Saturday, May 25, 2019

Luke 22:47-53 comments: the power of darkness


22:47 ¶  And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 48  But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? 49  When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? 50  And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51  And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. 52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? 53  When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

Judas, the informer and traitor, arrives with a crowd to arrest Jesus. Peter attacked the servant of the high priest with a sword but Jesus healed the wounded man.

John 18:10  Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11  Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

Paul uses the phrase the power of darkness, as well.

Colossians 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Jesus is the light of this world and while He was walking in the flesh in the world there was light in the world.

John 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Christ’s presence illuminates the spiritual world of men as the light of day illuminates the physical world.

John 11:9  Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

This illumination of God the Creator’s standard and purpose of redeeming mankind back to Himself from the spiritual ignorance or darkness in man’s soul would soon, with Christ’s departure, be shrouded by night.

John 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Romans 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Through the last two thousand years of false churches, religious murder, and wicked kingdoms and nation-states propped up by falsely saying they were God’s special vehicles to do His work on earth a glimmer of light has shined through the darkness in Christ’s body on earth. As Jesus said to His followers;

Matthew 5:13 ¶  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

2Corinthians 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The darkness which like light can have two meanings, I believe, one purely physical and one spiritual, which God separated from the light in the beginning;

Genesis 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

…that darkness which could not comprehend, which at one time could also mean besides understand to contain, repress, conquer, or overpower, the light…

  John 1:1 ¶  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

    5 ¶  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

…has its moment here. We know who the ultimate author of this betrayal is, even though it works against him in the end. Satan entered Judas, the traitor.

Luke 22:3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

We know that the religious elite that sponsored Judas, denying Christ’s authority over them as their Messiah, was unknowingly answering to Satan.

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

I think it might be helpful now to review who or what Satan is and what might be his purpose.

If the majority interpretation is correct, Satan is first mentioned as a serpent in the Garden of Eden. A serpent or worm in English has also traditionally been a term for a dragon in historical mythology.

Genesis 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Satan is also said to be a dragon.

Revelation 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

How was Satan found to be in the Garden of Eden? Judging by his appearance he filled some kind of role of priest as Aaron and his sons would eventually do. He is said to be a cherub, an animal type of creature, with cherubs as perhaps the spiritual prototypes of all creatures, with Satan described in Job 41 as reptilian. See Ezekiel, chapters 1 and 10 for descriptions of cherubs. The Bible often does double and triple duty, describing one person or one event while also describing others prophetically. Here, in this passage, the King of Tyre is addressed but, as he is likened to Satan, Satan is described.

Ezekiel 28:11 ¶  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Although many modern, evangelical and fundamentalist commentators have Satan falling from grace in some mystical, unexplained time between verses 1 and 2 of the first chapter of Genesis we only have evidence of his attempting to subvert God’s order starting in Genesis, chapter 3. Of course, God knew his heart even though his iniquity was not made apparent until then. His pride led him.

In another prophecy against the King of Babylon this time, Satan, under another title of his, Lucifer, is described by way of his thinking.

Isaiah 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

And yet, we know from reading the first two chapters of Job that he cannot go beyond what God allows and we know that he can be used by God, unleashed, if you will, for a purpose.

2Sa 24:1  And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

1Ch 21:1  And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

It is clear from reading Job and these two verses and contexts that a human being will likely not be able to tell if a thing is done directly by God or if it is a matter of Satan’s hatred and rage being used or allowed for a purpose.

Satan tried to divert Christ from His mission by tempting Him to take the crown first, before the cross. Christ resists being crowned a king by the Jews until it was time.

Luke 4:1 ¶  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9  And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10  For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11  And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12  And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

John 6:15  When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

By now, at this point, Satan appears to have decided to simply try to destroy Christ. Perhaps it is from desperation, or rage, or pride alone but Satan is out on a very weak limb here. As John the Baptist had asked if there would be another Messiah to come in Luke 7, as there may have been a belief in more than one Messiah, a conqueror and a sufferer at least, Satan also does not have 100% understanding of God’s purpose. God keeps quite a lot close and only reveals things when He is ready.

Deuteronomy 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

So, whatever Satan’s motivation here, we know he is doomed. Only immense pride can blind someone so completely to reality. For human examples see Adolf Hitler in his invasion of Russia or any number of organized crime figures who eventually end up murdered or imprisoned for life.

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