Zoe- God Kind of Life

THE REIGN OF ETERNAL LIFE

ROMANS 5:17: "For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in the realm of life through the one individual, Jesus Christ."

Here is the story of Satan's seizure of man's dominion in the Garden when he changed man's spirit nature, made his body mortal, and made that body the master of his spirit. Man became the servant of the senses; his spirit no longer ruled him. Man's spirit became subject to Satan's nature, Spiritual Death. In this we witness the tragedy of Love. God's love creation became the slave of hate. Gen. 1:26: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

Study this with Psalms 8:3-6: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers: the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him but little lower than God, and crownest him with glory and honor. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet." This is a picture of God's man in the Garden before sin came.

And Hebrews 2:5-8: "For not unto angels did he subject the world that was to be created, whereof we speak. But one hath some-where testified saying, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than God ; thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet."

This vast authority, this great honor God had conferred upon man, was turned over into the hands of the adversary. Man became the subject of Satan. He had been God's under-ruler. What a wonderful being he must have been with a mind so capable that he named the entire animal and vegetable creation, with a dominion so vast that the very Heavens were subject to him! Then he fell under the dominion of Satan. We can now understand the scripture which we first quoted. Satan seized the sovereignty. He became the lord and head of man. He became the god of this world. He became the spiritual father of the human race. Politically he became the prince of this world.

Down through the ages we have seen the reign of Spiritual Death. Satan's nature is death, just as God's Nature is Life.
The first manifestation of the Satanic nature is hatred. Hatred, selfishness, bitterness, and murder are the dominant features of Satan's dominion. The reign of Spiritual Death is the reign of Satan. It is sin that rules in the realm of Spiritual Death. Sin is organized evil. Man has become the servile subject of the devil. He has no Revelation Knowledge, so he is utterly dependent upon the knowledge he derives through his senses. His body has become his master. Into this maelstrom of hatred and sorrow, tears and anguish the Son of God was born. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Love was manifested in the flesh. It was Love's intrusion. It was God breaking into Satan's dominion.

Then they crucified Love. They nailed it to the cross. But Love arose from the dead.

Did you ever notice this scripture 1 Tim. 3:16: "He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit." God is describing His Son as a Substitute after He had left His body and gone to the place of suffering. God had laid upon Him our sins and diseases. God had made Him to be sin that we might be His Righteousness in Christ.

He stayed there until He had satisfied every claim of Justice. Then He was justified in spirit. 1 Peter 3:18: "Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit."

This is not referring to the Holy Spirit, but to His spirit. He had died spiritually.
He had become a Partaker of the Satanic nature on the Cross. When God laid our sin upon Him, He became sin. He had never known sin. He became identified with Satan. His body became mortal so that He could die. He could not have died physically unless He had died spiritually. John 10:18: "No one taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again." He could not have died until His body had become mortal. This could not have been until He was made sin. Then He was justified-declared righteous-and given Eternal Life. Col. 1:18: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead."

Jesus was the first person ever Born Again. Out of that New Birth the Church has been born. Eph. 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." Acts 13:33: "Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee." This has reference to His resurrection. Then Jesus stripped Satan of his authority, conquered him, and arose from the dead; and the reign of the new life began. It is important that we understand the teaching of identification. (Read my book, "Identification.") Paul teaches us in this great revelation that we were crucified with Christ, that we died with Christ, that we were buried with Christ, that we suffered with Christ, that we were made alive together with Christ, that we were justified with Christ, that we were raised together with Christ, and then were seated together with Him at the right hand of God. This is the mystery of substitution.

Jesus was our Substitute. It was the same as though we had been nailed to the cross with Him, had died with Him, had been buried with Him, had suffered with Him, had conquered Satan with Him, had been justified with Him, had been made alive with Him, had arisen with Him, and were seated with Him. His victory over Satan was real.
What He did, He did for us. What He is, He is for us. He is the first born of the Church.
As our Substitute He conquered Satan and stripped him of his authority. He did it in our stead. We were credited with that victory. God sees us as He has made us in Christ.
So the Spirit can say through Paul that we reign as kings in the realm of Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are Satan's masters. We reign over him. Today, as sons of God we are masters of our old enemy.

It is the "abundance of grace" and the "gift of righteousness." It is the reign of righteousness. We must learn to see ourselves as the Father sees us in Christ-victors in every field. Don't take Satan's estimation of yourself. This is the reign of the "righteous ones," those whom God calls His "righteous ones" in Christ. Hebrews 10:38: "My righteous one shall live by faith." We are those righteous ones. This New Creation is enthroned with Christ. We are seated with Him in the heavenlies. The New Creation is master of the adversary. The old creation was a failure. The New Creation is a success.

We have the very Nature and Life of God that makes us righteous. It gives us access to the very Throne of God. We can go into the Throne Room just as Jesus did in His earth walk. I was almost tempted to say, as a child goes into his father's room without knocking. A stranger wouldn't dare to do it.

We have a legal right to the use of the Name of Jesus. He has given us the power of attorney to use it. He said : "All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth." "Whatsoever you shall ask in my name the Father will give it you." This is dominion over the adversary. This is mastery over demoniacal forces and their works.

Now 1 John 4:4 is a reality: "Ye are of God, my little children." We are born of God. We have overcome the evil one. Why? Because "greater is he (God) that is in us than he (Satan) that is in the world." Satan knows that we are masters. His success depends on keeping us in ignorance of it. He knows that we will make mistakes, so he uses our mistakes to keep us under condemnation. The Church has never recognized the ministry of Jesus at the right hand of the Father. He is there as our Advocate, our heavenly lawyer.

1 John 2:1: "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." All we need to do is to whisper, "Father, in Jesus' Name forgive me for that foolish thing I have said." At once our fellowship with the Father is restored. Satan knows that we are taking Jesus' place in the world. He wants to keep us ignorant of it.

It gives us strength and courage when we read Matt. 28:20: "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." If He is with us we are afraid of nothing. Romans 8:31, 32: "If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?"

Can't you hear Him say in the next verse: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." What a standing we have before the very Throne of God! What recognition we have from the Father, Himself! What limitless ability is ours! Shall we live on in ignorance of our rights? Let us study His Word until we know what is ours in Him. Faith comes with the knowledge of our rights in Christ. When you act on the knowledge of what you are in Christ, you glorify the Son and make the Father's heart glad.

Say it over and over, "I am what He says I am; I can do what He says I can do. He will do in me all He did in Christ for me. "I have His Nature in me-His Love Nature, His creative Nature, His faith Nature. I am His very child. "All things are possible to the believing one. I am a believer, so it is I of whom He speaks." Three blessed facts that have never been stressed

1. What God really did for us in Christ in His great Redemptive work.
2. What God does for us in the New Creation, through the Word, and by the Holy Spirit-building His Nature into us and making us like Jesus in our Love walk.
3. What Jesus is doing now for us at God's right hand as Mediator for the lost, as High Priest for the believer, as surety for the New Covenant, as the Advocate for us when tempted, and as our Lord and Sustainer.

The Two Kinds of Life