What? Someone Wants to Devour Me?? – The Gospel of the Kingdom of God and Victory Over the Powers of Darkness

Sin, Like A Lion, Wants to Devour Us

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about Cain, the elder brother. In that post I mentioned the verses in Genesis 4 where God warns Cain about sin crouching at his door. “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it” (NIV — or “rule over it” in the NKJV). The study notes in my NKJ bible say this about the phrase “crouching at the door” — “The language virtually personifies sin as a demon crouching like a crazed animal at Cain’s doorstep”. ‘Sin’ is described in this passage as a force or power that wants to overcome and devour Cain, and therefore us. But we can master it. Really?

This passage in Genesis reminds me of 1 Peter 5: 8, 9: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

The first thing that strikes me about these passages is the metaphor used for Satan: a roaring lion, a crazed beast. Lions are powerful animals — no match for a man, especially a crazed lion. True, David killed a lion. Masai warriors in Kenya kill lions with their spears. But for most of us, in our own power a lion will quickly devour us.

The second thing I get out of these passages is that Satan is either lying in wait for us or roaming around, constantly looking for a man or a woman to attack. This force, called the Devil or Satan, is not sometimes absent and at other times present. It is constantly crouching at our door. I take this to mean it is always looking for ways to get into our hearts or afflict our bodies; it patiently waits for the chink in our armor, so to speak, and then it attacks. The demonic, or evil, is real and it has real power.

Third, it means to devour us. In the 1 Peter passage, devour in Greek ‘katapino’, means to gulp entirely, to swallow up, or to overwhelm. That is Satan’s mission. Jesus tells us “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. When we look at the world around us we see evidence that the Lion is at work: anxiety, depression, lots of fear, hatred, pride, various forms of human evil, and many types of diseases. It is wrong to ascribe all suffering to Satan, but it is also wrong to say that much of the suffering of human beings is ‘just the way it is in a fallen world’. No, we have an enemy and that enemy is waiting to devour us like a roaring, crouching, crazed lion. Uh Oh!!!

Finally, God tells Cain to master the demon or to rule over him. Peter tells his readers to resist the devil. We know that in our human power, it is impossible to stand against the power of the demonic, so Scripture is telling us that in this battle we are not alone. We have other resources we can draw upon.

Our Power In Christ to Defeat the Darkness

Our hope of being saved from ‘crouching lions waiting to devour us’ is Jesus. In Ephesians 1:18 – 23 Paul writes:

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart might know the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule, authority, power and dominion, and every title that came be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet” (Ephesians 1: 18 – 22 NIV).

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 2: 6 NIV).

These are astonishing, amazing verses of Scripture. Do you realize that you have that kind of power over the enemy? Those who believe (more on this point below) have incomparably great power! God placed all authorities, powers, and dominion beneath the feet of Jesus. But God raised us up and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms. To be seated with Christ must mean that we are seated at His right hand if Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. The person seated at the right hand of the King is a person of great stature, power, and authority in the King’s eyes. That person is you, as you live in Christ. If all powers are placed beneath Jesus’ feet, then they are placed below our feet as well. Paul is not talking about earthly powers – he is writing about the powers of evil in the supernatural realm.“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6: 12).

I think this is what the writer in Genesis 4 meant when he wrote we must master or rule over the crouching demons. In our own power, the lion will overwhelm us, but in the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as we live in Christ, Satan has already been placed beneath our feet and we rule over him.

The Gospel of Salvation?

That is really good news – we have power in Christ. Christians are saved, delivered, and protected from the gulping, roaring lions prowling around looking to devour the unsuspecting person, who is powerless against them. But Paul puts his good news about our power and authority within a context when he prefaces his words above with these two sentences:

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1: 13, 14).

“You were included in Christ” means in Greek that you were included in the sphere of His activity, presence, and power – included in His Kingdom – when you heard the word of truth. What is the word of truth? It is “the gospel of your salvation”.

“The gospel of your salvation” – The word Paul used for gospel in Greek is euaggelion. It is almost the same word Jesus uses in Luke 4 when He refers to the Kingdom of God. “I must preach the Kingdom of God to the other cities also for that is why I was sent” (Luke 4: 43 NKJV). In this verse the word ‘preach’ is euaggelizo, which means to proclaim or declare the gospel – Jesus is proclaiming the gospel or good news of the Kingdom of God. The NIV translation of this verse is even more to the point “I must preach the good news (euaggelizo) of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent”.

Jesus, sent by God the Father, to carry the good news to His people. What is the good news or Gospel Jesus was sent to proclaim and deliver? The Kingdom of God is here – the long-awaited Kingdom is breaking into the world. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom. As Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom includes healing, deliverance, and a way of life lived in obedience to Jesus that will ultimately turn the world upside down.

In Acts 28 Paul, while in prison in Rome, preaches and teaches about the Kingdom of God and salvation.

“They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained to them the Kingdom of God, and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe . . . Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen” (Acts 28: 23, 24, 28 NIV).

Luke, in writing this last chapter of Acts, states that some rejected the message of the Kingdom of God that Paul proclaimed to the Jews. Paul then says, “OK, you can reject this message of the Kingdom, but the Gentiles will accept it – they will hear the message of salvation”. Paul is saying that the message of the Kingdom and the message of salvation are the same: salvation is found in the Kingdom of God.

In the last two verses in the Book of Acts Luke writes: “For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the Kingdom of God and taught about Jesus” (Acts 28: 30, 31 NIV)

For ‘”two whole years”, from “morning till evening”, Paul preached about the Kingdom of God. It must have been the most important thing in Paul’s life. According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word used here for ‘preaching’ – kerusso – means to proclaim divine truth, especially the gospel. In the last two years of his life Paul spent all of his time proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Are there two gospels? The gospel of salvation, which is how most Christians think of the gospel today, or the gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is the gospel preached and taught by Jesus and Paul? There is only one gospel – that taught by Jesus and proclaimed by Paul. It is that the Kingdom of God is here and that anyone who chooses to live in the Kingdom of God will be saved. The gospel is not “you are a sinner, Jesus died for your sins so when you die you will go to heaven”. We do have salvation, it does last for eternity, but it begins now, as we choose to live in the Kingdom of God.

The first ‘red’ words of Jesus in the book of Mark confirm this: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1: 15 NKJV). Jesus uses the Greek word ‘euaggelion’ for gospel, the same word Paul uses, only in this context Jesus makes it plain that the Kingdom of God is breaking out now because “the time is fulfilled” and the reality of the Kingdom of God today is the good news – the Kingdom of God is here. Jesus is proclaiming and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God – the true gospel. And He is telling us “to repent”. This is obviously something we must choose to do.

The gospel is, at least in large part, that the Kingdom of God is finally here. This was very good news indeed to the Jews in the time of Jesus, who were waiting for the promised Kingdom to arrive. So when Paul writes about the “gospel of your salvation” in Ephesians 1, he is certainly following the teaching of Jesus. Paul is saying, in effect, “the Kingdom of God is here and as you live in Christ – that is in the Kingdom of God – you will be saved. What does saved mean? Saved and set free from the roaring lions that want to devour you, saved from demonic powers whose mission is to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you and all your relationships – to have you. In a broader sense, saved (sozo), salvation (soterio or soterios) includes forgiveness; spiritual, emotional, and physical healing; deliverance, safety, rescue, liberation, and restoration.

Paul makes it clear that we have a role to play in our entrance into the Kingdom. First we heard, and then we believed. To hear means we listened; we did not reject the word. To believe (pisteuo, also translated as ‘faith) means to place all of our trust in Christ, to entrust my entire personality – spirit, soul, and body – to Him. As I see it, we have faith in Jesus when we choose to find all of our ultimate acceptance, value, and love in Him rather than in our own self-efforts in the kingdom of the world, or the kingdom of self. Jesus adds we must repent. While we must repent, we cannot atone for our sins and self-life. Jesus atones for our sins with His blood. Nor can we earn our salvation. Salvation, life in the Kingdom of God, is all grace. We must choose to enter, but the Kingdom exists here and now because of the loving kindness of God and the obedience and faithfulness of Jesus – more grace. Some branches of Protestant theology advocate that our life in Christ is predestined – that is, determined by God before the beginning of time and therefore we have no role to play in faith. We are either ‘in’ or ‘out’. We can’t choose, even if we want to. While a few passages in Scripture seem to support this, many more make it explicit that we must choose. In fact, we will be held accountable for that choice.

Faith is a gift, but we must choose and trust.

Saved From Lions and other Wild Animals In Isaiah and Psalm 91

The Bible talks about salvation from lions, meaning the devil and his demons, in many other passages. Here are two of them from the Old Testament – first from Isaiah and then from Psalms.

Isaiah 35 – the Way of Holiness

In Isaiah 35, Isaiah provides a beautiful metaphor for the Kingdom of God and our lives in the Kingdom. As I said before in other posts, Jesus quotes part of this chapter to John the Baptist’s followers when they ask Jesus “are you the one?” That is, “are you the Messiah, the promised, anointed one who will bring the Kingdom of God to Israel?” In Matthew 11: 4-6 Jesus says, quoting Isaiah 35: “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (NIV).

“The good news” – there is that word ‘euaggelion’ again. Jesus is saying to the followers of John “tell him I am the one, I am fulfilling the Isaiah 35 prophesy, and I am preaching – proclaiming the gospel – which is, as we saw above “the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand” – to the poor, who are generally interpreted to be the poor in spirit. Here is another part of Isaiah 35:

“The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35: 7-10 NIV).

The prophesy in Isaiah 35 is fulfilled in Jesus; the Kingdom has arrived, although not in its fullness as we all know. It is the ‘now and not yet’. Like Paul, Isaiah tells us that as we ‘walk’ in the Kingdom of God, we are protected from the roaring and devouring lions – from Satan.

In the Kingdom of God we walk on the Highway of Holiness. It appears to be an elevated Way. No lions or other ferocious beasts, waiting to devour us, can climb up on it. As long as we walk on this Way we will be safe from the devil — he cannot touch much less devour us. We cannot construct this road. It is God’s Way. We are the redeemed. We have the right to be on it because of Jesus and his blood shed on the cross, not because of our own ‘righteousness’. But it is up to us to walk on this highway, we must choose this way. I think this highway is similar to the road that we enter by the narrow gate: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7: 13, 14 NIV).

There are two gates, just as there were two trees. Obviously He is telling us we must choose and instructing us on which one to choose – the narrow gate that leads to life in the same way that the highway of holiness in Isaiah 35 leads to Zion, to life.

There is a two-part fee to get on this highway. The first part of the fee is faith described by Paul — not the pseudo faith of “I believe that Jesus lived, performed miracles, died and was resurrected, but I will not trust Him to provide my spiritual, emotional, and physical needs”; rather “I believe all these things and I will lean on Him with my entire personality, I will trust Him for every aspect of my life — spiritual, emotional, and physical; I will make Him the center of all I do, think, and say every minute of every day for the rest of my life as best I can, relying on grace and the Holy Spirit; and I will obey Him in all He commands me to do.” That is the type of faith that gets us up on the highway and out of reach of the lions, jackals, and other ferocious beasts. Fortunately, Jesus tells us we only need a mustard-seed amount of this faith; it is a gift, but we must receive it and live it out.

The second part of the fee is repentance. This is the action of solemnly and seriously proclaiming to God that you give up your life in the kingdom of self; that you turn from those things – your idols – In which you searched for your acceptance and value through self-sufficiency in the kingdom of the world. This turning or repentance is the acknowledgement that the way of self-sufficiency is the way of death. Moses told Israel, speaking of repentance and turning from idols, in Deuteronomy 30: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life. . . . For the Lord is your life and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Deuteronomy 30: 19, 20 NIV).

Choosing the Highway of Holiness is acknowledging that it is the Way of life – it is life in the Kingdom of God, in Christ. The Kingdom of God is God’s fulfillment of His promise to bring His people into the Promised Land. Just as Israel had to choose to cross the Jordan, and some tribes did not, we must choose the Kingdom. And as Moses told Israel, we must also choose to repent. Jesus also tells us we must repent – “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4: 17 NKJV). It is true that repentance is a gift – but we must choose to repent. Why would Jesus tell us to repent if our ‘salvation’ was already predetermined? Obviously, we must make a choice. Furthermore, we don’t repent just one time – the journey on the highway requires constant repentance. We don’t just repent; we are repentant; and we don’t just repent of what we have done, we repent of who we are. Repentance is also a gift; but we have a part to play. Our repentance is meaningless if we do not earnestly desire to repent.

Who can walk on the Highway of Holiness perfectly? How many times each day do we step off the highway into the ditches and swamps that line the road, where the lion is waiting? For me, many times each day. That is why we need a repentant heart. When we repent of our less-than-holy behavior (and holiness means set apart but it also has behavioral implications) we are supernaturally placed back on the highway, out of reach of the lions. Repentance also propels us along on the highway so that when we are lifted back up we find ourselves farther down the road than when we stepped off. Repentance is a bad word to many Christians. Actually, it is a gift of ‘amazing grace’.

There is a cost to travel on this highway. If faith and repentance are the fees we pay to enter and stay on the highway, then our constant ‘crucifixion of self’ is the cost. It is the self-life that kept us off the highway, in the ditch, in the first place. The self-centered life leaves us open to the attacks of the beast crouching at the door of our heart. As we crucify that life while on the highway we continually move farther along the road. I sensed Jesus tell me “I will do it for you, but you must do it with me”. He will crucify my self -life, but I must participate. This is Paul’s message to the Philippians in Philippians 2: 12, 13

“continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose”.

 God tells Cain to do what is right, and if he does not the demon will be crouching at his door. The Gospel tells us that the ‘right thing’ has been done for us in Christ – He has opened the Highway of Holiness for us to travel on with Him in the Kingdom of God. God, in His everlasting, loving kindness, has provided for us a life free from darkness and despair in slavery; a life in which Satan no longer has a claim to our hearts; a life along a God-constructed highway that leads us to Zion where we are pursued by gladness and joy, not by lions and jackals. He has provided a Way of victory for those who choose to walk in that Way, not in our own power, but in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who comforts and guides. He has restored those who walk in that Way back into a life-giving relationship of intimacy with Him mediated by His Son, Jesus.

Psalm 91 – Make the Most High Your Dwelling

Before Isaiah and hundreds of year before Jesus, David also tells us about God’s plan of protection for us from lions, cobras and serpents, as we “make the Most High our dwelling” – meaning to me choosing to live with and in Christ in the Kingdom of God:

“If you make the Most High your dwelling — even the Lord who is my refuge — then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him, I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him” (Psalm 91: 9-15 NIV).

 For me, David’s psalm reiterates the main themes from Ephesians and Isaiah 35. God’s dwelling is His Kingdom. We dwell with God when we choose life in His Kingdom – if you make the Most High your dwelling. In His Kingdom there is refuge and protection from Satan. In His Kingdom we have power – the demonic have been placed beneath our feet and we can trample them. There is also the understanding that because we love Him we can call upon God in our time of need.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God – Victory Over the Darkness and Our Salvation

We have studied Scripture from Genesis, 1 Peter, Ephesians, Mark, Isaiah, and the Psalms. Together they tell a very consistent story. The enemy wants to devour us, but In the Kingdom of God we are saved. Satan and his demons cannot enter the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom we journey on the Highway of Holiness. In His Kingdom His people live holy, although not perfect lives; our behavior in this life is important. As we journey on the Highway we travel toward greater holiness – the already, not yet. This Kingdom is a place of freedom and victory over the powers of darkness; a place of light and abundant life. In the Kingdom of God we are safe, secure, saved, delivered, and rescued. And for those living in His Kingdom, we have the same power and authority as Jesus — power and authority to trample and to crush the lion and the serpent. In the Kingdom of God Jesus dwells within us and gives us the counselor and comforter, the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are restored to intimacy with God for eternity. Life in the Kingdom of God is salvation.

This is the Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God – the only Gospel preached and taught by Jesus! All of this is ours purely by grace.

Throughout this document I have emphasized that protection from Satan and his demons – the lions, jackals, snakes, and serpents – is one of the gifts of living in the Kingdom of God—it is at the heart of what it means to be saved. We must choose the Kingdom life; we must repent and believe to enter the Kingdom. Repent means that we turn away from life in the kingdom of the world – the kingdom of self; the life in which we find our ultimate acceptance and value in work, wealth, accomplishments, power, possessions, status, relevance, family, health, and many other things of the life of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Faith is not just believing that Jesus is all he says he is, nor is it just claiming Jesus as savior at some point in our lives if we are still living in the kingdom of self. Living in the kingdom of self and finding our ultimate acceptance and value in the kingdom of the world, no matter what we have professed or believed about Jesus, does not entitle us to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, freedom, protection from demonic powers, healing and wholeness, or any other Kingdom blessing. Without a solemn decision to live in the Kingdom of God, repenting and turning away from life in the kingdom of self, and then seeing the fruit of the Kingdom life, we will not experience salvation, neither for today, nor for eternity.

But, Still . . .

In Christ, as we live in His Kingdom, journeying on the Highway of Holiness, there is victory over the darkness, freedom from Satan, and abundant life. But as Peter says, we will still suffer — “our brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of sufferings.” We are free, we are protected from harm, but Satan will still cause suffering among God’s holy ones. Here is a great paradox – we are protected, God will deliver us from evil, He will rescue us, we have power over the lions, cobras and serpents that come against us, but we will still suffer. In my previous post I wrote about demonic attack (my interpretation), God’s power, and His saving and healing grace. Perhaps it works that way. Satan attacks, but God brings good out of what Satan meant for harm – He rescues and delivers us. But I also believe Paul, Isaiah, and David – in Christ, as we choose to journey on the Way of holiness in the Kingdom of God, as we make God our dwelling, we are protected and we have power. The lion cannot come near us and if he does, we can rule over him. It is not an either/or. It is both.

This is as deep as I can go. There are mysteries here we are not supposed to know. It is enough to believe God’s Word – trust and lean on Jesus, repent from looking for acceptance and value in the kingdom of self, choose the Kingdom of God, and put one foot in front of the other each day knowing that, in faith and repentance, He is with us, we are His beloved sons and daughters, and He will never leave or forsake us, no matter what.

In spite of all I don’t know, I will do what Jesus tells me to do: “But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides” (Matthew 6: 33 Amplified Bible).

First choose and seek His Kingdom and His holiness; then protection, power, salvation, and the abundant life will be given to us. All for one purpose: so that we are equipped to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world.

Hallelujah

Grace and peace,

John

A Prayer for the Kingdom Life

For those of us who are ready to live in the Kingdom of God, but have not yet made that choice or made it fully, here is a prayer for the Kingdom life that has helped me draw closer to God:

God, I can no longer live in my own power in this coffin the world calls life. It is not too hot, not too cold; it is not too light, not too dark. It is a place of emptiness, a place of settling for the unimaginative, the easy way, a boring life of giving in and getting something more than death but less than the life that my soul aches to know. I am living a meaningless and poor existence where the most important person is ‘me’, and I am constantly surprised that the world doesn’t share this view, doesn’t even acknowledge my needs. I am alone living in the kingdom of self, even in the midst of family and friends, I am depressed, afraid, anxious, at the end of my rope.

 God, I sense deep in my heart that there is another way to live. I have heard about your Kingdom and frankly it sounds too good to be true. A life of peace, joy, and hope? An exciting, bright, shining life of freedom, power, and goodness? Where someone other than me is at the center, and all the pressure is off to produce and live up to the world’s expectations? Where I no longer have to worry about acceptance, where I am no longer afraid of rejection? Where I can have an unoffendable heart? Is this life really possible right now? I don’t have to die to experience this?

 God, I am ready to give the Kingdom life a try. I can’t live this way in the kingdom of self anymore. Please God, show me your Kingdom. I am desperate. I place all of who I am in Your Hands. I give you all of my life as I turn away from the life of self. Take it and make me into the person who will best serve your purposes. I only ask God that You will show me the way to live this life out in the world around me. I have no idea what to do or how to do it. I am completely and utterly yours. I trust that it is not too late. Jesus, have mercy on me today. I pray this expectantly, in Jesus’ name.

 Amen