by Pastor John Lin
1st Panel:
God's Reign over Heaven & Earth
- God created us to reflect His reign and share His glory on earth as royal image bearers
2nd Panel:
God's Reign Rejected (The 3 Rebellions)
- The tragic choice of autonomy over allegiance to the King at garden of Eden which fractured creation and plunged it into disobedience and death
3rd Panel:
God's Reign Foreshadowed (Israel)
4th Panel:
God's Reign Inaugurated (Christ)
5th Panel:
God's Reign Extended (Church)
6th Panel:
God's Reign completely Restored (New Heaven & Earth)
Big idea:
We as human beings join rebellious spiritual being in spreading depravity, but Jesus frees us through his death and resurrection
#1 Evil Is Found In Both Human And Spiritual Beings
Genesis 6:1-5
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal[b]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
Similar parallel in Eden, Eve also saw the fruit is attractive and ate it
- Sons of God actually appears several times in the OT consistently referring to supernatural beings, members of God heavenly counsel as mentioned in Job 38:7
Job 38:7
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
- Some of these supernatural beings did something horrific, they decided to abandon their God-given boundary and directly interfere with humanity
- These Sons of God were supernatural beings who chose to rebel Yahweh as mentioned in Jude 6
Jude 6
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
Jude 6 pointed back to the story of Genesis 6:1-5
These angels are not those with wings, but supernatural beings
- After Adam and Eve rebellion in Genesis 3, these supernatural beings saw humanity vulnerability and decided to exploit it. They crossed a boundary that God has set attempting to corrupt the human line and produce their own race of rulers call the "Nephilim" (giants, mighty warriors, men of renown who served as a catalyst to spread human wickedness)
- These Nephilim were seen as heroes of the ancient world but with a very dark and evil ancestry
- This rebellion by the Sons of God in Genesis 6:1-5 intensified Human Depravity
This wasn't just human sin worsening. This was evil, spiritual forces contaminating humanity and according to ancient Jewish writings that were used during the second temple period, these rebellious Sons of God, supernatural beings attempted to hijack God's plan. They wanted to imitate God by producing their own human children when they decided to mate with the daughters of men. And worse, they intermingled with God's human family and introduce forbidden divine knowledge, spread violence and magnified human wickedness to unprecedented levels. Rather than accepting God's desire for human to be part of His family, these supernatural beings sought to rule humans. God's intent to create humanity was to be a part of His family, He didn't want slaves, He wanted a family. So this cause widespread evil and wickedness on the land
God judged these supernatural beings, He called on Noah and brought about a flood.
2 Peter 2:4-5
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[a] putting them in chains of darkness[b] to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
Peter was pointing back to Genesis 6 to the rebellion then from the above verse. God cast the Sons of God into imprisonment in the underworld, held in chains for final judgement, locked away, they are unable to continue their direct interference. Yet their corruption has left a mark. Violence, depravity, wickedness filled the earth. These explain why evil often feels more than just human making bad decision, is more than that, this is why evil feels so enslaving
Behind all our struggles that we go through, behind the false idols, cultural idols that enslave society, behind systemic injustice that seems impossible to uproot, there are spiritual powers actively working to corrupt, to enslave and to destroy God's imagers
Think about it:
Why do we witness crimes that are involving more and more of the younger generation?
Why do we see entire nation fall into the cycle of violence and wars, generation after generation?
Why do ungodly ideologies spread like viruses capturing minds and hearts in our world today?
Because evil is deeper than we think, is more than human making bad choices
Yet God continues to extend His love and grace. He pronounced judgement but He preserved Noah
Genesis 6:8-9
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Noah and the Flood
9 This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15 declared where God promised that Eve's offspring would crush the serpent's head. These rebellious supernatural beings were attempting to corrupt that line but God preserved Noah from whose line came Jesus 2000 years later
Why?
Because we cannot win this battle on our own, we need divine intervention, we need a King powerful enough to defeat both our human rebellion and the spiritual forces corrupting creation. A King who had to be fully human to reverse the rebellion in Genesis
When addictions feel like chains that we cannot break, there's a reason
When our world seems to plunge darker and darker each day, is because evil runs deeper than we think
Only a King with authority over both human physical and spiritual realms can set us free. We need the Kingdom gospel
#2 King Jesus Defeated All Powers And Restores Us As Spirit-Led Imagers
1 Peter 3:18-22
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive,[a] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[b] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Peter in this whole passage is pointing back again to Genesis 6 rebellion. He's telling us what Jesus did, that He confronted the imprisoned, rebellious supernatural beings. Between His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus went to the prison (the underworld) where those rebellious Sons of God from Genesis 6 were held. He went there to remind those rebellious beings that they are doomed and they will continue to stay doomed. He went there to proclaim His victory over them that God's plan for His human family would be restored through Him. He went there to declare triumph over what they had done in Genesis 6
Water baptism:
- is our response of loyalty to King Jesus
- is public declaration that everytime a human being goes through baptism, this person corresponds to what Jesus had done
- is public declaration that spiritual forces are doomed and have no hold over us anymore
- is a complete shift of our loyalty from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Light in God
Romans 8:29
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
What does it mean to be truly human?
To be like Christ
The arrival of the Holy Spirit launched a powerful reversal campaign against the rebellious Sons of God. Why? Because The Holy Spirit enables us to walk in freedom and holiness. So when you walk each day in freedom and holiness, you are reversing the effects of that rebellion that happened in Genesis. You are walking in the Light of God
Galatians 5:16
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
When we walk by the Spirit, something happens. When we walk in step of the Spirit, when we rely and depends on the Spirit, something happens inside of us, the Holy Spirit begins to work in you, the Holy Spirit begins to produce something in your life. The fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Jesus embodied all of the fruit of the Spirit
Start with:
1. Set our minds on the things of the Spirit
- what is filling your mind today? What are you meditating on?
- what is taking space in your mind right now?
- finances, relationship, things you watch etc
- when we fill our minds with certain things, our minds become set on it
- are we thinking about things that brings us closer to Jesus?
- is our thought life worshipping God, glorifying Him?
- it begins with what we allow into our lives, what we are consuming today?
- if all we are consuming today is what we see on media, feed, algorithms... latest podcast over God's word, are we too caught up with games etc
- spend time on the word of God, else how can Holy Spirit work in you?
Romans 8:5
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
John 14:26
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
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