Spiritual Victory

I was watching a sermon by Robert Morris on resurrection day and it was amazing. The revelation of how the spiritual and the natural realms are connected is awesome. When we look at the finished works of Jesus, we must look at His life, His death, and His resurrection because they all are a vital part of God’s plan.  I would like to look at the events of resurrection day, both natural and spiritual and hopefully you will gain revelation on what Jesus did for us.

Jesus was preparing His disciples for all that He had to go and do when He said He would be going away and then coming back, but do we think about what He was doing while He was gone?

John 14:1-2         Don’t let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me…for I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:25-29     …because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so                                 that when it happens, you may believe.

I love how Jesus says that He will go and prepare a place for us, that is what He was doing while gone from the earth but as we will see, He was busy.

All the disciples knew was that Jesus was gone, we usually talk about how Jesus told them that He would be back but they didn’t listen and now He was back and reveals Himself to Mary at the tomb but tells her not to touch Him. Then He says that He has not gone to the Father yet so where has He been and why can’t Mary touch Him?

John 20:1             Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark…

John 20:16-17     Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to (touch) Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My                                 brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

  Greek: Cling – haptomai – to attach oneself to, that is to touch. (Translated as touch 36 times and cling once)

We know that Jesus was going to see His Father after He saw Mary at the tomb. I love that Jesus says, “My Father and your Father, and My God and your God”.

Where had Jesus been for the three days in the tomb? We know that He was taking care of business, but He said that He had not yet ascended to the Father and that is where He told Mary that He is going now. We can see where Jesus went in these two scriptures.

Ephesians 4:8-10 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gift to men.” (Now                                 this, “He ascended” – what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the                                 earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all                                 things.)

1 Peter 3:18-20  Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you      NLT                        safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit. So, He went and                                 preached to the spirits in prison – those who disobeyed God long ago…

We can see here that Jesus went to preach the good news of Himself to those who had died and were in prison. This shows us that God had a plan of salvation for everyone that has ever walked on the earth, none were left out. Jesus was not just hanging out for three days, He was busy telling all who would listen about Himself and the freedom they would now have if they believe in Him. This is why Jesus had not gone to the Father yet.

Now, we are back to Jesus at the tomb with Mary and He told her not to touch Him. When you think about it, Jesus was still the perfect sacrifice for all mankind, but He had not been presented to the Father yet. So, it makes sense that Mary could not touch Him until He had been presented to God.  Let’s look at what happened next by reading the vision that Daniel had of what happened in the spiritual realm. When Daniel had this vision, none of this had happened yet, it was a vision of what was going to happen, and it is awesome that we can see what took place in the spirit.

Daniel 7:9-12      I watched till thrones were put in place and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as                                 snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, it wheels a burning fire;                        …The court was seated, and the books were opened.

Wow, what a scene to imagine but this is what Jesus saw when He went to see His Father, the Ancient of Days. I know this sounds like the final judgement of when we all stand before God but as you can read, this is talking about the judgement of the enemy and his angels. They lost their dominion over the earth on this day and it was given to Jesus.

Daniel 7:13-14    … and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of                                 Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a                                    kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting                                 dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed.

This judgement seat of God was set to take back what the enemy had stolen back in the garden and give it to Jesus.

Daniel 7:21-22    I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them,                                 until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgement was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and                                 the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

This was a court room where judgement was made in favor of the saints (us) and at this moment, the saints (believers) were given the kingdom of God!!! Now that is exciting news!! We get to see when Jesus was victorious, and the enemy lost it all.

When Jesus returned to earth, He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) and brought the disciples back gifts of peace and the Holy Spirit. Now that Jesus has dominion and the saints have the kingdom, it is time to go to work.

John 20:19-23     So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week…

                                So, Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

                                … “Receive the Holy Spirit” …

We can see here that Jesus went and offered Himself as the sacrifice to the Father in heaven on the day of resurrection. That is when all dominion was given to Him and the saints (believers) were given the kingdom.

Hebrews 9:12     Not the blood of goats or calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all,                                 having obtained eternal redemption.

Before Jesus went to the cross, He gave a glimpse of what was about to happen in the spiritual realm. I want you to notice that Jesus says “now” twice, that means that all this took place now, not later.

John 12:31-32     “Now judgement is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up                                 from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”

After ascending to our Father as the sacrifice for us, Jesus said:

Matthew 28:18  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on                                 earth.”

Jesus took back all that the enemy had stolen from Adam through His death and resurrection. I love that we can see this clearly in the scriptures so that there is no doubt of what Jesus did for us. The enemy and his angels no longer have dominion on this earth, they have been kicked out of heaven. Dominion was given to the saints and we are the saints of God. We have dominion!

RelianceOnGrace.com

Spiritual Battle

God has our best interest at heart! We have a wonderful Father who wants to take care of His children. The one thing we need to remember is that there is an enemy out there that wants to kill, steal and destroy us. I am posting the notes from a recent bible study that I did that looks at the natural vs the spiritual side of things.  God is always working behind the scenes for His children. I believe that this bible study illustrates how much God has done for us that we cannot even see. This is a great reminder that we are in a spiritual battle and we need to remember who our enemy is.

The original plan that God had for man was for him to have dominion or rule over the earth. God created the earth for man, but the enemy was jealous and wanted to rule over all so he deceived Adam and Eve in order to get the dominion that God had given to man.

Genesis 1:28       God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; …

The enemy was successful and now he was the god of this world and had dominion over it. God cursed the serpent and gave him warning that Jesus (her Seed) would be coming to reverse what he had done and gain back dominion over the earth.

Genesis 3:15       And I will put enmity between you (serpent) and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He                                 shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The enemy remembered that the Seed from the woman would remove him from his position so his obsession with finding Jesus started from that day forward. The enemy was forced to search for the Seed from the woman by relying on information gathered from earth because, unlike God, he cannot be everywhere at once. When we look at these scriptures in revelation, I believe that the enemy cast one third of the stars (angels) down to earth to help him find out all that he could to destroy the Seed.

Revelation 12:1-2 And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman having been clothed with the sun, and the moon                                 underneath her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars; and having a babe in womb …

Revelation 12:3-4 … And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave                                 birth, he might devour her child.

We can see that the scriptures in Matthew show us what was happening here on earth as the enemy looked for the Seed.  I am sure that the enemy thought he had Jesus right here.

Matthew 2:1-10 And he (Herod) sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when                                 you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him”.

In the spirit realm, God made the way of protection and provision for Jesus where the enemy could not find Him. We have our place of protection and provision in the secret place of the Most High. God has already made our place of protection and provision just like He did for Jesus.

Revelation 12:5-6 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child                                 was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness (desert, solitary)                                 where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished…

We can see this play out on the earth when God sent Joseph to Egypt (a solitary place or a desert) for a period of time. Provision for their time in the desert was made for them by gifts brought to them from the magi.

Matthew 2:10-12 … opening their (Magi) treasuries, they presented to Him (Jesus) gifts of gold, frankincense and                                 myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left or their own country                                 by another way.

Matthew 2:13-16 …behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and                                 His mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child                                 to destroy Him.”

The enemy was not successful in destroying the child, so he had to wait for Jesus to show himself later and that time happened when Jesus was baptized and led to the wilderness (desert or solitary place). God protected Jesus once again, He was full of the Holy Spirit before going into the wilderness.

Luke 4:1                Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness                                 (desert, solitary) for forty days, being tempted by the devil.

Luke 4:6                And the devil said to Him, “I will give you all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to                                 me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

I believe that this battle between Jesus and the enemy happened in the spirit realm also.  Jesus was in human form and operated as a human while on the earth so the battle would have taken place in His mind, will and emotions.  When you think about how the enemy attacks us today, the battle happens in our minds. Scripture says that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, and the mind is where temptation starts. Also, this states that Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms in the world in a moment. This would have to take place in the imagination, or they would have been flying around the earth like superman (and I still think it would take longer than a moment). What I am trying to say here is that Jesus had to face fear, pain and heartache the exact same way that we do and that is by relying on God. God gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and give us the wisdom we need in any situation. Our part in this is to look to Him in all that we do. Full of the Holy Spirit, this does not mean that Jesus didn’t already have the Holy Spirit, it means that He was filled up and ready to face what He had to face. We can ask God to fill us up with the Holy Spirit so we can be ready to face whatever it is we need to face here on earth. We need to remember that there is a spiritual battle going on and it is not just what we can see.

RelianceOnGrace.com