In the Word of God, we are summoned to approach the throne of grace with great boldness. The early apostles, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, dominated by Him completely, preached the Word with great boldness. The apostle Paul, after many years of apostolic ministry, had, as one of his prayer requests, the petition that he would preach the Word boldly, as he ought to speak. The apostle was not asking for prayer so that he would be able to overcome stage fright. Boldness is necessary because preaching, and prayer, and singing psalms, and feasting in the presence of God, are all forms of warfare with the idols. Idols are always respectable. The principalities and powers behind them make it respectable to bow down. And we do not contend with flesh and blood, but with those principalities and powers.
Our challenge and defiance to the idols of the age consists of this: Jesus Christ has conquered death forever. The very Word of God took shape in a virgin’s womb, and His birth could not be prevented. Once He was born, the idols took the lives of many of Rachel’s little boys in an attempt to defend their position. But it was all in vain. Satan himself tried to turn our Lord aside in the wilderness, as Israel had been turned in the wilderness centuries before. But the Lord answered the devil with the Word of God because man does not live by bread alone.
Jesus was beaten, His beard was plucked out, a crown of thorns was jammed on His head. Respectable theologians and priests jeered at Him while he was hanging on a cross. “Come down,” they were saying, “and defeat us”—little knowing that if He had come down, He would not have defeated them. He remained, in faithfulness to the will of God, and He showed us the way of God.
We, His followers, were then commanded to go and preach the message of this crucified carpenter, and we were assured that this bizarre message would overwhelm and subdue the world. And for two thousand years it has been doing so. We still sometimes waver in unbelief, but God is fulfilling all His promises to Abraham, who is inheriting the world. Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Mohammed, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jefferson, Lincoln, Confucius, Derrida—behold, they are all dead men. But Jesus of Nazareth has been raised. Jesus Davidson is at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is Lord, and He is Lord of all.