EPISODE 705 – THIS JESUS 4

THIS JESUS 4

“Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”

Acts 17:3 (KJV)

The previous episodes outlined some Prophecies which were fulfilled by Jesus at His birth.

Though Jesus is the revelation of God’s consistent true character and reality, He also lived as the fulfilment of Messianic Prophecies.

All believers in Christ acknowledge Jesus as the lamb of God who died for the Salvation of men.
Yet few of them are conscious of the Messianic reality of Jesus.

Most Jews didn’t see Jesus as the Promised Messiah because instead of looking at the scriptures, they were looking at the limited worldview and perception of how they think a Messiah should be.

Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, resurrection, His role in the church and His everlasting reign, are clearly articulated in the scriptures.

In this season as people are celebrating “Christmas” as the celebration of the birth of Jesus, they must have the consciousness that His birth was the fulfillment of the birth of the Messiah.

The Jewish people were waiting for a Messiah who would act as a rebel deliverer against the Romans.

They didn’t know his way of Salvation and establishment of His kingdom was through the dispensing of life through His death and resurrection.

Jesus didn’t come to destroy men, He came to destroy the works of the devil.

The first hint of His coming was with a clear mission, to destroy the dominion of the devil.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (KJV)

Most people think Jesus is going to achieve that in the future. Not at all. He’s done that already.

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.“ 1 John 3:8 (KJV)

Jesus came to destroy the sin problem the devil created through his deceptive work.

Look at what was said about Jesus:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.“ Matthew 1:18-21(KJV)

The Salvation of people from their sins was destroying the works of the devil and the crushing of his authority through the cross.

Through the deception of the adversary, sin entered man, he became corrupt and dead.

Jesus was born to destroy the works of the devil, deliver man from the corruption of sin and quicken him with life from death.

” And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.“ Colossians 2:13-15 (KJV)

These verses explain how Jesus destroyed the works of the devil.

Oh hallelujah!

No wonder when Jesus was born, the devil worked through Herod to kill the child. The moment he realized the promised seed was born, he thought of eliminating the child to abort God’s eternal plan.

“Then Herod, when he realized that he had been tricked by the magi, was extremely angry, and he sent [soldiers] and put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that area who were two years old and under, according to the date which he had learned from the magi.” Matrew 2:16 (Amplified Bible).

However, the Prophets gave a hint of this event and God’s escape plan for the Messiah. You know sometimes you assume the devil is omniscient.

Do you think he knows everything about you and your future?

Listen, he may have an assumption of a glorious thing God is up to with you but doesn’t know how God is going to do it.

Don’t give him a lot of credence. He is not ahead of you, he is far behind schedule. Be in tune with God and follow His plan for your life. Act fast when the Lord instructs.

The devil didn’t know the King was born. But God knew how the devil was going to react and went ahead to work out His escape plan for the child.

And the Prophet Jeremiah said:

“This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

The Prophet Hosea saw God’s preserving plan:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son” (Hosea 11:1)

The preservation of Jesus was the preservation of the promised seed that shall destroy the works of the devil or crush his head.

The goal of the devil was to destroy the seed. All through the life of Jesus and public ministry, people in authority sought to kill him.

“Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him” (Matthew 12:14, See also,  Mark 3:6, 11:18; Luke 6:11; John 11:53)

What they didn’t know was that they were doing the work of the devil. However, as part of God’s eternal plan, Jesus must die at a time to destroy the works of the devil.

As much as they sought to kill Jesus, His time had not yet come so they couldn’t.

Finally, when the time was right, Jesus gave Himself up to die.
They didn’t know the one they were seeking to kill was their Messiah. However, the devil also didn’t know that the death of Jesus was for his works to be destroyed and for Salvation to be made available unto all men.

“but the precious blood of Christ—who like a spotless, unblemished lamb was sacrificed for us. This was part of God’s plan, for he was chosen and destined for this before the foundation of the earth was laid, but he has been made manifest in these last days for you” 1 Peter 1:19-20 (TPT).

OH THANK YOU JESUS!