Get Behind Me

Get Behind Me

2/27/18

When we are told to drop something how many times do we continue to pick it back up?  When we do this act of defiance we actually create further and probably deeper issues that will only separate and invite additional turmoil into our lives.  When a subject has reached its terminal point or climax it is at this time that we understand and then follows a simple statement that Jesus used when He was on this earth, which turns out to be a great Kingdom principle that many of us forget we can use.  We have become so weakened by the world that we have walking in a false sense of truth and belief concerning our enemy when it comes to the authority we have over him.  God wants His children to walk and to live in complete authority and peace for it is in this ability that we were created to function and until we return to God and His Ways this power structure and authority will continue to erode away.

Many of you know that I have four lovely daughters and that each one of them is a joy to my life.  I wish I could say that all four of them know and follow after Jesus but that is not the case.  Anyway, my oldest is a precious gem that God has given us and she has always had a very determined outlook on life and as she progresses through this life of hers she makes no bones to anyone around her with each step she takes.  In completing this life of hers she has a very active mind and a mouth that follows behind her mind like a puppy dog following its master.  She is very vocal about issues and will let others know exactly how she feels about them whenever the opportunity arises.  One problem with this fact about her is that after she has said her piece she drops it and does not mention it again for a good fifteen seconds or so and then she picks it right back up and carries it to the next argument with the same issue down the road.  This is a habit and an issue that she is now starting to understand that she does not need and how her carrying it with her has harmed her in many ways.  When God says to drop things and let them go it is for a reason and that reason is to go forward and to leave it behind and don’t pick it up again.

Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing movement that tries to portray Jesus as more of a human being with fleshly desires than remembering where His true bloodline originated.  “The Last Temptation of Christ” was a movie that came out in 1988 and depicted Jesus as having an affair with Mary Magdalene, thus creating “evidence” that Jesus had physical relations not only with a woman but with a prostitute.  Furthermore, a few years down the road, a so-called article came out declaring that Jesus had a wife and had a few children around before He was crucified.  Many researchers and scholars are still pursuing this line of line of arguments which all have the direction of destroying the authority and purpose of why Jesus came to the earth.  Sadly, I must admit that many of these proclamations come from religious scholars and through their testimonial references define the reason that God cannot stand religion and only desires to have a relationship with each one of us.  It is a ploy and a direct lie for anyone to believe such nonsense for Jesus’ status and purpose was directly mentioned in Genesis 3:15 by God the Father and then once again specifically told by Jesus Himself in Matthew 16:21-23.

In Genesis Chapter 3 we find that Satan has gained the upper hand in the lives of humans and that through this admittance of sin into the lives of humans the home field advantage has switched and that Satan is now the ruler of the world.  God makes it perfectly clear to Satan what his future will be and who exactly will defeat him, an eternal checkmate at some point in the future.  When we open our hearts to such lies concerning the deity and purpose of Jesus’ life we will be subject to the words that Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:23 which state as follows: “But he, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense to me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that of men.”  Jesus is pretty clear here in what His mission is and what that mission has always been ever since the dawn of humanity.  This verse also represents and demonstrates a Kingdom principle as well and there is no greater gift from God when we understand that His own Son uses words in order to define Kingdom and its eternal ways.

Let’s take a closer look at this statement that Jesus makes to Peter for it is one that has a couple of directives in it, one to Peter and the other to Satan.  God is not saying that Peter is possessed on any level but what God is saying here is that we need to understand and to keep the entire Word of God available in our hearts and keep it first in our hearts at all times.  When Jesus spoke to the people His words were not just babbling or just whimsical, each word, phrase, sermon, prayer, and parable said serves as the purpose for why He was on this earth.  Way back when Adam and Eve sinned and long before that moment, God understood the importance of being clean and pure and God also understood what would occur if this purity was stained in any manner.  It is for this purpose alone that Jesus was placed on this earth and if Jesus had any wrongdoings and failed to keep His eternal Lamb status, Christianity and God Himself is one huge lie.  So, can you now understand why people want to discredit Jesus, God, and His Word?

We have an interesting view here that needs to be addressed and that did Peter know what Jesus’ mission was being on earth.  We can revert back to the Garden of Eden to answer this question for we know that every day God walked with Adam and Eve and had detailed talks with during this time they spent together.  God would have never allowed such nonsensical speeches be given by Him in order to pass the time away, God told them and warned them about the dangers surrounding them and how to take precautions against such problematic conditions.  Yet, as we all know, Adam and Eve still chose to go their own way and it is this type of thinking that Peter demonstrated in Matthew Chapter 16.  Jesus spoke with His disciples on a continual basis and while we do not have each detailed conversation during these meetings and sessions we do know that if Jesus was doing His Father’s work at the age of twelve in the Temple then we can be certain that He was still at it when Matthew Chapter 16 rolled around.  Remember, God is a consistent God and Jesus is God as the Son of God which means Jesus could not fail either.

When Jesus directly speaks to Satan in this verse it is solely done on a Kingdom level for Jesus directly addresses the goal of Satan and his kingdom, to get Jesus to fail and to not follow through with His Divine purpose.  It is easy for one to understand Peter’s position here for it is not every day that your teacher says that He came to the earth to live, die and then be resurrected at a later date.  The human side of Peter comes out here and I must admit that any one of us could have had the same reaction as Peter did for it is natural to live and to be full of life and not seem to dwell on the fact that death will be at another’s hand soon.  Peter understood this aspect about Jesus but with Jesus understanding what was ongoing around Him and hearing the voice of God speaking to Him, Jesus knew exactly what was about to transpire and that it was time for Him to be a bit more specific about the events coming to pass.  Just as the sacrificial lambs in the Old Testament time approached so was Jesus’ in the New Testament and it is this portion of Genesis Chapter 3 that Satan heard and knew about and wanted to try once again to convince Jesus that the time was not yet right.

Jesus mentions to Peter to get behind Him Satan, and those words would have a great deal of hurt in them if Peter did not understand what was going on at that moment.  Yet, this statement of Jesus is an instructional verse as well for it gives us a clue in which direction God’s Kingdom flows and which direction Satan’s kingdom flows.  Now, when Jesus says this to Peter it is readily assumed that it is a rebuke and in one way it is but in another way that is more important it is a phrase of instruction for when Jesus says for Satan to get behind Him that means that the idea is passed and literally behind Him.  Jesus was constantly advancing His Father’s Kingdom on all levels which means that the Kingdom of God can only flow in one direction and it shall never turn around for ANY reason.  Just the same, Satan’s kingdom flows in only one direction as well and it can never turn around and attack you from behind.  This is Jesus’ words here, not mine.  Read that Scripture verse again and it will become clear that when you pass the attacking lines of Satan’s kingdom it is behind you.

Remember the old hymn “Jesus Never Fails”?  That is one of the most famous Christian songs that has been written and it is one that many people have sang in numerous settings.  Long before Jesus walked this earth He never failed us, while He was on this earth He never failed us, and when He rose from the dead He proved to us once again that He never failed us.  So, if Jesus says to us that we have the authority to tell the enemy to get behind us that means that He cannot harm us from behind.  This is confirmed when we study about the Armor of God for this protection covers the front of our spiritual lives and deals nothing with the backs of our spiritual lives.  This is a confirmation that cannot be denied and that the only way that Satan can attack us in another direction is when we turn around and look back, you know, just like Lot’s wife did.  In other words, God’s Kingdom can only advance in one direction according to His eternal status and Satan can only advance his kingdom according to his eternal status, eternally in opposite directions but if you turn around and look back then you will be subject to that defeat again.

The glorious bit about this verse is that it states that God created us in a fabulous manner in which we have the opportunity to turn around and to choose God instead of the way of sin, then we do not have to continually fight against the world because we can let the issues of the world go and walk away from them.  We do not have to hold on to them nor do we have to carry them either all we must do is walk away from them in the other direction, the direction that God is advancing.  With the example of Lot’s wife used above, it must be recognized that when you decide to stop and pick up an item that you have previously given to God or that you have not given up in the first place, you subject yourself to attacks from Satan because you have turned from the Light and reentered into the darkness.  Remember, there is nothing more than Satan hates than a person who has known God and followed in His path.

Some leaders of denominations and many members of other denominations have taken a stance against the true obedience of God and have interjected the world policies as a popular substitute.  I thank God every day that Jesus did NOT do this practice and that He willingly and lovingly kept God first in His life and totally obeyed His Father while He was on earth.  Jesus understood what it took to be the eternal sacrificial lamb and He also knew the price it would place on those who follow Him in like manner.  The Israelites believed that it would be an easy process when God created their nation as did the Early Church when it was established by the early church founders.  If Jesus followed such patterns that reflected the Father’s Kingdom message and principles don’t you think that we should be learning, following and teaching these same Kingdom Principles to others?  Jesus was the prime example of being here on the earth but not being a part of the earth’s kingdom.

How do you shape up Church to this example of Christ?  When you take a deep and hard look at yourself, you cannot help but notice a prim and proper appearance, with all of the makeup done correctly, nails fake and polished accordingly, hair all in the right place, and dressed in fancy Jesus clothes so that you will be noticed as soon as you walk outside.  You are pathetic and an idolatrous entity that God cannot stand to look upon because you do not represent what He wants in a bride for His Son.  You have even perverted His Word to entice people into the buildings instead of winning their eternities for Christ.  You have “guaranteed” their “salvation” if you stand up for perverted and sinful lusts that you now represent yourself.  How can we truly believe and call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ or people that love God when we accept so much evil from the world into our hearts?

There is still time for us to turn our hearts back to God and to allow Him to keep His promises for this nation.  But in order for this to occur, we must drop every sinful issue that we are carrying and have accepted in our lives so that we can turn around and go in the direction of God.  The promise that we are talking about here is the one that says if we drop our issues and tell Satan to get behind you then those issues shall never have to be worried about again.  Satan’s kingdom advances in only one direction and unless we turn around and look back at what we have left behind He cannot touch us.  This is a HUGE deal Church and one that we need to understand to its fullest for it also states that if we do not drop the things of the world we will be open to anything that Satan desires to throw at us for we have voluntarily turned around to see what is behind us.  Do not play Lot’s wife and end up like her life, trust God and go with His mercies and restoration and then share this truth with those who need to drop worldly issues.  We should know better than to accept worldly issues back into our lives, but as Peter spoke those dreaded words to Jesus, we do need to be continually washed and cleaned by the blood of the Lamb and from a loving and eternal Father.

DLB