Mon, Oct 29th - 5:59PM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
"I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence (Psalm 91:2-3)."
Satan is compared to many different things in the effort to enable humans to comprehend the extent of his influence in our lives and the world. Here he is depicted as being like a fowler, someone who sets out traps to snare unsuspecting birds. He is also compared to a pestilence that is "noisome." This uncommon term means to be obnoxious, very bothersome, objectionable to the senses. The picture comes to mind of being very unsettled, uncomfortable, stressed, irritable, and of ill health. Not a pretty picture. Against this is laid the picture of God being our refuge and fortress. God is seen to be protective and a sanctuary in times of tribulation and strife.
"And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up (Matthew 13:4):"
By reading this parable and Christ's explanation afterwards, we understand the fowls to represent Satan. God sows the Gospel amongst us, giving us knowledge about the kingdom, but those who hear this "seed" and do not understand it experience Satan coming and stealing it away from them. It depicts the quickness with which Satan will swoop in and steal the truth away from those who do not want to be obedient to the truth of God. Perhaps they stop and question the "wisdom" of the Gospel? Or perhaps they question it against what science claims to be the truth? Their hesitation then can become lethal if Satan chooses to come and take the Word away from them, for then they will reject the sensability of believing in the Gospel.
"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way (Matthew 13:25)."
Here Satan is depicted as our enemy, one who comes while we are not awake, and sows "weeds" among our efforts to sow God's Word. Weeds always grow much, much, faster than the intended crops. The weeds are opportunistic plants and take advantage of empty spaces. "Empty spaces" are those aspects of our lives in which we are doing nothing really positive. We are simply coasting along, making no effort to keep things in line. Satan seizes this opportunity to sow temptation and sin into our life. Perhaps we have been feeling like we simply can't be tempted, that we are rock solid and there are no breaches in our "personal defense." This is a false security and merely serves the purpose of creating a vacuum into which Satan steps. His sole goal is to bring temptation at us from an unexpected angle, to catch us completely off guard, and watch us stumble and fall in sin. He will ensnare us or else plant seeds of sin in our lives by exploiting our personal weaknesses with the intent of ruining our lives of any witnessing power for Christ Jesus.
"But he that is a hired hand, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, fleeing: and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them (John 10:12)."
Here Satan is depicted as a "wolf." He will come and seek to scatter the congregation of believers so that they can be devoured one by one through separation. He will use any means available to do this scattering, he does not care which method works, as long as it does work. We also are given the illustration of what will happen whenever a congregation of believers is lead by someone who is simply acting as their pastor in order to gain wealth. They are not a pastor because they really wish to help people, to be their servant. They chose to become a pastor in order to get rich. These sorts of people cut and run when trouble comes along in the form of spiritual warfare since that is not something of which they don't want to be a part. But the larger picture is meant to alert believers that Satan is around each and every church congregation, seeking ways to scatter them.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8):"
A male lion walks the boundary of his territory and marks it with his scent. At the same time he periodically roars, warninng off any rogue male lions from thinking about invading his turf and challenging his authority. They say the roar can be heard for miles. This entire planet is Satan's turf, he walks all about it looking for whom he may consume. He isn't interested in making deals, or negotiating contracts. He is interested in dominating this entire planet, ruling it by his authority, and rejecting every instance of God's will being done here on earth. I suppose you could say that his influence is behind abortion, denial of prayer in public schools, and the push for social theology in politics. We must remember that Christ did not command us to become politicians, we are to spread the Word of God among the politicians at every opportunity.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the entire world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9)."
This chapter of Revelation reports to us necessary information about Satan. His depiction as a great dragon is to allow us to understand his strength and power. Reference to him being that old serpent is to remind us of his cunning and deceit from back int the Garden of Eden. In all of this time Satan has not changed his attitude toward God nor towards mankind. He is unrepentent and remains rebellious against God's kingdom. Back in verses three and four we are told about past history concerning Satan while he dwelled up in heaven. In verses 13-16 we learn about what Satan chose to do concerning Israel and the bloodline that was to lead to the coming of the Messiah. Verse seventeen tells us why there was, and is, and will continue to be, persecution of Christians across this world of ours. Finally in chapter 20:2 we are told that God will end Satan's influence upon the earth for a period of one thousand years. At the end of that period of time Satan is to be released for a very short time before he is cast into the lake of fire for the remainder of eternity. Again, Satan is depicted as the dragon, that old serpent. As powerful and long-lived as Satan is, he is not more powerful than Jehovah. His final destination is fully in his rearview mirror, and he knows it. He simply refuses to change. Perhaps knowing that he is destined to be cast into that lake of fire fuels his anger even more against mankind.
Well, there are the many things that Satan is compared to. They help us gain a better understanding of who and what he actually is. Next time I will study out what sort of relationship the wicked people of this world have with Satan. I hope that you return at least one more time to finish up this study! Grace and peace be yours on this stormy Monday evening in North America!
~Eric
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Sun, Oct 21st - 9:12AM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
"And the angels which did not keep their first estate, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day (Jude 6)." Here in Jude we find historical instances of apostasy. One is about the Hebrew people who being saved from slavery in Egypt fell victim to unbelief and subsequently were destroyed over the course of forty years of wandering out in the wilderness rather than entering into the Promised Land. Another is about the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrha giving themselves over to fornication and homosexuality rather than continue to believe in God becoming an example of how apostates will suffer eternal fire. The third example of apostasy concerns angels. These are those angels that chose to believe what Lucifer had to say about God rather than believe what God had actually said to them. They are without excuse since they did not have to resort to reading about God's Word in any written format, they were spoken to directly by God in person. Thus we learn that even though we could have God present in form so that we could converse with Him and see Him, it would not eliminate unbelief in mankind. Some of us refuse to believe that God exists, and even if we are forced to admit that God exists we then insist to believe that God must be evil and wicked. But what we learn about this group of angels is that because of their unbelief they did not remain living in heaven but had to leave their "first estate." Heaven is where angels are supposed to live, but this group have been placed in "chains" under darkness of the abyss until the final judgment of God becomes a reality. Some question exists as to whether or not all of the rebellious angels are chained up awaiting judgment or are there some that have become demons and roam this earth seeking to do people harm. "The great day" refers to the day of the Lord, which we can read about in Isaiah. "For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low (Isaiah 2:12);" Much can be learned about the kingdom of God within the confines of what Isaiah was shown by God. These examples of apostasy are given to us so that we will understand that there has always been those who know God exists and yet turn away from believing everything about God and His Christ. In the days ahead there will be continuing apostasy which shall become ever greater as the time of Christ's return grows closer. It will become more and more difficult to reach people's hearts for Christ since those hearts will become hardened spiritually against Jesus Christ. In Jude the ensuing verses speak to us about apostate teachers and what they will be doing. Cain was an apostate and not an unbeliever in God. Cain knew God existed, he knew that he ought to give sacrifice for sin against God. Cain's issue lay within what he believed should be the acceptable method of sacrifice and what should be acceptable to God as a sacrifice. Cain did not accept God's Word as being the ultimate truth that it actually is. Cain's rebellion against God resulted in murder of his own brother, Abel. So we must accept the fact that someone's refusal to accept God's Way of entering into eternal life can very well lead to violence, just not all of the time. Since Satan, AKA Lucifer, is an angel who rebelled against God in heaven, it would seem that he must be chained up in darkness with these other fallen angels. But he is not. Perhaps it is because he might have been an archangel. We simply do not know at this point in time. We do know that Satan will be judged by God in the End Times: "Then shall He say also to them on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)." The lake of fire was created specifically for Satan and the angels that chose to follow him, not for mankind. But that changed in the Garden of Eden with the disobedience of Eve and then Adam. Everlasting fire is required to punish eternal beings, which angels are. All people will receive eternal bodies upon final judgment and those whose final destination is the lake of fire will then spend eternity there. This determination is not made by Christians, it is made by God through the choices people freely make. Jesus repeatedly stated that He did not condemn anyone but that it was their thoughts, words, and actions which already condemned them. "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20: 10, 14-15)." These verses reinforce this concept of judgment coming against Satan, fallen angels, and all people who choose to not believe God came in the flesh to reveal Himself to mankind. Much information is provided to us in these three verses. We learn that Satan deceives people. We learn that the beast and false prophet spoken about during the Great Tribulation at the end of time will end up in this lake of fire before Satan is sent there. Death and hell are thrown into the lake of fire as well, signifying the end of the influence of sin in God's creation and the beginning of eternal life as He originally intended. We also learn that if our name is not found written down in the book of life we shall end up in this lake of fire. We also learn that even though we experience physical death, there will be a second death if we have not accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That is all for today, beloved. Next time I will delve into a summary of who and what Satan is. Hopefully that will bring all of these various aspects of the Devil into better focus. Grace and peace be yours on this fine autumnal day! ~Eric
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Mon, Oct 15th - 8:43PM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only He who now lets will let, until He be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,(II Thessalonians 2:1-9)"
We must work our way through all that the apostle wrote here. A general apostasy, there would come a falling away first, a recanting of faith in Jesus Christ by those who had not labored at increasing their faith in God. Those who had chosen an easy path of believism, who had failed to study to make themselves approved in the sight of God, it is they who become offended and afraid during the times of heightened persecution that will come. I shall quote from Matthew Henry's Commentary: "By this apostasy we are not to understand a defection in the state, or from civil government, but in spiritual or religious matters, from sound doctrine, instituted worship and church government, and a holy life. The apostle speaks of some very great apostasy, not only of some converted Jews or Gentiles, but such as should be very general, though gradual, and should give occasion to the revelation of rise of antichrist, that man of sin. He had told them of this when he was with them, with design, no doubt, that they should not take offence nor be stumbled at it. And let us observe that no sooner was Christianity planted and rooted in the world than there began to be a defection in the Christian church. It was so in the Old Testament church; presently after any considerable advance made in religion there followed a defection: soon after the promise there was revolting; for example, soon after men began to call upon the name of the Lord all flesh corrupted their way, - soon after the covenant with Noah the Babel-builders bade defiance to heaven, - soon after the covenant with Abraham his seed degenerated in Egypt, - soon after the Israelites were planted in Canaan, when the first generation was worn off, they forsook God and served Baal, - soon after God's covenant with David his seed revolted, and served other gods, - soon after the return out of captivity there was a general decay of piety, as appears by the story of Ezra and Nehemiah; and therefore it was no strange thing that after the planting of Christianity there should come a falling away. A revelation of that man of sin, that is, antichrist would take his rise from this general apostasy. The apostle afterwards speaks of the revelation of that wicked one, intimating the discovery which should be made of his wickedness, in order to his ruin: here he seems to speak of his rise, which should be occasioned by the general apostasy he had mentioned, and to intimate that all sorts of false doctrines and corruptions should center in him. Great disputes have been as to who or what is intended by this man of sin and son of perdition: and, if it be not certain that the papal power and tyranny are principally or only intended, yet this is plain, What is here said does very exactly agree thereto. For observe, 1. The names of this person, or rather the state and power here spoken of. He is called the man of sin, to denote his egregious wickedness; not only is he addicted to, and practises, wickedness himself, but he also promotes, countenances, and commands sin and wickedness in others; and he is the son of perdition, because he himself is devoted to certain destruction, and is the instrument of destroying many others both in soul and body. These names may properly be applied, for these reasons, to the papal state; and thereto agree also, 2. The characters here given. (1.) That he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; and thus have the bishops of Rome not only opposed God's authority, and that of the civil magistrates, who are called gods, but have exalted themselves above God and earthly governors, in demanding greater regard to their commands than to the commands of God or the magistrate. (2.) As God, he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. As God was in the temple of old, and worshipped there, and is in and with His church now, so the antichrist here mentioned is some usurper of God's authority in the Christian church, who claims divine honors; and to whom can this better apply than to the bishops of Rome, to whom the most blasphemous titles have been given, as Dominus Deus noster papa - Our Lord God the pope; Deus alter in terrâ - Another God on earth; Idem est dominium Dei et papae - The dominion of God and the pope is the same?
His rise is mentioned. Concerning this we are to observe two things: - (1.) There was something that hindered or withheld, or let, until it was taken away. This is supposed to be the power of the Roman empire, which the apostle did not think fit to mention more plainly at that time; and it is notorious that, while this power continued, it prevented the advances of the bishops of Rome to that height of tyranny to which soon afterwards they arrived. (2.) This mystery of iniquity was gradually to arrive at its height; and so it was in effect that the universal corruption of doctrine and worship in the Romish church came in by degrees, and the usurpation of the bishops of Rome was gradual, not all at once; and thus the mystery of iniquity did the more easily, and almost insensibly, prevail. The apostle justly calls it a mystery of iniquity, because wicked designs and actions were concealed under false shows and pretences, at least they were concealed from the common view and observation. By pretended devotion, superstition and idolatry were advanced; and, by a pretended zeal for God and His glory, bigotry and persecution were promoted. And he tells us that this mystery of iniquity did even then begin, or did already work. While the apostles were yet living, the enemy came, and sowed tares; there were then the deeds of the Nicolaitans, persons who pretended zeal for Christ, but really opposed Him. Pride, ambition, and worldly interest of church-pastors and church-rulers, as in Diotrephes and others, were the early working of the mystery of iniquity, which, by degrees, came to that prodigious height which has been visible in the church of Rome."
Now, I will again state that this is what Matthew Henry commented. Is he totally correct in his assessment? I leave that up to you to decide. What is apparent is that the Holy Spirit is present around our planet, dwelling within each genuine born-again believer in Christ Jesus. Is He the influence that withholds Satan from doing whatever he pleases? If so, at what point in history will the Spirit of God be withdrawn from the earth? What will that mean for human behavior in general? What is also apparent is that the mystery of lawlessness has been ongoing since the time of Christ. The apostles had to deal with this issue pretty much on a daily basis. We here in America live on what is in essence an island of reprieve from religious persecution. But this too shall pass in time.
Apostasy is from within the church of Christ, not from unbelievers. We find evidence supporting this concept in both Luke 18:8 and II Timothy 3:1-8. As much as Matthew Henry thought that the Roman Empire was the "he" who restrains/allows/lets scripture and grammar here tend to lead me to believe that the Holy Spirit is the One being spoken of. "He" speaks of a person and a "mystery" always implies in scripture a supernatural element; thus this Person can be none other than the Holy Spirit of God within the church itself. Not until this historical event takes place may there be the manifestation of the lawless one/Wicked one. Until the Spirit is withdrawn from this world the antichrist shall remain enshrouded in deceit, living camouflaged out in the world. Once this situation arises then the coming of Christ in glory and the destruction of the lawless one can occur with the following of the Day of Jehovah (Isaiah 2:12; II Thessalonians 2:9-12)."
Thus we find that Satan is directly involved in the coming apostasy within the worldwide church of Christ. I Timothy 4:1 informs us further about how during the "latter times" there shall be some who leave the faith in order to follow after seducing spirits and the doctrines of demons. Satan is the lord of this world until Christ returns as King. We must not ever forget that fact.
That is all for tonight my friends. May you have some things to ponder upon from out of this study tonight. Study out the cited passages and follow their course to find God's truth for you. Be prepared! Be vigilant! Be a watchperson on top of the walls. Our adversary is roaming this world, looking for those whom he can devour. May he not find you!
~Eric
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Tue, Oct 9th - 8:57PM
WHO AND WHAT IS SATAN?
"Then Satan answered the LORD, saying, Does Job fear God for nothing (Job 1:9)?" "Fear" in this context must come from what is spoken of in Psalm 19:9, which is that it is piety, meaning reverential trust, with hatred of evil. Too many people today focus upon what we mean by using this term and then transferring it into the Bible and then going, "Ah ha!" I am not being instructed to be scared to death of God but to have reverential trust in God. It is why in Psalm 19 it speaks about the "fear of the Lord" being clean, enduring for ever; being true and righteous for ever. Looking at what Satan alleges Job will do if God allows bad things to happen to him we are able to ascertain something about his character. Satan does not care about us, he does not wish to strike deals with us, does not want us to prosper, does not want us in charge of the earth, and surely does not want us to love God at all. Satan strives to drive humans to their knees with suffering and persecution in order to watch them curse God in anger. He sought to do this to Job in order to prove his belief to God. God allowed Satan to afflict Job right up to the point of death, but no further. Job did not recant his faith nor did he curse God. What we take away from the first two chapters of Job is that Satan is malignant in character. "But I fear, that by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him (II Corinthians 11:3-4)." Between this passage and that of Genesis 3:1 we can conclude that Satan is subtle. He does not choose to approach anyone directly, face-to-face. He will approach from the side or from behind you, so that you will be unaware of his presence near you. Satan chose to possess the serpent since it too was the most subtle creature that God had created on earth. It was well suited to being used by him in order to enter the Garden of Eden and instigating a conversation with Eve while God was not present. Satan will use people all around us to try and get us to leave our faith, to corrupt our faith, to destroy our marriages and families. He will also attempt to bring people into a God fearing congregation in order to compromise its efforts to serve God faithfully. He tries to neutralize believers' efforts by negating their witness/testimony. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end will be according to their works (II Corinthians 11:14)." Paul writes to us about how Satan can still transform himself into an angel of light, if for only short periods of time. And the other fallen angels can do likewise. Here is where people can become confused as to exactly what they may be looking at. Is this truly an image of the Virgin Mary before me, or is it a fallen angel deceiving my eyesight? Therefore, we are not to trust our sight in these matters, we are to trust in God's Word and to believe God is telling us the truth. Satan is out to deceive every single human being if he possibly can. We also find this warning over in Ephesians 6:11; "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may stand against the wiles of the devil." Here it is trickery, beguilement, to deceive through a strategem. Satan employs layer upon layer of deceit in order to beguile people into rejecting the truth about God, and about redemption through the shed blood of Christ Jesus. He will ensnare people, get their focus off of Jesus and onto such things as arguing about the color of carpet in the sanctuary, which day to worship on, which version of the Bible to read, who to allow to enter the sanctuary, and whether or not we should sit on chairs or in pews. Instead, believers ought to remain acutely aware of the fact that each of us is an ambassador of King Jesus, His royal representative here on this planet. As His ambassadors we must behave accordingly and must always be speaking boldly, making known the mystery of the gospel. And as ambassadors we are going to be held accountable for what we think, do, and say. "(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For often it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he broke the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) (Luke 8:29)" "And, lo, a spirit took him, and he suddenly cried out; and it tore at him that he foamed again, and bruising him hardly departed from him. ...And as He was yet coming, the devil threw him down, and tore him, and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father (Luke 9:39-42)." "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8):" All of these verses inform us that Satan is fierce, he is cruel, and that he will deliberately force people to harm themselves against their own will. If at all possible Satan will seek to devour a person of faith, rendering them completely useless to fight against him. The illustrations provided to us clearly show that demon possession over rules the will of the person involved. The person will realize that they are doing wicked things to themselves and/or to others, but they can't prevent those things from happening, they are powerless. Well, as you can see, Satan is not something to seek out and to attempt to negotiate a "sweet deal" with. You can't trust that anything coming out of his mouth will be the truth. You can't expect him to tell you the honest truth, and he will not honor anything that he does say to you. He is only looking out for numbero uno, himself. You can attempt to ignore him, act like he is not anyone of whom you should place any importance upon. That strategy fails miserably since he will simply snipe away at you and cause damage to your life from a safe distance. He will wear you down over time and cause you to either stress out, become depressed, or suffer a mental breakdown. Oh, and he is not above acting like an angel of light in order to fool you into thinking that you are witnessing a valid vision of some saint or even Jesus. That is all for tonight, beloved! My apologies for such a lengthy absence from this study. My modem was experiencing some technical difficulties that finally were resolved earlier this evening. Take care and remain watchful, vigilant, alert for attacks by your adversary upon yourselves and upon your loved ones. Until next time, grace and peace. ~Eric
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Name: E J Rajaniemi
