Tag Archives: military

This Is Where Our Eyes Meet


Jesus said to him, “You have said it. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
(Matt. 26:64 LEB)

And Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
(Acts 7:56 LEB)

I remember seeing a Korean manhwa (anime cartoon) called Noblesse. The Noblesse was a loner character who kept bad vampires in check, by destroying them. In the first main showdown the Noblesse would not look at the villain in the eye, when they were face to face. This infuriated the villain. The Noblesse, then used his power to force the bad guy into a kneeling position. Now, when their eyes met, from the position of the villain looking up and the Noblesse looking down, he said, “this is where our eyes meet.”

The Noblesse, makes the villain look up to him in defeat, mirroring how Jesus will flip the script on His adversaries. When Jesus talks about coming on the clouds, He’s not planning a peaceful parade; He’s promising a divine showdown. Think less “slice-of-life” genres and more “apocalypse horror.”

This is like what is happening in the above passages. The high priest in a position of authority, forces Jesus to answer the question if He is the messiah. Jesus answers by confirming that He is the messiah. Jesus follows this up with a threat. He says, from now on, you will see Me at the right hand of the power, and coming in the clouds of glory. This is both a statement of reality and a threat. Right now, in the position of a man born under the law, and under the authority of the high priest He is forced to answer his question. But Jesus says, from now on forward, the roles will be flipped. I will be in the position of authority, looking down on you. Jesus has a mic-drop moment with the high priest, essentially saying, “You’re the boss now, but wait till you see Me in My final form!” He’s not just the humble carpenter; He’s hinting at His gig as the cosmic judge, riding on clouds like a divine superhero.

The Old Testament quote of “coming on the clouds of glory,” is about God’s judgments. It is apocalyptic language that describes God destroying His enemies. (see Deut. 33:26, Isaiah 19:1, Isaiah 34:4-6, Isaiah 13:5–10 Daniel 7:13-14) It is symbolic language describing real acts of God’s horrific judgments. It is not symbolic language to describe invisible spiritual or more symbolic things, but historic acts of God’s judgement. The first mention of this apocalyptic language is the Exodus story and God’s destruction of Egypt. God did not literally ride the clouds, like a Sky Rider, but God did bring in darkness, sickness, storms, frogs and a real angel came and killed all the first born of Egypt.  Jesus in Matthew 24 quotes Isaiah 13, 34, and Daniel 7 as a packaged deal that belongs to Him. He rides the clouds. He will bring judgement. He will be the one bringing the plagues of Egypt on His enemies.

Thus, when Jesus says that not only, will His and the high priest’s positions change, but also defines Himself with the Old Testament apocalyptic language, it is a full on threat.  Jesus is saying, I will be in authority, the next time our eyes meet, but I am also judgment.  He is saying, My authority will not be used for your salvation, but destruction. From now on, when our eyes meet, you will be kneeling looking up, and I will be looking down on you, with a sword in My hand. This is where our eyes will meet.

This will help us understand why Stephen was asking Jesus not to hold their murder of him, against them. Stephen, right before becoming the first Christian martyr, has a vision. He sees Jesus not as the guy who walked on water, but as the celestial commander in chief, standing (not even sitting!) at God’s right hand. It’s like Jesus went from indie band lead, at the corner café, to the headliner at the universe’s biggest rock concert. Stephen saw Jesus in all authority and power, at the right hand of the Power. Jesus is not the humbled man that we all read about in the gospel. He is now in all authority and power. From His position of power He works in the saints to advance the Kingdom of God on earth. He is in a position of military power. He is a ruling king who is currently in a military campaign. He is the King who rides the skies to bring destruction on His enemies. This is His current status.

Thus, when Jesus is looking down on the murder of Stephen, He is a King, in a current military campaign, watching His enemies killing His soldier. Any normal King would bring down fast destruction. In 70 AD, in the destruction of Jerusalem, King Jesus did just that. This is why Stephen is crying out for Jesus to hold back, because Jesus’ position is the current Sky Rider.  Stephen knows Jesus’ position and so is asking for more time for the church to try and bring the Jews to repentance and faith. He’s basically asking Jesus, “Hold off on the divine wrath, okay? Give us a bit more time to win some souls.” He knows Jesus isn’t just chilling up there; He’s actively directing the celestial troops.

Jesus was correct. The next time His enemies saw His eyes, they were kneeling in terror, and He was Riding across the Sky in the destruction of Jerusalem.

Let us not forget that this is the same Jesus we pray to everyday. It is this same Jesus, who is still sitting at the right hand of Power. He is still in a military campaign to advance the kingdom of God, through the church by preaching, baptism of the Spirit, healing, casting out demons and resurrecting the dead. Sometimes it is good to repeat Stephen’s prayer for more time, and other times it is good to ask king Jesus to mount up and ride the skies

Jesus isn’t just the gentle shepherd; He’s also the king with a sword, ready to ride the clouds into battle. So next time you pray, remember, you’re talking to the Cloud-Rider, the Sky King, and He is ready to bring the thunder! He is so ready, that Stephen pleaded with Him to hold back.

[1] Used Grok AI 2024, to help me with some of the witty summaries.

Sickness Is Satan’s Glory, Not God’s

The Arminians are wrong about God’s sovereignty. God does directly and absolutely control and predestine all things. However, this is about ultimate metaphysics, which the Bible only mentions a little, while it mostly talks about the human level. That is the level where God commands us, relates to us, and where we deal with things day-to-day; it is how the Bible mainly speaks to us. We will follow that pattern here. Not talking this way most of the time means not talking like the Bible.

God says in Isaiah 54:15, “They will surely gather against you, but not by Me.” He quietly assumes His own sovereignty but speaks straight to us on our level. God is more God-centered than anyone, and He has no problem saying, “I didn’t cause them to gather.” Jesus, the most God-centered man ever, said about both healing and forgiveness, “Your faith saved you.” In Acts 10:38, Peter says all the sick people Jesus healed were “victimized” or oppressed “by the devil.” So, the Bible has no issue saying sickness isn’t from God; it is from Satan or the curse.

This matters because if we think sickness comes from God, we won’t fight it. That is one reason Jesus battled sickness so hard while tradition doesn’t. Jesus saw sickness as Satan’s direct attack on Him, His Father, and His people. So, He smashed it wherever He found it. The only time He didn’t stomp out sickness—which Satan was causing—was when unbelief blocked Him. Think about that: unbelief stopped Jesus, but Satan couldn’t. Jesus was a one-man wrecking crew against all the sickness the devil threw around.

So, sickness is Satan flipping the bird at Jesus’ atonement. Healing is Jesus slamming His fist into Satan’s face, again and again. There’s a real war here. As Jesus said, if you’re not with Him, you’re against Him (Isaiah 53:4-5, Luke 13:16, Acts 10:38).

In the substitutionary atonement, Jesus took 39 stripes in exchange for our healing. It is already done. In the Father’s mind, He decided our sicknesses were taken off us and put on Jesus as those 39 stripes. Jesus carried our sickness in our place. The verse before, as the Spirit explains through Matthew, says He “bore” (nasa) or took our sicknesses and diseases away. It is the same word used in verse 12 for Jesus bearing our sins, and in Leviticus 16 for the scapegoat, when the high priest transferred the people’s sins to it, and it carried them off into the desert. It is a word for substitutionary atonement, and Isaiah 53 applies it to our sickness and healing.

Yet, many pin sickness on God—not just in the ultimate metaphysical or decree sense, but on the human, relational level. That is wrong. In our New Covenant with God, sealed by oath and blood, God promises to always deal with us in certain ways. We are promised forgiveness, imputed righteousness, but also healing, the blessing of Abraham, and constant good—like a fish for a fish, healing for healing. If Jesus is my High Priest and mediator forever, He doesn’t switch in and out of that role. If He gave me sickness, He would be a minister of sickness in His ministry to me. If Jesus gives sickness, then His gospel ministry is one of pain and torment. But Jesus is only a minister of healing—He takes sickness away; He doesn’t hand it out.

This last point stands out in one example. Jesus sometimes told certain Jews or crowds they weren’t Abraham’s children because they refused to believe—proof they did not belong. So, it’s a big deal when He calls someone a child of Abraham. Take the woman bent over for 18 years. Jesus said she was a child of Abraham—not an outsider, but part of the blessings in God’s covenant with Abraham. In that context, He said Satan made her sick, not God. God’s covenant with Abraham included supernatural healing, not sickness—it was the opposite. So, in God’s relationship with her, Satan delivered the sickness, not God. Jesus used the Abraham covenant as the reason she had to be healed, saying it was necessary—not just a nice idea, but a must. God keeps covenants; He doesn’t break them. The covenant with Abraham must include healing, or it wouldn’t be necessary for Jesus to heal her.

Because she had a standing covenant with God for healing, and because Satan gave her sickness as a curse and middle finger against God’s kingdom, Jesus wiped it out. Unless we see things like Jesus did, we won’t hit sickness hard with God’s healing power. If someone doesn’t get their insider status with God—or that sickness is Satan’s attack to ruin them and, by extension, a middle finger to God’s kingdom—they will let Satan roll right over them. They will accept his attack, slap a “for God’s glory” label on it, and call it a day. That’s demonic.

When Satan attacks someone with sickness, it sidelines a Christian and stalls God’s kingdom. As with warfare, an injured soldier also takes other soldiers away from the front lines to help carry and tend to the injured one. This is why in war it’s often better to injure more than to kill. Satan plays the same war game tactics with Christians by attacking them with sickness. Just as injuries in our army are the glory of the enemy, sickness in Christians is Satan’s glory, not God’s.

A person’s mind is seriously broken when they can’t tell good from evil, God’s glory from Satan’s. When a so-called Christian doesn’t attack sickness with God’s healing power, they’re letting Satan hammer God’s kingdom—and they’re okay with it.

Sickness is not God’s autograph—it’s Satan’s victory lap. Jesus did not just patch up boo-boos; He threw haymakers at the devil’s disease factory. If you are calling it “God’s will” while Satan’s racking up points, you are not just off-script—you’re cheering for the wrong team in this cosmic cage match.