Posts
Revelation 11
14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly. 15 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!"
The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ
In nearly every war there are multiple battles. This applies to the greatest war of all brought to light throughout this book. This affects the deeper meaning of this announcement. One of the issues of contention in this war is over who has legitimate authority to exercise the responsibility of representing the humans of this planet in the assembly of the sons of God in heaven. Clearly Satan's claim that authority had been given to him went unchallenged by Jesus, for it was true that Adam had relinquished the authority of dominion given him by his Creator when he deliberately ate the forbidden fruit, thus giving his authority to Satan to claim this world as his domain.
Since then, Satan's reign of terror has enslaved humanity, and that would have left us without hope but for the promise of the coming Messiah as first mentioned in Genesis 3:15. He would be the One to deal with this problem. Yet for 4,000 years and beyond the world was represented in heaven by Satan, and yet today lives under the tyranny of Satan's system of artificial law and order, reward and punishment and the theory of a need for tension between good and evil supposedly to keep each other in balance. The kingdom of this world has been administered under the tyrannical authoritarian control of the fallen angel from the abyss. Yet God was not negligent in counteracting this hijacking of His original design for our world, but He had to allow Satan's principles time to work themselves out so that their true fruit could become evident.
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but [wishing] that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
Though Satan had captured God's crowning act of creation and led His witnesses to increasingly reflect Satan's character, love was still working like leaven, slowly pervading and disrupting the power of fear and preventing this world from being lost entirely.
This announcement includes the assertion that the God on the throne of heaven has a Christ. the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. The word Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew term Messiah and means the anointed one. Yet we need to understand the deeper meaning of what it means to be an anointed one or we may miss much of the point of this statement and its implications. Here is a drill down of the Greek word that is translated as Christ in this verse.
5547 Christos – from 5548; anointed.
5548 chrio – probably akin to 5530 through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, i.e. (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service: – anoint.
5530 chraomai – (perhaps rather from 5495, to handle); to furnish what is needed; i.e. (by implication) to employ or (by extension) to act towards one in a given manner: – entreat.
5495 cheir – the hand.
The sense I get from tracing these words down through their root bases is that Jesus is the Christ of both God the Father as well as of humanity in the sense that He is the hand of God to furnish what is needed and to act towards those in need in a manner that perfectly reflects God's heart.
Let it be clear that there are two distinct individuals listed in this statement. The first is the Lord and the second is called His Christ. Who is the Lord spoken of here? This must be God the Father, which is why it plainly says that Jesus is HIS Christ! Christ means Messiah which is a deliverer, rescuer, savior. Why would the prophetic word of God insist that God needs someone to save, rescue, deliver Him? This thread runs throughout this book and needs to be seen in order to show us a fuller spectrum of the issues involved here.
Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh." (Jonah 2:8-9)
Throughout history we see a progression of increasing light that God is the one who both gives salvation but also receives it. It is God's reputation that is at the center of the war, not our need for comfort or rescue. In Revelation this becomes clear and goes to the heart of kingdom authority.
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. They cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9-10)
Keep in mind there are two identities receiving the kingdom of this world. In this last passage we find the same two are recipients of salvation. This is no coincidence as they are tightly linked. God's salvation involves how He receives the kingdom of this world – by reliance on love alone.
God's reputation has experienced extensive slander and is affected more than anything in this war. God is in need of salvation, and the only one able to disprove the allegations leveled against Him is the Son of God who is part of the Godhead and knows God personally and intimately unlike anyone else. This is the true meaning of what it means to be called the Son of God.
For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. (John 1:17-18)
By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:9-13)
This is a most important declaration, that no one but no one has seen God at any time throughout all history of creation except the one and only Son of God. This is the purpose for the emphasis on the issue of Sonship that has been hijacked by arguments over a supposed origin of the Son somewhere in the distant past. To be called the only begotten Son of God involves who alone we can trust to reveal the full truth about the God that no one else has ever seen. The Son is only One who is qualified, and by extension refuting the other claimant who is not trustworthy. The fallen covering angel Lucifer predicated his revolt against the testimony of the Son by asserting that he knew God personally and that his version of God was more informed than the one God called Son. This is central for understanding many things in the history of this war that reveal the deeper issues of God's character which is the purpose of Christ.
Only the Lamb of God who is the true revelation of the God who has never been really seen or known by anyone else, is qualified to convey the real truth about Him.
Only the Lamb can effectively refute and disarm all the slander, lies and attacks against God's reputation.
Only the Lamb accurately reflects the motives in God's heart, and the demonstration of the Lamb exonerates God's unchangeable intent to govern the universe by love alone.
God is pure agape love with no hint of darkness at all in Him. The book of 1 John is the most concentrated version of the true gospel anywhere, and this is the clear message John gives. The Son of God is the Christ of God because He is anointed, set apart for a specific purpose by the symbol of anointing oil that itself represents the third member of the agape Godhead, the Spirit who was poured out on Jesus without measure for the purpose of revealing the saving truth about God to the entire universe, and He accomplished this by growing a mature character in the image of God as a human being here on earth.
He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. (John 3:31-35)
It is vital that we understand the reason Jesus is called Christ, both for God and for us. Christ Jesus is the only true revelation of God because that is His calling and His capacity. Jesus Christ is needed by both God and humanity as He alone can achieve at-one-ment, the one who can bring humans back into full harmony with God and effect a full resolution of the crisis in heaven.
Satan realized that God in the flesh was the greatest threat to his power on earth. When part of the Godhead became human, it opened the way to recapture the position of representative for this world in heaven. Satan's claim over this world as his exclusive kingdom came under direct assault by God's Christ. This assault is part of meaning of what we will study in the next chapter.
There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. (Revelation 12:7)
While this primarily refers to the initial beginning of the war in heaven, the pattern keep reoccurring as the intensity increases. This is why the life of Jesus on earth was a constant life and death battle that ever involved supernatural forces, for Satan realized that if he did not succeed in seducing Jesus to indulge in selfishness at some point during his human life, his own eternal survival was at stake. The war is a winner-takes-all showdown with infinite consequences for both sides. One of the core issues in this war is credibility and trust. This is key for exercising authority as true authority must be received by both sides as it must come from those choosing to live under one or the other.
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon. Therefore, I tell you, don't be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:24-25)
Don't you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)
What we find here is the means by which the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom under the authority of God and His Christ. We must keep this fact in mind so as to appreciate the true nature of how God wins over the powers of darkness and evil. The kingdom of this world is handed over to God through the choices of those living on this planet to stop being anxious for their own lives and come to live in trust of God's care and love for them. This is the heart of the war! Will we let go of trying to be in control, or will we fall back into taking things into our own hands and thus give witness that God is not worthy of our trust and worship and the ancient serpent was right after all?
Genuine authority has to be by consent of those choosing to live under it; true authority is not imposed. Counterfeit authority under Satan's system is imposed through hierarchy. God does not rely on that kind of authority. This is vital for appreciating this issue of how the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of God and His Christ. This is why salvation is experienced only through faith, for faith is the trust we put in God to care for us, the trust involved in resting in His love instead of indulging in complaining, murmuring and discontent. It is humans who give God the authority of the kingdom of this world, not God forcing His will on rebels resistant to living in His love. This is the very essence of worship, for worship is all about who we give authority to define and direct us.
The dominion over this world originally assigned to Adam was taken over by Satan because Adam granted permission which is how all true authority functions. Adam presented himself to the serpent and obeyed him by choosing to eat from the Tree God told him not to eat from. This was a deliberate choice (Genesis 3:6; 1 Timothy 2:14; Romans 5:12) that gave Satan the dominion that originally belonged to Adam (Luke 4:6). God had to respect that choice as bad as it was, otherwise it would be impossible to restore humanity back to trust, for freedom of choice lies at the very core of God's design and is essential to agape love.
Each of us are called to choose whom we will serve, for God has designed this as the source of all authority by which supernatural forces on both sides of the war receive permission to use their power to carry out their desires and purposes. When Jesus came to this world to salvage the loss caused by Adam's wrong choice, He partially recovered what was lost by Adam by fulfilling the requirements needed to replace him as the new human father of all humanity. With His credentials subsequently approved in heaven, He was given full authority to represent all humanity because He demonstrated unwavering allegiance to His Father's love as a bona fide human. Jesus accomplished this through use of His human will, ever choosing to reflect the heart of our Father through obedience in the power of the Spirit without interruption.
As a human being, Jesus only presented Himself as a servant to God to listen to and obey God over His own desires, feelings or will. It was in this way, through constant full surrender of His own preferences and by deferring to the plans of His Father, that Jesus was able to recover the authority that was lost by Adam. This was a crucial step toward the eventual full recovery of the kingdom of this world to bring it back under the authority of the Father and His Christ. By becoming our second and final Adam father, Jesus is now poised to move forward to a final conclusion to bring all into full unity and reconciliation with the Father's love if they willingly choose to participate by choosing His life of agape love.
By living on earth as a human mirror, imaging the truth of God even under the worst of conditions, Jesus lived out God's original design for the first Adam. In this way He redeemed the entire human race in order to give each of us a new restored identity in God's image. The outcome is that every human is now in Christ, and the only thing left is for us to use our will to believe and experience it.
So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However that which is spiritual isn't first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let's also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:45-49)
What is left to do, now that Jesus has redeemed us whether we are aware of it or not? Clearly the kingdom of this world is not yet fully become the kingdom of God. Jesus has recovered the position of representative for us in heaven, but that is not all that is needed to bring final resolution to the war. Within the principles of how God runs His family of heaven, what is still lacking to bring the kingdom of this world fully under the loving authority of our Savior?
Each person must be left free to consent or to deny permission to the Spirit to empower them to be brought into harmony with the kingdom of heaven. If they consent, they will receive power in the same way Jesus was empowered, to be motivated by the principle of love which can deliver them from the tyranny of fear, anxiety, lust and pride. Through believing we are in Christ, we embrace His identity as our identity. As we choose to believe this truth He brings to us and embrace our perfect identity He developed by His life, death and resurrection, we consent for His Spirit to dwell in us to spontaneously reflect the same image in us as was reflected by Christ. This is the fruit of the Spirit. This is true salvation, the truly good news of Jesus Christ!
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Most importantly and relevant to our discussion here, this is the very means by which the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of God on earth. It is done as everyone chooses whom they will serve and presenting themselves fully to one side or the other until there is no one left undecided. Those who reject life in harmony with agape love will be free to choose eternal non-existence as a viable alternative. Those who have consented to be transformed by focusing their attention of the glory of God's character of love are ready to thrive in the eternal fire of His consuming presence in ecstasy and joy beyond capacity to imagine. Everyone is free to choose their own eternal future, and when all who have rejected God's love embrace death as their choice, the only ones left alive live in perfect harmony as family for the rest of eternity, celebrating in the freedom and joy of His presence never again tempted to resist it, for all of that has been fully exposed and discredited.
"Now I will arise," says Yahweh; "Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You will conceive chaff. You will bring forth stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.
Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might." The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning? He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil...
(Isaiah 33:10-15)
The security of the entire universe is at stake, not just for us on this planet. This theme runs throughout this book that that is given as a glimpse of the intensity the whole universe feels as they witness what transpires here. We can sense their concern and enthusiasm for what God is doing to secure their safety as well as to redeem humanity, even as God respects and guards the freedom of choice for all that is core to the principle of agape love.
Lucifer never intended to merely hold onto this tiny planet in space. His plans from the beginning of the rebellion was to slowly and insidiously spread his viral infection of selfishness until he hoped to capture a majority of intelligent beings and assert himself and his authority to compete with God's power and authority that he asserted to be weaker than his own. Does this is sound like a ridiculous idea? Consider how many insist that love is too weak to win over evil, and you begin to get a sense of how powerful this notion really is. The war is over what methods are necessary to maintain order and security, not merely here on earth but everywhere, is persistent. What happens here parallels what is possible elsewhere. This is why our planet has become the exhibition arena where these principles are being tested and played out while the rest of the universe watches with keen interest. They realize their own security and well-being are also at stake and are affected by how things play out here on earth.
For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. (1 Corinthians 4:9)
Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish; to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
Jesus has always linked His reputation with God's. We are also called to participate in vindicating, salvaging and recovering God's reputation so that the power of sin may be neutralized by His victory.
Jesus won a decisive victory, not only in the wilderness when tested by Satan under extreme duress, but again on the cross as He battled against overwhelming feelings of abandonment, guilt, condemnation, shame and darkness, all willingly being absorbed into His psyche as the effects of sin in the life of every human being who has or ever will exist, crushed out His life. This is why Jesus is called the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, for He fully felt the experience of every human being, making Him fully equipped to faithfully represent each person in heaven.
There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession. For we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:13-16)
The reason that nothing is hidden from Jesus is not merely because He is God and knows everything. It is because He took into Himself the entire weight of the sins of all humanity, allowing them to crush out His life as payment within Satan's system of trading and exchange in order to neutralize every argument used to keep humans trapped in the darkness of fear and lies.
Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! (Luke 12:49-50)
The Source of all Light brought the fire of God's passionate love to cast it on this earth. This meant mopping up all our sin, shame, condemnation and guilt to leave them all in His grave forever. He experienced every temptation just as we do, for temptation involves who we will believe, trust, worship and reflect as human mirrors. Yet even though He experienced all of our temptations, He chose always to reflect the love from heaven in every situation rather than react out of feelings. He was treated as guilty and executed as a criminal in the most shameful way possible. In this way He fully identified with us, thus opening the door for us to identify with Him in order to receive eternal life with His faith. We reflect His love as we are transformed into His same image from glory to glory.
Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
Jesus received the kingdom of this world in relation to heaven's council of the sons of God. Jesus was given that authority and responsibility after His resurrection from death. The sacrifice of Himself proved that agape love was stronger than fear, survival instinct and self-preservation. By reflecting the heart of God all the way to death, the New Song of the Lamb was written in blood, the song of praise that is life-giving and available for all who will receive and practice it.
We are called to participate in bringing the kingdom of this world, and salvation, to God and His Christ as witnesses synchronized with the testimony of the Lamb that God's methods are superior to any of those of the enemy. We may join with Him in another victory over the powers of darkness.
This announcement is not about the end of the war, but an acknowledgment that the rightful king of this world and its dominion has passed to Christ. This happened in heaven by Jesus overturning the usurpation of Adam's dominion as Jesus displaced Satan as humanity's representative. It announces that the Lamb does have authority to represent us, and Satan's claims over us are based on fraud. Yet it does not mean that Jesus is appreciated or accepted by those who resist Him. Everyone is still free to choose whom they will serve, but not free to avoid the consequences of their choices.
He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins, and told them, 'Conduct business until I come.' But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over us.' "It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business... But bring those enemies of mine who didn't want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.'" (Luke 19:12-15, 27)
We find a similar announcement in the next chapter which is a summary overview of the whole war.
I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now is come the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. They overcame him because of the Lamb's blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life, even to death. Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time." (Revelation 12:10-12)
The way the Lamb defeats His enemies is the same method we must use in order to overcome – by identifying with the truth about our identity in Christ based on the evidence provided by the Lamb's blood and by confessing it through our testimony.
Overcoming the kingdom of darkness in this world is achieved through choices by which the accuser is defeated. These choices involve denying our feelings by deferring instead to believe the truth as it is in Jesus. This is how we become liberated from the power of the enemy's lies in our head until their power to manipulate and control us is completely eliminated. Yet we remain free to choose for ourselves whom we will believe and serve, for love never forces or compels anyone against their will. The choice ever remains for each to freely choose eternal life or eternal death. Without this freedom love cannot thrive.
He will reign forever and ever
The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God's throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned." (Revelation 11:16-17)
It is crucial to keep in mind the nature of this great power and reign referred to by these elders. They see the superior nature of the power of freedom of love, not a power coercive to compel the conscience or violating the freedom of will which is at the core of what it means to image God.
Yahweh shall reign forever and ever. (Exodus 15:18)
Yahweh will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise Yah! (Psalms 146:10)
Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7)
There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:14)
This last sentence strongly implies that all other kingdoms will be destroyed. Otherwise this statement is an illusion that means nothing in the end. Yet the cause of their being destroyed by the Lamb who receives an indestructible kingdom is always consistent with the nature of the Lamb and the One the Lamb has represented consistently. This is the theme of this entire book – the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The key for appreciating how the Lamb wins are in the words given him. This is paralleled in a passage relating to this same issue. Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18) The key is in the meaning and source of the word given. What affects everything is the method God uses to overcome power the enemy relies on to control others, the power of force, deception and fear. The Lamb (the only accurate revelation of God) never uses the methods of the enemy to defeat His enemies. He only relies on love, which initially can look too impotent and too weak to overcome evil. Yet it proves to be the greater power that alone is effective to maintain peace and harmony throughout the universe. This is the ultimate demonstration that defeats the kingdom of darkness that relies on control through hierarchy.
This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:13)
For to which of the angels did he say at any time, "You are my Son. Today have I become your father?" and again, "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?" Again, when he brings in the firstborn into the world he says, "Let all the angels of God worship him." Of the angels he says, "Who makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire." But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom." (Hebrews 1:5-8)
This last passage highlights the true nature of the war and the kingdom that will be established forever. Hebrews opens by how the war began and emphasizes whose testimony is to be trusted about God. The archangel Lucifer has long asserted that his version of God and his methods of how to govern is superior to that of Christ. This contention over whose version of reality we should embrace lies at the crux of the war between Christ and Satan. Here we see the author of Hebrews differentiating between the assertions of the apostate angel with the clear declaration of God that His Son truly is worthy of worship and that His throne will outlast any and every attack to discredit and undermine His version of authority.
This parallels what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration where God clearly delineated who was authorized by God Himself as His sole representative and who we must to listen to regarding the truth about Him.
It is very important to keep the big picture in mind, particularly as it shows up at various points throughout our study of this important prophecy. The history of the war between Christ and Satan is at the heart of this book as we shall see in the next chapter. Appreciation of the nature of this war is vital to understand what is described in this book, for without this context we have no hub around which everything finds its relative meaning. This is the larger view of truth that brings perspective in order to guide us and provide consistency for effective enlightenment in our study.
There are at least three phases of this war, and they all involve representation. The first was in heaven over who was be trusted to explain the nature of God's methods and motives to the universe. Because God is beyond the capacity of created beings to know Him directly, Lucifer was created with a capacity to cooperate with Michael (who was the Son of God as well as an angel) to convey to the rest of the universe God's heart of love. This reflects the reason each of us has a left and right hemisphere in our brain. This dual nature of coordinated complimentary function designed to synchronize unity in diversity is of God's design and is part of how created beings are meant to appreciate the multifaceted nature of the Godhead.
The problem began when the created covering cherub Lucifer, became jealous of God's power. The spirit of offense cherished by Lucifer eventually led to open rebellion as described in Revelation 12. This polarized the universe over who could be trusted to reflect and convey the truth about God's methods and motives. Thus the war was over who was to be trusted concerning God and the best way to govern the universe.
I believe this first stage of the war turned into a stalemate that appeared intractable, leaving the government of heaven apparently paralyzed by questions about God's integrity affecting every mind throughout the universe. Allegations about God involved the purpose and use of power, and it was of no use for God to simply claim that Lucifer was incorrect. What was needed was sufficient evidence to break the stalemate, which is what was provided through the creation of our world. It was the creation event described in the first two chapters of Genesis that reveals more clearly the true nature of God's motives and how He uses His power as well as what He does not do with it.
The creation story involves issues we are confronted with in the passage we are considering, the issue of dominion, kingdoms and power. The creation account reveals that our first parents were assigned dominion over this planet that was uniquely designed to display the truth challenged in the war over God's government. Humans were designed as God's answer to the charges of the dragon who accuses God day and night. Humans were designed with unique capacities to reflect the truth about God's motives, methods and to reveal the nature of His heart of love. Initially it appeared that God won the victory and had defeated the charges against Him, which is why the weekly celebration of this victory over Satan came to be known as the Sabbath rest every seventh day. It celebrates the freedom God granted to everyone to choose who they would believe. But sadly this was subverted and the war extended when our parents used their freedom to embrace lies about their Creator, causing them to become afraid of Him and aligning them with the spirit of the accuser.
Adam was the original appointed son of God to represent humanity in the assembly of the sons of God in heaven. However, the fall of Adam resulted in the second major contest over authority, this time over who is to be recognized as having authority to represent our planet. We have discussed this at length already.
In this 7th trumpet we find the announcement that the authority long contested by Satan over who should be the rightful representative of humans, has been handed over to Jesus Christ, despite all of Satan's protests and allegations and attempts to defeat this transition that took place in heaven as a result of the cross. Yet the battle over who will represent us personally is decided by our choices, actions and testimony and in a very real way affects how this war moves forward.
Relevant to this issue of dominion and kingdoms and how to achieve victory is Paul's description of God's strategy found in 1 Corinthians 15. Though we do not have time to explore that in greater depth right now, I would highly recommend meditating on this entire chapter in light of what we are learning about the disposition of the God as revealed by the Lamb, the hero of Revelation. As this is done, what one needs to keep in mind is that the solution Jesus Christ brings will not as the last word, establish the very things God sent Him to abolish. This is made clear right in the passage. Hierarchy with all its ill effects will be forever abandoned in favor of maintaining the equality of love through humility and vulnerability as was in the original design of God's creation of our world.
Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:24-25, 28)
(1) In heaven, Satan contested God's authority and government and was cast out.
(2) In Eden, Satan usurped Adam's dominion authority and held his seat for 4,000 years in heaven.
(3) Jesus came to be a human so as to displace Satan and recapture the dominion lost by Adam.
(4) In these last days, the contest heats up exponentially as the powers of darkness unite to crush out faith and love in the earth and establish a united kingdom of force based on hierarchy, deception and control by law enforcement. This time God's people who reflect their leader the Lamb of God will display the superior power of love in times of intense violence and darkest deceptions. In this way they reveal that the kingdom really does belong to God and His Christ.
(5) In the future there is coming the final showdown when God's trial over authority will be brought to full disclosure and His honor finally vindicated. This is when the kingdom restoration will come to full completion. This is how God will be at last all in all.
This cosmic war will end when every choice has been made for either eternal life or eternal death. Death is never God's will, nor is it imposed on anyone. But it is an option for all who spurn His offer to live in love alone as the means of social interaction. To those who have formed characters that react in torment in the presence of love, God's presence can never be enjoyed because they experience it as terrifying.
Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, "This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of Armies. Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace, to it!'" (Zechariah 4:6-7)
