Lucifer’s disobedience and Jesus’ obedience

After Lucifer disobeyed God, God created Adam to obey him. When Israel disobeyed, God sent Jesus to obey him. Disobedience to God’s commands, laws and decrees requires God to take certain measures. When Lucifer disobeyed God, God almost incinerated him. In Ezek 28:18 we read God say, “So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground.” When humanity disobeyed in Eden, God gave them a much milder discipline — he made them to submit. Submission is the remedy to disobedience. Without submission, there is no obedience. The devil knew this by now and tempted Jesus in exactly this area. He once showed Jesus in an instant all the kingdoms of this world and said, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to… if you fall down and kiss my hand,” (Lk 4:6,7). This is what the Greek word proskuneo, wrongly translated as ‘worship’, actually means. The devil has authority over worldly authorities and its splendor for two reasons: 1) he took over the dominion to rule the world that God had originally given to Adam and Eve, because they obeyed and therefore submitted to him in the Garden; and 2) he has authority as long as people and their kingdoms continue to submit to him, and not God. Their insubordination to God is satan’s enthronement. Now the rebel rules over all those who still reject the rulership of God. The only cure for this rebellion was for Jesus to submit to his Father’s will and to obey him to his death. And that is what he did. After the cross, he victoriously proclaimed, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore… go and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you,” (Mt 28:18, 20). Jesus has shown with his own life that obedience is the key.

Jesus taking over his Kingship
Jesus triumphed over disobedience through his submission to his Father. Therefore, he boldly announced his rulership, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Mt 16:18). This is one of the most misunderstood verses of the Bible. What Jesus said and how we understand it are totally opposite things. Firstly, he said that he will build his church. Not us. He does all the building, and we are being built into it. Secondly, Jesus did not speak about buildings with stones, wood and microphones. The word ekklesia is a political, not a religious expression. Ekklesia, in the days of Jesus, described the form of government of the Greek city states, where everyone above 20-years of age was eligible to be part of the city senate, the local parliament. So, Jesus was speaking about building his government, calling into his parliament those he chose, to govern as him being the King. “I will build my ekklesia”means I will establish my governance. Thirdly, Jesus said the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it,”— “it” means his Kingdom. Jesus did not say that all hell will break loose on your church and you will somehow have to keep your little lamp burning in the darkness. No! Jesus said the gates of Hades, the gates of death shall decline in strength, it shall retreat because of my governance. This was prophesied about him in Isa 9:6, “Of the increase of his government, there will be no end.”
Jesus commissions us to go and teach others to obey everything he has commanded. As we surrender, submit and obey his commands his governance will increase and our control of it will cease. His job is to build, and our job is to obey.

Jesus set apart
One thing that the Jews could not accept from Jesus is his relationship to his Father, their God. When he mentioned who he really is, they flared up and picked up stones, (Jn 10:30, 38). “I and the Father are one,” he said. Though Jesus was singularized, set apart, taken out of God just like Eve once was taken out of Adam. God set apart Jesus as his very own and he sent him into the world.(Jn 10:36). Before coming to our earth, Jesus had to give up every right of being God. He had to give up his equality with God, he undressed his deity, his power, his glory and he left behind his angelic warrior companions, took on a human name and clothed himself in humanity. On earth, Jesus grew into the man that God wanted him to be. He overcame the temptation in the desert, to receive authority the easy way. At the time of his arrest, he had the chance to get the assistance of more than twelve legions of angels − his angelic war companions − to prove himself as God, but he chose to submit to his Father’s will. Jesus remained yoked with his Father and pulled together to fulfill what the Father wanted on earth.

There was a moment in Gethsemane (Mt 26) when it looked like he was going to fail, going to fall. He agonized, “Take this cup from me.” But before the devil could find a foothold of weakness, he added, “yet not what I will but what you will.” Adam silently accepted the fruit that brought punishment; Jesus silently accepted the punishment that brings multipliable fruit. The Word that created all things — things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible thrones or powers or rulers or authorities — allowed himself to silently stand charged as a sinner because long time ago he allowed himself to be subjected under the highest Authority. He submitted himself under God already in heaven before he entered the earth in human form. He emptied himself of his equality with God and made himself nothing. This means that, while on earth, he had zero God-content, he became 100% human. He needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit to act under the directives of God, just like all of us. He made God his Head and surrendered his will to God’s supremacy. His mission on earth was to obey his Father and to do what he says.

Jesus esteemed
Adam hid in the garden from the presence of God because he lost his garment of obedience by not keeping God’s few commands. In a similar way, Israel disobeyed and was ruled over by other nations and lived in exile. Adam and Israel went into subjection for their disobedience, whereas Jesus restored obedience through voluntary submission. He came clothed in submission to defeat disobedience. As he surrendered himself to be cursed (Phil 2:9), God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Every knee of every throne, power, ruler, angels or authority in heaven and on earth bows before him. Every tongue shall admit that Jesus, the King, is esteemed. God exalted Jesus, — who humbled himself, took the very nature of a servant and submitted to his headship, — to a place of supremacy. And this is why God made him the head of the Church, his body.

The Church copies Eve’s deception
Col 1:17-19 states, “He (Jesus) is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Through his life, Jesus has shown human-kind how to get back what they had lost in paradise. Jesus has shown Israel how to be God’s treasured possession, a holy nation. Jesus has modeled for the Church how to live in the will of God. It all starts with willfully submitting to your head. Jesus willfully submitted to his God, his Head, why should it be difficult for the church to submit to its Head? Why should it be difficult for the women to submit to their heads, and why should it be difficult for Israel to submit to its one and only King? At least, the people of Israel admit that they have their law, and they don’t keep it. The Church, however, is worse than that. It doesn’t even see that it has the Law of Christ, the sum total of all laws that Christ has commanded while on earth. While the apostle Paul was still very clear that he is under the Law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21), the modern Church today simply brags — there are no commands of Jesus! What kind of gigantic ignorant arrogance is that? Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” (Jn 14:15). In his great commission, Jesus specifically said, “Go, and teach them to obey all that I have commanded you,” (Mt 28:18-20). What is the all that Jesus has commanded us? All of his commands! If we carefully count all that Jesus has commanded, he has given us 75 laws (for more on this, see the book by Wolfgang Simson called The Constitution of the Kingdom: The 75 Laws of Christ). But how does “submitting to Jesus,” practically look like if we deny his commands even exist? Or if we elevate ourselves to be the judge on this and swiftly reduce his 75 laws to a mere 2? It does not work! Submitting without obeying his commands is like accepting the fact that there are traffic laws, and not keeping them. Going to church, singing a few songs, listening to a sermon, and repeating this over and over again does not even come close to submitting to Jesus. It seems the closer God draws near to humanity the farther humanity chooses to drift away. The Church does the very same thing that Eve did in the garden — deny God’s commands. And it therefore does the very same thing that the Israelites did — disobey the laws and decrees of God and live in rebellion.

Eve was pure until the day she gave into the cunningness of the serpent. She allowed herself to be deceived. Like Eve, the Church has exposed herself to the craftiness and conveniences of the spirit behind the world and its system.

Paul warned us sternly “not to submit to the rules of the world,” (Col 2:8, 20), but the Church has not only rejected the laws and ways of God, but adopted and adapted the laws and ways of this world. The first followers of Jesus were known as, “those who belong to the Way.” They lived an alternative way, a Kingdom pattern, to the usual worldly norm. Today, the Church behaves like Adam in the Garden all over again. It silently accepts disobedience — adultery, fornication, gender equality, marriage equality and much more — which God specifically has forbidden. Acceptance substitutes obedience. If the world wants divorce and remarriage, the Church provides them a haven. If the world cries for gender equality, the Church cries for it even louder! The essence of this is simple: we let ourselves be driven by our own desires that please our own flesh, just like Eve desired the fruit that pleased her eyes in the garden. There is nothing new under the sun!

Among the biggest desires of a human being are status, place and position! And, listening to the voice of the snake again and again, more and more Christian women desire a place that is not theirs. They develop a dislike for submission and desire gender equality in the body of Christ. They thwart the order that God set after the fall as if to ignore and nullify the fallen state of humanity. They want to go back to Eden on their own, and ignore the fact that God has banished us from the garden for a reason. They still want what is good, what is pleasing and what is desirable to their own eyes, particularly when God forbids it. They easily put up with deception without any bad conscience. Deception is nothing but an easy shortcut. It looks like the truth, sounds oh so reasonable, promises reality, but in the end only makes us go astray all over again. The devil knows how to talk, so his deception looks modern, trendy, in, hip, cool. But essentially, we need to do what Jesus did when the devil tried him − you can have it all without the cross, Jesus; there are easy shortcuts, no need to obey, no need to give up your Self. Jesus simply said: It is written, deceiver. I choose to obey the One who is greater than I am. I choose to submit to my Head.
 

What do you say, Bride?

Does the bride recognize her Bridegroom?
Jesus crucified his own desires in heaven before he came down to earth to pursue his Bride. He brought her forth out of his own body. He set her apart to be his Bride. He told her to carry his yoke, which is easy and light. He lived in this world and he showed her how to live a life that is not of this world. He left saying he goes to prepare a place for her and he will return to take her home to celebrate the wedding feast. If Jesus came to our churches, would the bride recognize him? The Church today lives a lifestyle that is similar to that of the Samaritan woman in the Bible (Jn 4). Jesus pointed out to her, “The man you now have is not your husband.” Christ is the legal husband of the Church, but the Church lives outside of her marriage. Spiritual adultery is to be in bed with theories and theologies, and not God. The Church is obsessed with its own chosen leaders and gurus and lives with different interpretations of Christianity. God recently spoke to our friend Phil Lye (Australia) about the state of the Church and said, “I come for a bride, not a whore.” A whore goes with anyone who offers her the biggest benefit. Is this not exactly what the Church frantically does — let us follow teachers and doctrines that benefit us best? Paul painfully writes in 2 Cor 11:2-4, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

The Church today is doing exactly what drove Paul into his agony. The Church currently lives with men who are not her husband. She is one flesh with the world and its progressiveness. She has mixed theologies, from Liberal Christianity to the Holiness movement. She has mixed politics, from Dominionism to Christian anarchism. She has mixed philosophies, from Christian asceticism to Postmodern Christianity. She accepts anything and anyone without discernment. When Israel lived like the Church does now, the prophet Hosea discerned what was wrong. It was the state of Israel’s heart, “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord,” (Hos 5:4). Many heresies have spread and keep spreading in the churches instead of God’s Lordship. This spirit of prostitution substitutes contaminated things from New Age mysticism and demonic religions for the power of God. Healing codes, simplify-your-prayers and pray without words — let the candle pray for you — sort of deceptions excite the Christian consumers! Vibrations, magnetic fields, electrical fields and sound waves and frequencies, fake the move of the Holy Spirit, forever leading the undiscerning sheep astray. A spirit of lawlessness twists and turns the word of God to fit its false gospel. And so we should not be surprised if more and more churches bear foul fruit that cannot be used. Jesus said in Lk 6:44, “People do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briers.” In their confusion, many have started to pick from New Age beliefs and mysticism and present their pick as figs from fig trees! A man speaks out of the overflow of his heart. If Christ crucified is not our overflow, then let us examine who or what fills our heart. Hosea, in Hos 5:6-7, spoke strongly that God has withdrawn himself from those that prostitute themselves and give birth to illegitimate children. Paul writes in 1 Cor 6:15-17, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”

We are called to be glued and yoked together with Christ. This requires our voluntary submission to him as our Head, Husband, God and King. It requires us to stop obeying the principles of this world, and obey his Law, Christ’s Law. It requires us to leave the world and its deceptions, and to cleave to him.

Are you ready to set yourself apart, bride?