Sunday, April 10, 2016
The word for stewardship is the Greek oikonomia which means dispensation.
The Greek noun again is oikonomia, the same noun as in verse 2 translated stewardship and again it means dispensation.
The translators took the same Greek word and translate it differently in the same passage, when the root word means dispensation in its context.
1PE 1:12 these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven‑‑ things into which angels long or desire to look into.
Satan is not God nor is he like God, he is not omnipresent and therefore he can only be at one place at a time.
We know where Satan was according to JOH 13:20-30, he had left the Lord's supper and went out to sell our Lord out to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.
The word night refers to the "night season" which was one of the darkest times in the life of Satan also called the devil.
What was the message behind that "Last Supper," as it is called, to both the Elect and fallen angels?
Led by their fearless leader, whose real name as close as we can fathom is "Heylel Ben Shechar" known as "Lucifer the son of the dawn,".
Satan does what he always does --- just discards those he uses, he was more than likely now present in the Supreme Court of heaven.
We call him, Satan or the devil, Accuser, Adversary, Serpent, Great dragon, Enemy, Wicked One (evil one), Father of Lies, god of this world, Murderer, Liar, Prince of the power of the air, "Roaring Lion" the Tempter, the Thief = titles not names.
The Appeal Trial of "Heylel Ben Shechar" and his legions would now be decided by the self-sacrificial act of service by a faithful witness who really is "the Faithful Witness," Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.
REV 1:5 Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the first‑born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood.
Picture the balcony of angels filled with anticipation as the Suffering Servant-King was about to take the stand and offer Himself as a sacrifice in order that justice might be served and to render a perfect example of service to be followed for all of eternity.
His cry had come from a world that had become what GEN 1:2 describes as formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep;
He rebelled against God by wanting to be like God and living independently from God and that caused what JER 4:26 calls the "fierce anger" of the Lord to respond.
So sacred is this special event that if members of the human race to whom He was about to die for neglect this celebration they would be
"Anathema Maranatha" - or-- under a curse until the Lord comes back; 1CO 16:22.
The Creator Himself, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the cosmos would vindicate the Supreme Court of Heaven of any injustice for sentencing Satan and his legions to the Lake of Fire, MAT 25:41.
MAT 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
ISA 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth (in wickedness), shall descend into it. (KJV).
The Lord's supper was a preview of what was about to come and it would also prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the guilt of the greatest creature to ever come from the hand of His Creator.
The gallery in the courtroom of heaven was packed with myriads upon myriads of angels whose faith in their Creator would be vindicated and their salvation sealed by the act of this One Faithful Witness.
Lucifer, the son of the dawn was about to be defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the morning or the morning star.
COL 1:20, “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, {I say} whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
Even in heaven during this heavenly convocation Jesus Christ is seen as the "unique holy one", the only one to remain experientially holy.
Even REV 7:10-12 teaches that resurrected believers praise the Lord for salvation and when they do the angels join in by twice saying
"Amen" in which they concur, agree, express that they believe it!
They believed that God was going to keep His word and redeem mankind....just as apparently He had said to them.
Even in the Tribulation, while angels bring divine judgment upon the earth, no angel is allowed to execute this judgment apart from Jesus Christ because He alone is worthy.
Even in the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, we find the statement that God charges error against His angels and this is used to argue that no man can be just before God.
JOB 4:17-18 Can mankind be just before God? [Answer-No!] Can a man be pure before his Maker? [Answer - No!] He puts no trust even in His servants; And against His angels He charges error.
HEB 2:2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense,
HEB 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
We can even see in the initial fall of man and the subsequent attempt at deception by Satan and then the salvation offered by God a possible parallel to Angelic salvation.
Satan fell due to his own initiative and then deceived other Angels. In the same way Satan as the serpent deceived the woman.
Satan deceived her when he said in GEN 3:5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Adam chose to disobey God just as Satan did----knowingly and willfully.
At the fall then we have one who disobeyed out of his own initiative [Adam] and one who was deceived [the woman].
We have one who disobeyed by his own initiative [Satan] and the other angels who were deceived into following him.
At the fall, Satan had offered man a counterfeit salvation prior to God offering man a true salvation.
True salvation looked ahead to Christ in GEN 3:21 And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Satan's counterfeit was operation fig leaves: GEN 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
A counterfeit presupposes understanding of the real.
Satan would have had to have some prior knowledge of salvation in order to offer a counterfeit plan for covering sinfulness and disobedience.
The point is that the Elect or Holy Angels understood exactly what the Lord's supper was all about which was to signify the work of our Lord upon the cross.
If only one-third of the Angels fell, would not God have offered some salvation to them?
If He did offer some form of salvation, are we to suppose that not one of the angels who fell accepted it?
If we suppose only one-third of the Angels fell and God did not offer a plan for Reconciliation, then God would be unfair if He then offered
the Reconciliation to man who also fell.
ROM 9:20 who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
Satan would have had a very strong objection if God was willing to offer a means of salvation to all mankind and had not offered a means of salvation to the one-third of the angels who fell.
Therefore, it makes complete sense that all the angels fell at one time and they were all offered a means of reconciliation and redemption.
Satan counterfeited salvation to Adam and the Woman prior to God's offer of salvation to them reveals that Satan had a prior knowledge of salvation.
The stubborn contention of "Heylel Ben Shechar" known as "Lucifer the son of the dawn" would be convincingly destroyed by the righteous act of the Lamb of God as He was sacrificed upon the altar of the cross.
JOH 3:14-15, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life.
JOH 12:32 "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."
JOB 9:32 "For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, That we may go to court together There is no umpire between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both."
JOB 19:25 "And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
Never had humanity witnessed such a self-less act of love as that which the Servant displayed as He was stretched out upon the Tree of Life and unjustly, cold-heartedly crucified as a common criminal.
LUK 23:4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, "I find no guilt in this man."
JOH 19:5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold, the Man!"
JOH 19:5 "Behold the man!"
HEB 10:7 "Behold, I have come (In the roll of the book it is written of Me) To do Thy will, O God."
Thus the Creator, TLJC, embarked upon His career as the Servant of His creatures and His Eternal Companion, the Father.
Serving as the perfect example of sacrificial service and at the same time rebuking the Adversary for his refusal to serve his Creator, and instead serve himself.
How can we remain bitter and unforgiving toward others who have wronged us when our Lord was the bearer of all our sins and never complained but was compassionate and forgiving to those who mocked, scourged and crucified Him?