Day 42: How Are The Father and Son At Work NOW?
2 Corinthians 13:13
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
This week, we focus on how The Father, Son and Spirit are at work now. It is important to realize that Jesus is still at work in our world. As the Father and Son oversee all things from the Heavenly Realm, they have sent the Holy Spirit to work powerfully in our world. For all those who are “in Christ”, the Spirit brings the personal presence of Christ Himself so that Christ indwells us and empowers us to do all things for the glory and pleasure of the Father.
Last week, we focused on what God has done in the past for us. The Father sent the Son to find us in our lostness, to bring the opportunity of new life to us, and to be the completely satisfying sacrifice for our sins. This week we want to take a look at what the Father, Son, and Spirit are presently doing in our world. Let’s begin by saying a few more things about Jesus’ past and present ministry to us and for us.
Jesus was raised from the Dead as the Son-of-God-in-Power and now has all authority/power in Heaven and on Earth.
Romans 1:4
…and [He] was declared to be the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,…{NET}
On the Sunday morning following His Friday crucifixion, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus returned to His physical body buried in a tomb near Jerusalem. By the power of God’s glory in the Holy Spirit, Christ was physically raised from the dead to an entirely new kind of life in which He would never experience death again:
Romans 6:9–10
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. {ESV}
In His resurrection, Jesus has also been declared to be the “Son-of-God-in-power” which means that Jesus is now The One who has all authority and power over all things. Hear what Jesus himself said about this:
Matthew 28:18
Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…”
Christianity affirms two key truths about Jesus. First, He is Savior meaning that He is the one and only Savior of all mankind. Secondly, He is Lord meaning He has been given all ruling authority; there is nothing that exists that is not under Jesus power.
Jesus has defeated the Devil
and stripped and shamed His Dominion of Darkness.
In the background of Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion, we see the Enemy, the Devil hard at work. He enters Judas to betray Jesus; he brings confusion to the other disciples. All of this was orchestrated to kill Jesus and put an end to His mission.
However, the Devil unwittingly orchestrated his own undoing. For in working to bring Jesus to the Cross, he provided just the right opportunity for Christ to defeat his evil and gain back the rights to this Earth and to all of us who were lost in the Rebellion of Adam:
Hebrews 2:14–15
Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil— and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
In his death, Jesus was not destroyed by the Devil—He destroyed the power of the Devil!!! Jesus also stripped and shamed the fallen angelic rulers and authorities of this world that oversee the Dominion of Darkness:
Colossians 2:15
Stripping the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. {our translation}
Now we know from other portions of Scripture that the Devil is still prowling about here on Earth, with His minions opposing God’s work in all things—they have not yet been deposed or destroyed. In the present age, God has seen fit in His wisdom to allow these enemies to remain for a while. However, we must realize that Jesus has provided the victory over these dark forces by His death on the Cross.
Jesus ascended back to Heaven and is now the Head of All things!
Ephesians 1:20-23
… [God the Father] raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. Now the church is his Body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
For forty days following His resurrection, Jesus showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs and taught His disciples in preparation for their ministry following His soon departure back to His Father. When the forty days had ended, Jesus ascended out of their sight from the Mount of Olives and returned to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of God. Jesus is now seated, not because He is tired, but because His work of redemption is totally completed on your behalf. It is finished! For this reason, the writer of Hebrews encourages us with these words:
Hebrews 12:1–2
…Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.
Now in the present time, Jesus lives as the Head of His Body—the Church—and He lives in His people, filling His people by the Holy Spirit, uniting His people to be of one heart and mind in the things that are pleasing to God. As we will see, Christ comes to live in us when we place our faith (ultimate confidence) in Him and so we are also “in Him.” This means that all that Jesus has is available to us all the time in all things.
Is there anything new that you learned in this lesson?
What is the significance of the things we have discussed today?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
