Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 3 Study # 3
November 5, 2006
Lincolnton, NC
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AV Translation:
34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
1901 ASV Translation:
34 Ah! what have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no hurt.
36 And amazement came upon all, and they spake together, one with another, saying, What is this word? for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
37 And there went forth a rumor concerning him into every place of the region round about.
Luke's Record:
- I. Kingdoms in Conflict.
- A. The demonic "attitude".
- 1. Assuming privilege as a "right".
- a. Imagine a "creature" telling the Creator that He has no business "showing up" where the "creature" has settled into a rebellious life style.
- b. The "blindness" of the wicked begins with their automatic assumption that they have a "right" to be an active, yet rebellious, part of the Creator's creation.
- 2. Fundamentally oppositional.
- a. The "interruption" of Jesus' teaching demonstrates the nature of the dark kingdom: it cannot tolerate opposition, so it opposes.
- b. The greater the commitment to "control", the greater the intolerance to opposition.
- 1) The original, and fatal, flaw in Lucifer was the lust for dominion over in order to possess service from.... The basic root of distinction between the flawed creature and the Creator is the view taken regarding the purpose(s) of authority.
- a) The Luciferian concept of the purpose of authority is to impose one's will upon others for the greater purpose of having the ego-rush that comes from being able to determine what will come to pass and how. This requires the ability to force "service".
- b) The divine use of authority is the imposition of His will upon others for the greater purpose of enhancing the Life that flows from "holiness". Paul's "righteousness, peace, and joy" description of the Kingdom of God reveals that "righteousness" must be enforced so that "peace" may exist so that "joy" may flood the souls of those involved. This requires the ability to persuade the ignorant that "service" is the desirable option.
- c) The most crucial issue of all issues is the question of the ultimate objective of all "authority". The dark kingdom has defined that objective in terms of "Life for Me at whatever expense to You" and the Kingdom of Light has defined that objective in terms of "Life for You at whatever expense to Me".
- 2) The foolishness of this "flaw" is seen most clearly in the fact of God's present tolerance of opposition. The divine rationale for such tolerance is that it is a workable "teaching" tool for the ignorant so that they, by observation and participation, might learn what a dead-end street opposition to Truth really is.
- a) If God is as committed to control as Lucifer would have us believe, what rationale can be expressed to explain His clear willingness to endure opposition?
- b) If God is not as committed to control as Lucifer would have us believe, what should we learn about our own commitment to control?
- 3. Expecting destruction.
- a. This is the "natural" extension of the philosophy of control.
- 1) When one sees "control" as the fundamental requirement in order to obtain the Life, the destruction of the adversaries is automatic.
- 2) If one sees "control" as simply one of the players in a package of players that have edification as the means to cooperative Life, a certain amount of lack of control is acceptable. Others can be allowed to make decisions and act on them.
- b. Since forcing all others to comply is at the heart of the method, one naturally expects those in authority to "destroy" those who will not yield to the force.
- B. Christ's "attitude".
- 1. He was and is "The Holy One of God".
- 2. He maintained the "holiness" of "authority" in application to "others".
- a. He exercised "authority": He commanded the demon to be silent and to come out of its "host".
- b. He did not over-extend "authority": He did not "destroy" as was expected of Him.
- II. Implications for Theology.
- A. Those in the "God is Sovereign" camp need to be aware that their fixation upon God as Sovereign is very similar to the demon's. Any time a single attribute of God becomes a matter of Over-Focus, it ceases to be "holy" and begins to participate in the demonic kingdom.
- B. Those is the "God is Love" camp need to be aware that if they mis-define "Love", their fixation on "love" ceases to be "loving". No attribute of God can be "singled out" and exalted over the others without setting the foundation for participation in the dark kingdom.
- C. Those in the various "ecclesiology" camps need to realize that God has called for elders in "authority" simply because they are the only ones who can have any hope that their practice of "authority" will be legitimate. It takes a long time for human beings to be weaned from their "power tripping" (most never get there) and "elders" are about the only ones who ever even get close to learning how to let God be God.