Can you unloose Jesus’ shoes?”
Today we address the question: “What is your Heaven View?” And: “Did you know that your Heaven View directly impacts your Worldview?” Even: “By your Heaven and Worldview, Can you unloose Jesus’ shoes?” These are issues addressed in every one of our DSR’s (Paul’s Primers Daily Scripture Reading Bible Study Podcast’s).
Let’s begin with a brief review. You see, in ancient (but never old!) Christian truth, one never began discussions about a “worldview” without first addressing the issue of an appropriate “Heaven View.” And, as a Ministry committed to “Awakening Believers in our Postmodern World with the Victorious Heaven and Worldview of Ancient (but never old!) Christian Truth,” we follow this same pattern; we always focus attention on an appropriate Heaven View as the foundation for any and every aspect of our Christ centered worldview.
Hear the words of Origen (185-254 AD) as he addresses this subject: “If the passage about John the Baptist not being worthy to untie Jesus’ shoes possesses a hidden meaning, we ought not to pass over it. I think that the incarnation, when the Son of God takes on flesh and bones, is one of the shoes, and the descent into hell is the other. It is said in Psalm 16: ‘You will not leave my soul in hell.’ And Peter, in his general epistle, mentions Jesus’ descent into hell. Therefore, the one who can show the meaning of both sojourns in a worthy manner, is able to unloose Jesus’ shoes.”
So this is our goal, to show the meaning of both sojourns, and thus present the full story of the gospel, the full depth of the good news of Jesus Christ and the very real presence of His eternal Kingdom.
In this light, consider this simple truth regarding an appropriate Heaven View, a truth preached with great vigor in the early Church, but in today’s Church, a truth that is rarely mentioned. It has to do with the work of Jesus Christ directly after the cross. You see, the work of Christ did not end with His shed blood, nor was the next step the resurrection; instead, there was much work to do in the heavenly realm between these two events. Work that had, and has even today, powerful implications for every aspect of your daily and eternal well being.
In a nutshell, this simple truth is this: Directly after the cross, Jesus Christ, the most heroic and mighty warrior of all the ages, implemented our present triumphant state, by, for all intents and purposes, ending the war in the heavenly realm with His triumphant victorious battle against Satan directly after the cross. For it was indeed Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, who in the Spirit as that Lion of the tribe of Juda, immediately after leaving the cross that Good Friday afternoon, descended triumphantly into Hell (unlike every man before Him). So we read in First Peter: “It was in the Spirit that He transferred over and preached to the imprisoned spirits.” (1 Pet 3:19)
Then, upon His arrival into Hell, our Lord, warring righteously for the Kingdom, immediately took hold of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and cast him bound and defeated into the bottomless pit. Then, after shutting and sealing him up, He broke down its gates. Through His preaching He then called forth the captive saints; as He had once called forth Lazarus from the grave–even by the sound of this mighty Shepherd’s own voice calling out to His lost sheep–and then celebrated His victory over the devil, with these saints, that final Saturday Sabbath–right there in the depths of Hell, in what had been their prison cells, but was now “Paradise”–as His presence filled that place.
