Luke 19:10
Because of sin, the will of man was perverted; the man was subject to the powers of darkness incapacitating him to voluntarily submit to God.
In the time of creation, a true theocracy was established.
Theocracy is the Government of God denoting His sovereignty. The institution of the theocracy with their demands, convictions and trials, point out the specific purpose of God of establishing His supremacy and His goal: His Glory.
The Theocratic Kingdom was in Eden. God delegated man complete authority and lordship over land, but because such authority was delegated by God Adam should be in submission to God; therefore, the Government was of God. But Adam disobeyed and this period of history ends with the flood caused by the corruption of the human race rejecting God's right to rule over them. After the flood, the Theocratic Kingdom came to be under the human Government when God establishes His Covenant with Noah (Genesis 2: 1, 2) until the rejection of men to this form of authority accepting the establishment of the kingdom of Nimrod in Babel, which established a new authority and instituted a new system of worship. But because this authority derived from God and had to be submissive to God, the Government was of God. However, the people were disobedient and God introduced a new administration in the Theocratic Kingdom through the judges.
But the spiritual decay of Israel is noticeable at the end of the book of Judges because "Everyone did what was right to his own eyes" (Judges 21: 25). This spiritual condition led to the request of a king as other nations had, and God revealed to the Prophet Samuel that that action was a rejection of the Theocracy because "...for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me for being King over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).
Then God permits a new administration of the Theocratic Kingdom through kings. But because this authority derived from God's, the Government was of God. Solomon was the third King and the last chosen by God. With the decline of the nation at the time of the kings that would take place after Solomon surfaces the importance of the Prophetic office. The Prophets were God's spokespersons and chosen by God to transmit the message of God to the kings who most often were disobedient. The prophet Ezekiel announces the departure of the "Shekina" that in the Old Testament was symbol of God's presence. With the departure of that Glory from the temple, God marks the termination of the Theocratic Kingdom, and the nation and kings who should manifest His Kingdom were scattered from the land. The Theocratic Kingdom future comes to be the most important issue of the prophets. Almost all the prophets of the Old Testament speak of the King:
"Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel,' meaning 'God with us'" (Isaiah 7: 14).
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the Government will rest on His shoulder; and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this" (Isaiah 9:6, 7).
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrata, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times" (Micah 5: 2).
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed" (Daniel 7:13, 14).
All the functions of His Government would be focused on Him. Isaiah sees Him and appointed Him: "He will be our Judge, our Lawgiver and our King; He Himself will save us" (Isaiah 33:22). Psalms to Malachi describe the restoration of the Kingdom by his King, Jesus.
In His birth He was recognized as the Messiah: "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end" (Luke 1: 31-33). Mary, his mother, understood the announcement; Elizabeth prophesied it; to Simeon it was revealed; the three wise men of the East came looking for the King of the Jews who was born; and Jesus began His Ministry years later announcing: "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1: 15).
Now the Theocratic Kingdom (the Kingdom or Government of God) came to dwell in the heart of man. It was the time to save man and to transfer him from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ's light so man voluntarily submit to God, and God reign in him. As explained earlier, when God created man a true Theocracy was established; God in His sovereignty delegated to man complete authority and lordship over the land. When God told Adam "Subdue it. Rule over it..." (Genesis 1: 28), He established a theocratic relationship. "...And subdue it..." was an exercise of the theocratic authority. As he was delegated authority by God, Adam should be in submission to God because the Government was of God.
Even more, Adam received a commandment of God: "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2: 16, 17). With this commandment, man did not forget who was Who, which was the position of each, and who was submitted to Whom.
This single commandment will remind him Who was his Lord because: "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to the one whom you obey -whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16). Adam disobeyed God, and he disobeyed God because of the devil, and his entire domain passed into the hands of the devil because 'We are slaves of those who we obey'.
Adam was not deceived! The Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy 2:13, 14 says: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." Adam sinned because he wanted to sin, and sin separated him from God; the devil took the domain and the land became a place where the spirit of disobedience was reigning in human beings, making them by nature children of anger and subjecting them to the wishes of their flesh and thoughts. Then we understand that the intent of sin in its essence is to remove God from the center of our lives, and when He is not the center of our desires the iniquity is born in your heart (injustice, evil). The same "spirit of iniquity" originated in the rebelliousness of Satan against God in heaven, breaking the perfection of God's creation was that same "spirit of iniquity" that seduced millions of angels who dwelled in the Throne of God. The Apostle Paul calls him 'the mystery of iniquity' because how could we understand how millions of angels dwelling in God's presence could be seduced? The devil and his angels were cast out, and he came to earth, tricked Eve, and that same "spirit of iniquity" tried to seduce Jesus in the desert, but failed. And in the history of mankind the spirit of iniquity has been in force every day and we confront him even today.
The devil knows what's divine and uses it to evil: wisdom changes into cunning, intelligence in disbelief against God to make men feel as god, the power to mislead people to attract them.
Once, the Church of Corinth was in trouble; false prophets came and false teachers trying to separate them or blend the doctrine of Christ with other doctrines. The Apostle Paul wrote to them saying: "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2,3).
I think the first thing that impressed Eve was a snake talking: "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3: 4, 5). These words seduced because, "What if the snake is right? Maybe, because he even speaks! And if being an animal he prospered, how much more will happen to us? We will be as God! And could we be plunged into ignorance if we are not as gods?"
"You will be as God!" The power of that word created the germ of sin in Eve. She began to look at it another way: "Good eating, pleasant to the eyes and desirable to achieve wisdom" (Genesis 3: 6). God is Wisdom, Intelligence, the Council and Power; therefore the vision of women was false and senseless. The nefarious words had effects on those who listened to them and believed; they fell in the rebellion. The truth of the hoax shined on them too late. The devil was happy because it had submitted all human beings to sin and death. Sin and death ruled from Adam to Christ. With these two weapons Satan kept man beaten and subjected. For millennia the devil had kept his dominion over the Earth, had been established as Prince of the power of the air and the god of this world. Until Jesus came! And for the first time in history, the devil faced someone Who could not separate from God. Demons knew who Jesus was, they knew that He was the Son of God and submitted to Him. The devil tried to kill Him many times since His birth, but failed.
After Jesus was baptized, the devil tried many times to make Him fall, to be unfaithful to God and to use His authority as Son of God, regardless of the will of the Father, but Satan failed. Jesus was tempted in everything according to our likeness, but never sinned; Jesus was only faithful to God and only obeyed God's order and not the devil.
But when Jesus was nailed to the cross of Calvary, 'became sin and destroyed sin in His flesh, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross'. In dying, He defied death itself: 'Death, I am here to destroy your Kingdom, and because I leave when I want and not when you want, the day that I want and nobody will remove me from life.' "For this reason my Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father" (John 10:17, 18).
And on the third day Jesus arose glorious from the dead. Death had no argument; there was no precedent of sin. Jesus was the Author of Life and rose triumphant, glorious: "Death has been swallowed up in victory. 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55). The sting of death is sin and sin and its power were destroyed in His flesh as well as the fulfillment of The Law. By Him too, then, grace began.
Jesus Christ won sin and beat death, bringing to light immortality through His Gospel; eternal life came to light in His Gospel; the restoration of the man came to light in His Gospel. That is why: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation to anyone who believes" (Romans 1: 16).
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1: 18-21).
Thus from Adam to Jesus, the devil reigned; reigned until Christ removed his principality. Not only did Jesus come to save, He came to reign! Jesus is the Lamb of God offered from eternity, since before the foundation of the world.
Only He could save us!
Only He wanted to save us!
Only He was qualified to save us!
And only He could pay the price for our salvation and lead us to God!
God Bless You Abundantly!