06. Sin, Satan, And War
CHAPTER SIX
SIN, SATAN, AND WAR
“Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).
“To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23).
“She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" (1 Timothy 5:6).
Satan is the author of sin, and the father of lies. He is the one who has been tempting and destroying people throughout all history. The scripture presents him as the Prince of the present world system, and the God of this world. He is at the head of a vast host of demons, who are his emissaries (Matthew 7:22; Matthew 25:41).
Satan is known in the Bible by many different names.
He is called Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12), Satan (Revelation 12:9), The Prince of the Power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), The Devil (Revelation 20:2), The Dragon (Revelation 12:3), Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24), Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15), Abaddon (Revelation 9:11), Apollyon (Revelation 9:11), The God of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), The Serpent (Genesis 3:1), The Antichrist (1 John 2:18).
In spite of all these names, we must realize that there is only one true God, the Almighty God, the Creator of man, and of the universe; and that He is on His throne at all times as ruler of the universe. God pleads with man to forsake his sinful ways, to leave the deceitful Satan, and to receive freedom from sin and death through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and the one who giveth Eternal Life. When a man has been delivered from Satan’s sinful ways by being born-again, he feels it and he knows it. He knows that he has passed from death unto life; that he has been received as a member of Christ’s body, Christ’s Church, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.
Satan is continually trying to work in the lives of godly people in opposition to the power of the Holy Spirit. He is also trying in his own deceitful way to blind the eyes of his own people so that they cannot see and understand that their lives are powerless without first being forgiven and cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Sin starts to develop in the soul of a man, the seat of his desires, and the home of his will-power.
Sin is first detected by the outsider through the sinner’s eye, the window of man’s soul. The effect of sin spreads in man until it is observed in his speech, that which speaks coming out from the heart. Later, sin is seen in man’s whole facial expression, which is a picture of his thoughts.
Finally, sin affects man’s walk and the action of his whole body. Sin later causes man to be plainly seen as a sinner, and known as a sinner. The Prince of this World becomes enthroned in the heart of a sinner, and claims him as his follower. Jesus Christ is the only one who can break the power of sin and Satan.
Sin in the soul of a man is like dry-rot in an apple, which not only destroys the life of the apple, but spreads to the other apples in the barrel and destroys them also. Good apples must be separated from the bad ones in the barrel in order to preserve their goodness. The man who has been born-again must not stay in the companionship of sinners; he must have fellowship with Christians. Man in sin knows the right, but he is powerless in his own strength to fight against evil. In order to have power to do the right, he must be cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, and separated from Satan by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ is the only Saviour that the world has today, or has ever had. He is the only one who can save sinful man from sin, Satan and death. Also He is the Great Physician who can cure those who will put their trust in Him, in spite of the fact that they may be called incurable.
Satan at first was created as “The anointed cherub that covereth" He was given great responsibility and authority by God. He was the guardian angel of the “Throne of God" He was a being of beauty, and perfect in all his ways from the day that he was created until iniquity was found in him. He is well described in Ezekiel 28:12-19.
Satan’s heart was lifted up because of his beauty and his authority. Satan corrupted his own wisdom, and became proud, presumptuous and powerful. He said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:12-17). Feeling his power and authority, he boasted about what he would do. The selfish “I will’s” uttered by Satan marks the beginning of sin in the universe. This led him to be deceitful, subtle, fierce, cruel, malignant, and wicked. It led him to revolt against God and the kingdom of God. Satan fell from his high place of authority in the kingdom of God because of this sin.
After the Devil was forced to abdicate his place of authority because of his sin and revolt at the “Throne of God,” he made the earth and the air the scene of his subversive activities.
The Lord said unto him, “I will destroy thee, O Covering Cherub" (Ezekiel 28:16). The Lord made a covenant in which He promised the ultimate destruction of Satan through the seed of woman (Genesis 3:15). God knew that Jesus was to be that “seed" Jesus has already conquered sin and death by His death and resurrection; and He will yet destroy Satan and all his followers, and all his works (1 John 3:8). Jesus Christ while on earth had the power to cast out demons, and He did so (Matthew 4:24; Matthew 8:16).
The Cross of Calvary is the only place where the defeat of Satan is a permanent reality in the life of a believer. That sacrifice of Jesus destroyed all of Satan’s legal rights over man and over the earth, and Satan knows it. Thus Jesus Christ is the legal owner of the world.
As Christ resisted the Devil and vanquished him, so the Christian must resist the Devil by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you" The Christian must put on the whole armor of God, that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers" The Christian must be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10-18). Faith in God is the victory that overcomes the world.
After God had first restored the earth to its primitive beauty and perfection, and He had declared, “It is very good,” Satan made his second malicious attempt to destroy the work of God. This he accomplished by beguiling Eve, the mother of all living. He subtly caused her to question the authority of the Word of God. This marks the entrance of unbelief into the world. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit that when He is come, He will reprove or convict the world of sin-because they believe not on Me.
Satan first appeared unto Eve, “as an angel of Light" He appeared in the guise of a serpent. Scofield says, “The serpent, in his Edenic form, is not to be thought of as a writhing reptile, for this condition is the effect of the curse upon the serpent. This creature may have been the most beautiful creature, as well as the most subtle.”
Step by step Eve was led on, first to listen to Satan, then to look at the forbidden fruit, and then to take and eat. Paul says, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" Someone has written,
“The woman sinned by allowing herself to question the word of God; and the man fell because of the love God had put into his heart for the helpmeet whom God had formed from his own body.” The first Adam fell because of love. He was a type or foreview of the second Adam who came down where fallen man lived, “was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), “made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man" (Php 2:7).
“For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Thus Satan caused the downfall of the race of mankind, plunging them into sin; but God, in His infinite love and mercy, gave the promise of His one remedy for man’s sin, in that the seed of woman should bruise the serpent’s head. God’s promise of the redeemer to come is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The Godly line of the Old Testament leads through Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David. Here began many promises and prophecies of Jesus Christ, which were fulfilled in His birth.
Ever since Satan caused Eve and Adam to fall, he has been going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. His children are the wicked ones, the sinners (Matthew 13:38; Acts 3:10);
They are possessed with the Devil (Luke 22:3);
They are blinded by him (2 Corinthians 4:4);
They are deceived by him, (1 Kings 22:21);
They are ensnared by him (1 Timothy 3:7);
They are troubled by him (1 Samuel 16:14);
They do the lusts of the Devil (John 8:44);
They will be punished together with him (Matthew 25:41).
Through the past ages and up to the present time, Satan has opposed God’s plan for man. Jesus would not yield to the power of the evil one, because He knew, as one of the Godhead, the greater power of God. Jesus said to the Devil, “Get thee behind Me, Satan".
Today Satan and his demons are free to tempt and to possess people who will yield to him. Satan now organizes his people on the principle of force, greed, selfishness, ambition, and sinful pleasure; and he names his people with attractive names to deceive God’s people. He changes these names at will to deceive.
At any time now, for the time is ripe, Jesus will take His saved ones, His Church, to be with Him. Then Satan will be free from the restraint of the Holy Spirit, to do his havoc with the people on earth in the Tribulation period.
During the Tribulation period there will be war in heaven, and Satan and his angels will be cast out of the lower heavens to the earth beneath by the angel Michael. Then Satan, being on earth, will first attack the Jews, God’s Chosen People. He later will give power to the beast. At the close of the Tribulation period, when Christ comes with His Hosts of Heaven to judge the nations, Satan will be bound, and cast into the “bottomless pit,” where he will stay for 1000 years, during the Kingdom Age.
After the 1000 years, he will be loosed, and he will revolt with multitudes of his people. He will be judged, and will be cast into the Lake of Fire, reserved for him and his angels. Thus God will keep His promise, and Satan will receive his just reward, and will be destroyed (See Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10). The question is often asked by many people, “Why does God permit the war in which we are now engaged?”
These people do not realize that war is a part of the evil that is in the world today; for they do not read and study what is said in the Word of God about sin. They do not realize that man is a sinful and guilty creature, and that sin is being permitted to run free in the lives of men. They do not sense the seriousness of sin, and the consequences of sin. It is the war within people that gets people into war.
Man should realize that there is something wrong in the order of things in the world. He should be influenced by the results of war and destruction to hate sin, to seek to find out why things are wrong, and to turn to God, the creator and preserver of man, for light and understanding.
“If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5).
God punishes sinful man, and He often uses war to lay open the fact of sin in the world. When people persist in sinning, God destroys such people. He destroys nations also.
In Bible history, an invasion was often a Divine punishment for great evils in a nation. God sometimes gave severe orders that none should be spared in battle. All sin and evil will eventually be destroyed.
People who do not know their Bible have also a mistaken conception of God. They think of Him only as a God of love, when in fact He is not only a God of love, but He is a God of justice and a God of wrath, as Bible history firmly convinces us.
God is a God of righteousness, and therefore He is opposed to sin and unrighteousness. He desires that men cease from evil thoughts, and evil ways, and become righteous.
Evil men are behind the turmoil of this dark hour, and behind these men is Satan. Evil men are known to create war to serve their own selfish ends. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).
“In all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:37).
In the events of life, temptations are important to help settle and confirm us in the spiritual life.
Our spiritual conflicts against temptation are among our choicest blessings, for they cause us to dig deeper into God’s Word, and to trust Him more. Temptations are to us like winds that cause the mighty trees of the mountains to push down deeper into the soil. Satan is used in our temptation to train us for his ultimate defeat. God tests His children, and Satan tempts them. God never tempts, and Satan never tests.
Through Christ we not only win against temptation, and defeat Satan the tempter, but we capture the enemy and make him fight in our ranks; and we receive many spoils of battle.
We become more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.