20. Spiritual or Carnal Dominion?

Chapter 20 Spiritual or Carnal Dominion?

If any man [is] for captivity, into captivity he goeth: If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed (Revelation 13:10).

Jesus exercised dominion in His kingdom, not the kind of dominion that some want and false religious leaders have, that glorifies man. Jesus rejected the offer by Satan to be a worldly king with carnal dominion. The Pharisees and Sadducees had a carnal dominion over the people of God. Jesus commanded the people not to do what they do but to obey them because they sit in the seat of Moses. They were given governmental authority much the way they are today in the church. Jesus exercised dominion over the curse and over Satan’s kingdom. He was destroying the works of Satan in the lives of His people. Jesus had spiritual authority, and the people followed him willingly because they were drawn of the Father, not because they were under the condemnation of the Law. Spiritual authority was necessary to be spiritually and physically fed, healed, and delivered. The apostate religious leaders had no authority like that then, nor do they now. Even though the disciples did not resist their carnal authority, they did resist their attempting to exercise spiritual authority when it was important. They said, “We must obey God rather than men.” When Peter tried to enforce his carnal authority with the sword, Jesus said, All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52). Then to show that His spiritual authority can when necessary dominate the carnal realm, Jesus said, (Matthew 26:53) Or thinkest thou that I cannot beseech my Father, and he shall even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?

Anyone who has an angel much less 12 legions would not need a puny sword for defense. One angel killed 185,000 men to defend Zion. Jesus then makes the point that if He calls the angels to defend His flesh, how would it be crucified? (Matthew 26:54) How then should the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? This is a good principle for us who also must be crucified. According to type, crucifixion does not necessitate the physical death of the body, but the old nature. (Romans 12:1) …Present your bodies a living sacrifice…. The body is dead, meaning that it no longer has a will and rights of its own but is devoted to the service of God. In type, just as Jesus sacrificed His literal flesh, we sacrifice the flesh of the old man while we live.

We are told that those who try to defend the body by physical force will be killed for their lack of faith. (Revelation 13:10) If any man [is] for captivity, into captivity he goeth: if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. It is also clear here that if a person needs captivity to fulfill in some way their own crucifixion, the sword will not save them. In fact, it will be judgment to them. (John 18:36) Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews…. Those who wrestle with flesh and blood in disobedience to the Word are not fighting for God’s kingdom but the world and the flesh. They are attempting to exercise carnal dominion.

Jesus exercised dominion to save God’s creation. He did not exercise dominion over people who wanted to put to death His flesh. That is a type for us. We go through many things in order to put to death our flesh. That is what the world was created for, to bring us into sanctification through the death of the old man, the flesh. Even while the world around us is spiritually putting us on our cross by insults, injuries, persecutions, slander, etc., we have to cooperate with them by turning the other cheek. We have authority to save, heal, deliver, provide, AND DIE TO SELF. Exercising our dominion is God exercising His sovereignty through us. Jesus exercised dominion, but He resisted not the evil by turning the other cheek. While the world was crucifying Him, even before He came to the natural cross, His spiritual man was exercising dominion and delivering His people from the curse. We can get mixed up on when to exercise this dominion and when not. We do not have authority to save the old man. We do not want to keep our old life; we want our new life. Jesus said that unless we lose our life, we would not gain our life. So this authority to exercise dominion that God has given us is the same as Jesus had. This dominion is not to get rich, but it is to have all we need to do God’s Will. God gave me my house and car free in order to do His Will. (Php 4:19) My God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Dominion is not to live after the lusts of the flesh, in a false, worldly prosperity that encourages and empowers the flesh to live. (1 Timothy 6:8-9) But having food and covering we shall be therewith content. (9) But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. Here is a promise to those who are not content but love the things of the world. They will be overcome by lusts, and it will be as impossible for them to enter the kingdom as it would be for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24-26).

Jesus exercised dominion over His flesh when He was going to the cross. He said, “Not my will but thine be done.” He gave them authority to crucify His flesh. In the garden, when Jesus spoke to those who came to take Him, “they went backward, and fell to the ground,” showing that He could stop them if He wanted to save His life or until it was time to go to the cross. He said in John 10:18, “No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself.” A couple of times, He passed through their midst, apparently translated, because it was not His time to die (Luke 4:30). He had been given authority to save God’s people, who believed, and to destroy Satan’s kingdom. Our flesh (the carnal man) is part of Satan’s kingdom (Romans 8:7). The book of Esther is not only literally true but also a prophetic parable. Haman (the beast) had been given authority by the king (the Lord) to destroy the people of God while Esther (the bride) had been given authority to save the people of God. The beast and the bride were given opposing authority at the same time by the same king. In type, the beast was given authority to crucify the old man, the carnal nature, and the bride was given authority to bring to life the spiritual man. The king’s authority could not be annulled in anything, just as our Lord’s authority. Ultimately, the house of the beast was given unto the bride to have authority over it (Esther 8:1). The time will come when God will no longer offer grace to the Gentiles but will return it to Israel. He will permit Christians, at that time, to exercise authority over the people who are trying to kill them. Fire from the Witnesses’ mouths destroying their enemies, smiting the earth with every plague, and stopping the rain for 3½ years, are examples (Revelation 11:5-6). From there to the end authority will be manifested to destroy the beast’s kingdom until this world becomes God’s kingdom and He takes control (Revelation 11:15). Personal control differs from control by proxy. God runs everything but He must use vessels of dishonor now (Romans 9:21-24). The time is coming when He will take control in and through His saints who believe. This dominion is ours as spiritual children of Jesus Christ, but we will grow into it by grace.

Dominion starts here in the training grounds but continues for eternity. Here the Lord teaches us how to be rulers under Him over His creation. (1 Corinthians 6:1-5) Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? (2) Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (3) Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? (4) If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church? (5) I say this to move you to shame…. If we have authority to judge angels in the next life, how much more do we have authority to judge things in this life?

Jesus taught His disciples to pray like this: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Lord pointed out to me that this is a command that God is putting in our mouth. Some would object that this puts us in the place of commanding God. (Isaiah 45:11) Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. In effect, what we command when led by the Spirit, He carries out. In Acts 3:6, Peter commands the lame beggar, “What I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (we represent Him), walk.” Peter had authority to represent Jesus and to command the curse. When the lame man walked and bystanders were tempted to credit Peter, he said, “Why fasten ye your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk?” (Acts 3:12) God’s power fulfills what we command in obedience to Him. Our work here is to manifest God’s kingdom here on the earth. At the last trump, it will be said (Revelation 11:15) …the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ…. Through whom did God bring this to pass? The Bible gives credit to the saints. (Daniel 7:26-27) The judgment shall be set and they (the saints) shall take away his (the beast) dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end. (27) And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given unto the people of the saints of the Most High. The saints, by God’s grace, shall exercise dominion to end the beast’s dominion.