30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 23 18-25 THE WILL OF MAN 06 Luke 23 20-23 Establish the authority of God
📖 Luke 23:18-25
Sat 04 Dec 2021 – Establish the authority of God - Luke 23:18-25 - THE WILL OF MAN (06) - Bible reading: II Corinthians 10:3-6
We belong to Jesus. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. We fall before Him in worship. He is the Creator and the Owner. All worship, praise and adoration are to Jesus and to Jesus alone.
There is no other God besides Him.
Luke 23:20-23 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. (21) But they shouted, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" (22) Then he said to them the third time, "Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go." (23) But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.
The trial of Jesus had now come to an end when Pilate finally sentenced Jesus to be crucified.
Then the Jews placed the next big challenge before Pilate.
John 19:7-15 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." (8) Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,
Pilate became more afraid. This shows that through this process of the trial, Pilate was being shaken. He was losing his confidence as an administrator. He thought he could find a way out of this chaotic trial but he was finding that he was being sucked deeper into a deadly mire that was threatening to destroy him.
The Jews were saying that Jesus made Himself the Son of God.
The responsibility of Pilate was to quell any riot or rebellion against Roman rule. Pilate had judged that Jesus was not a rabble-rouser, fomenting rebellion against Rome. He had established that the motive behind the Jews wanting Jesus to be crucified, was envy. He had to handle the crowd and come up with a solution, which was what he was attempting to do
But now this trial was taking on a new face.
The Caesars saw themselves to be divine and to be worshipped. It began with Caesar Augustus and then continued with Tiberius, who was Caesar when Jesus was crucified.
This was indeed now a serious threat for Pilate. If Jesus was saying that He was the Son of God, it meant that He demanded worship, which for Rome was to be given to Caesar alone.
If this was proved to be that Jesus was claiming to be Son of God, demanding worship, then He had to be crucified. If Pilate will not have Jesus crucified then he becomes answerable directly to Caesar.
Do we see where this is leading? It is leading us to see the devil behind it all, who has always sought worship. We see the devil’s plan. He is seeking to eliminate Jesus so that he, the devil, can be worshipped.
Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! (13) For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High .'
When we face persecution, as the church, we must see the actual battle. Our war is in the heavenly realms, against spiritual hosts of wickedness.
Satan wants to eliminate the church, the bride, the body of Jesus. We are the representatives of Jesus, here on earth. The devil will surely do his utmost to get rid of the church.
The people who attack the church are to be pitied and reached for they are but agents and tools in the hands of the evil one. They, truly, do not know what they do.
The church must know that we have the position and authority to confront the enemy and we also have the power to bring down the strongholds of the enemy.
II Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (6) and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
We must look around us, in our circumstances, and identify those issues that are exalting themselves against the character and nature of God. These are the places, where the devil is at work.
Yes, he works through people but our struggle is not against people but against ideas, mindsets, philosophies, values and beliefs that are against the holiness of God.
As we identify and target these issues, we must take the fight into the enemy camp and in a spiritual engagement, demolish the strongholds of the enemy. This is the authority that we have as the church of Jesus Christ.
We must speak directly to the enemy and with authority, command the enemy to vacate, run and flee. We must crush the enemy in spiritual warfare. The devil will flee for he knows that he has been crushed by Jesus on the cross.
Colossians 2:15 And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.(ISV)
Prayer, for us as the church, is not a passive holy huddle. This is the place of warfare, where we engage the enemy and defeat the enemy.
As we defeat the enemy, we also establish the rule of God.
Thought to ponder
Are you and your family engaged in spiritual warfare or is your prayer life only to seek therapeutic and materialistic solutions from God?