DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- LIVING IN THE "NOT YET"

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – LIVING IN THE "NOT YET"

"But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool." (Hebrews 10:12-13).

When Jesus cried with a loud voice, "It Is Finished," it was more than just a statement that He was about to die. It was a declaration and proclamation that He had finished the mission that the Father had sent Him to earth to do – to pay the penalty for the sins of the human race.

There was no more need to offer the sacrifices of bulls and goats. He had paid the supreme sacrifice and it was enough. The Old Covenant was finished. He fulfilled the obligation that required the shedding of blood of an animal. He was the perfect lamb, spotless, without blemish that was offered on the altar of the cross in place of the bulls and goats. As the writer explained in verses 9 and 10: "He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.' He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

So what is Jesus doing now? He is occupying the honored place at the right hand of the Father, waiting until the consummation of the plan that God has for the ages – when Jesus reigns and His enemies become His footstool. God said that Satan would bruise the heel of the Messiah, but that Satan's head would be bruised (Genesis 3:15). Although Jesus won the victory over Satan and his demons at the cross, they have not yet received the mortal wound that was promised in Genesis. A wound to the head is a deadly wound compared to the biting of the heel. I have had many dogs nip at my heel and it never killed me. Even though Satan has a wounded head, he is still alive. He still has limited authority in this world as the god of this world, and we live under that reign of terror. As the writer of Hebrews so clearly stated, " 'You have put all things in subjection under His feet.' For in that He put all in subject under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we do not yet see all things put under Him" (Hebrews 2:8). We live in the "not yet." We are also waiting for the day when Christ's enemies will forever become His footstool at the end of the age.

Until that Day when Jesus reigns supreme and Satan is completely disenfranchised, we live in a fallen and broken world. But thank God, we can rest in the knowledge that Jesus is Lord. Satan and his imps are under Christ's dominion and they can do nothing without Christ's permission. "He is Lord, He is Lord, He has risen from the dead and He is Lord. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!" Hallelujah!!!!

PRAYER