Passover: The Feast

The whole burnt offering was opened up with the priestly flaying knife called the machaira. The various parts were removed from the cavity and the fat separated because the fat was wholly for God. As the entrails were removed they were washed with water and then put on the fire and burned up. The application that I am making from this is the depth of Christ’s sacrifice and completeness of His sacrifice. Of course the animal sacrifice is too superficial to probe the depth of the sacrifice of Calvary and what followed. It required ALL the sacrifices ever offered to picture for us just a small portion of what was offered at Calvary. Without going back over the whole burnt offering we just want to understand that there was nothing held back from the fire and all was consumed except the skin. From this we understand that after the total sacrifice of Calvary the only thing that remained was Christ’s humanity. He was still the man Christ Jesus after the resurrection.

First, why would God sacrifice His only Son in such a horrible death? This makes no sense to many Christians. If the only problem of mankind was the need for forgiveness of sins and God could only do this through blood, it seems that Jesus’ blood could be shed without such a horrible death. To understand the radical and violent nature of the sacrifice of Calvary we must go back to Genesis. We will try to show that man’s sin problem was just one of many problems solved at Calvary. There was not only the rebellion of man but the rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels and the principalities and powers and the spirits of wickedness. Death also had to conquered and provision made for resurrection. Also the standard must be set for fulfilling God’s eternal purpose and ruling with Christ. In addition there is the authority over the earth and the keys of death that was transferred preceding the resurrection. For that reason we want to go back to the beginning to understand the need to win back this authority for man.

At first we may think this is not such a big thing because all we have to do is look up the scriptures. This is partially true but the explanation of what the scriptures say requires a combination of words that only the Holy Spirit can give. Normal words are totally inadequate to speak of Calvary and what followed.

When God created Adam he was created to have authority and dominion or rulership over the whole earth and over everything that crept upon the earth. At one time Satan seems to have had authority over the earth but he corrupted the earth and perverted his authority. When the earth was restored, “in the beginning”, this authority and dominion was given to man.

Now the Kingdom of Heaven as well as the universe of God’s creation is all governed by the precise laws of the Kingdom. When Satan breeched the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven he lost his high position there as the covering cherub. ISA 14:14] `I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' [15] "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. [16] "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, `Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, [17] Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?' [18] "All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own tomb. [19] "But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit, Like a trampled corpse. [20] "You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. [21] "Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter Because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth And fill the face of the world with cities."

Judgement is already passed upon Satan and all his sons (those who follow him). Satan ruined the place of his authority and caused the earth to turn upside down. [See study “In the Beginning”] When the earth was restored Adam was given dominion and authority over the earth and whatever moved on it. Satan was a creeping thing and Adam had total authority over him and was told to guard the garden (margin) but Adam didn’t do his job and Satan crept in and deceived Eve and then Adam fell into the lie also. This we could call Satan overcoming Adam. Satan tried to do the same thing with Jesus in the wilderness but Jesus overcome him, not only once but also in the garden of Gethsemane.

Why didn’t God just act sovereignly over Adam and Satan and repossess the earth for Himself? I think it was because the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven would not permit it. These are the laws of eternal righteousness and justice. The earth must be won back legally and since God gave man dominion He couldn’t just arbitrarily take it back. The gifts and callings of God are and were irrevocable. If we understood that the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven are absolute and they won’t bend for anyone, including God, we wouldn’t expect God to make special exceptions for us.

Because Adam obeyed Satan, Adam became his slave and therefore a slave of impurity. Since a slave has no legal rights Adam was without recourse. Since Satan became the legal master of Adam he also took possession of Adam’s property. [ Later we want to show how the laws of the Kingdom also work the other way when we become a slave of God ]

Now if Satan’s authority, that was received by default, was to be revoked according to the laws of the Kingdom, a legal way had to be found that would not conflict with the Kingdom of righteousness. Since the dominion was given to man, if man was fully redeemed and returned to innocense then man could be restored to dominion. However, Satan’s sons must not rise up to take control of the cities. ( Isa 14:21) A place of slaughter must be prepared for them!

1 COR 15:21] For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. The principle is this; Whatever was destroyed and lost by man must be won back and restored by man. The earth was never given to angels so they couldn’t win it back. Angels could not redeem man because by man came death so only by man could come resurrection. The only solution was that a man had to be raised up who could accomplish all these things and restore man back to dominion.

The problem was that every natural man on earth came from Adam and was totally corrupted, therefore, could not redeem fallen man. A perfect man that lived without sin would be needed to die for the redemption of all mankind. Of course none could be found on earth or in heaven because they were all born under the curse of Adam.

For that reason the Word of God Who was with God and Who was God agreed to come to earth and become a genuine man who was subject to all the temptations and feelings of men on earth. He must be born as a full son of man, grow up without sin, be tempted in every way, remain faithful in obedience and walk without sin. He had to be subject to all the passions of man but without sin. In addition to all that He had to become a faithful high priest and the mediator of a whole New Covenant. He must open up a new and living way into the Presence of God , into the Holy of Holies, for man. The point I’m making is that Jesus had to do more than redeem man and pay the penalty for man’s sins He had to provide for the creation of a whole new species of man that now could complete God’s purpose and rule over ALL the works of God’s hands. This “new man” must be able to reject all the temptations of Satan and overcome him. But more than that, this new man must begin to rule over Satan and his agents. Now God is going to deal with His enemies through redeemed man.

PS 149:5 Let the godly ones exult in glory; Let them sing for joy on their beds. [6] Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two_edged sword in their hand, [7] To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishment on the peoples; [8] To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; [9] To execute on them the judgment written; This is an honor for all His godly ones.

In other words God is going to deal with His enemies and those who are ruling on the earth, even though Satan, their prince, was totally defeated at Calvary. God is going to enforce the victory of Calvary through redeemed man and execute the judgement that was pronounced upon Satan and His agents. This was written for us so we would know what the two-edged sword was for. It is not to slay or cut each other!

Now the Last Adam has restored redeemed man back to his original authority and dominion but now redeemed man must be tried and tested to see if he will guard the ground that has been assigned to him and overcome Satan and all his hosts and agents. The reason is this; it is the overcomers that will inherit all things. In other words after we are redeemed we still must be qualified to participate in God’s Eternal Government. Those who pass the test and are qualified are the “few that find it .” The point I’m making is that the sacrifice of Calvary did provide everything to accomplish the eternal purpose of God and restore man back to full authority and dominion upon the earth and for the “perfected few” to rule over the works of God’s hands.

To restate this truth; The government of earth was given to man but he lost it. The last Adam, the man Christ Jesus, won back the government of earth for redeemed and restored man. To do that He had to live a spotless life, die, be buried, be resurrected, ascend to heaven, receive from the Father the promised Holy Spirit which He poured out and then take His seat on the throne of heaven at the right hand of the Father’s Majesty. In this process the provision for forgiveness of man’s sins was made through the blood of Jesus. Without forgiveness of sins man remains in his sins and forfeits eternal life. But with forgiveness of sins man is now able to begin to experience all the other provisions of the sacrifice Calvary. This has to do with God’s Kingdom and God’s eternal purpose. It also has to do with redeemed man enforcing Satan’s defeat and overcoming him now on earth. It has to do with redeemed man beginning to rule now on the earth through the One, Jesus Christ.

Many of us have in the best of our ability made ourselves bondslaves of Christ. Since a slave has no legal rights, Jesus now calls His faithful followers “His friends” and He can tell them what He is doing. A “slave” is our commitment to Him while “friend” is His commitment to us. This doesn’t release us from our commitment to Him but it does include us in His commitment to us and God’s purpose!

Now if we can clearly see that “forgiveness of sins” and the “born again” experience is essential to begin, there still is a whole race set before us and not all will receive the prize. We still have to run to win! Those who sit down to watch will suffer eternal loss. It may be comfortable to sit in the stands but that will be very boring once we see the prize.

PHIL 3:8] More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain ( win) Christ, REV 2:28] and I will give him the morning star. REV 22: 16-----I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." The “prize” is the Lord Jesus Christ, the bridegroom!

By now everyone should know why Jesus had to be born of a virgin so we won’t spend much time with that. If Jesus was the son of Joseph or any other man He would have been a descendant of Adam and born in the sin of Adam. For that reason He had to be born by the sperma of God. God alone was His Father and not any descendent of Adam could possibly be his father. Still He was born of a woman! Gal 4:4] But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, [5] in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. While Jesus was born sinless, He still had to remain sinless in order to redeem man from sin. He had to be born “under the law” in order to redeem us from under the law. If we remain “under the law” we cannot receive “the adoption of sons.”

1 PET 1:23] for you have been born again not of seed ( lit. sperma) which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. The Spirit of Christ came into us as the sperma of God and we were born again. Our first birth was from Adam but our next birth was from God. For that reason we are called “the children of God”.

If Jesus was born from this earth as fallen man He would have not been qualified to challenge Satan’s authority BUT neither would we! Jesus Christ had to be a complete man and wholly human like us in order to redeem us. However, we must be born from above as He also was in order to reign with Him. Jesus had to be fully man and truly human in order to exercise authority in the earth. He had to be the Son of God and truly sinless in order to redeem man. The goal of the redeemed man is to be perfect as He is perfect and to grow up in all things into Him. To be conformed to His image and to be a functioning member of His body.

Jesus had to die and be buried in order to release us from any connection to Adam and to be resurrected in order to impart His resurrection Life to us. In that same way we die to the world system and are buried. In resurrection we escape the world system. This old life (psuche) is what remains of the old man but as we lay down the psuche we will find His Zoe, Life!

JOHN 12:24] "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] "He who loves his life (psuche) loses it; and he who hates his life (psuche) in this world shall keep it to life (Zoe) eternal. [26] "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. While there will be multitudes “saved” they will not all be where He is.

We may assume that because Jesus said that He came that we might have life (Zoe) and that more abundantly that we automatically have it whether we die to our old life or not. This is true of so many promises of God. Some think that because they have experienced forgiveness of sins that qualifies them for the Kingdom Of God. Jesus poured out His blood for our forgiveness of sins but He suffered terrible things on Calvary and in the death that followed in order to restore man to rulership with Him. Not only did Jesus suffer but the Father also suffered as well as the Holy Spirit suffered in this recovery process.

In his ignorance man declares that he will not have to suffer in order to reign with Him. That God only wants prosperity and the good life for His children. After all we are king’s kids and we deserve the best. This ignorance reveals the lack of understanding of the Kingdom of God and God’s eternal purpose. We still must overcome in accord with the laws of the Kingdom of God.

The whole church needs to be shaken to their very foundations to reveal these false concepts invented by man to fill the pews with numbers of spoiled brat believers. They have the false idea that God now is their servant and they can direct His path by commanding Him to do what they want. If everything doesn’t go their way they threaten to backslide or just drop out and punish God for not obeying them.

Too much of the church doesn’t have a clue of what transpired at Calvary and following while He was in the grave. They think His suffering ended with the cross. My hope is that if the spoiled church understood exactly what He suffered they would turn from their self-centeredness and surrender their lives to His plan and purpose regardless of what it cost!

While the New Testament does not share details of ALL his sufferings or the Father’s sufferings the Old Testament prophets spoke much about it. 1 PET 1:10] As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, [11] seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

The question has been asked many times of how the Old Testament prophets knew about the sufferings of Christ and the glorious things that followed long before it happened. This says that it was the Spirit of Christ that was in them who was speaking these things. The prophets themselves wondered what it all meant and when it was going to happen. They knew it was for a later time and not for them.

At Calvary Jesus had to deal fully with the sin problem but then also with the death problem, then with the authority problem, and then the dominion problem and then with the Satan problem. He suffered in each of these areas to provide release and restoration for redeemed man. Everything that fallen man lost, the Man Christ Jesus had to recover.

The suffering at Gethsemane was a battle ground against the Satanic, the demonic and the principalities and powers and against the forces of darkness. This attack brought Him close to death. MAT 26:38] Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." We may not understand how that could be because we have never been faced with that degree of attack. This was a torture of the soul before the suffering of the body. The body reacted to the suffering of the soul by sweating drops of blood. Jesus had the authority to call upon thousands of angels to deliver Him but it was not the will of God.

We are not told if this suffering was because of His foreknowledge of the suffering that followed but He knew that “this cup” was something that was terrible and wondered if there was any way it could be avoided. He must have known that He could have refused the cup and nothing would have been forced upon Him. As man He still had free will. He may not even been thinking of the suffering of the cross but of the suffering that followed the cross. We don’t think much about that suffering or the suffering of the Father in offering His only begotten Son as such a sacrifice.

We know that Jesus conquered ( as an overcomer) through the cross but only through death on the cross. We generally think of conquering through a victorious life rather than by conquering through death. This tremendous pressure upon His soul was for the purpose of compelling Him to rebel against the Father or to harbor bad thoughts and resentment against the Father. Or just unforgiveness or vengeance against His persecutors. The fact that He was totally innocent and had done nothing to deserve the suffering could have stirred up resentment and bitterness and defiled the pure sacrifice.

The application is this; We may offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice but when the suffering comes and we are wrongfully accused and condemned we permit resentment and bitterness to arise and the sacrifice is defiled. Then we wonder why God is asking us to consecrate when we have already done that. It may be true that we offered ourselves as a living sacrifice but then the “sacrifice” got defiled and could not be accepted. The problem is never on God’s side. The sacrifice of Christ was not defiled and He offered Himself as a Lamb perfect and unspotted in body, souls and Spirit. Because He overcome in every area He is able to sanctify us in every area. 1THES 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

There was the suffering of the phony trial and being condemned by the religious leaders as well as the civil government and even all the people cried out to crucify Him. They mocked Him with a crown of thorns and a purple robe and struck Him with sticks and spit upon Him but in all this He did not sin. Satan was throwing everything against Him that he could think of but not even resentment or bitterness rose up within Him.

HEB 9:25] nor was it that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood not his own. [26] Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The sacrifices in the Old Covenant could “not take away sin” but rather only forgave sin. HEB 10:11] And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; [12] but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, [Jesus had to fight this battle with sin by Himself as a man and not as the Son of God.]

The sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God is now able to “take away sins” and not just forgive sins. MAT 1:21] "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." In the reformation the people rejoiced that the Lord had saved them while still in their sins. The next revelation that came was that yes Jesus did save us “in our sins” but thank God He also saved us “from our sins.” In other words He saved us so that we wouldn’t have to keep on sinning but He delivered us from the power of sin.

He who knew no sin had to become sin on our behalf! It is difficult to even think of the anguish of His soul of “becoming sin” for the whole world. ISA 53:6] All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. Even ALL our lawlessness ( or iniquity) fell upon Him to bear.

ISA 53:10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. [11] As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. [12] Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

He became the “guilt offering” for all men for all time. He paid for the forgiveness of sin but also for the penalty that was connected to the guilt of sin. LEV 5:15] "If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD'S holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. [16] "And he shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it, and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

His body remained in the tomb of the rich man but His spirit and soul descended into the pit of hell. Because hell was the final destiny and full penalty for sinful man, He, Himself, had to pay that extreme penalty also! He would not be an adequate substitute for us unless He paid for the whole penalty for sin and took upon Himself the eternal consequences of sin which was death and banishment from God’s presence! He offered MORE than His physical life in this perfect sacrifice. Both His soul and Spirit was included. 1 PET 3:18] For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; [19] in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, [20] who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

It was “in the Spirit” that Jesus went into hell to preach to those who were disobedient. This obviously followed the full sacrifice for sin, following the deliverance from the penalty for sin and the snatching away the keys of hell and death from the devil. This was before He released those who were held captive in hell.

EPH 4:7] But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. [8] Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." EPH 4:9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

MAT 27:51] And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, [52] and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; [53] and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

These obviously are the host of captives that He led out of the tombs after He was resurrected. PS 24:7 Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! [8] Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. [9] Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! [10] Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Many think this refers to the Lord leading this host of captives, that were finally released, into the gates of heaven.

PS 88:1 O LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before Thee. [2] Let my prayer come before Thee; Incline Thine ear to my cry! [3] For my soul has had enough troubles And my life has drawn near to Sheol. [4] I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength, [5] Forsaken among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom Thou dost remember no more, And they are cut off from Thy hand. [6] . [7] Thy wrath has rested upon me, And Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves. Selah. [8] Thou hast removed my acquaintances far from me; Thou hast made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out. [9] My eye has wasted away because of affliction; I have called upon Thee every day, O LORD; I have spread out my hands to Thee. PS 88:10 Wilt Thou perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise Thee? Selah. [11] Will Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Thy faithfulness in Abaddon? [12] Will Thy wonders be made known in the darkness? And Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? PS 88:13 But I, O LORD, have cried out to Thee for help, And in the morning my prayer comes before Thee. [14] O LORD, why dost Thou reject my soul? Why dost Thou hide Thy face from me? [15] I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Thy terrors; I am overcome. [16] Thy burning anger has passed over me; Thy terrors have destroyed me. [17] They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encompassed me altogether.

These few verses reveal the terror and the feelings of rejection that Jesus felt in His separation from God. In verse 10 He wonders if the dead will really rise after all. It appears that God has hid His face and rejected His soul. He felt the burning fires of God’s anger against sin, rebellion and iniquity. Jesus felt like He was drowning in the terrors of Hell. Who can comprehend what all this means and the anguish of the souls in hell.

Jesus Christ endured the worst of all that humanity “could have suffered” in eternity in hell in order to provide a full salvation for ALL that repent and believe! Even to descending into hell and suffering the consequences for us. The Father had to permit Him to not only suffer the terrible death on the cross but also the eternal death of being subject to the worst the torturers in hell could do TO HIS SPIRIT AND SOUL! While His body rested in the grave, His Spirit and soul suffered in hell until a full vindication was made and the Father was satisfied. He was subject to the torments of Hell because He was made sin but was vindicated within the three days because He, Himself, was without sin and innocent of guilt. As long as Jesus was so fully identified with sin Satan had rulership over Him and could do as he pleased. But when He was justified and fully vindicated because no sin was even found in His mouth, He triumphed totally over Satan and took from Satan the keys of death and hell. He also stripped him of all authority and anything else he thought he had. He totally stripped Satan of every weapon and left him helpless. His only tool still left is lies and deception.

Jesus Christ suffered until all the claims of righteousness were satisfied and every law of the Kingdom of Heaven was satisfied and we could be declared free from sin and guilt through faith in Him and faith in what He has provided. The justice of the laws of the Kingdom were fully satisfied. It appears that the full fury of God’s wrath had to come upon Jesus before mankind could be fully justified. None of this is of any benefit to us it we don’t repent and believe the gospel.

Now in addition to the suffering of the Son think about the suffering of the Father as He had to subject His only begotten Son to the fury and wrath of God that is against all ungodliness. Since the Father knew that His Son was innocent of everything and stood sinless, the Father must have been in great turmoil and pain in permitting Satan to further torture Jesus after He had endured the sufferings of the cross.

REV 1:5] and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first_born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, [6] and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. REV 1:17] And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, [18] and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

This was no “symbolic death” or a “figure of death” but actual death but more than that, He suffered “eternal death and separation from the Father”. The maximum death that is possible. Then Jesus Christ was “born out of that death” into a completely new kind of Life. It is this new Life of resurrection that is infused into us. It comes into us as the sperma of Christ so that we also may be “born again” into this new Life through the living and abiding Word of God. It is this “infusion of His Life” that we become a whole new species of men that never existed before.

It is that which was taken from Christ out of which He is building His church. As Eve was “built” out of Adam the church must be built out of Christ. Nothing less is suitable to build a bride for Christ. Trying to mature a bride for Christ out of the material of earth will always remain a frustrating and fruitless endeavor. Wood, hay and straw will never substitute for silver, gold and precious stone.

We participate in His death by faith, in His burial by baptism and in His resurrection by the infusion of His resurrection Life, Zoe! We participate in His exaltation and dominion of both heaven and earth by taking His authority and enforcing it on the principalities and powers. When we are born into that new resurrection Life, we are birthed into His authority and have the use of His name.

Our authority on this earth is not from the old Adam but from the Last Adam. The first Adam was given authority before he was tried and tested. The authority that Jesus Christ has NOW is AFTER He was tried , tested and found faithful. “Man” has never had such authority on earth before as this is the beginning of something new. The new species of man has functional authority over the earth and everything that creeps on the earth. That old serpent is still creeping on this earth along with serpents and scorpions. The balance of power on earth has shifted from Satan and his hosts to Christ and His hosts. The balance of power has been delegated to the new species of persons that make up His body on earth.

All the effort of the combined forces of hell could not convict Jesus of one sin and they could find nothing of themselves in Him. The wages of sin is death but without sin death has no power. ACTS 2:24] "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. There was no way that Satan or his hosts could prevent the resurrection of Christ from the grips of death. There is not a redeemed person on the face of this earth that does not owe Christ all the adoration, all the praise, all the worship and all the gratitude that can be expressed by human beings. The hosts of heaven can obviously do a better job and continue day and night with thunderous praise and worship. Why is it that “the saved” weary in a few minutes? Because they have no revelation of what Christ has accomplished in behalf of man. They have no understanding of the horrors of hell that was awaiting them and which they fully deserved.

Hell has ,since His resurrection, suffered total bankruptcy, total defeat, total weakness, total devastation, total confusion, and without remedy and without hope of ever recovering. The name of the Crucified strikes fear to Satan and his hosts because they know their end. As the church matures and grows and manifests Christ, the devil knows he has but a short time left. For that reason he has to be increasingly more active just to delay his judgement.

COL 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. [9] For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, [10] and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

While Christ was the fulness of God in bodily form so also the church must be the fullness of Him that fills all in all. If the church IS His fulness then HE can’t be “FULL” without the church which is His body. As the body cannot function without the head so also the head needs the body to function. Christ as the exalted Head of all things has chosen to be co-dependent upon the church to get His will done on earth and to deal with His adversaries and to cause the enemy and the revengeful to cease. In the same way that the Vine cannot bear without the branches, the branches cannot bear without the Vine. They are co-dependent.

Because the church has either forgotten what Christ accomplished on Calvary, or they have been ignorant or they are too busy with other things that are more important, we allow Satan to threaten us and strike fear to our hearts. Some just passively submit to whatever he puts on them because they feel helpless to fight back. Some just don’t know they have power and authority over Satan. The “unlimited potential of the church” is lying dormant because we have preached half a gospel or maybe not even that much.

EPH 3:8] To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, [9] and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; [10] in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. [11] This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, [12] in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

This is not a matter of knowledge but of faith and power and forcing the enemy to submit to the authority of Christ and the power of His name which He has put in us. We must begin to proclaim the total defeat of Satan and the total victory of Christ and make that victory effective on earth through the full gospel. Until the captives are set free, the total victory of Christ is not effective on earth although His victory is forever sealed in heaven.

Looking to someone else to accomplish this work of the church has been the error of the past. God is looking for “a few good men” who will act upon the victory of Calvary and enforce the authority of Christ upon God’s enemies. Those who are with us are more than those that are with Satan. Even though Satan has multitudes trapped, they hate him because he deceived them into hell. They are not with him but must be against him. At any rate they are of no help to him in this battle for the earth. He is not going to release these prisoners to help him. It is written that his sons must never rise up to take possession of the earth.