Blog Post 11/5/22
THE CROSS, A PUBLIC DISPLAY OF OUR VICTORY OVER THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS By Pastor Colette Stringfield-Rhodes
First lets take a look at the gospel of Luke, which took place during Jesus’s earthly ministry:
Luke 9:1-6 (EST). Jesus sends out the 129 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.[a] 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
Luke 10:1-24 (EST). Jesus Sends Out the Seventy10 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go (Jerusalem.) 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Woe to Unrepentant Cities – 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
The Return of the Seventy. 17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Will. 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
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HOW MUCH MORE BLESSED ARE WE AS BELIEVERS TODAY!!! We have inherited the fullness of the gospel with all of its benefits and promises. All that we have inherited was made possible by a legal transaction at the cross. Jesus shed God’s blood on the cross, taking OUR place as a man and paying the price for our salvation, dominion and authority to be restored that had been lost due to Adam’s sin!
Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT). Paul wrote this epistle to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which were at Colosse: “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities (demons). He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”
How then, you may ask, was Jesus able to confer his spiritual authority to the 12 disciples and the 70 followers back when he was still alive on the earth ( Luke 10)? Furthermore, how was he able to conduct his earthly supernatural ministry of deliverance and healing? He did it on credit.
Have you ever bought anything on time? That means you can have it now, and pay for it later. Everything Jesus did in his earthly ministry, which lasted approximately 3 years, he did on credit, knowing he would pay for it later at the cross.
Can you see how at the cross he paid the price once and for all in order to satisfy the kingdom of darkness in all of its legalistic demands? He made a show of them openly, as he triumphed once and for all as the perfect sacrifice for all mankind, (those would only chose to accept him as their Savior and Lord.)
1 Corinthians 2:4-8 (NET). Paul said, “My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of man’s wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God. Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing (both earthly and spiritual). Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age (demons nor people) understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory!”
Jesus could do all of His mighty works while he was conducting his earthly ministry because God had determined He would “before the ages, for our glory.” These demonstrations he did to show us the power of the gospel—THE FULL GOSPEL: we are to cast out demons, heal the sick, speak with new tongues plus more. Also, we are to continue doing so during the Church Age to carry out our dominion and authority in the earth He paid for in full. (However, it still bears saying that although we have dominion over sin and demons, we must still walk it out by faith.)
Ephesians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight