The violent taketh it by force – Part 2

Please note that in Matt. 16:18, Peter is not the rock upon which Jesus built His church. It is not possible for God to build His church upon fallible and sometimes unstable personality like Peter or any other man for that matter. That rock is the revelation of the Sonship of Jesus, which the Father in Heaven gave to Peter. In verse 18, Jesus said that “For as long as the church walks and acts in this revelation of His Sonship, the gates (elders) of hell will not prevail against the Church”. This is awesome!! The revelation of the Sonship of Jesus is a formidable weapon of offence that will break down every demonic opposition to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. This is the reason why the devil will fight this revelation. Let us remember that it was at the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan, by John the Baptist, that the first revelation of His Sonship was unveiled.

“When He had been baptised, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:16-17).

That was God’s own testimony. “This is my beloved Son …..” Almost immediately after, the revelation of His Sonship was contested twice in Matthew 4, (verse 3 and 6) “If thou be the Son of God…” That revelation was surely a pain in the devil’s neck. Again, let us remember that it was in the days of John the Baptist, just before the birth of Jesus that the devil, with his tail, drew a third of the stars of heaven (fallen angels) and threw them to the earth and stood before the woman (the nation of Israel) who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born (Rev. 12:4) The destiny of the male child was to rule “ALL NATIONS” with a rod of iron, which is the symbol of authority. This was the authority passed down to the church in Matt 28:18

From all the foregoing account and particularly from Rev 12:5, it is very clear that Satan and all his demons were concentrated upon that tiny nation of Israel, just before the birth of Jesus, and did all possible to frustrate the birth of the Man-Child. That was the reason for the obnoxiously evil decree to kill every male child born in the land. That was also the reason for the opposition, antagonism experienced by Jesus in His earthly ministry. That was the reason for His death. But that death was also the TRAP against the kingdom of darkness. Peter said that, in killing Jesus, the Jews were “fulfilling the predeterminate counsel of God” (Act 2:23). The kingdom of darkness thought they had won. But God overturned this seeming victory.

Jesus went into the chambers of death. Inside the devil’s very bed room. He fought. He warred. He won. Authority changed hands. He took the keys of death and hell, and rose from the grave victorious. The fate of the nations has been decided. The devil had lost eternally and Jesus, the Head of the church had won eternally. Praise the Lord!!

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Bro. Kunle Adigun, Friends of the Bridegroom International Ministries (FOBIM)
Continued from last week.