the fear of deliverance ... matthew 12:22-28 ...
We don’t like it when our kingdoms are uncovered and exposed for what they really are. The kingdoms of conquest and power cower in fear at the possibility of a kingdom that offers deliverance ... I think the Pharisees trembled with this fear when Jesus brought healing to the demon-possessed man (matt 12).
It wasn’t His authority in the spiritual realm that concerned them so much, but His growing authority in and amongst the realm they called “theirs”. That’s the reason they came up with such a lame protest: “He does this by the power of the devil” ... and Jesus was quick to reveal the ridiculous nature of their argument:
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined ... if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”
If Jesus was a tool of the devil, surely he’d be used in some other way than to deliver people from the oppression Satan himself was enforcing!
These guys weren’t thinking straight ... their fear of losing control trumped their ability to recognize the kingdom of God ... a kingdom that brings the possibility of deliverance ... they feared the deliverance of their people... they feared their own deliverance.
In fact, they were so fearful of the kingdom of God, they threw a label at it - “the work of the devil.”
God’s kingdom uncovers and exposes my kingdoms of conquest and power as it brings deliverance from fear, confusion and oppression ... may we be people who can recognize it when “the kingdom of God has come upon us.”
It wasn’t His authority in the spiritual realm that concerned them so much, but His growing authority in and amongst the realm they called “theirs”. That’s the reason they came up with such a lame protest: “He does this by the power of the devil” ... and Jesus was quick to reveal the ridiculous nature of their argument:
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined ... if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?”
If Jesus was a tool of the devil, surely he’d be used in some other way than to deliver people from the oppression Satan himself was enforcing!
These guys weren’t thinking straight ... their fear of losing control trumped their ability to recognize the kingdom of God ... a kingdom that brings the possibility of deliverance ... they feared the deliverance of their people... they feared their own deliverance.
In fact, they were so fearful of the kingdom of God, they threw a label at it - “the work of the devil.”
God’s kingdom uncovers and exposes my kingdoms of conquest and power as it brings deliverance from fear, confusion and oppression ... may we be people who can recognize it when “the kingdom of God has come upon us.”
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