By Tom Reid
A quirk of my personality is that I write to gather my thoughts. I can read the bible and intellectually understand the stories and lessons, but it takes more for me to internalize it. So often when I study a subject I begin to write my notes and collect my citations. I am a lawyer by training and perhaps that is one of the influences that makes me do this. I also know that I will sin and sometimes fall away from God. I use these things I’ve written as tools for my future self to remind me of what I learned in studying the bible. I go back and read these things to help in my walk. After conducting this study I shared it with my small group and Pastor Matthew in case it might help them in their walk as well. This led to a further discussion of sharing it a little more broadly, and thus you now have a copy for your own study. I do not pretend to be a biblical scholar and I have never studied the languages reflected in the bible. I rely on others far wiser and educated than me who, through consistent study, have proven that they understand the Word of God far better than I. Test what I say here. Develop your own discernment to see if it is true. And if you conclude that it is, please consider how that will be reflected in the things you do for the rest of your life. It really is that important.
Tom Reid
A note about sources: I use a variety of sources in my research, but I confess that I find the teachings of Pastor John MacArthur Jr. the most scholarly yet practical. I have read many of his books, I use his Study Bible as my primary reference tool, and I borrow liberally from his work. He does not seem to object to greater distribution of his teachings and permits copying of his taped messages so long as it is not done for profit. He is a wiser bible scholar than I am and I trust his discernment to guide mine. So to the degree this parallels his work, that is not by accident. It is all for the greater glory of God. I take full responsibility, however for the accuracy of the citations and the theology presented. Any errors are mine, not the fault of others. Tom Reid 03/21/10 2
1 In my walk with God I sometimes find my soul is troubled. I’ve read about such things in the bible and for a very long time did not understand it. Apparently it is like so many other things in life where you have to truly experience it before you really understand it. It’s like all the things we went through in our high school days. We were so smart then! We had the new-found freedom of choice, and quickly discovered that we could make some truly horrendous choices. Sometimes we paid a price; other times we escaped. Paying a price taught a lesson that escape seldom did. But I recently found my soul troubled. The past few years have been interesting. The details are not critical, but they have involved loss, consequences for bad decisions, struggles with sin and poor stewardship, and many other failings in my personal life. Losing my mother and only brother in 2007 was hard. Then 2008 and 2009 were a financial disaster. You learn a lot about how “the other half” lives when you are that other half. It always seems that God has to break our spirit to bring us closer to Him. And He has. And I have. But my soul is troubled. I was reading my bible and thinking about the time that Jesus cast the demons out and sent them into a herd of pigs, whereupon the pigs bolted and threw themselves off a cliff. As I thought about this, nowhere in the bible are we told that the demons died. So, I wondered, just what DID happen to them? My church recently went through a series they called “The Ripple Effect.” They coupled it with some daily readings and a weekly fast. The fast was to occur on the same day each week – and just coincidentally it was the day that my men’s group met for breakfast. At McDonalds. God’s sense of humor is truly amazing. So I thought about the times that churches in the bible had devoted themselves to prayer and fasting. There was Nehemiah whose heart was heavy with the task of rebuilding the Jerusalem wall. He, too, was 3
troubled in his soul even after the wall was finished (Nehemiah 7:5). While the people of Jerusalem gathered at the water gate, Ezra read from the book of Moses from morning until noon. The people rose when the scroll was opened and they prayed, worshipped God, and read His word. While they did not fast, their prayers were a powerful return to their roots and the Mosaic Law. Jerusalem was once again under Jewish control. While living amidst the sin of Sodom, Lot as well had a troubled soul (2 Peter 2:8). When Jonah went to Nineveh, he strongly suspected that God would respond to prayer and fasting, and thus he took a detour – a short trip on a long fish. And what happened? The people of Nineveh repented and devoted themselves to prayer and fasting (Jonah 3:5-9). And God relented. Of course a century later Nineveh was back to its old ways and was destroyed because of its sinful ways as described in Nahum. When Daniel realized that the time had come for the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, he devoted himself to prayer and fasting (as Even Jesus prayed… well as sackcloth and ashes) before a lot!. beseeching God to do as He had promised. (Daniel 9:3). There are many other examples, but prayer and fasting are appropriate responses to God’s threatened judgment. Even David, a man of God yet full of sin, prayed and fasted to implore God not to kill his son from Bathsheba as punishment for David’s sins. God’s answer that time was “no,” but David did the proper thing through prayer and fasting (2 Samuel 12:16). And when the apostles appointed elders in each church they planted they did so “having prayed and fasted” (Acts 14:23). Thus our church embarked on such a group effort of prayer and fasting to guide us in our future growth. Can prayer really make a difference? I mean, if God has preordained everything, how can anything I do or say change his mind? Well, the bible tells us that there are occasions when God “relents.” He has a history of doing so. Even Jonah knew this, which was why he did not want to go to Nineveh. How can we reconcile God’s sovereignty with our prayers? The simple answer is that our prayers must always be consistent with God’s character. In doing so, we align with the Holy Spirit and see God’s glory as He answers the prayer. Check out your own bible. Look for all the instances of prayer. There are a lot. Even Jesus prayed… a lot! Look at when and how He prayed. You couldn’t seek a more perfect example. We are commanded to pray and “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Prayer has never been my strong point. I grew up Catholic and the only prayers I ever knew were ones we learned as children and 4
repeated as rote. When we went to confession our absolution was apparently based on saying “Three Hail Mary’s and an Act of Contrition.” I used to “pray the rosary” where the same prayers were repeated over and over with ultimately little meaning to my small mind. Only later did I realize that this was a form of idolatry and directly contrary to God’s direction NOT to pray by rote (Matthew 6:7). We are further told that God knows what we need before we ask him anyway. Again – align yourself with God’s character. God is not a magic genie where you pray the lusts of your heart. Those are not the prayers of a righteous man. I have struggled to learn to pray; to break my old habits. I am commanded to do so. It is an act of obedience to a God I love. This brought to mind another example of prayer and fasting. This time it was Jesus. He prayed constantly and was apparently very discrete in his diet. Much like John the Jesus and his apostles Baptist who often lived on locusts and spent a great deal of honey, when Jesus fasted he REALLY time casting out fasted. Once (maybe more, but at least once it is recorded) that he did so for demons. forty days and nights. This was to prepare for his ministry. But the one event that kept creeping into my mind pertains to the time that a man brought his lunatic demonpossessed son to the disciples, but they could not cast the demon out. The man then came to Jesus who cast out the demon. The disciples then privately met with Jesus to inquire why they had failed. He chastised them saying it was simply because their faith was so weak. He told them that if their faith was even the size of the tiny mustard seed (Matthew 17:14-21) they could move mountains. Some manuscripts then add that demons of this sort are not cast out except through prayer and fasting. There it is again – prayer and fasting. So then my attention turned back to all these demons. Jesus and his apostles spent a great deal of time casting out demons. Sometimes scripture tells us that Jesus simply healed the sick, cured congenital defects, or raised the dead. Other times he specifically heals people by casting out demons. So it seems that we cannot attribute ALL sicknesses or illnesses to demons, but there is certainly some portion of them that are due to demons. On one occasion two demonpossessed men came out from the graveyard. These were extremely violent men who prevented anyone from passing by the tombs. The men spoke, but it was not the men – it was the demons within them who spoke directly to Jesus, recognizing him as the Son of God. They challenged him over whether he had come to torment them “before the time.” (Matthew 8:29). They recognized His power over them and began bargaining, asking that He cast them into a herd of pigs. Recall, of course, that pigs were unclean in Jewish culture so this was likely a 5
Gentile area. Jesus cast the demons into the herd whereupon they promptly threw themselves over the cliff. Mark tells us that the herd numbered 2000 so there must have been a tremendous number of demons residing in these men. So the pigs died. What happened to the demons? What is “the time” they referred to where God would judge them? If that was not the time, then the time must still be in front of us. This tells me that the demons are still around. That’s a pretty frightening thought, so I dug deeper in my study to understand this. Some of this thinking caused me to This tells me that think about the things that happen on this the demons are earth and how a good and holy God couldn’t possibly be at “fault.” There must, still around. I reasoned, be something within the character of God that permits this situation. It must have something to do with those pesky demons. To understand demons, you have to understand their leader – Satan. My initial exploratory search led me to ask these four questions: 1. Does Satan exist? 2. If he does, what is he like? 3. What effect, if any, does he have on our lives? 4. What are we going to do about it?
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2 I have learned that in most cases it is best to start at the beginning. At the very opening of the bible you have just one verse before you are forced to make a decision. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Stop right there. You must immediately make a decision. This is either the word of God, or a preposterous dream of hallucinogenic proportions. Either this is true, and everything that follows is true, or this is false and everything that follows is false. Christians believe it is true. That includes me. I accept the bible as the inerrant word of God. Many will try to disparage it, but it is most often due to their own foolishness and inability to fathom an omniscient and all-powerful God. If God exists, and I believe He does, then He must reveal Himself to us, his creations. If He doesn’t, then man has never hesitated to make his own gods. The bible is God’s revelation. It says it is. It is internally consistent. It is 100% accurate in each and every prophecy it has ever recorded. If it contains any errors whatsoever, I don’t consider that my problem. It is His revelation; it is His responsibility to keep it accurate. I would rather stand before the throne someday and explain my failures to follow His true word, than to argue with Him over what was accurate and what got distorted over time. Once I start questioning the accuracy of any part of the bible, then I have to go through every verse and determine those I believe and those I don’t. That doesn’t strike me as a fruitful exercise, yet you see people attempt this all the time. So I believe the bible. From “In the beginning” to “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” You have to make that same decision. Don’t expect to be convinced beyond all reasonable doubt. If you could reach that point there would be no room for faith and Paul tells us that faith is one of the three greatest things (I Corinthians 13:13).
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Since I confess to believing the bible to be the inerrant word of God, I can now turn my attention to the four questions I posed previously. These are: 1. Does Satan exist? 2. If he does, what is he like? 3. What effect, if any, does he have on our lives? 4. What are we going to do about it? In Genesis we see that Satan already exists. He is in the garden to tempt Eve. So when the bible tells me “In the beginning” I have to understand that this is the beginning of human revelation. God has existed for all time. Creating the earth, the universe, and man were not His first acts of creation. At some point before this beginning for man he created other beings. To understand Satan, we need to look at those created beings – the Angels. The Angels were around at the creation described in Genesis. How do I know that? Because the bible says so and I already told you I believe it. In Job 38:4-7 we hear a conversation between God and Job. Job is being rhetorically challenged. Where was he when God created the earth, the stars, the sun and moon? Of course Job did not exist. But God continues. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?....Who hath laid the measures To understand Satan, of it, if thou knowest?.....Or who laid its we need to look at cornerstone, when the morning stars those created beings sang together, and all the sons of God – the Angels. shouted for joy?” Who are these “morning stars” and “sons of God” who were singing in praise of God? Very simply, they are the Angels. The terms are used synonymously in the Old Testament to refer to Angels. We learn more about Angels from the New Testament. Paul tells us in Colossians that God created “all things...that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers – all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). Those terms all refer to angels of various roles and ranks, and the Greek phrase “were created” is an aorist verb meaning that at one point in the past God made the Angels. It implies all at once, with a single direct word of God, they came into existence. They exist to serve and glorify God (Revelation 4 and 5:1112) and are called “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14). Are Angels real? Absolutely. How can I be so sure? Well, for starters, they are mentioned 273 times in scripture. How many times does God have to say something to make it true? Yeah – once. So if He mentions something 273 times, it seems to me that we ought to 8
pay attention. You are familiar with many of these references. When the Angel told Mary she would conceive and bear Jesus. When the Angel told Joseph that his virgin wife was pregnant and it was OK to marry her. When the Angels announced to the shepherds that Jesus had been born; when they ministered to Jesus after his fast in preparation for his ministry; when Jesus arose to heaven and there stood angels asking the apostles why they were staring up into heaven. When two angels visited Lot in Sodom before its destruction (Genesis 19); when Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb and was told that Jesus had risen. The angels are pretty busy creatures! They serve God and stand in His presence. They carry his messages in a very direct and personal fashion. And they are pretty scary. The first words an angel speaks in most cases is “Don’t be afraid!” They are just one step removed from the shekina glory of God. Some people who see them try to worship them as God, but they are quickly corrected. Angels minister to believers on earth. They are dispatched by God to keep us in our ways and to prevent us from dashing our foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12). They also protect those who are cast into a fire made seven times hotter than usual. It was so hot that those who threw them in the fire died from the heat. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were very thankful for that protection and the Angel even made sure they came out without even the smell of fire on their clothes. Nebuchadnezzar even saw that Angel and asked “who the fourth person was in the fire” (Daniel 3:2425). Human means cannot harm us when the Angels are protecting us. Know what else Angels do? They perform jail-breaks (Acts 5:17). They are truly wondrous creatures and for now we are just a little below them. But someday we will be in God’s kingdom above them. Can you imagine? All the references to Angels in the bible; all of their glory and wonder; their constant praise of God; their glorious chorus of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and we will be there joining that chorus someday. Can you just imagine! So angels are worshippers of the true God, they are messengers to the prophets and the people of God (see e.g. Mary, Joseph, and Gideon for just a few examples), and they are warriors in the battle against Satan. They also provide comfort and guidance to us here on earth – sometimes appearing as regular old human beings. This occurred in Genesis 18 when several angels appeared to Abraham and were fed by Sarah. Again in Genesis 19 when two angels appeared to Lot before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are told not 9
to forget that we should be kind to strangers “for by doing so some have entertained angels without even knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). And when directed by God, they mete out punishment. See e.g. 1 Chronicles 21 and 2 Kings 19:35. Conversely, they also provide guidance. Psalm 91:11-12 tells us “For God will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” The bible does not explicitly say that we each have a guardian angel assigned to us. It suggests that as regards children, but whether it is a dedicated angel, or many from among the legions of angels, there is no question but that at God’s command the angles guide us. And on top of all that, we are also told that all angels “ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation.” They guide us, protect us, and minister to us – all according to God’s design and command. So do Angels exist? Absolutely. Remember that we already made the decision that the bible is true. Way back in Genesis 1:1. So there can be no question that Angels exist. And if you don’t believe me, Billy Graham came to the same conclusion. Among the few books written on the subject of Angels, his is one of the more interesting. (Billy Graham, Angels: God’s Secret Agents. (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1975, p. 15). My favorite Angel story appears in Numbers 22:22-35. Balaam was a prophet, but he didn’t always follow directions very well. He was traveling on his donkey with a couple of his servants, and three times an angel stood across their path. Each time the donkey saw the angel and Angels are real and Balaam did not. So the donkey wandered from the Lord. And off in a field, squeezed next to a wall once you see them, that will pretty much pressing into Balaam’s foot, and finally, cause you to recognize when the Angel completely blocked their path, the donkey laid down. Each time your own sinfulness. Balaam struck the ass. Now the Angel part of the story is that Balaam was just not getting the message and the Angel had to dress him down appropriately. The part I like is that the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and made him speak. Maybe your life experiences are different, but if a donkey ever spoke to me I’m not certain that I would react calmly. I’m pretty sure I would freak out. But with Balaam, when the donkey spoke what does he do? He ANSWERS HIM!! I suppose there’s a political joke hiding here somewhere about what to do when spoken to by an ass, but I’ll pass on that. Angels are real and from the Lord. And once you see them, that will pretty much cause you to recognize your own sinfulness. What does that have to do with Satan? Well, quite a lot. 10
3 Satan was a holy angel. In fact, he was the first among all angels. He was, among other things, the master musician of heaven. How do we know this? You know the answer by now – because the bible tells us so. Philosophically we have to accept that Satan exists. Would a good and holy perfect God create a world with so much pain and suffering and turmoil? Could this possibly be the work of a good and holy God? That doesn’t make sense. Many non-believers will challenge Christians on this point. “You say your God is holy and perfect, and yet he allows all these terrible things happen to people.” Yes, He does. God has granted us free will, and among those important choices we must make are whether we believe in God. He does not demand that we do; He has given us this free will thing that makes life hard. We can choose to believe Him or not. As Joshua has said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua. 24:15). If we are choosing to follow the Lord, then there must be an alternative. There must be something somewhere fighting against God. There is. It’s Satan. Are we to believe in a Satan as a real being? I believe the answer is clearly yes. We can philosophize about it, if we choose, but the clearest evidence that Satan exists is that Jesus recognized a real personal Satan. In Matthew 4:1-11 Christ holds a conversation with Satan. (As He also did in Job). He spent the rest of his time on earth as God-made-man casting out demons, rebuking Satan, and undoing Satan’s work. There can be no question the Jesus knew of the real and personal Satan. And why not? He knew him from the moment He created him. How’s that? God created Satan? And all of his evil? Not exactly. God created the Angels of which Satan was one – the greatest one within all the ranks of Angels. Satan chose his own path, attempting to be higher than God. As the very first commandment tells us, “I am the Lord your God… I will have No other Gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:7). Satan violated this rule. The New Testament writers were equally convinced of a real and personal Satan who holds some dominion and control over this earth. In John 12:31 Christ tells us “Now is the judgment of this world; now 11
shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Christ knew He was in conflict with a very real Satan. Later in John 14:30 Christ told his disciples “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” In Ephesians Paul says that we are all victimized by “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:2). In first John we read “He who sins is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Belief in God requires belief in the devil. That is WHY Christ came! John later tells us “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). James says “resist the devil and he will flee from you,” (James 4:7), and in Peter’s first epistle he says, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Throughout the bible the devil is alive and well. He tempted Eve (Genesis 3:1-6); he tempted Christ (Matthew 4:1-11), he perverted God’s word (Luke 4:9-12); he opposed God’s work (Zechariah 3:1); he hindered God’s servants (1 Thessalonians 2:18); he hinders the gospel (Matthew 13:19 and II Corinthians 4:4); he ensnares the wicked (I Timothy 3:7 and II Timothy 2:26); he deceives the nations (I Kings 22:6-7; Revelation 16:14, 20:7-8); he deceives individuals as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:3, 14); he fights with Michael the Archangel (Jude 9); he initiated the entrance of sin and the fall of the human race (Genesis 3:13-24); he appears before God (Job 1:6-12); he is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) and he had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). And an interesting side note. When God gave Adam the garden he was placed “into the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it.” The word for “keep” is the Hebrew “shamar” which can also mean “to guard.” The implication is that there was some adversary against which the garden must be guarded. And while we often claim that Eve was the first to sin by eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, we seem to overlook that Adam apparently was not guarding very well. So I have answered my first question. Satan exists. Clearly, unequivocally, and eternally.
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4 So now I can turn to the next question – what is he like? For this we must turn to the Old Testament. But first let me make a few observations. Without great exposition, my study reveals that Satan is a spirit that can manifest himself in a physical form that we can see. He is (as we will soon see) an angel. He is NOT omnipresent like God, but has some spatial limitations. He can inhabit a human as easily as an animal or an inanimate object; he is immortal, and he is the current ruler/prince of this world. He is here for one express purpose and that is to defeat God’s plan. Why is he allowed to exist? I’m not sure. Scripture does not make that clear. But I have a thought that tends a little toward speculation. I believe that God is allowing Satan EVERY opportunity to thwart His plans, at which he will fail. So that for all eternity there will never be another challenge to the sovereignty of God. Remember that first commandment. The bible does tell us of various ranks of Angels, but it is a little less than clear about the full organizational structure. One of the highest order of Angels is Cherubim and the bible introduces us to at least three of them by name. The first is Gabriel. He seems to be the chief of interpretation and revelation of God’s purpose and program for His kingdom. He visited Daniel and Mary. The second one is Michael and he seems to be the chief of the guard – top general of the Angelic army and in a state of constant battle with Satan and his demons. The third one appears in Ezekiel 28.
I believe that God is allowing Satan EVERY opportunity to thwart His plans, at which he will fail.
Ezekiel the prophet was pronouncing judgment on the king of Tyre. This king was a truly horrible man and leader. He proclaimed himself God thus revealing his greatest sin, that of pride. In the first ten verses of chapter 28, Ezekiel speaks directly to and of the king. But in verse 11 he shifts gears. He uses a common technique in scripture where he goes behind the man and addresses the source of the evil. It appears often in the Psalms and recall that Christ did this to Peter when He said “Get Thee behind me Satan” (Matthew 16:23). Let’s read the story and look at what Ezekiel said of the evil behind the king.
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You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers (guards); I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering [guarding]cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 17 “Your heart was lifted up [proud] because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings. That they might gaze at you. 18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth. In the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ” Wow! What does this tell us? Satan was the highest of Angels. He was “full” of wisdom and “perfect” in beauty. He was in Eden and adorned with precious jewels. He apparently was the lead musician (“timbrels and pipes”). He was of the highest angelic order and guarded the heavenly throne. He was in fact perfect from the point of his creation to the point of his fall. He was then cast out of Heaven as a profane thing for all of his iniquities. 14
In Isaiah we learn his name. It was Lucifer, “star of the morning” or “son of the dawn.” In fact in Isaiah 14, starting in verse 13 we learn of his horrible sin. With five “I will’s” he attempts to replace God. He claims he will ascend into heaven, exalt his throne above that of God’s, sit on the mount of the congregation (the center of God’s Kingdom rule), ascend above the clouds (the glory of God), and be like “The Most High” – a name exclusively reserved for the God of Gods, King of Kings, the all powerful, omniscient, omnipresent God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But was Satan the only one who fell? No. For that we have to turn to Revelation 12. But first, let’s talk a little more about Angels. How many of them are there? Well, we don’t really know. There are at least a multitude announcing Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:13), 12 legions that Jesus could have called at his arrest (Matthew 26:53 – somewhere between 72,000 and 144,000), more than people (Matthew 18:10) since Christ alludes to the angels (plural) of the little children, or the same as there are stars in the heaven (Deuteronomy 17:3; Job 38:7; Revelation 12:4), hundreds of millions (Revelation 5:11), and an “innumerable company” (Hebrews 12:22). Just too many to count. And to think that it only took one angel to slay 185,000 Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35). This whole issue of Angels and how many there were, or how many could fit on the head of a pin, were the source of meaningless arguments between the Sadducees and the Pharisees at the time of Jesus. No one really knows how many there are, and if it were important God would have told us. It’s simply not important other than to know there are a whole really big bunch of them. A side note here about Pharisees and Sadducees – the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. At the time of Christ the Middle East was a part of the Roman Empire. The law of Rome prevailed, but to preserve some peace, Rome permitted the local authorities to have jurisdiction over certain matters. Since the local area had essentially been a theocracy, there was a governing body called the Sanhedrin that had some authority over what were principally religious matters. They could mete out judgments and punishments, including imprisonment, but could not sentence anyone to death. That was reserved to the Roman government and we see that play out in the mock trial the Sanhedrin gave Jesus. His death sentence had to be imposed by Pilate and carried out by the Roman legions. Paul was apparently part of that governing body at one point. He professes himself to have been a Pharisee. (Acts 23:6-10). The Pharisees and Sadducees were similar to 15
our political parties. They both knew the law, studied the law, and interpreted the law – but they did not agree on some basic principles concerning the law. The Sadducees were from the wealthier side of the tracks. They were more elite and relied almost exclusively on the Pentateuch, or Torah – that being the first five books of the bible. They claimed, errantly, that since there was no reference to a resurrection or afterlife in that portion of the bible, they did not believe in it. They believed in an Angels did not exist. Spirits did not exist. afterlife and angels Pharisees on the other hand were more and a whole spirit of the business class. They believed in an world. afterlife and angels and a whole spirit world. Now don’t go trying to compare them to see which were the Republicans and which were the Democrats, but suffice to say that |politics doesn’t really change over the centuries. You know, of course that since the Sadducees denied the existence of angels and an afterlife, that’s why they were sad, you see! So if Satan started out as an Angel, one of an innumerable company, and he fell from heaven, did he fall alone? Now turn to Revelation 12. Here we see Satan depicted as a dragon and as he falls from Heaven in verse 4 “his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven.” So there we have it, a third of an innumerable number fell to earth. Powerful, once-holy, angels now confined to earth as agents of Satan. A deeper study of Satan and his minions reveals a few other interesting aspects. Some are bound forever, some are bound for a time, and some are free to roam the earth and apparently at least parts of the heavens. Those bound for eternity may well be the ones who possessed men and married women in Genesis 6 – the form of mixed humanity that God had to destroy with the flood. Others who are currently temporarily bound in the pit will be released as revealed in Revelation. And the rest? Well, they are around doing Satan’s work to disrupt God’s plans. They are in fact battling with the holy Angels constantly. This battle is apparently going on around us all the time, but in a spirit world. Sound crazy? Well, if so than Jesus was crazy. He told Peter that Satan had desired him, but Jesus had preserved him for His work. When a Christian confesses his sins and turns his life over to Jesus, there is great rejoicing in heaven. And in one very stark example, God sent a messenger Angel to earth with a message for Daniel, but a demon held him up somewhere in the atmosphere between heaven and earth. God had to dispatch his chief general Archangel/Cherub Michael to battle with the demon to let the messenger pass (Daniel 10:13). At the end of the prophecy given to Daniel, this same messenger then tells Daniel that he must now return 16
to the battle (Daniel 10:20). The battle for men’s’ souls never ends. Is Satan real? Yes. And so are his demons. Just like the angels who remain in heaven, they are organized in a hierarchy with different powers and traits. It was not just the “privates” or “corporals” who fell with Satan. One third of the heavenly host succumbed to his lies and treachery and now serve him on earth. They are very real, very powerful, and determined that you will join them in hell. They are battling for your soul and this is not something about which you can be passive. People who think that so long as they live a reasonably good life they will have no problem getting into heaven have succumbed to Satan’s lies. He has them right where he wants them. It is a very dangerous place to be. Let’s look at the next question and see what else we can learn.
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5 We still have two questions to answer. The next one to tackle is: What effect, if any, does he have on our lives? Descriptions of Satan’s character are everywhere in the bible. Nearly every reference to him gives us some insight. For example, do you realize that Satan stands before the throne of God and accuses us all as sinners (Revelation 12:10)? Which we are. Satan goes by many names. He is called Satan 52 times in scripture and this name is derived from the Hebrew meaning adversary or oppressor. The term Devil comes from the Greek diabolos and is used 35 times in the New Testament. This title means “one who slanders or trips up.” He slanders God and His people. He slanders Christ, the church, the Holy Spirit, the bible, and the character of Christians. For some of us, that’s perhaps the closest he comes to the truth unfortunately. He is called a Serpent, “The Great Dragon,” and “A Roaring Lion.” One of the more interesting names is “The Evil One.” I say interesting because this name comes from the Greek term ho poneros which identifies him as one of intrinsic internal evil. Evil incarnate, if you will. Everything he touches becomes evil. He is evil personified. An evil that is never satisfied, seeking only to corrupt everything and everybody. The ultimate of “misery loves company” by defiling everything it touches. Other names are Abaddon or Apollyon (meaning the destroyer), the Tempter (or enticer), and The Accuser. As we will see in a moment, he is a consummate liar. He truly loves to bear false witness and especially about Christians. And sadly, we too often give him the truth to tell of our unrighteousness. Thank God that Jesus is there before the throne to cover for our sins. Satan’s characteristics track his names. He is a murderer. Christ tells us that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). The first crime recorded after the fall was Cain’s murder of Abel. In 1 John 3:12 we are told that Cain was of “the wicked one.” And you 18
know where Satan has long focused his attention – on the murder of Israel and the messianic line. For a wonderful study, look at all the times recorded in scripture that Satan attempted to kill off the messianic line. On several occasions there was only one male left. Remember what Herod did in Bethlehem when he called for the execution of all male children under the age of two? And why did he do that? All because a couple wise men got lost and stopped to ask for directions. You do realize that is why men never stop to ask for directions any more, don’t you? But in each case God preserved his chosen line and fulfilled every single prophetic scripture pertaining to Jesus the messiah despite outrageous odds. Satan is also a liar. He lies constantly, yet many Christians seem completely unaware of this and are taken in by his lies. In John 8:44 we read that Satan “abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.” This is so insidious and many gullible Christians are sucked into his lies. Much of today’s pop psychology has bought into these lies. And the resurgence in the occult and people’s preoccupation with the supernatural are other modern examples. Remember the movie “The Exorcist?” Recall that the little girl, after inviting demons in through the use of a Ouija board became possessed. Great Hollywood movie, right? Well think about just how much real biblical truth is in that movie. Yet to many that IS biblical truth. And that is just what Satan wants you to believe. Half truths, slanted perspectives, and “all in good fun” sentiments dilute the true evilness of Satan. We get comfortable with it. It’s no big deal. Do you think that Satan has to create a whole new religion to distract us from the one true God? No!! Not in the slightest. All he has to do is take our focus off God. By distracting us with his lies, he succeeds. It takes very little to deceive with false doctrine. We’ve all heard them – just turn on the TV and listen to any of the so-called Christian preachers. Is it any wonder that if all the world has seen is these false Christians that they want no part of learning about the one true God? This is one of Satan’s oldest tricks. Recall what he said to Eve – so God told you not to eat ANY of the fruit of the garden (Genesis 3:1)? God never said that. Satan is a consummate liar. He would like nothing more than for people to believe he is a mischievous, but ultimately harmless little imp with horns and a forked tail running around in a red leotard. He is evil incarnate and very powerful. We must use everything at our disposal to fight him. Paul warns Timothy, “Now the spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy…” 1 Timothy 4:1-2). Satan told Eve that God was just messing with them; she responded that God told them not to touch the fruit, but God 19
didn’t say that either. Satan’s evil was already rubbing off on her! God did say that eating the fruit would cause death, but what does Satan say? ”Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). He’s calling God a liar! The whole story of Job says that Christians are materialistic. Thank God that Job was such an upright man. Would you have fared as well? Do you think that your faith in God is because of the promises of material wealth and comfort he has made? If so, then you have succumbed to another of Do you think that Satan’s lies – the prosperity gospel. Satan your faith in God also believes that trouble will bring is because of the defection. As Jude tells us, those who promises of material stray were never part of the flock. Truth wealth and comfort is, as we are told in Hebrews, that God chastens his own. We are right to be he has made? If so, disciplined and the closer to God we then you have succumbed to another seek to be the more Satan will buffet us. God’s discipline of us prepares us for the of Satan’s lies. battles. Recall that in 1 Corinthians 10 we are told that no temptation will come before us that we cannot overcome. (1 Corinthians 10:13). How often have we gotten rid of temptation just by giving in? It seems like the easy way out and Satan wants you to believe that. It is just another of his lies. Know what else Satan does? He performs miracles. Really. Go worship a rock and Satan will make something happen that encourages your belief in the rock. There are those who claim to be Christian who seem to be on a constant search for miracles. Is that faith? Not hardly. It is in fact doubt looking for proof. Remember, Satan rules this world – for now. We are told often that he is the “prince of this world” (John 12:31). His demons are called the “the rulers of the darkness of this age” (Ephesians 6:12). He encourages us to test God, but scripture warns us very clearly against that. Demons are not unlimited in power, but they have power to perform enough wonders and to make enough predictions come true to keep superstitious worshipers deceived and loyal to Satan rather than God (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12). Satan is also a sinner. In 1 John we are told “He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). This reflects a present tense of sinning continuously or habitually. Christians sin. No surprise there. The issue is whether we are dealing with the sin in our lives. As we mature the sins in our life should become less and less – or at least different. He is also an oppressor who, like a roaring lion, tracks down the saints so he can devour them. He’s good at it. He is also a perverter. 20
Every good thing God has given us Satan has taken to an extreme. Fruit for drink has become a source of alcoholism; sex has become pornography and adultery. Food has become gluttony or worse, legalism. Have you ever run into a militant vegan? Do you know many Jews who still keep a Kosher kitchen? Many proverbs speak to moderation and temperance in regards to food. Do you know what the rule in Every good thing Deuteronomy was for gluttons? Stoning God has given us 20:21)! Food is fuel for Satan has taken to (Deuteronomy our body, but Satan makes it the source an extreme. of desire. Remember that all he needs to do is distract our focus from God. He is the great extremist. We are advised by God to fill ourselves with his word. Every day. You know there are some things that absolutely HAVE to be done every day. Seven apples on Saturday night is not going to cut it any more than one hour a week in church makes you a Christian! Lastly, Satan is an imitator. He pretends to be who and what he is not. He has no originality to himself. He constantly attempts to imitate God. Recall his five “I will” statements. He planned to usurp God’s power and glory. When you think of Satan and his army, what do you think of? Some down and out hard on his luck street dweller? A drunk? Criminal? Pervert? While these people are victims of his system, they are not good advertising for him. His great masterpiece is a good, honest, upright man who teaches false doctrine. Again – just look on TV. Paul tells us, “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 ministers of righteousness (II Corinthians 11:13-15). Lucifer means “the shining one.” It is unlikely that he appeared to Eve as a scaly little creature. Recall that God did not condemn the snake to crawl on the ground until AFTER the events in Genesis 3. He probably appeared in all of his radiant glory. He would have been quite impressive. Satan imitates the church as well. Many of you have searched long and hard to find a god-centered church and have found many, if not most, lacking. Only grace-centered, biblical Christianity is from God. Every other form of religion is from Satan, inspired by his demon spirits, promoted by his lying human agents (1 Timothy 4:1–4), and centered in works righteousness. Satan is working in our life daily. He appears as an angel of light but he is an imitator and a deceiver. He is the preacher who masks himself as a messenger from God. He performs miracles to seduce believers. Recall that even the Scribes and Pharisees condemned 21
Christ, attributing His miracles to those of Satan. And even as far back as Exodus the magicians in the court of Pharaoh performed many of the same “tricks” as Moses did. Their staffs also became serpents (Exodus 7:8-12). Of course Moses’ staff devoured theirs, but many of the first signs performed by Moses were mimicked by Satan. What effect does Satan have on our lives? Well, that’s up to you. He will try to have a very significant impact. He will try to deceive and to lead you astray. But with a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ you can defeat the great imitator – the great liar – the great sinner – the great murderer. You don’t have to let him win. And as the ruler of the present world he has a phenomenal impact on your daily life. The sin that runs rampant in our world is of Satan. The deception, the politics, the television, and sadly many of the churches are run by Satan. Don’t despair. God will use it all for his ultimate glory, but the road through the valley of the shadow of death is dark and scary. Temptation is everywhere. Satan and his legion of demons are aggressively active in your life. Which leads us to the last question – What are you going to do about it?
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6 The battle between God and Satan is constant. Although Satan is outnumbered two to one (recall that only a third of the angelic hosts fell with Satan) that doe not stop them from putting up a great fight. Satan lost the battle at the cross, but he relies on those who do not recognize what that means. His legions of demons are real. Christ and the apostles spent considerable time casting them out. It was mentioned above that a deeper study would reveal that there are three possible status of demons. Some are bound for all eternity. Some are bound until the tribulation. Others are not bound at all. We are not given a great deal of information about the demons and I find speculation in this area rather unsatisfying. Suffice that the bible is clear on several points about demons. They exist, they are active in your life, and they want to pull you away from God. Preferably they want to keep you from committing your life to the one true God. So what are we going to do about it? God gives us all the information we need. It’s right there in the scriptures. (2 Timothy 3:16) He tells us to pray and he teaches us with the model of the Lord’s prayer. (Matthew 6:8-13) He tells us to pray in consonance with His character, which means you have to study His revelation to discern his character. He tells us to be baptized as an act of obedience, and He tells us to separate ourselves from the world; to be different than the other people in the world so that God can be seen by others in how we act, how we behave, how we stand up for character and perform charitable works. We do not seek salvation by works, but true salvation, as James tells us, is demonstrated through our works. He tells us to congregate together, to seek strength and guidance from one another and occasionally to discipline one another. He tells us to come together regularly as one body and to celebrate communion in remembrance of Him. He tells us to support the church, the pastor, and the elders. And He tells us that fasting is good for our soul. It’s all there. But there is more. He calls on us to be discerning, and sadly there 23
is far too little of that in the world today. Every new pop religion gets loads of followers. Every vision of Mary in an office window or burnt toast picture of Jesus is worshipped rather than the true God. We worship our possessions, our conquests, our power, or our wealth. We put everything, it seems, ahead of God. We lack discernment in seeing what is of Satan and what is of God. Discernment, we are told, is one of the gifts of the spirit. It protects the church. In I Corinthians Paul talks about “distinguishing of spirits” so that we can tell the good from the bad (1 Corinthians12:10). We must seek the genuine. Since the fall Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) and his demons have imitated God’s message and God’s work. We are called upon to test what we hear, and often what we see, so as to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). In the early church, many of the Jews in the towns where Paul preached did just that. They tested what Paul was saying against the scriptures and found them to be consistent. They knew, therefore that Paul was from God and not from a demon. Do you do that in your life? Do you even know scripture well enough to exercise discernment? Or do you rely on those around you to do the heavy lifting? Have you spent time in the word every day? Do you spend time communing with God through prayer every day? Of course you don’t. We are all sinners and we all fall short. But are you dealing with that sin? Are you trying to improve your life, determine the character of God, and live as a follower who would be recognized in the world as someone just a little bit different – in a good way? This probably makes you a little uncomfortable, and if it doesn’t I would ask you to examine your heart for the sin of pride. We all fall short, but that is no excuse. When you stand before the throne, will you be saying, “Well, I did better than Bill over there.” Or will you be heard to say, as Isaiah said in Chapter 6 that his lips were unclean until purified by a coal from the fire. Or will you confess to being the sinner that you are and can be saved only through your faith in the act of salvation Christ performed at the cross? Will you hear, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23)? Do you invite the demons to party with you, or do you flee from sin? Do you toy with temptation, the occult, a little white lie, a little bit of pornography, or just a touch of dishonesty? God hates sin. He hates ALL sin. He hates the big ones and the little ones. Yes, He died for your sins and You might not be into witchcraft, but do you stands as your advocate before the rely on good luck throne of God. And as Satan blasphemes charms? you and tells God of all your sins, Jesus stands there covering for you. Are you an obedient Christian? These are tough questions, and I hope they make you squirm a little. It is easy to dismiss Satan as a Halloween 24
figment and his demons as a fiction. You might not be into witchcraft, but do you rely on good luck charms? What’s the difference? The point is that we are all so easily led into activities that invite Satan into our life. He can’t deal with the truth. He can’t deal with the true God. Fill your heart with the word of God and Satan will find no rest. Let me ask you this: (James 2:19)
Do you believe in one God? So do Satan and his demons. Do you believe that Jesus came to earth and died for your sins? So do Satan and his demons. Do you believe that there is a heaven and hell? So do Satan and his demons. Do you believe that God will return to earth and judge us all? So do Satan and his demons. Do you believe that God demands our faith and love? So do Satan and his demons. Do you believe that we will rise from the dead? So do Satan and his demons. Do you believe that the bible is the inspired word of God? So do Satan and his demons.
So tell me, what is it that separates you from Satan and his demons? Quite simply it is what you do with these beliefs. Knowledge of God and acting in love towards him are two very different things. If you have held to your beliefs for a time and then reject them, your salvation is not real. Jesus spoke often of people with non-saving faith. Some will approach the throne and say, “Look at all the good we did in your name,” But God will say, “Be gone. I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23). Are you new wine or old (Matthew 9:17)? What kind of seed are you (Matthew 13:1-23)? Where have you built your foundation? (Matthew 7:24-27)? Are you on the right path and headed for the right gate? (Matthew 7:13-14). Many believe that they are, but they have not developed true discernment. They have not filled their hearts with the love of God. Satan and his demons know God. They know all about him. They have been in His presence. But they do not love Him. They do not love Him with their whole heart and soul and mind and body. Do you? Is your love of God on a purely intellectual level? Have you received Him? Do you stand with Him? Have you been saved by Him? Do you hold fast to His word? You can make many positive responses to the 25
gospel, but only genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in salvation. Are you any better than Satan and his demons? Have you taken up your sword to join the battle – the very real battle between God and Satan? So, what are we going to do about it? Brothers and sisters, I asked you at the very beginning if you were willing to make a decision about God. Don’t start with Revelation and decide that the bible makes no sense. Read it the way it is presented. Start with Genesis 1:1 and decide for yourself whether this book is the revelation of our true God, or a bunch of impossible mythical stories. It really is that simple. A careful reading of the bible will tell you that Satan is real. Demons are real. They are the current masters of the world we live in. They are active and aggressive in the war against God and his purposes. There is an angelic battle going You can make many on all around us. Sound dramatic or a positive responses to little “out there”? Perhaps, but it is the the gospel, but only clear message in this book. Take a look at genuine faith in Jesus Daniel 10, specifically verses 10 through 13. Daniel has already had a conversation Christ results in with Gabriel and he is now being visited salvation. by another Angel. This Angel tells him that he was dispatched from the throne of God to bring Daniel this message, but that he was “held up” for 21 days. By what? What could possibly hold up a messenger from God? It was a demon – perhaps Satan himself. And what did God do in response – he sent Michael the warrior general to blast that demon and free this messenger to come to Daniel. Does Satan use all his power to disrupt God’s plan. You bet! Is there an angelic war going on around us? Absolutely, because the bible tells us so. You are either for God or for Satan. Jesus told us that “He who is not with me is against me (Matthew 12:30). There is no room for lukewarm. In fact, if you are lukewarm, you have denied God and he will in turn deny you. Look at what the church in Laodicea was told in Revelation 3:14-21. And if you consider yourself a Christian I hope that through this you have a better understanding of Satan and his forces. I hope that it literally scares the hell out of you. Decide to fight the good fight; resist the devil by refusing to give him any foothold in your life. Do not give him an advantage in the battle. Give all glory and honor and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ – the true God of the universe. Immerse yourself in the word of God (Deuteronomy 6:4-12). Are you ready to take this seriously and engage fully in this battle for your soul? I won’t cover it in detail here, but if you have read this and 26
responded positively, please go read the book of Ephesians. There is a great section in there about the armor that we need to wear. It truly is a battle for which most are simply not prepared. Love the Lord. Do His will. See you in Heaven.
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