·
Christ came to
rescue humanity from our Enemies
o
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has come to help and has redeemed His
people. For He has raised up a horn of
salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke through the
mouth of His holy prophets from long ago, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us. He has
done this to show mercy to our ancestors,
and to remember His holy covenant – the oath that He swore to our ancestor
Abraham. This oath grants that we, being
rescued from the hand of our enemies, may serve Him without fear, in
holiness and righteousness before Him for as long as we live. And you,
child [John the Baptist], will be called the prophet of the Most High. For you
will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their
sins. Because of our God’s tender mercy
the dawn will break upon us from on
high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:68-79).
§
Jesus Christ came to save humanity and bring us
into peace with God. To save humanity from what? Our enemies. Yet who is our
enemy? Is it God who is our enemy and hates us? No. According to the passage
this salvation comes from God as an act of love not of hate (John 3:16-17).
Even though humanity had become enemies rebelling against God’s will, God in
His love for us sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to set us free (Rom 5:8-10). So who
is the enemy of humanity that seeks to keep humanity from living without fear
in holiness and righteousness before God?
·
Who is the true enemy that Christ came to conquer
that humanity might be set free?
o
“Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded
by wolves … Then the seventy-two
returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”
So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven. Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes
and scorpions and on the full force of the
enemy, and nothing will hurt you” (Luke 10:3, 17-19).
o
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly”
(John 10:10).
o
“Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so
that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavens” (Eph 6:11-12).
o
“Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a
roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. Resist him, strong
in your faith” (1 Pet 5:8-9).
§
Jesus and the apostles teach that the enemy is
Satan and the spiritual forces of darkness. The ultimate enemy is spiritual
forces in the world and not human beings in themselves. They are dead set on
destroying human potential to serve God, stealing our eternal identities, and permanently
bringing us to ruin. These powers of evil seek to devour humanity. Yet the
question is what does the enemy do in our lives that necessitate that we need
saving from Satan and evil spirits?
·
How does the enemy, Satan, keep humanity in
bondage?
o
“You know the message He sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) –you know what happened throughout Judea… with respect to Jesus
from Nazareth, that God anointed him with
the Holy Spirit and with power.
He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil,
because God was with Him …I am sending you to open their eyes so that they turn
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith
in me” (Acts 10:36-38; 26:18).
§
Jesus’ salvation became manifest through Him
healing those oppressed by the Devil who were subject to his power in their
lives. By faith in His chain-breaking power made manifest through the Holy
Spirit a person becomes freed to live a life of doing God’s will by His power,
for they were subject to the power of Satan that kept them from being able to do God’s will.
Under Satan’s power a person is a “slave to sin” and not free to be righteous
and be who God created them to be (Rom 6-7). But how does the enemy of our soul
keep us in bondage to sin?
o
“And although you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s
present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of
the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom all of
us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging
the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath
even as the rest…” (Eph 2:1-3).
o
“and they will come to their senses and escape
the devil’s trap where they are held captive to do his will … Those who long to
be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and
harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. (2 Tim 2:26; 1
Tim 6:9)
o
“So that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the
one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down
to the earth, and his angels along with him” (Rev 12:9)
o
“You people are from your father the devil, and
you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he
lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the
father of lies” (John 8:44).
§
The enemy’s power that keeps humanity in bondage
to sin is by a power that takes hold in the inner person. The powers of
darkness energize a sinful lifestyle and make it appealing to the minds and
hearts of humanity, as they use temptation to trap us in doing what we think is
“good” but such goodness is an illusion of the deceiver. Just think about all
the forms of addiction and psychological ‘disorders’ that keeps people in
bondage to a lifestyle or habits that bring ruin from the inside out. They
devil’s power lies in the mind and the heart, just like a carriage rider
guiding a horse by a carrot, the enemy controls humanity by shaping what they
perceive as “good” and “befitting” that guides their life choices. The enemy is
the chief illusionist and puppeteer of humanity, for by his lies he subdues the
mind and by his deceitful mirages he captures the desires of the hearts.
Therefore, all humanity became his children, unconsciously enslaved to his will,
for they instinctively do his will as he shapes and guides their identity and
actions in life.
·
How does Christ set free humanity from the
chains of Darkness that keep humanity chained to addictions and psychological
bondage, e.g. despair, anxiety, worry, depression, stress?
o
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His
great love with which He loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! He raised us up with him and seated us with Him
in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the
surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His
workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God
prepared beforehand so we may do them …I pray that according to the wealth of His
glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the
inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that,
because you have been rooted and grounded in love … Now to him who by the power
that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, (Eph 2:4-10, 3:17, 20).
o
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because
the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been fathered
by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is
not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. By this the children of
God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice
righteousness – the one who does not love his fellow Christian – is not of God.
(1 John 3:8-10)
§
Christ sets us free by clothing humanity with
the power of the Holy Spirit that alone can break the chains of sin’s power on
our inner person. He came to baptize humanity with the liberating power of the
Holy Spirit, as the only supernatural power that can break sin’s power (Luke
3:15-17, 24:49; Acts 2:33, 38; Gal 5). Just as we read before Jesus liberated
those oppressed by the devil with the power of the Holy Spirit, just as we see
being accomplished in the Book of Acts. The Spirit’s work through Christ and
His followers liberated the Enemy’s oppression of the body of others, yet only
by the indwelling of the liberating power of the Spirit can set free the inner
man from the bondage to sin and decay (Rom 8:4-21; Gal 5). “Now the Lord is the
Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom” (1 Cor
3:17). The power of the Holy Spirit enables humanity to live holy and righteous
before God, because He empowers supernatural sanctification that re-creates the
inner person to be outfitted with divine-likeness to by holy and loving as God
is holy and loving. Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit’s liberating fires
that cut through the gone-wrongness of our hearts and minds through the
perverting influence of the Enemy. He is the living water that empower the
production of good fruit (John 7:37-39, 15:1-9). To be born of the Holy Spirit
allows us to be free to live as the children of God we were created to be (John
3:5-8). Therefore, genuine faith in Christ’s liberating power leads to the
embracing of the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying (liberating) power within the inner
person that recreates us in the image of God (Eph 4).
·
Conclusion:
Therefore, the true chain breaking power of
Christ is aimed at the corrupting powers of darkness that enchain humanity from
their eternal identities as God’s children who are holy as He is holy. Christ
came to conquer spiritual foes and not foes of flesh and blood. He was revealed
to destroy the one who seeks to keep humanity separated from our Sanctifier in
the God-relationship. He came to destroy the chains preventing intimacy between
the Creator and His most beloved children. He came to declare war and victory
over the powers of darkness who sought to keep humanity in bondage to sin and
alienated from the intimate presence of God who alone can enable humanity to be
good, righteous, holy, and loving as He is. “[Christ Disarmed] the [spiritual] rulers
and authorities, [when] He made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them
by the cross” (Col 2:15; Note the language of rulers and authorities parallels
language of Eph 6:11-12 that mentions spiritual enemies). Genuine faith in
Christ’s liberating-power not only embraces this liberating-power but is a
vessel for this liberating-power to be manifest in the world. We are called
upon to put on the identity of the Chain-Breaker over bondage by spiritual
powers by the “weapons of light” (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:11-14). The church is meant
to be the manifestation of the chain-breaking power of God in the world of
darkness as we see in the Book of Acts. Where Christ’s power is in the Holy
Spirit, there is freedom from spiritual powers that keep humanity in bondage,
not free to be righteous and holy. No person can save themselves and overcome
the power of the enemy, only the power of Christ suffices. Why do we expect the
world to throw off the yoke of the Oppressor, when those who dare bare the name
of the Chain-Breaker sit idly concerned of their own prosperity and
righteousness that they do not take the mandate to set the captives free by the
power of the Holy Spirit that indwells all believers. To embrace the cross is
to embrace not just a chain-breaking lifestyle over the enemy of our own soul
but the enemies over the souls of others.
Hence Christ tells each of us, “I am sending you to open their eyes so that
they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified
by faith in me [the Liberating One]” (Acts 26:18).
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