Nugget 30
The Prince of the World is Judged
February 1989
Let us look at the line of events in the history of humanity, and there we will see a ''pattern of failure and success." This, in itself, is a joyous thought, for since it began with failure, it will end in success. It began with evening and it will end in morning; with darkness and it must end in light.
In the beginning:
(1) Eve was tempted
(2) Adam fell
(3) Sin and death entered
(4) Dominion was lost
(5) Jealousy - Cain against Abel resulting in...
(6) Death - Abel's death
As a matter of fact, death entered from the moment Eve disobeyed and ate of the tree. The Word of God was, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."
It was not long before the resurgence of righteousness began with the birth of Enoch, and men began to call upon the Name of the Lord. The record changed to look like this:
(1) Enoch overcame the judgment of death pronounced on mankind by walking with God. The record showed that Enoch "walked with God," and Enoch "was not, for God took him." This simple phrase describes a situation, which, in itself, is an anomaly of amazement: it speaks of a love story between God and a man, in which his wife, his children, and life itself became so small that heaven could not refuse him. God's intention from the beginning was to establish a relationship, and this He did with the first man Adam. The first man who talked with God was Adam. There is a profound revelation in this thought: God wants the companionship of man. We can only imagine the glory and beauty of it all. A man wrapped in the arms of God Almighty, looking into the secrets of life; viewing all things from the concept of God. We know that one day, we will also know and see what Adam saw and knew. Adam must have received promises from God which were not crafted in words, nor expressed in the crude and slow-moving human phraseology, but issued into the consciousness like a bolt of light from the innermost being of the Creator. Under these circumstances, it was not possible for Enoch to resist his heavenly ascent. Love must have lighted the way, and the innate desire of the human soul for God fueled his escape. Like the psalmist David, Enoch must have cried, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, Oh God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" The answer came back from God: "NOW!" The chariot of fire (or was it the flaming sword?), whichever it was, lifted him from carnality into the presence of the Lord, without death! It seems, however, that the door was closed behind him, since none that I know of, except Elijah, has found this way of faith.
(2) Moses overcame the judgment of death passed on all mankind by the one and only opportunity which the law afforded. Because he walked with God, he could hear the voice of the Lord clearly, and he went up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, from whence he viewed the promised land. He was about to reap the spiritual promised land, for he would walk with Enoch, and later with Elijah, among the overcomers who had their bodies in the heavenlies. Enoch never tasted of death, but here was a man who went through death, but was never incarcerated by the enemy. He must have offered his sacrifice just before death and died without sin. "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Jude 9. Later, we see Moses appearing in the transfiguration with Elijah, discussing with Jesus the Christ the details concerning His death, burial and resurrection. See Luke 9:29-31.
(3) Elijah, all through his life, manifested the power of God. He raised the dead; destroyed his enemies by fire from heaven; called fire from heaven and burnt up wood, water and stones, as well as the sacrifice; slew the prophets of Baal; ran faster than horses; parted the Jordan with his mantle and went over on dry land. All this and more, he did as a type of Christ. In the age of the prophets, he stood tall, and by faith, slipped past death and is alive today with his body in the heavenlies. He is among the overcomers, and we will see and be with him some day.
(4) Elisha, with a name which closely resembles that of Elijah, asked for a double portion of the power of Elijah when Elijah was leaving. Elijah told him it would be a hard thing to give, but that if he could see him when he was being taken away, that he would receive his request. They had gone across the river Jordan by the supernatural means of Elijah striking the water with his mantle and parting it. Suddenly, a roaring chariot of fire with horses of fire came racing towards them. It was Elijah's transportation. In a split second, Elijah was aboard, and Elisha must have been frightened out of his wits as he was forcibly separated from his master, but he never blinked an eye. He saw the whole operation, and the reward was the mantle of Elijah thrown to him from the awesome fiery chariot. The double portion was his. He struck the water with the mantle, in the name of the God of Elijah, and walked back across the parted water. From that day onward, Elisha lived a life of absolute victory. He was permitted of God to do twice the miracles of Elijah. Instead of running from Ahab and Jezebel, as Elijah had done, he took up residence in the palace; he had surely received a double portion. Elisha is the type of the overcomers, and after he died, his bones resurrected a dead man who was thrown into his sepulcher.
(5) John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, overcame the world from his youth, and was never influenced or led by society, or tarnished with its corruption. He introduced Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the world, and ended the law and the prophets, thus ushering in the new age of the Grace of God manifested in Jesus Christ. He was a lone voice crying in a blind religious world which could not discern Jesus as the Christ. It is a mockery to the devil that John the Baptist was beheaded, because when we see him with Christ, John will be wearing that same head.
(6) Jesus restores the kingdom. It would take a good-sized book to outline all the victories of the overcomers from Enoch to Christ; therefore, we must be satisfied with this short outline.
Jesus came and fulfilled the law and the prophets. That which is fulfilled is done away with, because it is superseded by the very purpose for which it was given. Christ became sin, that sin may be judged, thus putting an end to death by overcoming it. Moses and Elijah had their questions of death, burial and resurrection answered in the mount, in Jesus, the Spotless Lamb of God. Judas did not overcome the sin that doth so easily beset man, and it slew him. He became his own judgment, pronounced his own punishment, and carried out his own execution.
Jesus became sin, and then sin was under judgment, even in hell. In hell, Christ's first stop, He released the patriarchs, who waited long for the eventful hour, and some came out of their graves and walked the streets of Jerusalem in triumph. What a release! What a Jubilee! The door was made wide open for those who will accept the atonement of the spotless Lamb of God, escape sin and death, and walk in the overcoming light and grace, and put on the divine nature, having power and authority in Christ Jesus.
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