sovereigngrace
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- Dec 9, 2019
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Why are you deliberately misrepresenting a Christian on this board?
Christ secured the complete dominion over Satan, death, hell, sin and every enemy at the cross. Revelation 1:17-18 records Christ’s well-known encounter with John on the Isle of Patmos, after the cross, where He significantly appears with the symbolic keys or authority of hell and of death, saying, “I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell (hades) and of death.”
Death and Hades are now defeated. The grave has been conquered. God's people are now with Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:9-10 says, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Since the Lord’s ascension to the throne of God, the devil’s power is hampered. Christ now sits victorious in the glory as our Prophet, Priest and King. Satan, who once deceived “the whole world” has lost that immense global influence. The authority to do such being significantly curtailed by the work of Christ and the advance of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 2:14-15 says of Christ and His atoning death, “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
The Greek word katargeo used here to describe the fate that befell Satan. The word means to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative. It means to cause a person or thing to have no further efficiency. It means to deprive of force, influence and power. It means to cause to cease, to put an end to, to do away with, to annul and to abolish.
It is interpreted in different ways in the New Testament such as ‘bring to nought’, ‘none effect’, and ‘abolish’. Satan certainly sustained a blow that impaired or restricted his movement. Undoubtedly, Satan's power to hold the nations in captivity was assaulted so that Christ could set the prisoner free throughout the nations. The Gentiles, who had been blinded for 4,000 years by the devil, would now see. The Gentiles that were nearly all pagan before the cross have been availed the wonderful opportunity to come to salvation through the victory of the cross and the consequential defeat of Satan. Whilst the majority are not saved, that doesn’t stop the nations been privileged with the truth.
The Gentiles can no longer claim ignorance. Notwithstanding, the presence of the Gospel and the acceptance of the Gospel are two completely different things. The presence of the Gospel never resulted in wholesale salvation to any nation, that is demonstrated even in the Old Testament where most Israelis rejected God’s offer of salvation. There was always only ever been a remnant amongst those who were privileged to hear the Gospel.
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