Hosting the Presence

by Bill Johnson

  Now in the same way God had given Adam and Eve the entire planet to rule over, they only had possession of the Garden of Eden. There is always a difference between what’s in our account and what’s in our possession. The rest would be brought under their charge as they multiplied and increased their ability to represent God well. This would be seen in manifesting dominion over the entire planet. They, too, were to grow into their inheritance. They owned it all by promise. But their control was equal to their maturity. They possessed only what they could steward well.

  Because the devil had no authority over Adam and Eve, all he could do was talk. He suggested that they eat the forbidden fruit, as it would make them like God. And they listened. Adam and Eve tried to become like God, but they did so through disobedience. And that disobedience cost them what they already had by design—Godlikeness. When we try to get through our efforts what we already have by grace, we voluntarily put ourselves under the power of law. This was the devil’s attempt to get Adam and Eve to agree with him in opposition to God, thus empowering the devil, himself. Through agreement, he is enabled to kill, steal, and destroy (see John 10:10). It’s important to realize that even today satan is empowered through our agreement.

  Adam and Eve’s assignment to rule was interrupted when they ate the forbidden fruit. Paul later said, “You are slaves of the one whom you obey” (Rom. 6:16). Through their act of rebellion they became the possession of the father of rebellion. The slave owner then became the one who possessed all that Adam owned. That includes the dominion over the planet. Adam’s position of rule became part of the devil’s spoil. God’s plan of redemption would be needed: “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” (Gen. 3:15 NKJV). Jesus came to reclaim all that was lost.

  Satan’s Attempt to Spoil

  Jesus came to earth for a number of reasons. But at the top of the list He was to take upon Himself humanity’s penalty for sin and take back what Adam had given away so carelessly. Luke 19:10 says that Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost.” People were lost because of sin; so was their place of rule over God’s creation. Jesus came to recapture both.

  Satan has always tried to destroy a deliverer after they’ve been born. He no doubt picks up on the prophetic decrees and puts together his plans to destroy God’s intention to deliver His people. It was the devil who inspired the killing of the babies in Egypt when Moses was born. He failed, and Moses rose up to be the great deliverer. He inspired Herod to the kill babies in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill Jesus, the ultimate deliverer. He failed again (see Matt. 2:16-18). And then the devil tried to derail the plan of redemption by getting the Son of God to use His authority for self-preservation. This happened at the end of Jesus’ 40-day fast. The devil showed up to tempt Jesus to compromise by turning a stone into bread to satisfy His hunger.

  Interestingly, satan knew Jesus had the ability to perform that miracle. When Jesus turned down that idea, the devil just tried to get Him to out and out fail by worshiping him. He knew he wasn’t worthy of Jesus’ worship, nor would such an act be appealing to Jesus, but he also knew that Jesus had come to reclaim the authority that humanity had given away. Satan offered it back to Him saying:

  All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours (Luke 4:6-8 NKJV).

  Notice the phrase “for this has been delivered to me.” Satan could not steal it. It was forfeited over to satan when Adam left God’s dominion for the sentence of death. This happened in much the same way as when Esau gave away his inheritance (long term) for the gratification of a meal (immediate) (see Gen. 25:29-34). It was an abandonment of a call, purpose, and inheritance.

  The dialogue between Jesus and satan was fascinating. It was as though the devil was saying to Jesus, “I know what You came for. You know what I want. Worship me, and I’ll give back the keys of authority that You came for.” The devil blinked, so to speak. In this moment, he acknowledged that he knew what Jesus came for. Keys! Jesus held His course, rejecting the opportunity for any kind of shortcut to victory. He had come to die, and in doing so, He would reclaim the keys of authority that God gave to Adam in the Garden.

  The whole issue of placing man in the Garden was to create the context in which satan would be defeated by man. God in His sovereignty allowed the devil to set up his rule on planet earth because His intention was to bring eternal judgment to the devil through humankind. In particular, this would happen through the fruitfulness that comes from the intimate co-laboring of God and man.

  After Adam and Eve sinned, defeating the devil became an impossibility, humanly speaking. For this reason, it was necessary for Jesus not only to die in our place, but also to live life as a man, with our same restrictions, limitations, temptations, feelings, etc., so that His victorious life was also as a human. There’s no contest in a conflict between God and satan. It has always been about the devil and man—those made in the image of God. Jesus had to live as a man, yet not yield to sin. His death was valuable only if He was sinless, for the sinner deserves to die. He had to be the spotless Lamb.

  The Ultimate Conflict

  Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He is not a created being who somehow ascended to divinity, as some cults claim. He is entirely God, entirely man. But both His life and death were lived as man. What that means is that He set aside His divinity to live as a man. He was without sin and was completely dependent on the Holy Spirit. In doing this, He became a model that we could follow. If He did His great miracles as God, I’m still impressed. But I’m impressed as an observer. When I discover that He did them as man, then suddenly I am completely unsatisfied with life as I’ve known it. I am now compelled to follow this Jesus until the same things start happening in my life.

  Remember, there is no contest in a battle between God and satan. The devil is nothing compared with the Almighty One. The battle was to be between the devil and man, the ones made in God’s image. When sin entered the human condition, it became necessary for God’s Son to become a man to fight on our behalf. It was an unusual fight. First, He displayed absolute authority over the powers of darkness by healing and delivering every person who came to Him. Secondly, He lived victoriously and purely. There was nothing of sin that was enticing to Jesus because there was nothing in Jesus that had value for sin. Thirdly, He used His authority only for serving others. He did not use His power for Himself. And finally, He did the unthinkable: He gave Himself up to die in our place. That sounds like a strange way to win a war, but it was key. In doing so, He gave Himself entirely to bring salvation to all humanity. For He couldn’t even raise Himself from the dead—He had become sin! (See Second Corinthians 5:21.) He was dependent upon God to raise Him from the dead in the same measure we are dependent upon God to save us once we believe. We cannot save ourselves. Even the faith that brings salvation is a gift from God.

  The ultimate conflict was between satan and Jesus the man. By giving Himself to die in our place, He satisfied all requirements of the Law for the death of the sinner—“the soul that sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:20). He not only died for us, He died as us.

  Satan’s Ignorance

  One of the beautiful truths, so often overlooked, is that on his best day the devil can only play into God’s hand. Knowing the devil’s hatred for humanity, and knowing His hatred for the Son of God, it was easy to set the devil up to crucify Jesus. It’s important to note that the devil didn’t take Jesus’ life. Jesus laid it down (see 1 John 3:16). On numerous occasions the religious leaders planned to kill Jesus. But He had the habit of disappearing while they were pursuing Him. It wasn’t the right time for Him to die. When the time was right, He gave Himself as a sheep to be slaughtered. Had the devil known that killing Jesus the Christ (the Anointed One) would make it possible for millions of “anointed ones” to fill the earth as
the fruit of Jesus’ death, he never would have crucified Him.

  Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, whoare passing away; but we speakGod’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which Godpredestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; forif they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).

  There are four things we should take note of from these verses. I’ve highlighted them in bold. First look at the fact that the rulers of the age are passing away, which means they are being “abolished.” Second, God’s wisdom is a mystery, hidden until He chooses to unveil it. Third, the purpose of the mystery being unveiled is for the glory of humankind! And finally, the key to realizing the potential of this mystery is the crucifixion of Christ! The death on the Cross made it possible for humanity to come into a place with God that had been hidden for ages, a place where humankind, which is not independent of God, but completely dependent upon Him, comes into glory. This amazing accomplishment is because of the Cross. The death of Christ is something satan never would have pursued had he realized the outcome.

  The Ultimate Victory

  Think about it: Jesus not only died for us, He died as us. He became sin, our sin, so that we might become the righteousness of Christ (see 2 Cor. 5:21). With that being the case, His victory is our victory. As we receive the work of Christ on the Cross for salvation by faith, we become grafted into Jesus’ personal victory over sin, the devil, death, and the grave. Jesus defeated the devil with His sinless life, defeated him in His death by paying for our sins with His blood, and again, in the resurrection, by rising triumphant with the keys of authority over death and hell, as well as everything else that God originally intended for man that will be revealed in the ages to come. Jesus, the victorious One, declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore…” (Matt. 28:18-19). In other words: I got the keys back! Now go use them and reclaim humankind.

  It is in this moment that Jesus fulfills the promise He gave to His disciples when He said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19). God never cancelled the original plan. It could only be fully realized once and for all after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Another thing to take note of: If Jesus has all authority, then the devil has none! We have then been completely restored to the original assignment of ruling as a people made in His image, people who would learn how to enforce the victory obtained at Calvary: “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20).

  His people are to manifest the beauty of His rule to a world in unbelief. We have been chosen for this purpose. Not because we’re better, but because we’re the ones who signed up for the ultimate quest. He enlists everyone who is available to learn to carry His presence until all is changed.

  The Designer Has Heart

  Everything God created was made for His pleasure. He is a God of extravagant joy. He enjoys everything He made. Humanity has a unique place in His creation, though, in that we are the only part of His creation actually made like God. Likeness was made for the purpose of fellowship—intimate communion. Through relationship with God, the finite ones would be grafted into His eternal perfect past and obtain through promise an eternal perfect future. Even the realm of impossibilities could be breached by those created to be like Him. “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). No other part of creation has been given access to that realm. We have been invited in a “place” known only by God.

  The heart of God must be celebrated at this point: He longs for partnership. He risked everything to have that one treasure—those who would worship Him, not as robots, not merely out of command, but out of relationship.

  The Ultimate Plan

  We were designed to rule like God rules—in generosity and kindness, not self-serving, but always for the higher good of others. We are to rule over creation, over darkness—that we might plunder the powers of darkness and establish the rule of Jesus wherever we go by preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. Kingdom means “King’s domain.” In the original purpose of God, humankind was to rule over creation. But then sin entered our domain, refining our task to that which affects eternity. Because of sin, creation has been infected by darkness—disease, sickness, afflicting spirits, poverty, natural disasters, demonic influence, etc. While our rule is still over creation, it has become focused on exposing and undoing the works of the devil. That is the ministry of Jesus that we inherited in His commission. That is the intended fruit of the Christian life. If I have a power encounter with God, which we are required to pursue, then I am equipped to give it away to others. This is the ministry of Jesus—use the power and authority of God to carry on the ministry of Jesus, in the way that Jesus did it. The invasion of God into impossible situations comes through a people who have received power from on high and have learned to release it into the circumstances of life.

  The heart of God is for partnership with His created likeness. He’s the ultimate King who loves to empower. His heart from day one was to have a people who lived like Him, loved like Him, created and ruled like Him. From day one, God’s desire has been to be with His creation as the invited Landlord to look over their increased capacity to rule, making this world like His. In His world, His glory is the center. The more people carry His Presence into all the earth as joyful servants of the Most High, the more we will be positioned to see one of Heaven’s major mile markers—the earth covered with the glory of the Lord.

  The Ultimate Challenge

  Our story started in a garden. God walked with Adam in the cool of the night. Fellowship. Communion. Companionship. Partnership. But it ended because of sin. But then it started again. This time was also in a garden.

  Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. …Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. …But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God’” (John 19:41; 20:1,11-17).

  In a very real sense Jesus was actually born twice. The first time was His natural birth through the Virgin Mary. The second was His resurrection.

  But God raised Him from the dead…. And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are my son;today I have begotten you” (Acts 13:30, 32-33).

  In this passage we see that His resurrection was actually considered a birth—the first born from the dead (see Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). He was not the first to be raised from the dead. He raised many, Himself. He was the first to be raised from the dead to die no more. Our conversion follows in the same line: His resurrection DNA is our DNA. He is the first fruits of those who sleep (see 1 Cor. 15:20). First fruits come in the beginning of the harvest. This term indicates that His resurrection from the dead was a prophecy that a great harvest is following in the same lik
eness as His resurrection! We are that harvest. And that harvest continues and increases until His return.

  One of the fascinating parts of this story illustrates what I believe to be the central theme of Scripture, and thus the purpose for this book. It’s about the Presence.

  The first person to touch Jesus in His natural birth was obviously Mary, the virgin. But who was the first to touch Him at His second birth—His resurrection from the dead? Mary Magdalene! She’s the one who had seven demons cast out of her and was healed of infirmities (see Mark 16:9)! The Virgin Mary, representing purity and all that is right, welcomed Jesus into the world for His role of fulfilling the Law and becoming the perfect sacrifice. Mary Magdalene, the one who had been sick and tormented by devils, represents the unanswerable needs of the spirit, soul, and body. She welcomed Him into the world for His role of building a family out of the least pure or qualified in any way. The Virgin introduced the One who would close out the dispensation of the Law. The tormented one introduced Jesus into the season of grace where everyone would be welcomed.

  In the first Garden, the presence was taken for granted. God walked in the Garden one more time after Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Their eyes were opened to their condition and they covered themselves with fig leaves to hide their nakedness. Then they hid from God, Himself (see Gen. 3:8). It was the last time we hear of God walking in the Garden to be with man.

  In this garden, Mary would make sure that that mistake would not be repeated. She grabbed the resurrected Christ and wouldn’t let go, until Jesus informed her that He had not even ascended to the Father yet (see John 20:17). Jesus’ promise of sending the Holy Spirit would now have to take on very practical expression for this one who had to have more of God. She had found the one thing—the Presence of God.