Jesus Christ: Revolutionary, Liberator

by Tom Johnston

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – Jesus Christ, Luke 4:18-21 ESV

It often surprises many people that Jesus is not just some mild-mannered teacher of moral values, but rather a spiritual revolutionary, the Anointed One chosen of God as the ultimate Liberator of humankind. That’s O.K., because it surprised the folks in Nazareth, too. Jesus, in his own words, declares Himself and His intention to upset the apple cart. He was not just another run-of-the-mill upstart young Rabbi just come in from one of those desert epiphanies. No, He was the Invader from Heaven, breaking in from the outside, intent on setting some things straight. In this declaration, He is throwing down the gauntlet in the face of the Adversary, declaring the coming of the Kingdom rule of God.

Seven Marks of A Revolutionary

It was not all that long ago in the span of history that America fought what has been termed the “Revolutionary War” against what was called “tyranny” and “oppression.” Jesus came to fight a much more significant war on a much grander scale – all the cosmos and the humanity it contained was the prize for which He waged war – not a war of this fallen world (cosmos = created order, see John 18:33-40), but a spiritual war which spanned the dimensions of reality (Philippians 2:8-11). Yet in this, Jesus finds Himself in the company of many members of humanity, perhaps the Founding Fathers of America included, who were radicals, revolutionaries bent on liberating people from oppression. Let’s look at some of the marks of such people:

1. He claimed Divine empowerment. He was not the first revolutionary, or the last, to claim such, but He was the only One who could do so in absolute, undeniable truth

2. He felt that He was specially chosen for His task. Many leaders throughout history have proclaimed the same, but none with the effect on humanity, or on human temporal and eternal history, like Him

3. He had a special focus on the poor – those who were spiritually impoverished as well as the economically disadvantaged and destitute

4. He led the largest jail-break in the history of creation, busting into the worst concentration camp ever to lead the captives to freedom (Ephesians 4:8-10). And to this day He continues to free men and women, boys and girls from the bonds of death and hell (1 Corinthians 15)

5. He brought a new way of seeing things, a new take on reality, that was not of the status quo. This challenged the religious leaders of the day – in fact it scared the gehenna out of them

6. He came to over-turn the tables of injustice, racial hatred and oppression – the oppression of humanity by the Adversary and the oppression of humanity by humans

7. He, with all authority, declared all the debt owed to the true King of the Universe was to be paid in full – and then He Himself paid it on the Cross

Jesus is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. But He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. And He is not a tame lion. Nor is He a circus lion, who can be taught to do tricks. He is a victorious warrior who defeats His enemies with a word and has a “take no prisoners” policy – because the liberation of the prisoners is why He fights. He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and is over all dominions, principalities and powers, in the form of both human and spiritual governments. He cannot be overthrown, ousted in a coup d’état, or subverted through a counter-insurgency – and the increase of His government shall know no end. He is utterly undefeatable. He is not a messianic politician, but THE Messiah. He is the ultimate Revolutionary because He is good, unstained by fallen-ness, untainted by personal agenda. His methods – hanging out with all the “wrong people,” having relationship with the “usual suspects,” are completely righteousness, because He is the embodiment of both love and justice. He does not wage war in the flesh or by the means of this world, but by service, self-sacrifice and speaking the Truth to us in love. And we are His revolutionary Army of Liberation.

Come Again?

That’s right. The Church. The Body of Christ. You – Spiritual Warrior of Love, Freedom and Hope. What? Not quite the image you had of yourself, or of the Church in the West? Could it be because the Church, born in the image of its Creator, having both lion and lamb characteristics, has forgotten its spiritual lion-hood? Is it perhaps because our self-perception is that we are grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants in the land? Is it because we think our culture too hard, too cold, too wealthy, too satiated, too disinterested – in other words too tough – for Jesus to conquer? Is it because we have bought a defeatist and escapist theology that says it’s all downhill from here – and we all beam out just before it hits bottom, so hey, why bother anyway? Maybe it is a combination of these factors, and more.

Or maybe, it’s just because we’ve forgotten who we are in Christ. Or perhaps we have never really known. You are what you eat – and we have been fed an incomplete diet in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian. But not all of us have drank the watered-down kool-aid of spiritual passivity. There are lions in our midst – we know you are out there! It is time to believe in the call of God on your life as a liberator, to trust His Spirit working in you to revolutionize your heart with His love, so that He might revolutionize your home, your neighborhood, your church for His kingdom. The time has come for you to take a stand for the Liberation Front of Heaven and embrace the fullness of Christ in you – embrace the Lion. It’s time for you to stand up, stand out and wage the war of love. It is a time to take risks, to love with reckless abandon the lost, the hurting, the broken – the “wrong people,” the “usual suspects,” to champion again the cause of the poor – the spiritual poor and those poor in the things of this life (Jesus wasn’t kidding about the sheep and the goats thing in Matthew 25). It’s time to work to set the spiritual captives free – and to work to free those held captive by poverty, alcoholism, addictions, fear, hopelessness, and social injustices of every kind. It is time to see the new reality of God’s Kingdom life as real, and not a storybook fairly tale of something that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – or as something we wait passively for the Rapture Bus to swing by our stop and take us to the great-by-and-by. Yes, it’s time to even stand up to governments that oppress people through economic and political means. Where are the advocates in the Church for the Darfurs, the Sudans, the Rwandas? Yes, we know you are there, but you are distressingly too few.

And why should we concern ourselves with such things? After all, we each have our own stuff to deal with, right? The first reason is simply because it completes the work of Christ, pulling into this reality and into the lives of people the acceptable year of the Lord’s favor - the blessings of His Kingdom reign and rule. His Kingdom enriches, frees, illuminates and unshackles – and that reality needs to be demonstrated in and through, His Church. The second reason is just as simple – He has already begun doing these things for you. How could you but allow Him to do the same thing through you for others:

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” - John 20:21-22 ESV

So, go, you who are the Spirit Breathed-Upon, sent in the same way the Father sent Him: Empowered. Chosen. To the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed – in the spiritual and the natural – and declare and demonstrate the blessings of His Kingdom rule and reign. Remember, this is your God:

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing – Zephaniah 3:17 RSV

Go, be a revolutionary, a liberator, like Jesus.

Binding and Loosing: Language of a Revolutionary

by Mike Chong Perkinson

Jesus told Peter, after he made the great confession that “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

Jesus seems to be giving Peter the keys of authority that will invade the dimensions of planet Earth. What did Jesus mean? What is the authority that has been granted to Peter? Are we able to simply bind and lose whatever we desire? Can we simply decide to start a spiritual revolution and loose it on earth? From a quick literal reading it would appear such is the case.

Whatever camp you find yourself in determines your interpretive possibilities. For the conservative Evangelical the power of binding and loosing can only be based in the written Word of God. For the Pentecostal, the power of binding and loosing is based in the authority of Jesus granted in the presence of the Holy Spirit who empowers every believer to live out this authority. For the Catholic, this power has been given through a long succession of Popes, beginning with Peter, that speak as the living words of authority, preserving the tradition and life of the Church.

Ok, enough of the exegetical possibilities. What in the world did the text mean? And how does it apply to a revolutionary?

I find it fascinating that the once the words have been spoken by Jesus, He immediately instructs the disciples to tell no that He is the Christ and explains how He will go to Jerusalem and die and on the third day be raised from the dead.

What intrigues me further about this text is Peter’s response to Jesus going to Jerusalem and dying. The first thing that Peter tries to bind is Jesus, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22)

Jesus swiftly rebukes him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23)

I wonder how much of an issue this really is. We, well meaning sons and daughters of Adam, in our attempt to move out in the authority of Jesus, often end up binding and loosing the wrong things. How Hell must laugh.

Another text adds to our understanding, which reads, “Why could we not cast it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29,)

In the account, the disciples were not able to cast out the demon (Mark 9:18) and were perplexed as the text indicates. The disciples had to learn that their previous success in expelling demons (Mark 6:7) provided no guarantee of continued power. Rather the power of God must be asked for on each occasion in radical reliance upon the Spirit of God. This power must be asked for afresh in prayer. Our reliance is not on a principle but a person that we commune with daily. As Jesus said, the Son only does what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19).

To trust God’s power in the sense that we have it in our control and at our disposal is tantamount to unbelief; for it is really to trust in ourselves instead of in God. Faith is a radical reliance upon the Person of Christ not just the propositions about Him. I can control a proposition or principle and implement it as I see fit. I can’t control Christ and use Him as I see fit. Faith in Christ requires a relationship, trust, on-going dialogue (prayer), and a daily surrender to His heart and will for my life.

And what does this have to do with a revolutionary? Simply this, we believe God is in the midst of something profound in our land. A spiritual wave of hope and life is swelling in the distant horizon and the saints are finding themselves stirred within to ride this wave of life and societal transformation that will release the healing and saving power of the Kingdom. It is within this framework of the in-breaking of His Kingdom that we have the power to bind and loose.

So how do we bind and loose and facilitate this revolution? The first key in a spiritual awakening or revolution is not so much what we choose to do in the name of Jesus but our surrender to the Ultimate Revolutionary, our obedience to His voice in our daily lives, our willingness to live within the confines of His Kingdom authority; and our passionate aim to see His Kingdom extended so that all might come to know the restoration of life His Kingdom brings (this is about salvation of souls but includes so much more).

And so, it is not so much about what we bind our loose or the power that has been granted us to exercise demons and remove the darkness in our land. His authority has been released in us (Matthew 28:18-20), that is not the issue. The issue is our on-going dialogue (prayer) with the Ultimate Revolutionary so that we move when He moves and we bind what He has bound and we loose what He has loosed.

The prophet Micah encapsulates this for us as he declares, “He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.” (2:13) The King has come. His Kingdom is here. The revolution has begun. May we have ears to hear what He is saying and eyes to see what He is doing!