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Preeminent Domain
Preeminent Domain
Last week we saw how the arrival of John the Baptist and Jesus the messiah played out against the backdrop of the divine council passage in Isaiah 40. While the episodes of John’s appearance and Jesus’ baptism are familiar, the framework provided by Isaiah is easy to miss.
The supernatural context of Jesus’ actions and statements also often go unnoticed. We will share a few of those places today. The cosmic backdrop of the divine council worldview of the Old Testament that we have been discussing for 1/2 a year will change the way you see these passages.
This is My Father’s World
This is My Father’s World
Last week we saw that the baptism of Jesus is portrayed as a new exodus in the gospels. The exodus, of course, was the precursor to reviving the kingdom of God in the land of promise. Israel danced while Moses sang out - “who is like Yahweh among the gods?” As Moses led Israel through the watery chaos and the unholy ground of other gods, so Jesus “the prophet like Moses” (Acts 3:22) first came through the waters (his baptism) before launching the kingdom.
The mission was not only about the single land and people of Israel, whom Yahweh created after consigning the existing nations to the dominion of lesser gods at Babel. The coming of the incarnate Yahweh was the beginning of reclaiming those nations as well. But the gods of darkness were not going to surrender their domains without a fight — and the battle begins so quickly Jesus doesn’t have time to dry off.
Immediately after his baptism Jesus goes into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil. He goes at the direction of the Holy Spirit. Think about the location - the wilderness. The term is about a location but it is also a metaphor for unholy ground. Remember desert demons,, were Azazel (a demon) lived… The wilderness was a place associated with demons, no wonder that is were Jesus meets the devil.
But why go into the wilderness to begin with? What happened to Israel after the parting of the waters — into the desert and their faith and loyalty to God falters and they are seduced by the hostile supernatural powers .. Jesus will succeed where the previous portion failed. Where the Israel of the OT failed, the new Israel will succeed. The testing in the wilderness is an elaborate topological presentation of Jesus as the true Israel, the one through whom God’s redemptive purpose for his people is now at last to reach its fulfillment.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Israel failed here, Jesus does not and quoted text, hunger was an issue in the desert wanderings
“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.
When tempted at the temple, Jesus quotes and the quote shows Israel’s failure and his loyalty..
The ultimate temptation comes last, and hits directly at Jesus’ ultimate mission - to reclaim the nations
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Satan offers Jesus the nations that had been disinherited at Babel. Coming from the “ruler of this world” the offer was not a hollow one. As the original rebel the nacash of Gen 3 had by the time of the NT achieved the status of the lead opposition to Yahweh … remember the being in Gen 3 had been assigned to earth but the term also means the realm of the dead. BTW this opposition is why the title became a name. By the time of Jesus Satan was perceived as the primary authority over the other rebels and their domains. His lordship over the watchers who fell was presumed.
Had Jesus given i, it would have been an acknowledgement that Satan’s permission was needed to possess the nations. It wasn’t. Satan presumed power and ownership of something that, ultimately, was not his but God’s. The messaging behind the answer given is clear. God will TAKE BACK the nations by his own means in his own time. He doesn’t need them to be given away in a bargain. Jesus was loyal and since reclamation was connected with salvation and redemption from the effects of the fall in Eden, accepting the offer would have undermined the necessity of the atonement of the cross.
Game On!
Game On!
Immediately following this confrontation, Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee,” where he preached in the region’s synagogues and was rejected by those in his home town of Nazareth (Luke 4: 14-15). Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus moved to Capernaum and he began his ministry with a simple message: “repent for the Kingdom of God is near.” He called his first disciples and healed a demon-possessed man. Let the holy war begin!
It might sound hard to believe, but his event in a synagogue, is the first time in the entire Bible we read about a demon being cast out of a person. No such event is ever recorded in the Old Testament. The defeat of demons, falling on the heels of Jesus’ victory over Satan’s temptations, marks the beginning of the re-establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus makes this clear..
But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
And since the lesser elohim over the nations are cast as demons in the OT, the implications are clear for our study: The ministry of Jesus marked the beginning of the repossession of the nations and the defeat of their elohim.
In Luke’s account, Jesus preaches, heals, and casts out more demons after this initial exorcism. He also gathers more disciples. In Luke 9, Jesus gathers his 12 disciples together and gives them power and authority over the demons, sending them out to proclaim the kingdom of God. The symbolic telegraphing of choosing 12 disciples is evident. And in the next chapter something dramatic occurs especially understood after our discussions
Luke 10:1 (ESV)
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.
Jesus sends out 70 others. The number is not accidental. Seventy is the number of nations listed in Gen 10 that were dispossessed at Babel. The 70 disciples return with joy
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
The implications are clear: Jesus ministry is the beginning of the end for Satan and the gods of the nations. The great reversal is underway.
Ground Zero: the Gates of Hell
Ground Zero: the Gates of Hell
The spiritual skirmishes against the powers of darkness are evident throughout the ministry of the Christ. One of the more dramatic scenes is when Peter answers “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” then
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
A controversial verse for RC and others but there is more going on here! The location of the incident — Caesarea Philippi - -and the reference to the “gates of hell” provide the context for the “rock” of which Jesus is speaking.
Remember the giant clans … they have something to do with this location
It is located in the northern part of the OT region of Bashan, the place of the serpent, at the foot of Mount Hermon. It is also called Panias and the early church historian Eusebius notes that is was respected by the nations as a sanctuary.
The site was famous as a place of worship for Pan and a temple for Zeus, more than 20 temples have survived to the gods; to the celestial gods since they are open air temples. remember the host of heaven, the sons of God put in authority over the nations who were not to be worshipped by the Isrealites?
RC contention is based on Peter’s leadership is that his name means “stone”. There is wordplay going on here, but the location… this rock is Mount Hermon; considered the gates of hell, the gateway of the dead in Old Testament times.
The theological messaging couldn’t be more dramatic. Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail .. the kingdom of God is the aggressor .. gates don’t march it is the gates under assault, they will not hold up against the church -
Battling the Enemy
Battling the Enemy
It is hard to imagine but the conflict ratchets up one more notch after Peters confession.
Mount Hermon is where 1st Enoch claims the sons of God chose to launch their rebellion against God. Jesus had one more statement to make to his unseen enemies.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
Beloved .. remember
Many consider this to be Mount Tabor, but that comes from the fourth century. Hermon is closer and is higher more scholars are turning to Hermon and away from Tabor..
The imagery here is striking. Remember the culture… so Jesus takes his three up on unholy ground, where the watchers came down.. and there reveals to Peter, James and John exactly who he is… the embodied glory essence of God. The divine name made visible by incarnation. The meaning is transparent…The hostile powers are put on notice. Jesus is come to earth to take back what is his. the Kingdom of God is at hand.
These two events at the gates of hell and the unholy slopes of Hermon mark a transition in the ministry, especially in Mark. After he throws down the gauntlet at the transfiguration he begins to move toward Jerusalem to his death. Jesus baited the powers to action, they will eagerly hang themselves. The cross launches the kingdom in its full force and that is what the church is to be doing reclaiming the nations …and if we are about that, so much other garbage goes away.