Notice ... this is first-century language to a first-century audience.
_________________________________________
Romans 16:20 says, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." - (This was not a vague prophecy for thousands of years later—it was imminent.
.
John 12:31 ... Jesus said ... "*NOW* the prince of this world will be CAST OUT."
.
John 16:11 ... "the ruler of this world HAS BEEN JUDGED."
.
1 Cor 15:27 ... "FOR HE (GOD) HAS PUT EVERYTHING UNDER HIS FEET."
.
1 Corinthians 15:26 ...“The last enemy to be destroyed is DEATH.”
.
SO, WAS DEATH DESTROYED ??
2 Tim 1:10... "Christ Jesus, who HAS DESTROYED DEATH and has brought LIFE and IMMORTALITY to light through the gospel."
.
QUESTION
> If death was the last enemy to be destroyed, and Jesus destroyed
DEATH ... then what does that mean for the devil ??
.
LET'S CONTINUE ...
.
HEB
2:14 ... "He too shared in their humanity so that by his death, He
might DESTROY him who holds the power of DEATH - that is the
devil.”
.
OK, (PAUSE) ... Since the devil held the "power of DEATH" ... what exactly was the power of DEATH ???
.
ANSWER
> 1 Corinthians 15:56 ... "The sting of DEATH is sin, and the power
of sin is the Law.” ... (Also see Rom 7:10) - Death and the Law were
always intertwined (one in the same). This is why the OLD Covenant was
known as "the ministry of death."
______________________________
The Law didn’t just expose sin—it empowered it.
And where Law empowered sin, death reigned.
Therefore, the true “power of death” was a legal structure rooted in condemnation.
Christ didn’t just defeat this villain. He dismantled the entire architecture of separation.
______________________________________
Many of you are thinking ... "But people are still dying every day, so DEATH was not destroyed !"
Okay, so let's look at how Jesus used the word "DEATH" ...
John 8:51 ..."Anyone who obeys my teaching WILL NEVER DIE !"
.
Obviously, Jesus was NOT referring to PHYSICAL DEATH because everyone eventually dies (physically).
When Jesus said this in John 8:51 ... He was speaking about "spiritual death" as in "separation from God."
So
if you mis-identify the nature of the "DEATH" that Jesus had in mind
... that will throw off your whole eschatology right there.
What does the Bible say about PHYSICAL death anyway ?
We are told that PHYSICAL DEATH still remains in the NEW Heaven and NEW Earth.
Isaiah 65:17-20
**************************************
17. “See, I will create NEW HEAVENS and a NEW EARTH.
20. "THE ONE WHO DIES AT A HUNDRED WILL BE THOUGHT A MERE CHILD; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
****************************************
So physical death was NEVER the issue. When
Jesus "DESTROYED DEATH" ... it was "Spiritual Death" (separation from
God) ... The Law separated us. The Law was the power of sin and death.
The only power that Satan had was the Law, and that power was taken from
him and destroyed with him.
So ... If DEATH was the last enemy to be destroyed, and death was fueled by Law, and Law empowered the adversarial mind…then what does that mean for this so called "satan" ... and when was he defeated ?
.
This same fire which destroyed the OLD Law-based temple system was a purging (a correction) pointing to the FULL ARRIVAL of the NEW COVENANT. The external structure of the OLD covenant had already expired at the cross, and was completely wiped out in 70 AD.
As for "satan" ... I encourage everyone to read the passages that refer to "satan" in the original KOINE GREEK, because the word "satan" is NEVER actually used as a proper noun (or name) ... ONLY in the Latin to English translations do we find "Satan" (capitalized) and presented as a proper noun.
That means “Satan” was not originally thought of as a literal cosmic entity. It was simply a title, given to any adversary opposed to the will of God.
In Hebrew: ha-satan = an accuser, or opposer.
Religion has distorted the meaning ... turning this into an actual entity or fallen angel.
The point is: the real adversary in the scriptures is the unrenewed mind (ego, false identity).
.
I
find it interesting that to this very day, the majority of Jews reject the "western"
idea of an entity called "Satan"... and for a good reason... THE TORAH never used the word "satan" as a proper noun. In the Old Testament, the word "ha-satan" simply meant "adversary" to the ancient Hebrews
- Therefore, there were many "satans" in the Bible. King Nebuchadnezzar was called a "satan" ... even Peter was called a "satan" by Christ Himself.
.
The
REAL "ha-satan" in scripture was always man's CARNAL NATURE (ego) (the
unrenewed mind) which was adversarial to the will of God ... Mark 7:21, says that evil comes from the HEART of man.
.
In the Garden, Adam & Eve's carnal minds were described as a "talking snake"... This metaphoric adversary was opposed to the will of God. The Bible is full of allegory and metaphors like this - which modern Western Christians almost always interpret in LITERAL FASHION. - This "satan" that opposes the will of God, exist only in our minds. The mind is the metaphoric "battlefield"-(Rom 7:23). All throughout scripture this adversarial "carnal mind"(ego) of man, became aroused by the Law. -
Over the
millennia, RELIGION has twisted the original meanings of these
metaphors ... interpreting them as literal entities, and outward
enemies.
Romans 11:32 ... "He has shut ALL up in unbelief to show mercy on ALL."
Romans 3:3-4 ... "The unbelief of some will not nullify God's faithfulness."
Once you know this ... you become free to engage with your TRUE IDENTITY ... (spirit) ... as the FALSE IDENTITY (ego) gradually releases it's grip on your heart & mind.
__________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment