In the church I attended for many years we had a closing prayer...a blessing... The pastor said, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” We replied, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Many congregations say that every week.
But WHAT victory?
How can that be when so many are living in defeat?
What victory when we are still in bondage to sin?
What sort of victory when we know that our hearts are hurting, wounded?
When we KNOW full well we have yet to obtain victory in an area of our life?
When daily we are bombarded with bad news, either personally or in the world around us?
Today we are going to think about victory.
I do not presume to have any answers, but the Word has truth and I am going to offer two avenues of thought.
First of all...the Sunday before Easter is the Sunday many remember what is sometimes called “the Triumphal Procession”.
Let’s look at that in the book of John. 12
12 The next day a vast crowd of those who had come to the Passover Feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And as they went, they kept shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is He and praise to Him Who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!
14 And Jesus, having found a young donkey, rode upon it, [just] as it is written in the Scriptures,
15 Do not fear, O Daughter of Zion! Look! Your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!
Notice it says, as it is written in Scriptures. This was foretold in Zechariah 9:9
[ The Coming King ] “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
I want to explain something for a few minutes. First of all every Jewish person, knew that their Messiah would come riding on a donkey because it had been foretold in Zechariah. Jesus was fulfilling that prophecy.
They, however, were expecting a King in the worldly sense who would overthrow the evil Romans and take up a royal kingship.
As we know, Jesus was not that kind of King.
His kingdom is not of that sort.
The other interesting thing is that they waved, or placed palm branches. Jewish people all knew that in that time palm branches were a symbol of rebellion to the authority of the Romans. So they did have it right and yet also wrong.
Jesus who came, who entered that day, was the Messiah. He was the Victorious King. But not like they hoped.
In fact when he was crucified and their hopes were dashed (they thought) many fell away.
Let’s stop and relate that to our personal lives.
Sin and death are defeated foes? Right?
Jesus went to hell and took the keys to death and hell from the devil.
Jesus says in Revelation 1:18: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And
I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
Jesus conquered death..but does it say he took them during that time between death and
ressurection? when he went there... or has he always had them...dodi doesnt know for sure..But either WAY JESUS has them and the devil is defeated.
((((((Eph 48 Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,And gave gifts to men.”[b]9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended
into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all
things.)))))
We are seated as victors in heavenly places in Christ.(Eph 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,)
So....hmmmm is there an area of our lives where we expected
V I C T O R Y to look different than it does?
Can anyone think of a time where victory came, but in a much different way than we hoped or imagined?
Remember in the gospels, Jesus says “the kingdom of heaven is like.....”Matthew 13 24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
31(b)“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Does not sound like a normal kingdom, a normal kind, or a normal victory does it?
Comments or Questions?
Now lets look at a few verses..completely different
1 Cor 15:57 NIV
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Young's Literal Translation
and to God -- thanks, to Him who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ;
Slight difference in the two versions. He gives, he is giving...but are they different? Is it a continual giving?
If so is it a process? Are we perhaps needing to rethink what victory might look like?
Could it look more like this: 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
Could the things that we suffer, the very things that cause or caused us pain, be used by God to draw others to himself? To “spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.”
Is that an even BETTER Victory than we could dream up.
I know in my own life, the very places of struggle, the very hardest things, were the very things that drew me closer to God. And also the very places where I can share His hope with another whose heart is hurting.
Is that a better victory maybe?
Comments? Questions?
Hebrews 2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--
Isn’t this a wonderful promise of victory?
***Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Another sort of victory?
I heard a story recently I would like to share in closing.
Actually I had heard it some months ago and again recently, it really helped me understand why/how if we have “the victory” there are still so many battles on a daily basis. Chip Ingram tells this story. (http://livingontheedge.org/blog/?p=1708)
During World War II, my dad fought in the South Pacific. When the war ended there was a treaty signed to cease all gunfire … yet, the battle still raged. On multiple islands, guerrilla warfare broke out and my dad, along with hundreds of other marines, continued to fight for their lives.
Did you know that as Christians we’re in a similar type of guerrilla warfare? Only, ours is an invisible battle — a cosmic conflict with eternal implications – in which souls of people of all over the planet are at stake.
God has already won the war when Jesus broke the power of sin and disarmed Satan at the cross. Our position, which is secured with Christ in heaven, proves this. But the battle we fight against Satan and his demons still rages here on Earth.
Does that picture help you as much as it did me? When I first heard it, it was like a light bulb going off...
Comments or questions?
Jesus has WON the battle. We will still have to fight “guerilla warfare” but the end result for us is this:
REV 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
And while we are on earth there is this hope and this direction when the battle heats up: Deut 33:27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He shall thrust out the
enemy from before you; and will say, “Destroy them!”
and
Josh 1:9 “Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be
dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
and this:
Ps 56:9 When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
and from the message:
Jeremiah 29:11-14, from The Message Bible -
“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed. GOD’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you…”
Going back to the beginning. We also need to rethink VICTORY.
In Christ all victory comes from first having surrendered all-that-we-are, our hopes and dreams to HIM. Then He will fight FOR us and we will begin to experience true VICTORY in the hard places of our hearts.
Victory comes only from surrender and we live in "opposite" world. Not victory as in a war, it IS a war. But when they celebrated Jesus coming on what some call Palm Sunday, which was lamb selection day... or others call Triumphal Entry..they thought Jesus was going to be worldly king who would overthrow the Romans by force. He was King and Messiah but just not the way they thought. So maybe we have to rethink victory. And true victory comes from surrender.
In closing, see if you can click on this link and see an inspiring message from dayspring:
http://ecards.dayspring.com/ecards/subcat.asp?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=23&CardID=401887&Widescreen=False&CurPage=1
Sunshine posted a study a while back about VICTORY also.
sunshine study: When you do, He becomes your hiding place and your shelter in the storm -- just as He was to David. Hidden in Him, you can count on His victory, for He not only covers you as a shield, He also fills you with His life.
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