This happened to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet,
“Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:15
Every Christian’s journey begins with slavery, like the children of Israel in Egypt. God calls people out of slavery in Egypt and into sonship. Positionally, we know that God has made us His children and not slaves, but how much do we think and act like children as opposed to slaves?
Many people insist, though there is no Biblical evidence for it, that true born-again, Spirit-filled Christians cannot have demons living in them. They say that the Holy Spirit will not share space with a demon, and since they have the Holy Spirit, they cannot have a demon. But according to the scriptures, you are also a child of God, yet you still act like an orphan. So, if you can be a son but act like an orphan, is it possible that you can be a Christian but still have a demon?
Discipleship is a process. When you begin to follow Jesus, you start a journey. The journey doesn’t begin at the end. When you travel, you encounter obstacles, resistance, distraction, weariness, missed turns, etc. Why do so many Christians think they have reached the end when they only just got started?
When people say that they got “saved,” they often mean that they prayed a general prayer of repentance and are now going to heaven instead of hell. “Salvation” in this context is a one-time event that covers the concern about where they will end up after death. But this minimal understanding of salvation is not what Jesus had in mind when He proclaimed the Gospel. The Gospel is not about saving people’s souls for Heaven but establishing God’s rule and reign on the earth.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15 ESV
A “kingdom” is a government.
For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 NASB
Jesus came to establish a government, not to take us away to Heaven. Heaven is important, but it is not the end of the world. The end of the story is the government of God coming down to earth and earth and Heaven becoming one.
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:2 NASB
A government has many different aspects to it, and it is all-encompassing. The inauguration of a government is only the ceremonial beginning. The beginning is real, necessary, and significant, but it is only the beginning of a thing, not its end. So many Christians want to believe they have reached the end when they have only just begun.
Jesus' resurrection is the complete victory of God. God already installed Jesus as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. All authority in Heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus (Matthew 28:18). But working out this government into all realms of the cosmos and each individual's life is an ongoing process that requires our participation. The plan of God has always been and always will be to govern the world through human agencies. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28), still is the mandate for the human race. This government begins with self-government.
Christians who deny their need for deliverance are running from the first level of authority God charged them to exercise. If, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:19-22, all creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God so that it can be set free by them, it will have to wait a long time since so many believers refuse even to exercise dominion over themselves.
How can we expect to deliver and heal our nation of corruption when we run from the work God called us to do in ourselves?