reason to criticize...
What is the greater danger: exceedingly fierce demon possession or spiritual pride-induced blindness? If I recall correctly, it was the spiritually blind who eventually contrived to put Jesus to death. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is this: the demon possessed can be set free through the liberating power of the Holy Spirit; the demon-deceived are the ones who cause the real problems for the righteous!
Exceedingly fierce times are coming when all Hell will break loose on the earth! In fact, every measure points to the fact that we are the ones chosen to live in the perilous times Paul describes in II Timothy 3:1, where he uses the same Greek word, chalepos, to describe this time period--"when time has sailed to its last port and no more time remains for the journey." Like the demoniacs Jesus liberated, the time will be "exceeding fierce" characterized by harsh, harmful, cruel, ruthless, cutting and wounding that is emotionally difficult to bear.
Victors Not Victims
Jesus is our Example. What terrified others called Him to action. The same should be true of his Followers in today's volatile climate.
Others would have turned around, gotten back into their boat, and sailed away to get out of the area. But Jesus was called to that place at that time to bring deliverance to the demoniacs in the country of the Gadarenes. Had He run away from that Divine assignment, He would have missed the opportunity to set an entire region free. As "perilous" and "exceedingly fierce" as those demoniacs were, Jesus pressed forward in the power of the Spirit and with the weapons of God, and He transformed that dire situation with the glory of God!
Likewise, in these last days, we need to hear God's Spirit beckoning us to step forward with the authority of Jesus Christ to bring deliverance, freedom, and peace to people and places where the devil has tried [and will keep on escalating his attempts] to bring chaos, hazard, and hurt. People need us, and that makes this our greatest hour!
