See The Victory

"He spoke of forces beyond human eyesight."

YOU DON’T HAVE TO look at what is right in front of you. There are soldiers who are good at war. They see not the war but the strategy. They not only intend to win; they see themselves winning. The same can be said of athletes. An athlete does not get to the Olympic level solely on ability and training, but vision as well. They see the victory far in advance. A jockey in the Kentucky Derby knows his horse, what that animal will do under pressure, and has already accommodated his behavior to it. He sees not the competition, though he knows their placement, but his job as he has been hired to do it.

In front of me are figments and figures of both victory and defeat. I see images of what isn’t, that look more certain, than what God has promised that actually is. We are told Jesus faced this. He knew the cross and felt the pain. Those would happen. But when facing Pilate and hearing the people He died for cry out for His death, He spoke of a supernatural kingdom and forces beyond human eyesight. “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53)” That’s some 60,000 angels. His next remark shows His heart. “But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” Jesus looked not at the moment and the picture in front of Him but at the completion of thousands of years of His Father’s promises. That’s what prophecy is, the Father’s promise to do and to act according to His Word. He always keeps His Word.

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36)

“Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” (John 19:11)

In another place, we read Jesus looked at the joy set before Him and not at the suffering of the moment (Hebrews 12:2). He despised the shame that people, acting after the devil, threw upon Him. But, as my mother has said of other things, He has the broader shoulders, and the broader shoulders always take the blame. There are no shoulders broader than the Father’s, and Jesus was, at that moment, not the Son of God but the Father Himself. The apostle Paul tells us this, saying that we, as children of God, have an inheritance. But in a will, the son only inherits what is given him at his father’s death (Hebrews 9:16). The Father can’t die, so Jesus died as the Father in order to inherit as the Son. It continues into the life of the Spirit who raised Him from the dead. The Spirit cannot be extinguished, and Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed One. The Spirit is the anointing. With Jesus’ body dead, His spirit and His Spirit were alive forever. They are in perfect unity – Father, Son, and Spirit.

What Jesus saw, what He KNEW, when hung upon the cross, was the totality of His actions. He saw the people, He heard their jeers, He knew the thieves’ derision, He quoted the Word as spoken to Him by the Spirit. But His bravery, for that’s what it was, His bravery came because His vision wasn’t on the moment He suffered but on those who His actions would save and the Father’s pleasure for bringing His kingdom to earth. Many actions made during the Second World War were made knowing of the cost of men’s lives, but those charged to send soldiers forward to perform them saw what the victory of those battles would bring. They saw millions of innocent people being killed in a devilish agenda and how what they did successfully on that day at that time would work to bring an end to war and a beginning to world peace. Men with misunderstanding of God blame God for lives lost in physical battles. He has, as I said, the broader shoulders, but we must see Jesus wherever we view destruction. Because Jesus brought an end to the fear of death, He gave access to the power of God and the wisdom and blessings of heaven, and those are not just talking points in some sermon on Sunday.

What is our point of view? Do we see how big the problem is and how hard the next few steps will be? Do we count the lives lost to push forward to victory? The answer to this last is yes. We cannot forget what men have given for nations, for medical knowledge, for their families, or even those who could not see past their suffering. But in that we no longer should fear death, we have incredible victory.

What can the devil do now? We need not fear him. Jesus died for us, to pull us out of the grip of death, and stand us healthy and confident in the midst of the battlefield, wearing His armor, looking and sounding just like Him.

“Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field.” (Ephesians 6:13)

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; 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.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Image by 愚木混株 Cdd20 from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com