The Man You Seek

 

 

 

Supernatural Revelation

Holding a whole stack of documents representing his sins, the devil continues to accuse my friend. An angel appears with a similar stack of documents dripping in blood and says “The man you seek is dead, this man is innocent.”

 

How to See the Invisible

That scene, oddly enough is set here on earth, however it is only viewed with the spiritual eyes, those born again eyes Jesus talked about with Nicodemus. You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original [new] creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom.  John 3:5 Msg. The godless world can't take him [the Holy Spirit] in because it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! John 14:17 Msg.

 

Eyes and Ears That Can’t See or Hear

With natural eyes and ears you can only hear the wind blow and see the effect of the wind on the trees.  The natural man is born with "... eyes so that they could not see {spiritual things} and ears so that they could not hear {spiritual things} ..." Romans 11:8.

 

Seen Only with Spiritual Eyes

With Holy Spirit created spiritual eyes you are able to see spiritual things like  "… Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side." Acts 7:55 Msg.

 

It Sounds So Biblical and Righteous

The devil is standing before him with a stack of documents representing all the sins he has committed. My friend  looks shocked and trying to evaluate and overcome* the accusations and consequential condemnation of ... the handwriting of the note (bond - certificate of debt) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). Col. 2:14a Amp)

 

The Temptation

Satan said, "Go ahead, you did it last week and no one was hurt. See this isn’t really harming anyone and it feels so good, its O.K."  Then, when it seemed he could no longer bear the weight of the guilt and the force of the temptation in his flesh*, an angel appeared with a similar stack of documents dripping with blood.

 

All Cancelled

The angel said "The man you seek is dead (... died with Christ [on the cross] ... Rom. 6:8), this man is innocent." (… [Jesus] set aside [cancelled and blotted out and wiped away] and cleared completely out of our way [the documents] by nailing it to [His] cross. Col. 2:14b Amp)

 

Set Free

A sudden sense of freedom sweep through this man and he resisted the temptation. (Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7) My friend said what "Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." Matt. 4:10.

 

Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! Roman 6:6 Msg.

 

* For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. 1 Corinthians 10:13a Amplified

 

Raised From the Dead

 

Colossians 2 (The Message)

 

6-7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him {emphasis added}. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

 

8-10 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him [Jesus], so you can see and hear him [God] clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him [Christ]. When you come to him [God], that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything {in your life}.

 

11-15 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.