They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. (John 18:5-6)
Many times I encounter people who go from church to church to church to hear the latest “anointed minister” and to see what kind of show they put on. Later as they enthusiastically describe the chaos that took place at the service, I cannot help, but be struck by something I often hear. As part of the service, the minister performs all sorts of miracles. One of these alleged miracles is when the minister “bowls over” the crowd with the Holy Spirit and they fall backwards. When this happens, the crowd loves it because they think that they experienced a miracle.
When you search the Scriptures for this sort of phenomenon, you find an interesting observation about people who are “bowled over” and fall backwards. In today’s Scripture verses, Judas led the authorities to Jesus so that they could seize Him. When Jesus asked them who they were looking for, they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” At that moment Jesus replied, “I am he.” When Jesus said this, they fell backwards to the ground. Of particular interest is that the King James Bible shows the word “he” in parentheses. This means that the translators added the word for clarity to the reader. However, without this word, Jesus simply said , “I am.” The fact that He said I am demonstrates to us that at that moment, Jesus was speaking to them as God, because God calls Himself “I Am” (Exodus 3:13-15; John 8:57-59).
As God, when Jesus spoke, those that were against Him fell backwards because they were against Him. When it comes to standing before God, Scripture teaches us three important points:
- Those who are against God fall backwards because they cannot stand in the His presence (1 Samuel 4:18; Psalms 9:3; Psalms 40:14; Psalms 70; Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 28:13; John 18:6; Jeremiah 7:24; Nahum 1:2-6; John 18:6)
- Those who love and revere God are given the ability to stand in His presence and will even fall on their faces in worship (Genesis 17:3; Genesis 17:17; Leviticus 9:23-24; Numbers 14:5; Numbers 20:6; Numbers 22:31; Judges 13:20; 1 Kings 18:39; 2 Chronicles 29:11; Psalms 130:3; Matthew 17:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:8; Luke 5:12; Luke 17:16; Revelation 7:11; Revelation 11:16)
- When God’s people are not living their lives in the will of the Lord that He allows the forces of evil to “bowl over” them to so that they also fall over backwards (Judges 2:14; 1 Samuel 3-1 Samuel 4)
There are many more verses that can be cited, but we are left with an important consideration. If we are bowled over backwards by someone who many call an anointed speaker, is everyone in the room against God? Or, is everyone in the room not living their lives in the will of the Lord? We must be very careful when considering our answer (Matthew 7:15-23; 1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 1 John 4:1-6; Revelation 13:11-14).
