Pr.
Geoffrey Kibombo
Revelation 12:10 (TLB)
“It has happened at last! God’s salvation
and the power and the rule, and the authority of his Christ are finally
here……..”
We certainly know that every good thing
is perfected in salvation. There are a multitude of things that can cause one to
be happy, however many people are not as happy as one would expect them to be;
their happiness is contaminated by many sorrows, but we who are Born Again need
to thank God for giving us the joy of Salvation because even amidst challenges
we know that the almighty God is on our side.
Right from the beginning we see that God
put up avenues to save mankind - this was his plan from the Genesis and that is
why even amidst challenges beyond your control, God already has a plan in place
for you. In
the previous post (SALVATION PLAN part1),
we looked at God’s Salvation Plan in the Old Testament which included;
i.
The bronze snakes - Numbers 21:5-9
ii.
The six cities of refugee - Numbers 35:9-14
iii.
Goshen - Exodus 9:13-26
iv.
Noah’s Ark - Genesis 6 and Genesis 7:17-24
God’s
Salvation Plan from the beginning
When God created man in the beginning,
he made all things good and desired for man to have dominion over everything.
There was also a beginning in heaven. It was so peaceful without any chaos, however
chaos begun in the heavens and because God always has a plan to solve all
problems, he had a plan to put the heavens at peace. We read in Revelation
12:7-9 (AMP) that;
“And war broke out in heaven,
Michael [the archangel] and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon
and his angels fought, 8 but they were not strong enough and did not prevail, and there was no
longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And
the great dragon was thrown down, the age-old serpent who is called the devil
and Satan, he who continually
deceives and seduces the entire
inhabited world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown
down with him.”
When the devil was cast on earth,
God already had a plan to save mankind; He had created everything and put it
before man and yet now satan had been cast to the earth and could easily
disrupt what God had planned for man. The scripture continues to say in Revelation
12:10 (AMP) “Now the salvation, and the power, and the
kingdom (dominion, reign) of our God, and the authority of His Christ have
come; for the accuser of our [believing] brothers and sisters has been thrown
down [at last], he who accuses them and keeps bringing charges [of sinful
behavior] against them before our God day and night.”
So after God had created everything in
the beginning, He did not rest because He had to plan for the well-being of humanity - the plan was
such that even though the devil disturbs this earth but whoever calls upon His
name would be saved (Acts 2:21).
Today you may have some hereditary shortcomings
and afflictions running in your bloodline; the devil is seeking out your
generation, but Salvation came to free you from that which has been pursuing
your family. In Numbers 35,whoever had done wrong unknowingly would run to the cities of
refuge; this shows how God can help an innocent person! There are some things tormenting
you as a result of your parents’ actions, however, even though you did or
didn’t participate in their actions, God has a plan to save you so that this scripture
can be fulfilled. Romans 8:1 (AMP) - “Therefore there is now no condemnation (no guilty verdict, no
punishment) for those who are in Christ Jesus (who believe in Him as personal
Lord and Saviour).” Once you accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour, the old you ceases and you become a new being - Born Again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) says; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things
have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
God has a response to every problem you
have. Right from the beginning throughout the Old Testament to the New
Testament, God already had a plan to save you
Salvation
Plan at the Cross
In the New Testament, we see God’s plan
again at Golgotha. He knew all the tribulations that we were going to be faced
with and He solved them all with one sacrifice - at the cross he paid everything and therefore there is no need for any
other sacrifice. Your problems, sickness, or anything on the face of the
earth be it witchcraft is not bigger than the sacrifice that was made by God. Everything
you see exalting itself in your life be it debt, illness or powers of darkness,
they are all under Christ; all of them are under the sacrifice that was made at
the cross.
The death of Jesus meant transformed us. He is the Lamb of God offered to take away our sins. The sacrifice of the Lamb
was to give sinners a second chance to be become children of God. We didn't
have a chance to live in eternity or become acceptable to God because of our
sinful backgrounds but his blood washed away our sins, we became acceptable
before God and through him, we became God’s children. John 1:29 (TLB) asserts; “Look! There is the Lamb of
God who takes away the world’s sin!"
The bible says in Philippians 2:9-11(NKJV)
that; “Therefore God also has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in
heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
We should therefore have the mindset of
Christ and know that the power that sat Him above all authorities is the same
power that works through us according to Ephesians 1:19-22 (NLT)
“I also
pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us
who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ
from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the
heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or
power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world
to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and
has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.”
Under the power that works – God’s power,
all the dead things are brought to life; the lost are found; the captives are
set and sin has no hold unto us. Ephesian 2:5-6 (NLT) explains; “even though we were dead because of our sins,
he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace
that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along
with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united
with Christ Jesus”
After
Jesus had been lifted above, he raised us up with him, so that every problem be
it poverty or sickness is defeated and under Him; so
while we were still dead in our trespasses, Jesus raised us together with Him
and sat us together with Him in the heavenly places and anything that can be
named on this earth is therefore below his feet; that is the hope we have that there is an answer to
every situation challenging us, and because
of the sacrifice made by God we are above all situations in our lives! According
to Luke 10:19 (KJV), we have been given power to; “tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy….” In every generation right from the beginning,
God painted images to show us that he is above every situation, therefore there
is no problem or challenge that you are facing today which has no answer; for everything
was fixed at the cross.
One of the problems we have is that unlike
Jesus, we have never discovered ourselves. Very few people know who they are,
but we see in Luke 4:18-19 (NIV) that Jesus discovered himself; “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the
oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This reminds us believers to
know our position and stand. We need to
discover ourselves in the scriptures and know who we are - Christ sat us
together with Him above everything on earth - that is our place; we reign
together with Him and everything else is below our feet.
For one to be above does not mean that the
enemy will not try to exalt himself in your life. David said in Psalms 13:2 (GNT) “…how long shall mine enemy be
exalted over me?” For he saw evil prevailing over him but
after a while it was no more. If you see that the devil is trying to jumble your
life, just give him a short while because since you reign together with Christ,
he will scatter. So for every problem, every debt or every illness you have in
your life, God has a way out - Christ. Everything that we need is
in Christ. He was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength glory and
honour on our behalf
Revelation 5:12 (NKJV) says;
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom, and the strength and the honour and the
glory and blessing!”
