A Mystery Revealed

done 1-10-02 - Dec 2001by Kenneth Copeland

YOU know the story:

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. . And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. .To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger (Luke 2:1-7).

As glorious as the birth of Jesus was, the real miracle behind His entrance into this earth had already happened.

Luke 1:26-35 tells us that the angel Gabriel had appeared to Mary and explained how she would conceive a son who would be called Son of the Highest and would reign over the house of Jacob forever. Mary then asked the big question: "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?"

Gabriel's answer to Mary was simply, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the will overshadow you." The power of the Highest will overshadow you . .

Apparently those words were enough for Mary her reply was: "Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said. (Luke 1:38, The Amplified Bible).

So the Spirit hovered over Mary and she conceived. She literally conceived the Word of God in her womb and then gave birth to it. . "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" John 1:14

But now that this Son of the Most High God had mysteriously arrived on the scene and the hope of all creation was about to unfold, it would take a string of miracles just to keep this Chosen One alive.

Topic: Following a Trail of Murder

You see, somewhere around 4,000 years before Jesus even set foot on this earth, there was a price put on His head. Among all the fallen angels it was understood: There's One coming to crush us, we must find and destroy Him first!

Why such terror among the devils of hell? Well, it began in the Garden of Eden.

One day as God walked through the garden,Adam and Eve hid from Him because they had just eaten fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were afraid. But when God called out to Adam, they both came forward and told what they had done.

After listening to each of them tell their side of the story, God turned to the serpent and said: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field;  On your belly you shall go,  And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."(Genesis 3:14-15).

Now, we know that all this "bruising" was going to happen between Jesus and Satan. But Satan didn't know that. God didn't tell him who was going to do the bruising, only that Eve's "seed" would be the one doing it. 

That left the devil anxiously trying to figure out who from all of Eve's seed was going to show up one day and stomp him.

With only one clue in hand, it didn't take Satan long to notice Adam's son,Abel. Abel honored God. Abel seemed to have favor with God.

Maybe he was the one?

So Satan plotted a way to get Cain to kill his brother, Abel—and it worked. That was easy enough. But...

What if Abel really wasn't the one? After all, Satan knew enough about God to realize that, if God says something, you can bet it's coming to pass.

But who? And when?

Well, another year went by, then 20 years. . 100...500. Satan was still left wondering who this person was that would bring an end to him and his dominion in the earth.

Meanwhile, he didn't just sit around scratching his head and wondering. For the next 4,000 years Satan worked furiously trying to kill every prophet, every priest that walked the face of this earth.

He tried killing every man, woman and child who even worshiped God. But still no satisfaction.

Then one day, a 30-year-old Hebrew man from Nazareth stepped down into the  waters of the Jordan River, and there was baptized by his cousin.

When the young man came up out of those waters, the heavens opened up, the Spirit of God descended upon Him and a voice from heaven said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

When those words pierced the earth's atmosphere, Satan did not hear: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

No. What he heard was, Oh, no!' This is it! This is it. .He's the One!'.

Topic: A Curst That Wouldn’t Die

Satan had already tried killing this ‘King of the Jews’, as the wise men called Him in Matthew 2.

You can be certain the devil was the one behind King Herod’s slaughtering all those children 2 years old and under in and around Bethlehem. But still the baby king slipped by.

Thirty years later, however and probably much to Satan's surprise, tracking down this promised One of God, this Messiah, or Christ, became almost too easy.

The Bible tells us that immediately after Jesus was baptized by John and by the Holy Spirit—He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days.

Near the end of that time is when Satan approached Jesus to tempt Him. Finally face to face with his enemy, the 4,000-year mystery was over. At least, that's what Satan thought.

What the devil failed to realize was that Jesus was there to take, and pass, the very same test that Adam had failed  in the Garden of Eden. "If you be the Son of God," Satan prodded, "command that these stones be made bread" (Matthew 4:3).

But where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded, and He did so by sticking with the Word of God, which was the real issue at hand. "It is written," Jesus replied to Satan, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (verse 4).

Here in this face-off with his hard-to-catch enemy, Satan was dealt a crushing blow. He was crushed by the Word of God. He was crushed by the Word that had become flesh, the Word that had been conceived in Mary's womb. He was crushed by the seed of Eve, just as God had said.

Round one: Jesus wins. The Scriptures tell us that after his encounter with Jesus, Satan departed from Him and kept his distance, waiting for yet another more opportune and favorable time.

Well, for the next three and a half years of Jesus' ministry on this earth, a more opportune time never came. Still, Satan tried his best to get rid of Jesus.

One day, while Jesus was preaching in His hometown of Nazareth, the local people got so mad at Him that they tried to throw Him off a cliff. But He just walked through the crowd. They couldnt touch Him.

Time after time, the Pharisees and religious leaders plotted against Jesus, first trying to trap Him in open debates to shame Him, then trying to kill Him just so they could I rid of Him.

Time and again, however, they failed. Jesus was unstoppable. They couldnt lay a hand on Him.

Meanwhile, there was somone else taking note of all thi.  Someone else was waiting for an opportune time, as well. That someone was Jesus' own treasurer, Judas.

Judas had not only been stealing from the treasury of Jesus' ministry, but he had also been watching all those unsuccessful attempts to kill Jesus. Thats why he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He needed the silver to replace what he had stolen, and he never imagined anyone could ever stop Jesus, by force or otherwise.

Topic: Playing Into the Devil's Hands

Indeed, Judas and Satan had plotted the perfect crime. Everything was running as planned. Then came the shocking and unexpected—unexpected by Judas, as well as the devil.

On the night of His betrayal, Jesus demonstrated what was probably becoming familiar to the people who followed Him, as well as to the demons of hell who confronted Him.

John 18:3-4 tells us that when the band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees arrived with torches and weapons to seize Jesus, He asked them, "Whom are you seeking?" The men answered, "Jesus of Nazareth”

(verse 5).

To that, Jesus replied, "I am he." As soon as Jesus spoke those words, all the men stumbled backward and fell to the ground.

Were they all just clumsy?

Not hardly. It was the manifested power of Almighty God. They couldn't even stand in Jesus' presence.

When the crowd did manage to get their hands on Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off an ear of the high priest's servant. With that, Jesus healed the servant's ear and ordered Peter to put his sword away.

"Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? “Jesus asked Peter (Matthew 26:53).

Up to then, everything was going as one might expect: Jesus opens His mouth—and an angry mob falls down. Peter cuts a man's ear off. .Jesus puts it back on. Everyone is overcome by fear, panic and violence. .Jesus just keeps speaking the Word and demonstrating the love of the Father through signs and wonders. That was the Jesus Judas and Satan knew.

But now, where were those legions of angels to keep danger at bay?

On one hand, Jesus was being arrested and taken away. It was looking pretty serious.

On the other hand, He wasn't putting up any resistance. In fact. He was actually allowing these men to carry out their intentions.

This wasn't expected. .Not by Judas, and certainly not by Satan.

What was Jesus up to?

Jesus explanation to Peter in Matthew 26:54 was simply, "How then shall the scriptures be fulfilled?"

In other words. He was sticking to the Word. He was choosing to fulfill the Scriptures, including the part about all the torment He would suffer, as  prophesied by Isaiah.

In the end, Jesus was tried, condemned and crucified, just as the Scriptures had foretold. Though it had all been written down, it remained a mystery to most, particularly to the devil.

Before it was all over, however, Judas took his 30 pieces of silver back to the chief priests and threw it at their feet. "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood,” he told them (mat27:4). He had not bargained for cold booded murder.

But what about Satan? Could he possibly have had any regrets?

Last Topic: Blindsided by Glory

When Satan heard the words. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Come from the mouth of Jesus, he thought his failing plan had worked after all. Finally, he had Jesus where he wanted Him all along. in the grave.

But as we now know, Satan had not counted on the "only begotten Son of God" becoming the "first born from the dead" (Colossians1:18).  He had not planned on the power of God raising Jesus from the dead, thereby enabling Him to lead  captivity captive" (Ephesians 4:8).

What's more, Satan never imagined that this "first born from the dead" would also become the "firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

You see, after Jesus was born again from the dead, He appeared to His disciples and gave them this final instruction before ascending to heaven: 'Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from high" (Luke 24:49).

So 120  people  gathered  in an upperoom in Jerusalem and waited for this "promise", not really being all sure of what to expect. But when that promise came, they knew it.

Suddenly, where there had only been one glorified Son of God to contend with, there were 120 people. And that wasn’t the end of it. Within a matter of hours, after Peter stood up and began preaching, another 3,000 would be added to the list.

Just days after having crucified the Son of God, Satan was now faced with thousands of glorified sons of God.

Sons of Adams and daughters of Eve born again from dead, and every one of them having God-given power and authority to crush every devil of hell. It was the mystery the ages. It was Satan's worst nightmare. 

It’s no wonder that 1Corinthians 2:8 tells us had the powers of darkness known what was going to happen after Jesus died, they never would have crucified Him.

Today, that same miracle continues to happen over and over. The power of the Highest overshadows men and women, and there is conceived in them a holy thing.

Jesus came into this earth by the Word of God. He lived by that Word. He ministered by that Word. He died by that Word. He rose from the dead by that Word.

It is by that same Word, then, that our spirits are reborn—recreated—in His likeness. The same Holy Spirit Who hovered over Mary, the same Holy Spirit Who came on the Day of Pentecost. that same Holy Spirit is the One Who hovers over us and conceives in us a new heart when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,” The Greek text literally says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, a new species of being."

Final comment:

My friend, you and I are that new species of being. We are that mystery of the ages being revealed in these last days.

Certainly, Jesus was the first. He was the the only begotten Son of God. But He   gave Himself to make a way for you and me. He became the firstborn from the dead so He could become the firstborn among many. . The end