The Powers that Be

 "It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe, people, language, and nation."  Revelation 13:7

“If anyone is to go into captivity,
    into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
    with the sword they will be killed.”

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people."  Rev. 13:10

15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! ² And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’" Jeremiah 15:1,2

This is ultimately how you know we are still in this evil age.  The Principalities and Powers are still given authority.  Yeshua defeated them at the cross, but the out-working of that only has a "ladder" from the age to come into this evil age.  The evilness of this evil age is still being played out.  The day of the Lord is still on the horizon. Mercy is still being shown to sinners and time is still being given for repentance. All Israel has not had the same Damascus Road experience given to Paul, where the Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out on the remnant people that is still left on the earth after the tribulation, the great one, has purified the earth of all evil.

The Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, the meeting of the Lord in the air to escort He and His victorious army back to the earth to begin His official rule and reign from a throne in Jerusalem, all these things are yet to come and they are all after the tribulation, just read Matthew 24 and see what it says.  

Meanwhile, do not be surprised that the principalities and powers are experiencing a whole bunch of temporary victories, they know their days are numbered, they know Who is God Most High.  If we go into captivity, we know there is a time limit, if we are killed, we know we never die.  Mercy, and only mercy, has made us a winner.

To Display You Are Worthy of Our Trust

This article,  https://www.faimission.org/articles/bound-by-will     prompted these thoughts.  It is one of the best little essays I have ever read, and well worth your time.
If you stop here and pray and then read Ephesians chapter 3, you will get the most out of our time together.
Verse 1 Paul's life does not center on Paul it is given over fully to the Messiah and the Messiah has chosen to use it up entirely for the sake of the Gentiles.
Verse 2 Grace 100% grace, not Paul's ...anything...is the driving force behind this human being, this animated flesh.
Verse 3,4 and 5, we need to refer to what Paul wrote about the mystery of the Messiah, or we will lose what he is saying.  Reviewing sections in Colossians where he uses that same wording it is the amazing revelation that the Messiah is in the believer and is the believers, life, hope, faith, his all in all.
Verse 6 This blessing of grace, this life of the Messiah of the Jews has been extended and given to the Gentiles, the gospel is the ever expanding kingdom realized through one life at a time being given over to the loving Lordship of the living God.
Verse 7,8 God's grace flowing in power through Paul is calling out to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of the Messiah are yours too! 
Verse 9 The unveiling of this part of God's plan, is also the unveiling of a gathering, whose life and mission and high calling is to restore the Father to His firstborn son, Israel.  The Messiah lived and died so that others could be re-gathered, forgiven, healed.  The unveiling of this gathering around the Messiah, is the unveiling of a corporate people who live and die so that others can be re-gathered, forgiven, and healed, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.  This humble people recognize that their root is not in themselves but in the lineage of the chosen people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  (The whole train jumped off the rails when it began to think it was the end purpose and goal of God, when it forgot that the heart of God reached back thousands of years with promises and faithfulness, when it chose to use God for its own glory, instead of be used by Him for His glory.)  This unveiling of a never before seen aspect of Messiah's community is still His community, formed in His image, with the cross at the center and the laying down of one's life for the other as the pillar.  His chosen people were called to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, the Gentiles.  Paul's calling is to tell the Gentiles they are being blessed with the life of the Messiah to be willing to live and die as He did...
Verse 10-11 SO THAT this newly unveiled mystery, would reveal a people who are enlivened to manifest the wisdom of God which is to lay down His life willingly, lovingly, wholeheartedly, for the rescue, the salvation of the "other." 
Verse 12 Through Yeshuah, we ask to be made like Yeshuah.
Verse 13  Paul's life filled with tribulation wasn't a cause for those who looked to him for leadership and guidance to lose heart, quite the contrary, it was a living example of the willingness to suffer whatever down here for the good of those you are called to witness to.
Verse 14,15,16  The Father has a family and through the Messiah of Israel, the God of Israel has been given to us, His life is the power in us to lay down our lives willingly, lovingly, wholeheartedly. This kind of a life is a manifestation of the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers.  Humility connects us to the life of God because His life is humble.  Pride separates us from God, because His life has nothing to do with pride.  Grasping and striving and working to "I will make myself like the Most High." is a dead end.  "I have come to do Your will." is the path of life, is the wisdom of God.
Verses 17,18,19  We need His strength, to even be able to receive the completely overwhelming revelation of His love, a love that is 4 dimensional beyond our ability to even grasp a teeny-tiny particle of it.  "Filled up to all the fullness of God"  I am not so stupid as to even try to make a one word comment on that statement.
Verse 20,21 His power working in us accomplishing His glory in His community through individual laid down lives, that unite in Him for a corporate laid down life of humility.  WOW.