How he robs the religious, Robbing and replacing, Robbing the Religious by Replacing The Other Crown
After miraculously feeding over 5000 people scripture says
“Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” - John 6:15
But was Christ not a King? What was behind this response to the desire of the people? Well Christ was so in tune with, and so focused on, the authentic crown attainable through death and resurrection, He could not be swayed by anything less. The ‘other crown’ represents a counterfeit version of the genuine. It’s an age old trick played successfully on the first Adam. The enemy literally sold Man’s inheritance back to him through illegitimate means. The crafty serpent said
“... you will be like God...”
But isn’t this the Father's will that we would be like Him? Yes. But herein lies the craftiness of the serpents sales pitch. He spoke to a legitimate desire but offered a counterfeit route to attaining it causing man to violate God’s boundaries and forfeit their true inheritance. The end does not justify the means for citizens of God’s kingdom. The means or the narrow way is the prescribed path and cannot be separated from the goal. The Son is inseparably the way to the Father. The cross (God’s prescribed way) is married to the crown and any offspring outside that union is a bastard.
By the time Christ addressed the Pharisees in John chapter 8 they had entirely built a counterfeit system with religious laws and traditions inconsistent with God's law, yet having elements that kinda were like God’s law-ish. And so when Christ proclaimed He was the “light of the world” they sought to measure Him against their crooked criteria. After all they were heirs of Abraham and followed after Moses...right? But Christ addressed the counterfeit calf they had replaced Yahweh with. He exposed their foundations as having no connection with Him or the patriarchs.
“Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” John 8:42-45
Whoa!! this was like a pipe bomb to the Pharisaic ego, way too much to swallow in one sitting (even causing them to try and murder him right there and then). And so is the shock for all conditioned by fiction, which has the appearance of fact when it’s exposed.
Think of it like a man who has attained £100000 and has spent it purchasing a few goods from here and there. But when he goes to the bank to store the rest of his cash the bank tells him his money is fake and even seeks to arrest him for fraud. What a shock, from thinking he was rich (after all some shops had already accepted his money) to discovering he is actually broke. This is the rude awakening that eventually takes place if we take on the ‘other crown’ offered by men.
Christ also rebuked the Ekklesia in Laodicea in the book of revelations for reveling in the counterfeit communion they thought they had with Him. He addressed their self perception, which was “rich” and “not in need of a thing”. They were totally content with their expression. But by the Kings measurement they were a “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” assembly. The Lord then counsels them “to buy from [him] gold refined in the fire, so [they could] become rich”. In other word’s they had been duped by a false currency which held no weight in the real economy once tested.
After Christ’s 40 days of fasting in the desert the devil tried to sell Him short with this same method. Not brazen lies but illegitimate means to acquiring what was already His inheritance. And what is the purpose of this trojan horse? To hinder the acquiring of the real. The devil doesn't just steal. He robs and replaces what he stole with a pseudo version.
Is it possible that Kingdom expression has been stolen and replaced with Christendom? Citizenship and nationhood replaced with membership and denominations? God’s Law replaced with schools of thought? A theocratic assembly replaced with a service centered church?
