The Life of Christ
The Spiritual Perspective, Part 1
by
Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor
Denver Bible Church
326 E. Colorado Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80210
E-Mail:
To: Life
of Christ Main Menu
To: Grace
Notes Home Page
Introduction
The past history of any people has an impact on their present
culture - the way they think, solve problems, react to pressure
or prosperity. Israel at the time of Christ was no different.
The people stood at the crossroads of their own national history.
They had a past, and they could make choices which decided their
future.
History is made up of many elements: geography, culture, philosophy
& religion, economics, technology, politics, and many others.
The greatest of all the elements is the principle that Jesus
Christ controls history. The attitude of a nation toward Christ
has a great impact on its place in history. The attitude of the
nation toward establishment truth has a great impact on that
nation's status before God. The attitude of the individual believer
toward Bible Truth has a great impact on all other people in
the nation.
The Cosmic System
The term "cosmic system" refers to Satan's plan and
process for controlling the world, and his attempt, using his
organization of fallen angels, to counteract the plan of God
in all respects. In his plans and programs, Satan will ultimately
and certainly fail. Jesus Christ is the victor in the spiritual
warfare, the "angelic conflict". The Lord Jesus sits
at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, where all His
enemies shall be made his footstool.
The cosmic system has a great impact on the history of a nation.
History has certain downward trends which signify the cosmic
influence on a nation. For example, Israel at the time of the
birth of Christ had been on the downward side of history for
quite some time. It is important to take a look at the principles
of the cosmic system related to history in order to fully understand
the period in question.
General Principles of the Cosmic System
Human history is the resolution of the prehistoric angelic conflict.
In order to vindicate himself and His judgment of the fallen
angels, God conceived a plan by which sinful human beings could
glorify Him.
In order to justify his rejection of the prehistoric grace offer
from God, Satan conceived a system designed to counteract the
plan of God.
Therefore, the purpose of the Satan's cosmic system is as follows:
o To keep unbelievers from believing in Jesus Christ.
o To destroy the believer's relationship with God.
o To bring in his own millennium through internationalism and a centralized world government.
o To prevent God's millennium from arriving.
There are three branches in Satan's cosmic system.
o The World Branch
o The Individual Branch
o The Propaganda Branch
The World Branch of Satan's System
The world plan is Satan's plan to bring in His own millennium,
and to prevent God from bringing in the Divine Millennium. The
world plan is a highly organized international conspiracy of
demons.
Eph 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Although the world plan is highly organized through the genius
of Satan Himself, the human side is not so. Demons do control
human beings through demon possession and demon influence, but
the humans themselves are rarely well-informed. Often a world
conspiracy theory will arise, but these are due to the demonic
side and not the human side. There is no Biblical documentation
for a human world conspiracy. Humans are simply pawns in Satan's
world plan.
The Individual Plan of Satan
The individual plan is an integral part of the world plan, since
human participation in the demonic organization is absolutely
essential. The means to the end of the cosmic system is power.
The world branch is constantly grasping for power over the human
race and its organizations. Power in the form of human government
is of the utmost importance in the world branch of the cosmic
system. The more power that the enemy has, the greater he thinks
he can be. The more power the enemy has, the more effectively
he can carry out his plan.
In every human life and human organization, Satan is grasping
for more power, so he can wield it to carry out his plan. Every
time that someone or some organization depends on a human viewpoint
solution, Satan gains power over their lives. Every time that
someone or some organization comes to believe a cosmic counterfeit
or lie, Satan gains power over their lives.
The Satanic "Millennium"
As a part of the angelic appeal trial of human history, Satan
has developed his idea of a millennium, which is designed to
prove his point. In order to bring in his millennium, Satan must
have total control of international human authority. This is
why there is so much influence towards internationalism in the
world.
God ordained nationalism after Satan's first attempt at internationalism
at the tower of Babel, Gen 11:1-9.
Satan will bring in his "millennium", known as the
Period of Great Tribulation, which will only come after the rapture
of the church. The Satanic millennium can only be put into place
when there are no believers on planet earth.
This 'millennium' will be the most chaotic, disastrous, and miserable
7 years in world history. It is the tribulation of the book of
revelation.
The intent of the Satanic millennium.
o To prove that the prehistoric sentence of God which condemned the fallen angels to eternity in the lake of fire was unfair.
o To prove that Satan is God's equal, Isa 14:14, "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
The characteristics of the Satanic millennium.
o Counterfeit righteousness and injustice under the veil of justice.
o Constant change and undependability.
o Treacherous motives and cruel slavery behind the mask of mercy.
o Wrong approaches to problem solving and false solutions which always make the problem worse.
o Chaos and confusion.
o Bad decisions from a position of weakness and a society saturated with evil.
o Dishonesty, obfuscation, evasiveness, and a lack of veracity. (All this sounds like U.S. politics today).
The Fight Against the Divine Millennium.
Satan is constantly fighting against the Divine plan for human
history. Satan thinks that if he can destroy or delay the Divine
millennium, he will somehow gain an advantage in the angelic
conflict. He is wrong. He does not have the power to do either.
The Divine Millennium will come at the second advent of Christ,
and it therefore immediately follows the tribulation. There have
been two attacks in history against the Divine Millennium: the
attack against Christ, and the attack against the Jews. These
attacks are tantamount to murdering the witnesses of a trial,
so that they cannot testify.
The Attacks against Christ.
Jesus Christ will be the world ruler during the Divine Millennium,
and His rulership will be fantastic.
There was an attempt to destroy the mediatorship of Christ.
o In Genesis 6 there is a record of an attempt to destroy the human genetic purity of the line of Christ.
o In order to be the perfect mediator between God and man, Christ had to be both fully God and fully man in the hypostatic union.
o Satan attempted to destroy the human side of this equation.
o Demons seduced human women and impregnated them. Their children were angelic-human half breeds, and no longer genetically pure.
o Only Noah and his family resisted this demonic conspiracy. This is why the rest of the earth had to be destroyed.
o God considered this attack so great, that he imprisoned the angels who participated under the surface of the earth, where they still reside, waiting for their release in the tribulation.
There were attempts to kill Christ before He could fulfill
the purpose of His life.
Satan knew that if he could kill Christ before His time, the
plan of God would be stymied. Therefore, there were several attempts
on His life.
o The attempt of Herod, Mat 2:13,16, "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."
o The attempts of the Pharisees, Mat 12:14, "But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus."
o The attempts of the chief priest and elders, Mat 26:3,4, "Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him."
Of course, all of these attempts failed completely.
The Attacks against the Jews.
The Jews are God's chosen people, and they are going to be
Christ's subjects in the Divine Millennium. Therefore, Satan
is constantly plotting against the Jews in his attempt to exterminate
them as a race of people. There is a tremendous amount of Satanic
propaganda against the Jews. The Jewish world conspiracies, etc.
In every generation, there is an attempt through the Satanic
world conspiracy to eliminate the Jews as a race. In the 20th
century, there have been at least three attempts at genocide
against the Jews.
o In Soviet Russia, from 1917 to the present.
o In Nazi Germany, from 1933-1945.
o By various Arab nations, today.
During the tribulation, the genocidal attacks against the
Jews will reach their crescendo.
We are to judge the present nation of Israel by the standards
of Divine establishment.
We are to judge individual Jews only when they come under our
authority or they break the law.
In all other instances, we are to give Jews maximum respect and
reservation of judgment.
As a national entity, we are to provide a haven for the Jews,
so that they might be free from racial prejudice.
Although these demonically inspired attacks are terrible in their
intensity and genius, they have no chance of succeeding. God
will protect the Jews until the return of Jesus Christ. He will
succeed, easily.
The Propaganda Plan of Satan
The purpose of the propaganda plan is to promote the cosmic counterfeits and lies, and to attack the word of God. The propaganda plan integrates and cooperates with both the individual and the world branches of the cosmic system. The propaganda branch is an expression of Satanic genius and the demonic organization. Human beings are an important element in the propaganda branch.
The Promotion of the Cosmic Counterfeits and Lies.
The cosmic system has an elaborate scheme of counterfeits and lies. These counterfeits and lies are designed to supplant the truth. The counterfeits and lies match up with every category of truth possible, including:
o The counterfeit gospel.
o The counterfeit plan of God.
o The counterfeit power of God.
o The counterfeit person and work of God the Father
o The counterfeit person and work of Christ.
o The counterfeit person and work of the Holy Spirit.
These counterfeits and lies are promoted by every means possible. There is a great emphasis today on the media, and especially television. Those who are heavily involved in the cosmic system inevitably become cosmic propagandists.
The Attack against the Word of God
In order to make the promotion of the cosmic counterfeits and lies fully effective, the cosmic system attacks the Word. The attacks against the Word come in two basic categories.
1. Attacks to destroy the Word outright. There have been many attempts throughout history to destroy the manuscripts of the Bible.
2. Attacks to undermine the credibility of the Word. These are usually attacks on the supernatural nature of the Divine inspiration of the Word. Liberal theologians are mainly responsible for this branch of the attack on the Word.
There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. You can help further
this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to:
Grace Notes
% Warren Doud wdoud@bga.com
1705 Aggie Lane
Austin, Texas 78757
Grace Notes Web site: http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/
Anonymous FTP site: ftp://ftp.bga.com/vendors/wdoud/
Grace Notes is a ministry of Village
Missions International.