The one big idea: At the cross Jesus crushed the rebellion and now reigns from heaven to bring glory to his Father through the Spirit empowered work of his people to bring all nations into his kingdom to reign with him forever.
1. The baptism of Jesus put the powers of darkness on notice that God had come down to take back what was rightfully his.
2. Jesus began his destruction of the gates of hell and setting the captives free with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God.
3. The cross was the beginning of an unstoppable march across the known world that will result in a global Eden just as God planned.
Judges 3:12-31
God often chooses to work in strange ways to show us that His ways are not our ways.
1. In these Old Testament stories, and in our daily lives, we must focus on the salvation God brings, not on the method He chooses.
2. Because we cannot fully grasp the heights of God’s holiness, we will always fail to see the true depths of our sin.
3. Jesus Christ is the final Judge whom God raised up to deliver His people fully and finally from the power of sin.