Welcome back. This week we will examine the first of two kingdoms described in the Holy Scriptures - the kingdom of darkness. Although it will ultimately end in God's judgment, it has been operating in fierce opposition to all that is holy, just and righteous...
The Kingdom of Darkness
When God created Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, He created them in his own spiritual image as moral and reasoning creatures. God placed them in a perfect environment in a sinless state of perfection (Genesis 1:26, 27 & 31). He gave them only one negative command. Nothing else was forbidden. This was the test of man's volition as a free will creature, as with the angels. Contrary to Augustine's teaching (see last week's edition), volition is the one thing mankind has in common with the angelic order.
It is clear that God expected Adam and Eve to obey Him and He held them accountable. This expectation is part of God's plan to show His justice and righteousness in condemning fallen angels to the lake of fire (Isaiah 30:33; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 19:20; 20:14 & 15; 21:8).
In the garden of Eden, God said to Adam:
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die'" (Genesis 2:16-17).Then, immediately Satan attempts to defeat God's plan:
"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, 'Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" (Genesis 3:1).Today Satan continues his attempts to defeat God's plan, but he will ultimately fail.
Satan is presented in the Genesis narrative, without any explanation, as indwelling the serpent. We know that the serpent must be a reference to Satan from other Biblical references (Job 2:1-7; Zechariah 3:1-2; 1 John 3:8). However, the identity of the serpent is not definitely and clearly revealed until Revelation 12:15 & 20:2. Biblical scholars believe that the Jewish rabbis in the first several centuries of the Christian era clearly identified the serpent of Genesis 3 with Satan.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9).Lucifer, in his original, beautiful angelic heavenly state, wanted to become "like the Most High God" (Isaiah 14:14). The battle scene is described for us in detail in the Scriptures:
"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born... And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought against his angels and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven" (Revelation 12:3-4 & 7-8).But, Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8).
Satan was able to persuade one third of the angels to follow him and revolt against God. To achieve this he first drew their allegiance away from God. Satan didn't try to move the angels immediately from worshiping Jehovah to worshiping himself. He knew that they wouldn't fall for that. Rather, he deceived them into thinking that they, too, could be like God. Satan first got them to move away from Jehovah's influence. If you are like God, then why would you worship God? You can just worship yourself. He used the same tactics with man. That is what humanism and Eastern mysticism tell us today. Lucifer slandered God by implying that God was trying to deceive the angels. That is what he did with Eve in the garden... has God said...?
Lucifer was wooing the angelic order away from God; and they were faced with a decision. This grand deceiver was saying something quite different from what God was saying. When there is moral conflict in your life, who are you going to believe - God or one of His created beings? Those angels who sided with Lucifer against God chose to believe Lucifer's lies rather than God's truth.
Mankind is faced with exactly the same conflicting moral issue. Who do you believe, God or Satan? If the Creator God is deceptive, then all is lost and there is no hope whatsoever. Thankfully, our Creator God disclosed Himself to be loving, holy, just and truthful. His supernatural DNA assumes both His ability to create and communicate. Thankfully, we also have His inerrant Word that tells us everything He wants us to know for our own good. The Creator God tells us about Himself, ourselves and the world in which we live - our God is an awesome God!
Most people think that the governments of the world are independent and exist as a result of accidental circumstances of history. Most Christians believe that the rulers and governments of the world exist at the express will of God. However, we must distinguish between the direct will of God and the permissive will of God. We must realize that not everything that happens in the world is because of the direct will of God! God permits man to make choices, and many of those choices are not morally good and they have bad consequences.
The interpretation of Romans 13 that states God directly appoints all of the rulers of this world is incorrect. The point of this chapter is that God has established human government in this world to enforce morality because the sinful nature of man needs to be restrained. Unfortunately, many governments are immoral and enforce unrighteousness.
Today, as well as over the past centuries and millennia, Satan has chosen and goaded wicked leaders around the globe to impose untold suffering. He is the source of all suffering. He is the first cause of all suffering. Satan will reign in the final place of physical, nonstop suffering. Gehenna, the lake of fire, which is the final hell, will be total and complete separation from the Creator God and His grace. All sinful men, who reject the love of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, will spend all eternity in conscious and physical unmitigated suffering in the presence of Satan and his fallen angels.
When our first parents, Adam and Eve, listened to Satan rather than to God, they forfeited the title deed of the earth to our evil archenemy. From that time forward, Satan chose the wicked world rulers, both spiritual and physical. Therefore, the apostle Paul describes Satan as:
"The prince and power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2).Paul also describes our spiritual struggle by saying:
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).This verse describes the hierarchy of the angelic rule in Satan's kingdom. The English word "principalities" comes from the Greek word arche, which literally means "first ones," referring to the first or fallen archangels in Satan's highest counsel. The English word "power" comes from the Greek word exousias, referring to superhuman demonic authorities ruling with a variety of wicked expressions in particular regions on earth. The Greek word kosmokrator speaks of world dictators of darkness. They are national rulers as we are alluded to in Daniel 10:13, 20. The word Kosmokrator is found in the Orphic Hymns of Satan, in Gnostic writings of the Devil and on an inscription of the Roman Emperor Caracalla (188-217 AD). The apostle Paul uses this word to refer to the demons who rule the world system of darkness through men who appear to be the rulers of the nations.
The "spiritual host of wickedness" constitute the front line of the lower level of demonic hosts, who manipulate our minds and deceive mankind on a day-to-day basis (Mark 4:15; Luke 22:3; John 13:27; Acts 5:3; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 2:11 & 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:5). The problem is that many believers and unbelievers are unaware of this spiritual warfare that Satan and his forces are using to influence their destiny. Satan is not going to be very effective if everyone knows and understands what is taking place in the world. His unprecedented success is based on deceit and stealth (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 4:3 & 11:14; 2 Peter 5:8).
These demonic rulers impose their will on the nations of the world through many occult and pagan false religions, Gnostic secret societies and interconnected organizations (Psalm 12:3-4); and their control of politics via control of finance and commerce (1 Timothy 6:10; Revelation 17). Mankind is deceived through the manipulation of their minds by a lower order of demons. That is why the apostle Paul urged the church in Rome:
"Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).In modern times, liberal think tanks capture the best solution from the brightest humanistic minds to be applied to all apparent problems. This thinking is also very alive and well in may of our churches today and is known as the "social gospel," which appeals only to the physical felt needs of a people, ignoring the more important presentation of the Biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, necessary for eternal salvation. To care for a person's physical needs and ignore their spiritually eternal needs, is likened to handing them a cold drink of water on their way to hell!
Just as Satan deceived humans from the beginning and deceived the world rulers throughout history, he also deceives people today through supposedly democratic processes. During the future millennial reign of Jesus, Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit:
"That he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season" (Revelation 20:3).Jesus clearly described Satan as the prince or ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 17:15). John says that the "whole world lies in wickedness" (1 John 5:19). That is why the world hates Jesus, the Jews and His Christian believers (John 15:18-19).
Satan's rule has dominated the world through a succession of historical world empires. Genesis records:
"Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one on the earth" (Genesis 10:8).Nimrod founded the original city of Babylon. The historical succession of world empires through which Satan has dominated the earth has been described in the books of Daniel and Revelation.
Daniel explains the meaning of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar's (605-562 BC) dream about the great image as representing the succession of world empires. The dream or vision prophetically portrays the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire. In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel explains the vision of the four "beasts" (Daniel 7:3) that he saw in the first year of Belshazzar (553 BC), who ruled Babylon in the absence of Nabonidus, his father. The term "beast" is used because those world empires devoured and destroyed people just like predatory animals do in their quest for power and survival. The dream parallels the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in which Daniel recounts in chapter 2. The "lion with eagle's wings" represents Nebuchadnezzar, who is given a man's heart, indicating he became a believer (Daniel 4:4 & 17).
The bear raised up on one side with three ribs in its mouth representing the Medo-Persian Empire (Daniel 7:5). The leopard with four wings and four heads represents the Greek Empire (Daniel 7:6) under Alexander the Great which was divided between his four generals after his death. The fourth beast described as dreadful, terrible, with huge iron teeth and different from all the others because it had ten horns (Daniel 7:7, 19, 23-24) represented the Roman Empire, which was founded as a republic rather than a monarchy.
These empires progressed from absolute autocratic rule to democratic idealism. They were inclusively described by Jesus as "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24; Revelation 16:19). These empires will be consummately destroyed by Jesus Christ (Daniel 2:31, 34-35); and He will inaugurate His kingdom of heaven on earth, which shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44-45; Luke 1:33). The current world system on earth is Satan's kingdom and not God's. If it were God's world, it would not have been an enemy of Christ Jesus!
Note these activities listed in Scripture:
Luke 4:5-6; John 8:44; 14:30; 15:18-19; 16:8-11; 17:6, 9, 12-18, 25-26; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 2:16; 4:3 & 5:19.Satan continues to deceive the nations of the world (Revelation 13:14; 20:3 & 10) and his plan is simply to keep man from knowing the truth; found in the only reliable source of which is God's inerrant Word, the Bible (John 1:1 & 17:17).
Please join us next week as we investigate the second of two kingdoms described in the Holy Scriptures - the Kingdom of Light and its promised future reign...
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
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