Barry Kolb who pastors First Lutheran Church in Texarkana Texas wrote and probably preached this. You can read the whole thing here. But here's the key excerpt:
BUT FRIENDS—GOD HAS GIVEN US A KEY CALLED WORSHIP THAT CHANGES OUR PERSPECTIVE ON HEAVENLY THINGS. Satan cannot even begin to understand it, because he lost his keys long ago! He lost all access to the purposes of God the moment he rebelled. And he has been frantically trying to bluff his way to victory ever since!
Worship is the key that lifts you up to God’s perspective. The higher you rise in worship, the smaller the devil & his kingdom look! When you see things from Heaven’s perspective, the one opening the scroll which controls the ages is not just a slain Lamb but a strong Lion! Once John understood this, he could stop weeping!
Jesus was not just the Lamb slain in Rev 5 or the Lamb slain at Calvary—He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world! His “temporary defeat” had ALWAYS been part of God’s plan for ultimate victory!
AND SATAN TOOK THE BAIT!
After Calvary, Satan & his demons had just 3 short days to celebrate their killing of God’s latest “prophet” before GOD WALKED INTO HELL. Satan was puzzled & asked, “God, what are you doing here? You said that, since the fall of man, death, Hell & the grave would be my domain! Who gave You the authority to come in here?”
God replied, “Don’t you know? YOU gave me the authority you crucified me at Calvary!”
Satan screamed, “What do you mean? That was just another prophet named Jesus!”
God said, “No, that wasn’t just another prophet—it was ME!” And at that moment, Satan understood some Scripture that had probably gnawed at him for centuries!
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—& shudder.
ALL SATAN DID THE DAY HE KILLED THE LAMB WAS TO UNVEIL THE LION! And what he didn’t know has been revealed to us by God’s Spirit (1 Cor 2:10).
Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me & said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First & the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead& behold I am alive for ever & ever! And I hold the keys of death & hell.
To understand the profundity of this all, here's the key, Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead, yet he is revealed in Revelation as the Lamb (son) but is also in reality fully God the Father (Lion). I know that this trinity thing is hard to understand but when you come to grips with the reality that all of God is in all of God all the time you grasp that there is no hierarchy. There is a unity of the Godhead centered in Jesus. The spirit of whom is the Father in Heaven and the dwelling among us as the "never leaving or forsaking us" God, is the Holy Spirit yet all are present in Jesus - the Lion and the Lamb. When we worship, we worship Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Holy means set apart, unlike anything or anyone else, unique, absolutely other.
As we fix our focus on the Person of Jesus we begin to come to grips with the fullness of the Godhead. Lion and the Lamb. The fullness of the Trinity, understood in Jesus.
I won't try to express it any further. This is one of those words that is unspeakable and full of Glory when it starts to dawn on you.
My Friend Barry, You have lurched into a profound truth you may not understand how rich it really is.
Thanks for making my day better.
3 comments:
you will only understand it when you know it
The way that can be described is not the way
"AND SATAN TOOK THE BAIT." Gene, I have a profound appreciation for this. This fits right into a line of thinking I've had for a while (I'll write about it eventually). I'm of the idea that Jesus told tha parable of the vineyard dressers to the Pharisees as a deceptive setup. They killed the heir to sieze the inheritance. Satan thought he could do that, but didn't sufficiently realize who it was that had the power over death.
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