In his bloodthirsty rage he doesn't see his undoing

Mark 9:[17] And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

[18] And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
[19] He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
[20] And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.

[21] And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.

Jordan explains, "The dad describes the possession of his son and says the spirit cast him into the fire and into the water. The goal was to destroy him. Now when Jesus cast the devil out, verse 25 says, 'When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.'

"This is a picture of the spiritual condition Israel's in. They can't speak and they can't hear. They can't speak for God; they're God's nation but they can't testify for Him, and they're deaf. They can't hear His voice. Completely captured by Satan, in total Satanic captivity.

"When Christ comes and says, 'Get out!' verse 26 says, 'And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

"There's this rage of anger at being thrown out. All this spirit wants to do is destroy this boy, just like all Satan wants to do is destroy the nation Israel.

"When it says 'and came out of him and he was as one dead,' that's a picture of Ezekiel 37. Israel is scattered among the nations, considered to be dead and gone. Dry bones and yet what happens? He comes and takes that nation out from the other nations and resurrects them and they come back to life. Even though the satanic captivity left them looking like they were dead, He resurrects that nation.

"The little boy's plight demonstrates the total captivity Israel was in. Satan's fascination with his own goals that are taken away from him and Christ making very clear that that deliverance depended upon Him being their Redeemer, and that from this point on, is where He's going; He set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. 

*****

"If there's a passage for you to understand about what's in the future for Israel, how the Cross fits in their program, Isaiah 49 is it:

[24] Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
[25] But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
[26] And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

"This is a passage Paul picks up on in Colossians and Philippians. When you study the Book of Ephesians, there are four times Paul quotes the Old Testament, but there are several other times, like the breastplate of righteousness (we looked at that in Isaiah) where he doesn't quote the Old Testament, but you can see that he's thinking about them; he's alluding to them.

"In Isaiah 49, He proclaims to Israel about what He's going to do in redeeming them, setting them in their kingdom, delivering them from their enemy, destroying their enemy. To deliver them, you've got to take them out of captivity, and then you've got to destroy the one holding them captive or he'll come back and get them again. Then He's going to sit them in His kingdom, bless them and be their King.

"Satan, in verse 24 is like, 'Objection! You can't have them; you've got no right to them! I hold them and they're my prey and I can do with them what I want to. I can tear them, I can throw them into the fire, I can throw them into the water. I can just flop them around any way I want to because I control them and their mine! I've captured them. Not only have I captured them, you can't stop me, Lord, because I did it lawfully.'

"What's the law say? If you offend in one point you're guilty of all. Did Israel offend? Yes. Were they guilty of breaking the law? Yes. Were they in captivity because they had broken the law? Yes. So Satan says, 'They belong to me. I've captured them and your law says they're mine. What are you talking about you're going to take them away from me?! You can't do that; it's not lawful!'

"So, in verse 25, Christ says, 'Yeah, I can; I'm going to do it.' Did you ever have anybody do that to you? You say, 'You can't do that!' and they say, 'Yeah, I can.' Doesn't that just infuriate you? Can you imagine how infuriating the Lord Jesus Christ was to the Adversary?

"By the time they get to the Cross there is a blood-thirst rage Satan has toward Christ because He just defies him. Satan says, 'You cannot do that, I've got them, they're mine. They're not powerful enough to get away and your law says they're mine! I'll take you to court! I know what the judgment is!' And Christ says, 'Nah, I'm going to take them anyway.'

"Satan was never smart enough to figure that thing out. Watch how he does it in verse 25. You see where He says, 'I will contend with he that contendeth'?

"In chapter 50 He talks about that contention:[4] The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.

[5] The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
[6] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
[7] For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
[8] He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

"That's obviously talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. 'For the Lord God will help me.' You know He's talking about Calvary when He gives His back to the smiters.

"To be confounded is to be confused by false information. Christ said, 'I'm going to trust my Father. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, who will contend with me?'

"He says, 'Who is mine Adversary? Let him come near to me.' By that verse you can write down Colossians 2:15: [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

"We now know there was spiritual combat going on at Calvary in the spirit world where Jesus Christ had literally enraged the Adversary to a blood-curdling murderous endeavor, and all the time Satan, because of his blindness and rage, couldn't see what God was doing. All He had to do to cause Satan to do the very thing that was going to be the undoing of everything Satan sought for, and be the foundation for everything God's going to do, was keep a secret and Satan never figured it out!

"Mark 9 says, [31] For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. [32] But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

"He returns to the necessity of the Cross in order to be Israel's deliverer and avenger. He had to first be their Redeemer, and the total captivity in which Satan held Israel required the Cross, required Christ contending with the Adversary. They didn't understand that; we know WHY they didn't understand it--'Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.'

"After the resurrection He opens their eyes that they might understand and He could go back through Isaiah 49-51 and show them exactly what the plan was because it was the plan of the Father all along and it was the sinful rage of the Adversary that couldn't get it."

(new article tomorrow)