CONQUERED
BY JESUS
Preface
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Like
the darkness of the night that has its existence only because light has
been removed, death runs rampant upon the face of the earth garnering
havoc needlessly. As darkness
has no power within itself, death also is powerless. What seems to be the obvious destructive power of death is in
reality the manifestation of the removal of life. It is the absence of life, as with light, that is
destructive.
For example, Jesus said, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?
If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the
light of this world. But, if
a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in
him" (John 11:9,10). The power of the night is not the darkness nor
the thing that caused the stumbling.
It is the absence of light.
Although an object in the night can cause someone to stumble, it does so
only if the man does not see it. The
object itself is not the ultimate reason why anyone falls.
The essence of all stumbling is the absence of light.
Likewise, when the glory of the face of God is removed from man, he will
always become beastly (Dan. 5:20,21), animalistic urges dominate his
existence. Once the
controlling influences of the life of God are absent, the beast that lurks
in the shadows of every man comes forth in ever-increasing increments of
passion and destruction. As
the glory of God fades, the animalistic urges, the beast, become more
prominent.
As with the darkness of the night, the beast has no power within itself.
What seems to be the destructive power of fleshly, animalistic
desires within man is in reality only the manifestation of the removal of
the face of God from man. It
is the absence of the glory of God that is destructive for man.
Although animalistic desires may cause a man to stumble, they are not the
reason for the fall. The
problem is the absence of the glory of God, dimming the light of Life in
which man walks. The power of
life is always the manifestation of the glory of God.
This mystery of life can be illustrated in another way. When man was created by God, he was formed out of the dust of
the earth (Gen. 2:7). Then,
into this lifeless body the breath of life was given.
Consequently, man became a living soul, a breathing creature
(literal meaning of the word translated "living soul" in Genesis
2:7).
Thus, it can be said that man, when he was created, consisted of body,
soul, and the breath of life. With
the breath of life being the Spirit of God (Isa. 42:5; John 1:4,9; Acts
17:25,28; Dan. 5:23; and John 5:26,27), man was a flesh and blood body
experiencing the Spirit of God. He
was a fleshly body that had been brought to life by the Spirit of God.
He was a body of flesh experiencing the Spirit of God which produced the
living soul. Although he
possessed a body and a soul he had no spirit.
There was no spirit of man. Simply
experiencing the Spirit of God, he was a breathing creature, a spiritual
being in a fleshly body.
However, when man consumed the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil (Gen. 3:1-7), his eyes were opened to a "separate"
identity apart from God. Consequently,
a spirit of man was born. Again,
like darkness and death, the spirit of man is not an entity in and of
itself. It is a way of thinking or perception of the fallen mind of
man "removed" from experiencing the Spirit of God as the
perceived source of life. It
is a rationality that man perceives he controls.
Subsequently, when the spirit of man is awakened within man, he will begin
to believe that the experiencing of life is actually the experiences of
his mind. He will now attempt
to live by the thrill of his senses (tasting, touching, seeing, hearing,
and smelling). Although God
is still the life-source of his existence for there is no life but God
(John 5:26,27), man, in his mind, will now perceive himself as the essence
and measure of his life. He
now believes that he can make life happen by the activities of the mind
itself.
The simple fact that man now perceives that he can control life by the
exercise of his mind demonstrates the reality of the freedom
of man. In other
words, if man could not experience freedom of will, there never would have
been a fall. If man did not
have a free will, sin would or could not have ever entered into the life
of Adam or the regenerated believer in Christ.
The evil that is in the world amply demonstrates the free will of
man.
However, man’s freedom has to remain within the sovereignty of God.
The free will of man, as most of modern Christianity believes, is
not the freedom of choice. The perceived freedom of choice that man thinks he possesses
is actually the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
(Genesis 2:17; 3:5-7). He
erroneously, after eating of the forbidden fruit, now perceives that he
can choose between good or evil.
After the fall, man made
choices (his eyes were opened) but his choices could never produce the
real essence of life. Moreover,
his choices always took him down and away from God.
It is actually the entering into the choosing process that is the
fall.
In other words, in attempting to experience life, it makes no difference
whether man chooses good or evil. Either
choice is error because he perceives he can choose.
He has left the realm of light and now walks in the realm of
darkness.
Although he now thinks he can and will attempt to make life happen, all he
makes is a world of dreams. He
has created a vast matrix of activities and schemes in which he attempts
to experience life that is nothing more than the illusions of his mind.
Although they seems so real, they are the fantasy of his own
thinking.
Moreover, this freshly awakened spirit of man will always create a belief
system that allows man to perceive he can control the destiny of his life.
This perception of control by the mind of man runs the gamut from
pure humanism to pure religion. While
humanism boldly states that there is no God and man is the measure of all
things, religion is much more deceptive.
Religion will declare that there is a God and that He is the Creator of
all things. However, by
proclaiming that life (the life of man) itself is a created entity
bestowed upon man, it makes his life, then, an experience which must
always be controlled by someone or something.
Moreover, when religious man perceives that life is a created
entity bestowed upon him rather than the actual experiencing of God
Himself through the Spirit of God, he will attempt to control his life
just as the humanist.
However, being religious as opposed to being what the religious man
perceives to be worldly, all of his choices now center upon what he thinks
God wants him to be or to do. Although
his intentions seem noble (actually, they may be noble for the spirit of
man), the sad reality of his life is that he, too, has created a faulty
belief system. For his belief
system also allows him to perceive that he is in control of his destiny.
In other words, the driving force of the religious man is not God.
It is his service to God. The
now active spirit of man has created a religious zealot.
Although dedicated and committed in his service, it is,
nevertheless, his service. He has
joined hands with the humanist, thinking he controls the direction of his
life.
Consequently, the spirit of man will become as a god (Gen. 3:22). It now believes it not only has creative power (thinking it
can make life happen) but it also believes it has sustaining power as
well. The spirit of man
always believes it is self‑sufficient.
Its perceived self‑sufficiency begins with the creation of a belief
system. In creating a belief
system, a way of life, it has actually created a life.
It has created life in the sense that, when all life is reduced to
its fundamental essence, its existence is simply the way it exists.
The way of one’s life is his life.
It is the way he lives. The
idolatrous spirit of man has created his own existence with the creation
of his own way of life.
When man partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, his eyes were opened. This
new found perception not only created a new way of life, it also attempts
to convince man that this new way can be trusted.
The now awakened mind of man sets about to produce its own faith.
For it is with the mind that man attempts to believe in his new
found way of life.
The awakened beast has completed the full cycle of its existence.
It has not only created its own existence, it now sustains itself
as well by its own believing. It has become as God, creating and sustaining life.
With the fading of the influence of the glory of God, the beast is
given the privilege, by the mind itself, to exert power over its captive,
although it has no power within itself.
Moreover, the influence of the beast continually changes its appearance as
the glory of God fades away. Like
the night that becomes darker and darker as the light is removed, the
beast becomes stronger and stronger in its influence as the life of God is
rejected as the essence of existence.
The image of the beast changes drastically as the degradation of
man sinks lower and lower.
No man would ever experience this tale of sorrow and death, were he to
experience the end of the road at the beginning.
The beast that lurks in the shadow of man’s existence never
reveals its destruction until it is too late (Proverbs 7).
It spins a tale of temptation that begins for the flesh of man with
such promised hope and glory only to end in despair and shame.
Although Jesus emphasized that man should soar through life as the wings
of an eagle ride the currents of the wind (Luke 17:33,37), man seems to
find his eagle feathers constantly being plucked.
Consequently, when an individual loses the source of his flight,
the grace of God, he will stand upright within himself to find a new
essence of his existence. The
beast has raised his head to begin its mastery (Dan. 7:4).
As destructive as the rise of this beast is, it is unfortunately only the
beginning. Although it is the
same beast, it will now alter its image as it becomes a slave to its own
passions. Its entire
existence will now center upon feeding its belly.
It becomes primarily concerned with only one thing, its survival.
It constantly hunts that it may devour more and more flesh, now the
means of its existence (Dan. 7:5).
However, the beast will be forced to alter its image again. The very thing to which it has turned to find life now takes
dominion over it. Whatever
the thing is that is perceived to be able to bring life it will take
control and always bring bondage to the seeker.
In other words, if the seeker perceives a certain thing can produce
life, then he will do whatever the thing demands to experience that life.
The seeker is now controlled by the thing.
As if the beast has four different heads, it will provide the perceived
answer for every ambition of the spirit of man.
It will feed itself upon fleshly intellectualism (the contemplative
lifestyle), the pure excitement of emotional desire (the sensual
lifestyle), the devotion to acts of the will (the active lifestyle), or
the fatalistic judgments of the conscious (the resignation lifestyle).
Whichever raises its head, it will take dominion over its captive.
It will control the life of the person by consuming his time and energy in
attempting to meet the demands of the particular head that now rules it
(Dan. 7:6). Whatever the
spirit of man turns to to worship, it will always command his service.
He will become a victim at its disposal.
In the end, however, the creature cannot produce life regardless of the
effort. What begins with such
excitement of anticipated glory now ends in the shame of total
degradation. The beast has
finally reached the only end to which it can come.
Mental stress, emotional burnout, physical weakness, or fatalistic
hopelessness will eventually overwhelm the captive of the beast.
The beast will once again change his image.
He now becomes the monster that chews up the person, spits him out
of his mouth, and stomps the remnant into the ground.
Tragically, in the end, every person will be chewed up, spat out,
and stomped on by the beast within, when the glory of God is removed from
man (Dan. 7:7).
The only cure from the hell of man’s own life is the coming of the Son
of Man (Dan. 7:13). The
consuming fire of the Holy Spirit must overwhelm the beast.
God Himself must restore His glory in man.
Moreover, this restoration of man is always mysterious, especially in the
light of the thought processes of the Western world.
It is mysterious because man’s deliverance is less a decision he
makes than it is God actually dragging man back to His Creator.
Since the beast, the spirit of man, lives only in the perception of
the mind of man, the fallen mind is not going to make a decision to end
its existence. It will give
up many things and attempt to accomplish many deeds.
It will not give up, however, its control.
In other words, with the fallen mind being the problem, the solution then
is not going to come by a decision of the mind.
God will have to come into man’s thinking and literally save him
from himself and in spite of himself.
Man will have to be conquered by Jesus to experience his salvation,
to once again experience the life of God.
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