Satan

The thousand years, the forty-two months, and Satan (Part 1)

SUMMARY. This short study of “the thousand years” and the “forty-two months” comes from the book of Revelation and serves as a refresher for understanding the flow of the events which occur at the end of the age. In this study we also see how the devil fits into the timing of these events. (See my book, “The Last Act of the Drama” (Amazon, 2021) for a more detailed treatment.)

MINI-SERIES OVERVIEW. A good understanding of the book of Revelation is needed to have a proper grasp of the end times. The problem is that it is very difficult to understand the book of Revelation and especially to follow the flow of events in the section of the book from chapter 4 through chapter 20. This series of posts serves as a teaching session to define the events that take place and to explain the order in which they occur. We will also see that Satan appears in the flow of events in Revelation.

THE LOCATION OF THE DEVIL IN HISTORY. Most people would say that the devil spends most of redemptive history on earth, but the Bible tells a slightly different story. The book of Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible, and in Job, Satan presents himself before the LORD (Job 1:6). This must mean that Satan is in heaven, for “the LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven” (Psalm 11:4). Thus it seems that, during the Old Testament period, in some sense, Satan is in heaven.

When we jump forward to the time just before the Incarnation, in Revelation 12:3 we see the devil as the red dragon in heaven ready to devour the Messiah (12:3-4). Thus, just before Christ’s Incarnation, again we see that Satan is in heaven.

Revelation 12:5 describes the Incarnation and the Ascension of Jesus but is silent about what is happening with the devil during this time. To find out what happens with the devil next, we need to turn over to Revelation 20 and see how Satan is removed from heaven.

A PAUSE FOR SOME INFORMATION

AN OVERVIEW OF THE FLOW OF REVELATION. It is necessary to pause here and turn aside to supply key information about what is happening in Revelation. Therefore, we will take a moment, first, to give an overview of how the pieces fit together and then how the events flow through the chapters of Revelation.

FITTING THE PIECES TOGETHER. First, then, we will address how the pieces or components fit together. Chapters 4 through 20 of the book of Revelation describe three distinct periods of time: “the thousand years,” the “forty-two months,” and the last day.

THE THOUSAND YEARS. “The thousand years” is the name or the label for the period of time in redemptive history that occurs between the binding of Satan in the abyss (Rev. 20:1-3) and the release of Satan from the abyss (Rev. 20:3, 7). It will shown that “the thousand years” begins during the ascension of Jesus from earth to heaven following His resurrection. Thus, “the thousand years” was inaugurated around AD 30. The term “a thousand years” in Revelation 20 is a figurative expression for the duration of the period of time named “the thousand years.” In Revelation, a thousand of anything does not communicate an exact number but tells of a very large number too big to count. Thus, a thousand years is a really long period of time. So, “the thousand years” began with the binding of Satan in the abyss in about AD 30 and will continue for a really long period of time until the release of Satan from the abyss.

THE FORTY-TWO MONTHS. The period of “the thousand years” is followed immediately by the period of the “forty-two months.” “Forty-two months” (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Rev. 11:3; 12:6), and “a time and times and half a time” (Rev. 12:14) are names or labels for this relatively short period of intense eschatological activity that occurs between Satan’s release from the abyss (Rev. 20:3, 7) and the beginning of the last day. As a thousand years was a figurative expression for the duration of “the thousand years,” so “forty-two months” is a figurative expression for the duration of this period. While “thousand years” conveys the idea of a very long, indefinite period of time, “forty-two months” conveys the idea of a much shorter, more defined period of time, not literally forty-months, but a brief time, like less than a decade.

THE LAST DAY. Although this series of blog posts will not touch on the last day, we will define it here. The expression “the last day” is to be understood literally, meaning it is literally the last day of human existence on the fallen earth. You may ask, “If ‘thousand years’ and ‘forty-two months’ are figurative, why do you claim that ‘the last day’ is literal?” The expressions “thousand years” and “forty-two months” are unique to the book of Revelation, both in actual textual appearance and in concept. Since these two concepts are unique to Revelation, they must be understood within the context of the book of Revelation. It is apparent in reading Revelation that these expressions are not required to be literal, nor are they intended to be taken as literal. It is clear from the text that these expressions are conveying a concept, not a precise period of time. By contrast, the concept and expression of “the last day” have been part of redemptive history since the very beginning. For example, in the gospel of John, Jesus speaks of the last day (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54). In the Old Testament prophets, we read often of “that day.” Ever since the fall of man in Eden, there has been a coming day of recompense when the unrighteous will be judged. As we examine this biblical concept of a last day, it is also evident that the last day is literally the last day. That is, all of biblical revelation presents the last day or “that day” as a regular, literal day. Since throughout God’s inspired word, the last day is presented as literal, we assume that the book of Revelation presents it the same way.

SUMMARY. So far, we have fit some of the pieces together. According to our understanding of these components, then, “the thousand years” began around AD 30 with the dragon (Satan, the devil, the serpent of old) being bond in the abyss. The end of “the thousand years” is marked by Satan’s release from the abyss, which simultaneously inaugurates “the forty-two months.” Once the events of “the forty-months” are completed, the final events of the last day occur, which closes human history.

Where are we in our study, then? Remember that, in the Overview section above, we stated that we were first going to see how the pieces fit together and then were going to consider how the events flow through the chapters of Revelation.

So, now that we see how the pieces fit together, the next post will explore how “the thousand years” and “forty-two months” appear in the text of Revelation so that we can see how Satan journeys from heaven just before the Incarnation (Rev. 12:3-4) to the lake of fire on the last day (Rev. 20:10).            

SDG                 rmb                 7/13/2022                   #553

Let me introduce you to my Big Brother

It does not happen often, but there are times when I feel so discouraged, when I am just feeling low and down on myself. There are times when I feel so inadequate and so incompetent and so very imperfect. I ask myself, “How can the Lord use me at all?” But it turns out that, because of the fall, we are all imperfect and weak and prone to error and failure. It is at times like these that I need to stop thinking like one who is all alone in the world and like one who does not have the Lord on his side. I need to stop thinking like a sheep without a shepherd. The LORD is my shepherd! (Psalm 23:1) The Lord is with me like a dread Champion. (Jeremiah 20:11)

When Satan tells me that I am a failure and will be a failure and he reminds me of all the mistakes that I have made and tells me of all the times that I have failed and then tells me that I am therefore a failure, I will refer him to my Big Brother, Jesus. “You, Satan, are the father of lies. You are the accuser of the brethren. You are the one who hates me and who seeks to kill and to steal and to destroy. You intend nothing but my destruction and plan for nothing but my failure. But let me introduce you to my Big Brother, Jesus. I think you may have met Him before. Do you remember? He was the One who kicked you out of heaven and determined that you would crawl on the earth like a serpent. He was the One who defeated you in the wilderness and resisted every one of your temptations. You will remember that He is the One who drove the cross through your skull on Calvary’s hill and He is the One who said, ‘It is finished,’ from the cross. He is the One who has delivered me from the domain of darkness. He is the One who has destroyed your works. He is the One who has conquered death and who promises that I will never be condemned. He is the One who is at my side and has promised to never leave me or forsake me. Nothing shall be able to take me out of His hand and nothing can separate me from His love for me. He is the One who is in heaven interceding for me. He is the One who is with me like a dread champion. He is my refuge and my Rock and my Redeemer. He is the One who will come from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel to receive me into heaven and to give me a glorified body. And He is the One who will throw you into the lake of fire to be tormented forever. Don’t you remember Him? I think you do. He is my Big Brother. He is my Savior. He is the One who will defend me from those too strong for me.

“So if you have something to say to me, Satan, and you have some accusation to bring against me; if there is some discouragement that you want to bring against me or if you want to remind me of some failure and if you want to tell me that I am a failure, you will need to speak to my Big Brother first and see what He has to say about it. The reality is that apart from Jesus, I am nothing, but because Jesus Christ is my King and because He died for me and because He is for me and because nothing can separate me from His love, I am destined for glory and my life is useful to the Master. I have been given a white robe and a ring. I have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ so that I am whiter than snow. My frail efforts, when offered in the name of Jesus, are powerful for the destruction of all your fortresses. You, Satan, say that I am a failure, but Jesus Christ says I belong to Him, that he has bought me with the price of His own blood and that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. You, Satan, say that I will fail and that the future is bleak, but because you are the father of lies, I know that is a lie and that my future is, in fact, bright and that God will use me and that nothing can stand against God’s purposes to bring about His glory through my feeble efforts. So, tell your lies to my Advocate and to my Intercessor and to my Redeemer and see what He has to say about them.”

When I remember to refer Satan to my Big Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, then his vain threats vanish like so many puffs of smoke and He is revealed to be a toothless lion and a fangless viper. I am reminded that Satan is a mere fallen angel, but the One I worship, my rock, my shield, and my defender, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, King of kings and Lord of lords.

So, next time Satan attempts to harass you with his taunts and temptations, introduce him again to your Big Brother, and press on toward the goal for the prize.

[Some of the Scripture references: Isaiah 64:4; Hebrews 11:6 (“God rewards (‘is a rewarder of’) those who diligently seek Him” – Believe this promise, that God rewards not on the basis of height or looks or wealth or strength or even ability (remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25) or age, but God rewards on the basis of faith and according to His faithfulness – Hallelujah!); Romans 8:31-39; John 19:30; 2 Cor. 5:21]

SDG                 rmb                 5/3/2022                     #525

Why must Satan be released from the abyss? (Rev. 20:3)

NOTE: This article is an excerpt from my book on the end-times, “The Last Act of the Drama,” a guide for the end-times that will be completed and self-published soon. rmb

3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. – Revelation 20:3

In this article, we find ourselves in the “thousand years” of the gospel age (Revelation 20:3). As we can see from the quote of the verse above, during the “thousand years” the dragon, which is an alias for Satan, is sealed in the abyss so that he will not deceive the nations.

While Satan is locked in the abyss, the church is in a long season of relative peace. For the duration of the “thousand years,” the gospel is being proclaimed and the church is growing as Christ is building His church (Matthew 16:18). This gospel age goes along steadily “until the ‘thousand years’ were completed; after these things he (Satan) must be released for a short time (Rev. 20:3).”

Now, this is something we need to investigate. The gospel age of the “thousand years” apparently does not go on forever, but there comes a time when the “thousand years” were completed. At that time, Satan must be released for a short time. Observe that the Bible does not say that “he is released,” but it says, “he must be released.” In other words, it is necessary for Satan to be released from the abyss when the “thousand years” are completed. But why must Satan be released? That is the question.

In answering this question, we first need to keep in mind that Satan is merely a created being. Because of his arrogant words and because of some of the things he is allowed to do, some Christians can have an inflated view of Satan’s powers, but this is a mistake. Satan, like all created beings, is entirely under the sovereign control of the Lord. That means he is not a threat to the church, and he is certainly not a threat to God. He is brought onto the stage when his character is needed by the Lord, the Director of the drama, because there are some things that Satan is uniquely qualified to do.

Second, we observe that Satan is released from the abyss. Satan does not conduct a successful jailbreak. Rather, he is released. Satan was not in control. He was rotting away in the abyss during the “thousand years” when he was unexpectedly released.

So, Satan must be released because his unique talents and abilities are needed by the Director to take the grand drama of human history toward its scripted conclusion. The Hero of the Drama is preparing to make His final, glorious appearance (Revelation 19:11-16), and all the details must be made ready for His grand entrance. The church must be purified, pruned, and cleansed through the furnace of persecution. Evil and lawlessness must increase so that the unrighteous are revealed and so hatred against the church can abound. The final trumpet warnings of coming judgment must be loudly proclaimed to the unrighteous. Satan must have time to raise up the beast and the false prophet to oversee the proliferation of evil and the persecution of the church. And Satan is the only character in the drama who can accomplish these necessary tasks, so Satan must be released.

Finally, upon his release, notice that Satan is given only a short time (Rev. 20:3). He is not the one who is in control of the length of his performance. Rather, his time on the stage has already been determined by the Lord. He will burst upon the scene “having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time” (Revelation 12:12) to create havoc and destruction. After that short time, according to the script, “he was thrown (ἐβλήθη) into the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10).” Satan, the great dragon, performs his necessary role and then is thrown into the lake of fire.

So, in simplest terms, Satan must be released after the “thousand years” because the Lord has need of him. That is the simplest answer to our question.

In Luke 19, as the Lord Jesus nears Jerusalem for His triumphal entry, He sends two disciples ahead to fetch a colt. As the disciples were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it” (Luke 19:33-34).

That is probably the best way to think of Satan in the book of Revelation. Consider him to be like this colt. He comes onto the stage of the grand drama because the Lord has need of him.

SDG                 rmb                 7/23/2021                   #425

Satan’s activity and God’s sovereignty in the end-times

NOTE: This article is an excerpt from my book on the end-times, “The Last Act of the Drama,” a guide for the end-times that will be completed and self-published soon. rmb

There is no doubt that our world today gives us reasons to fear. A lot of people, myself included, see a marked increase in evil in many spheres and at many levels, and it is unsettling. Things in which we used to trust as rock-solid and unchanging have collapsed and worst-case scenarios are common. Most challenging of all is that the trajectory into the future seems to be for things to get more chaotic and for losses to continue to outpace gains. Yes, the view is troubling and we as believers can be tempted to think that God is no longer in control and that Satan and wickedness have gotten the upper hand.

It is in times like these that we open our Bible and dig deep to find out what God has said in His Word. With regard to what we see in our present times, our Bible gives us a foundational truth that never changes:

Our God is always in absolute control of all things.

But, if God is in sovereign control of all things, why do we see escalating wickedness in our world? How can God’s sovereign control be reconciled with Satan being able to increase evil and lawlessness in the world? Doesn’t a rise in Satan’s work of chaos and strife and violence indicate that God is not in complete control?

The short answer is, “No.” God remains in complete control, but as the world moves toward the end of the age, God will manifest His sovereign control by using Satan’s activity to take history in a new direction. At the appropriate time, God will begin to fulfill all the prophecies about the end-times that are written in His Word so that the world will be prepared for the glorious return of the Lord Jesus.

This means that, as we study the end-times and see Satan and his demons creating chaos and strife, we must maintain a settled view of Satan’s power and his role. Despite his reputation, the Bible reveals that Satan is merely another character on the Lord’s stage. As Judas was chosen as one of the Twelve because the Lord Jesus needed a betrayer, so Satan has been created because the Lord required someone to do the grand evil acts scripted into His great drama. The Lord needed someone to tempt Adam and Eve, and Satan was ordained as the tempter (Genesis 3:1-6). God needed someone to test Job, so Satan was selected for that part (Job 1, 2). Someone was needed to test the Lord Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), so Satan received that part, as well.

So it will be in the future, when Satan is released from the abyss (Revelation 20:3, 7) to play his role as God’s supporting actor and to fulfill everything that God has created him to fulfill in the last act of the grand drama. “The great dragon, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan” (Revelation 12:9) is the actor needed to move history toward the end of the age. In his role, the devil will accomplish exactly as much destruction and lawlessness as the Lord, before the foundation of the world, ordained for him to accomplish, but not even the slightest bit more. Satan will freely choose to do all the evil that the Lord has sovereignly scripted for him to do, and he does not get to adlib. He is an actor on God’s stage, and he enters and exits that stage according to the Director’s precise instructions. He can do no other.

Therefore, we need not be frightened when, as we approach the end of the age, we see Satan doing those things that the Bible declares he must certainly do. He is simply playing the role that God has sovereignly ordained for him to play. The Lord Jesus Himself told us these things would surely take place and He told us these things so that we would not be frightened when they came to pass (Matthew 24:5-13, 21-28). We conclude that Satan acts exactly as God has decided for him to act, completely contained by God’s sovereignty.

SDG                 rmb                 7/21/2021                   #424

Religions hate the Bible

My most recent post was about THE distinguishing mark of “religions,” where I argued that the common trait of all false religions was that they could function and continue to exist if Jesus Christ had never existed. This is true because religions are invented by Satan to prevent people from encountering Jesus Christ and thus being saved.

While intentionally obscuring the Lord Jesus is THE distinguishing mark of religions, another distinction of all religions is that they hate the Bible and therefore do everything in their power to prevent people from reading the Bible, which is the word of the living God.

SATAN’S ATTACK ON THE WORD OF GOD

            We first meet Satan in Genesis 3, where he appears in the Garden as a serpent. The very first thing that the serpent asks Eve is, “Has God said . . ?” As the father of lies (John 8:44), since the beginning Satan has been calling into question the truth of the word of God, and in the Garden his temptation resulted in sin and the fall of man.

            And since Satan hates the word of God, so the false religions he invents hate the word of God, as well. False prophets and false teachers are the primary means that religions use to attack the word of God. Thus, the Bible contains many warnings about false prophets. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 we read how false prophets lead astray the unsuspecting. In Jeremiah 23, the whole chapter is devoted to warning about false prophets and the judgment that will fall on them. Jesus’ most excoriating words were reserved for the scribes and Pharisees because their teaching distorted the Word of God (Matthew 23). The book of Jude is essentially devoted to a warning about false teachers. To say it again, religions hate the Bible and their first line of attack of the Bible is through false prophets.

THE WORD OF GOD, THE BIBLE, HAS ALWAYS BEEN ATTACKED

            The Bible as the word of God has always been a target of attack for Satan and his false religions. We have already seen that, in Genesis 3, the serpent asked, “Has God said?” In Jeremiah 36:20-26 we read how King Jehoiakim slowly burned the scroll of Jeremiah by cutting it off the scroll and throwing it into the brazier. Ever since it was written, the Bible has been attacked by religions. The Bible has been destroyed by burning and shredding and being outlawed, the Bible has been distorted by twisting its meaning and intentionally misreading and misinterpreting it, and the Bible has been denounced by claims that the stories are myths, and the truths are mere opinions or outright lies.

            False religions have hunted down people who read or preached the Bible to persecute them and kill them. William Tyndale was pursued and tracked down and finally burned at the stake simply because he translated the Bible into the English language. Religions forbid owning or reading Bibles and they kill those who defy their prohibitions. There are 52 countries on the planet today where it is illegal to own a Bible, with varying degrees of penalties.

            Finally, there are several religions which have their own sacred books which are written in an attempt to destroy the uniqueness of the Bible. “You have your holy book, but we have our holy book, too, and your book is no different from ours.” These books are clumsily written musings from one author and are obviously of man-made origin, but they are passed off as being profound. The purpose of these books must be clearly understood. Their purpose is to obscure the Bible, to malign the Bible, to reduce the Bible to the mere musings of an ancient people with no relevance for today, to make sure that no one takes the Bible seriously and thus comes to faith in the Lord Jesus. It is evident, then, that religions hate the Bible.

WHY DO RELIGIONS HATE THE BIBLE?

            We have touched on this already, but we need to answer the question, “Why do religions hate the Bible?” In other words, what is it about the Bible that religions want to silence or leave unknown? Here are some of the reasons that occur to me:

  • Because the Bible is the truth (John 17:17 – “Your Word is truth.”) and Satan and his religions hate the truth.
  • Satan and his religions are liars (John 8:44 – “He (Satan) is the father of lies.”) and are opposed to the truth and love lies (see above).
  • The Bible tells the truth, and the truth sets us free (John 8:32). Religions do not want you to be set free from sin or to be set free from the chains of their religion.
  • The Bible exposes the darkness and people love the darkness of their sin (John 3:19-21; Ephesians 5:12-13). Religions are okay with darkness and allow all kinds of sin, and do not want you to know about the darkness and the Light.
  • The Bible shows us how to be saved from our sins (2 Timothy 3:15).
  • The Bible is the book that tells people about the living God, about the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, about sin and the consequences of sin, about the coming judgment, about the wrath of God, about heaven and hell, about salvation, and about the gospel that declares that through faith in Jesus Christ and belief in His death and resurrection as the means of my salvation, any sinner can be forgiven of their sins and reconciled to God forever. Religions do not want you to know any of these things and they, therefore, do everything in their power to prevent you from reading the Bible and discovering these truths.

APPLICATIONS

            This post and the previous post are intended to keep us alert for the encroachment of false religions, especially as our age becomes more confusing and godless. Jesus warned us to be alert for false prophets (Matthew 7:15-23) and told us that, at the end of the age, false prophets and false Christs will arise and will almost mislead the elect (Matthew 24:24). False prophets are the ministers of false religions whose intent is to obscure Christ and lead people into the broad way of destruction. So, we need to be alert to these things and run away from any so-called church or group that does not love the Bible and the Savior whom the Bible reveals.

            Most importantly, we as believers need to be people of the Bible. At least for now, in America we continue to have the privilege of being able to read our Bibles anywhere and anytime we choose. Many Christians in the world, both today and in the past, have not had this privilege. We must be good stewards of our Bibles and diligently read and memorize them, and we must proclaim the truths of the Bible to others so that God may be glorified.

“For You have exalted above all things Your name and Your Word (Psalm 138:3).”     

SDG                 rmb                 12/21/2020

Herod believed in the Messiah (Matthew 2)

There are so many fascinating themes that are operating simultaneously in Matthew chapter 2 that it can be hard to decide where to focus. This article will center on Herod, the king in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth, but I want to bring in a number of players to capture all the richness of the passage.

THE MAGI

To start with, let’s look at the characters who are on-stage in this scene of the biblical play. There are magi (wise men) from the east who come to Jerusalem. “Where is He who is born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him (2:2).” Who were these men? Why did they come such a long way? How did they know that the star signaled “the king of the Jews?” We cannot say for certain, but we can give some educated speculations. These men were probably astrologers and necromancers from Persia or Babylon. Because they were astrologers who studied the stars, about two years ago they had noticed the appearance of a new and unusual star in the night sky. Since they were from Persia or Babylon and were in that part of their culture that would have been familiar with ancient writings, it is possible that these magi were aware of the stories of the Hebrews and of their God, Yahweh. It is possible that may have known some of the Hebrew Scriptures and had heard about a coming Anointed One. They may have heard ancient stories about the prophet Daniel and about his prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, which gave an idea of when this Anointed One, this Messiah would appear. What other explanation would there be for a group of men traveling for up to two years to follow a star? And how else do we explain their words to Herod? These magi were searching for the King of the Jews. These pagan Gentiles saw a new star appear and they connected the dots and decided that nothing was more important than that they find Him who was born King of the Jews. Then, when the magi find the Child, the fall down before Him and worship Him and give Him expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. After worshiping the new King, they return “to their own country by another way (2:12).”

KING HEROD

Next, we meet king Herod. Scripture does not tell us a lot about him, but it does tell us enough. Herod was the king in Jerusalem, and he intended to remain king. His actions reveal that he is cruel, that he is deceptive and cunning, and that he is insecure, which is a particularly unpleasant recipe. He had been in power more than thirty years when the magi arrived. While the magi sought to worship the new King and shower Him with gifts (2:2, 11), Herod saw the child as a rival and as a threat to his reign and immediately sought to kill Him.

It is clear from this account in Matthew 2 that Herod believed both that the Hebrew Scriptures were true and that this new King was the promised Messiah. How do we know that? We know that based on what Herod did. When the magi told Herod about a star and about worshiping a new king, “Herod was troubled (2:3).” He figured out that this new king was the Messiah and he wanted to know where to find Him so he could kill Him. So, believing that this new King was the Messiah, Herod went to the chief priests and scribes and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. He went to the chief priests and the scribes because they knew the Scriptures, and Herod believed the Scriptures would tell him the truth about the Messiah’s birthplace. When they told him about Bethlehem and Micah 5:2, Herod sent the magi there to confirm the prophecy. Then they were to return to him so that Herod could “worship Him,” also.

It is good to pause here and reflect on this. Herod believed that the Scriptures were true and that Jesus, the newborn King, was the long-awaited Messiah. Instead of rejoicing, however, his response was hatred and murder. Herod did not need a Messiah that demanded his worship and that threatened his worldly pleasures and power. Yes, Herod sought to kill the Messiah rather that worship Him. Sadly, that is what many in the world still try to do. Many find out about our glorious Savior who passed through the heavens (Hebrews 4:14) to be born in Bethlehem and to be crucified on a cross and reject Him rather than worship Him.

When Herod’s plot to use the magi as his accomplices in killing this new King fails (2:16), he has all the male children in the area of Bethlehem slaughtered so that he can still succeed in eliminating this messianic threat. Again, his vicious use of the sword does not land on the Messiah, for His parents had fled with Christ to Egypt to escape Herod’s wickedness.

SATAN

            There is another character in this drama who is active behind the scenes, and who will not step on-stage until Chapter 4, and that is Satan. Although Herod is the human agent for the cruelty and the wickedness that is unleashed to kill the Messiah, and while Herod is fully responsible for his wicked acts, behind these acts is the one who is “a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).” Satan is the one who was the first to hate the Messiah, and in Matthew chapter 2, he is the one who is doing everything in his power to destroy Jesus the Messiah. Since that day in the Garden when he was cursed for his deception (Genesis 3:14), Satan has been bent on stopping the Messiah from “bruising his head (Genesis 3:15).” Despite his best efforts, somehow the Messiah has snuck past his defenses and has been born in Bethlehem, exactly as the Scriptures said would happen. “More than that, when He was a ‘sitting duck’ in the manger in Bethlehem, somehow He still eluded us and has now disappeared somewhere into the backwoods of Israel. Well, maybe that’s the last we’ll see of Him. Maybe He’s disappeared for good.” (See Revelation 12:4-6 for more of Satan’s activity against the Messiah.)

SDG                rmb                9/18/2020

Satan: The powerful pawn

The Bible knows him by various names and titles. He is the serpent of old, the devil, the tempter, the adversary, the prince of the power of the air, the god of this age, the red dragon, Satan, star of the morning, son of the dawn, the anointed cherub, the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning. In his first appearance in the Garden of Eden, he tempted Eve, who gave to Adam, and thus the whole human race was plunged into sin and death. He is, indeed, the most powerful of God’s created beings, and he is entirely opposed to everything holy and righteous and good.

Since Satan is opposed to all holiness and goodness, he is opposed to Jesus Christ and is opposed to Jesus’ church. Satan hates Christ and hates Christ’s church and hates every member of Christ’s church. He is “our adversary, the devil” who “prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).” Make no mistake about it, if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus, the devil is seeking to devour you. His goal is your destruction. He aims to ruin your testimony, to silence your proclamation of the gospel, to cause you shrink back from your faith, and to deny the faith when he threatens you with loss. When you, as a believer, sin, you have fallen prey to his schemes. Satan rejoices in your sin, because in that sin you have listened to Satan rather than trusted and obeyed the Lord. Yes, Satan is certainly a dangerous foe to the believer, and we are wise when we are alert to his temptations and his deceptions and are aware of his schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). The believer should diligently defend his holiness and make sure that the devil does not have easy access to our heart, for he desires to bring about your sudden destruction.

But while Satan is a formidable and dangerous adversary to us, he is merely a created being to the Lord God. Part of the reason that the devil sometimes has a larger-than-life persona for believers is because we insist on viewing him from a human perspective and focusing on how he appears to us. David did not go out to meet Goliath in his own strength, but he went out in the name of the LORD of hosts. “Today the LORD will deliver you into my hands (1 Sam 17:45-46).” For the LORD, Goliath was just an overgrown uncircumcised Philistine, and he would fall dead just like any other man of dust. In the same way, we do not encounter Satan in our own strength. We stand firm against the schemes of the devil because we stand firm clothed in the Lord’s armor (Ephesians 6:11ff). We can have no fear of the devil because Jesus Christ has already crushed him and destroyed him by His finished work on the cross (Genesis 3:15; I John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14-15).

HOW THE LORD VIEWS SATAN

Now let us think about how the Lord God views Satan. First, it is given that the Lord is the sovereign Creator of all things and of all beings. He has created all things for His purpose, and He has ordained all things that will come to pass, from the first events of Genesis 1 to the final events of Revelation. And it is evident that the Lord God created Satan, for Satan is a created being. While understanding the fullness of God’s purposes is beyond human ability (Psalm 131), the Lord has revealed to us many details of His purposes in His Word, the Bible. As we study the pages of the Bible and see what God has revealed to us about Satan, we see that the devil has been created with his unique powers and his wickedness for a specific purpose. The devil is the tempter and the accuser and the liar, and much more, but it is those very qualities that define his area of usefulness. Satan is the Lord’s powerful pawn who spends the vast majority of the divine drama of history in complete obscurity. It is only when his unique “talents” and “abilities” are needed that he is summoned onto the stage to perform his part, to say his lines, and then to exit the stage until “an opportune time (Luke 4:13)” when he is needed again. We must remember that the Lord is the playwright, the director, and the producer of history. He has already written the script, and He has, in eternity past, chosen the cast. In time and space, the Lord created the heavens and the earth, the stage for the drama. “Let there be lights, camera, action!” And history began. But the grand play of human history is not unfolding randomly. No! The drama is unfolding in perfect agreement with the way it was scripted in eternity past by the sovereign Lord of all. And so, Satan does not come and go as he pleases, nor does he ad-lib his lines. Rather, his performance is directed by the Lord and is in perfect agreement with the divine script.

SATAN: THE SUPPORTING ACTOR

When is Satan called on to make an appearance? Satan’s main role is to appear in one of his various forms to tempt someone, so that their obedience will be tested. He also enters the drama at the end of the age when he brings about the great tribulation against the church. Other than some small bit parts here and there, that’s about it. If Satan were a real actor in the world today, he would be starving! There just isn’t a lot of work on the world’s stage for an extremely evil guy like the devil! Let’s quickly examine his major supporting roles in Scripture.

Genesis 3. The Scene – the fall of mankind. Satan’s role is to tempt the first Adam to test his obedience and his righteousness. Our adversary appears as a “serpent more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made (Genesis 3:1).” His first words create doubt about the word of the LORD God. “Did God actually say?” His next words declare that God lied about the wages of sin, telling Eve instead that she can sin with impunity. “You will not surely die,” even though the LORD God had clearly said that you would (2:17). His final words in this scene suggest that God is not good and that He is keeping good things from Eve and Adam. So, Eve takes of the forbidden fruit and gives to Adam. The results are that the serpent, Satan, is cursed; in the future, the Messiah will come to crush Satan’s head; Adam has failed the obedience test; and Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden and from God’s presence because of their sin.

Why is Satan summoned? One reason is that there are only a few actors to choose from at this point in the drama. Also, Satan is the most evil and the most deceptive of God’s creatures. Satan is the one the LORD calls to test Adam.

 Job 1, 2. The Scene – The wager between God and Satan, with Satan claiming that Job only obeys God because the LORD protects Job. The LORD then allows Satan to test Job to see if Job will continue to obey even when his earthly prosperity and possessions are taken away. So, we see that Satan is summoned “from going to and fro on the earth (1:7)” and is pointed to “My servant Job” so that Job can be tested.

Why is Satan summoned? Satan is summoned because he is the only one powerful enough to ruin Job’s prosperity and to bring about Job’s physical affliction, and who hates God and man enough to bring about Job’s undeserved misery.

Matthew 4:1-11. The Scene – The testing and vindication of the Second Adam. Jesus has just been baptized (Matthew 3:13-17) and, as the first act of His earthly ministry, He is “led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (4:1).” Jesus fasts for forty days and forty nights and then is approached by the tempter (Satan). The tempting of the first Adam should be kept in mind as the tempting of the Second Adam takes place. Satan calls Jesus’ identity into question (“If You are the Son of God . . .”), he tempts Jesus to obey him rather than God (“command these stones to become loaves of bread”), he twists the Word of God using parts of Psalm 91 (remember Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say?”), and he offers Jesus everything He could possibly desire in this world, if Jesus will worship him. Jesus perfectly resists all of Satan’s temptations with the word of God (“it is written”), and then commands Satan to depart (“Begone, Satan!”). which Satan obeys. Thus, the Second Adam conquers Satan and resists all his temptations in the very sphere where the first Adam failed.

Why is Satan summoned? Satan is summoned because it was Satan who caused the fall of the first Adam. Satan needed to be defeated by the perfect Second Adam. It was Satan who caused the ruin of the human race, so Satan needed to be confronted by the Redeemer. It was Satan who caused death to enter the world, so it was fitting that Satan be conquered by the Lord who brought in eternal life. Satan is summoned onto the stage because his crushing defeat in the wilderness proves that the Son of God has also appeared on the stage. Satan, the most evil one, can only be vanquished by the Holy One.

Revelation 12, 13, 16, 20. The Scene – The final rebellion against the Lord and attack against the church before Jesus Christ returns. In this scene, Satan takes the form of a red dragon and is allowed to persecute the church. In chapter 12 the dragon “has come down to you in great wrath (12:12),” “he pursued the woman (the church) who had given birth to the male child (12:13),” and “he became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring (12:17).” Satan is allowed to vent his hatred on the church. In chapter 13, Satan raises up an accomplice, “the beast,” who “is allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (13:7).” The dragon, along with the beast, and the false prophet, assemble for the battle (16:14). Satan’s final scene is in Revelation 20:8-10 where he gathers the nations for battle. They “surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven, and the devil is thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Why is Satan summoned? Satan is summoned because he is the one uniquely qualified to be the ultimate rebel against the Lord. He is the only one powerful enough to organize and execute this battle against the Lord and His church.

CONCLUSION – THE MAIN POINT

While from our perspective the devil is a powerful and formidable enemy, from the Lord’s perspective Satan is merely a special pawn whom He has created for His use in bringing about His redemptive plan for history. We must remember that Satan is cursed by the LORD God near the beginning of Genesis and then in Revelation 20 is finally thrown into the lake of fire, while we believers are “chosen by the Lord before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)” so that the Lord might “demonstrate the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy whom He prepared beforehand for glory (Romans 9:23).” Therefore, we should have a healthy respect for Satan’s power, we should not fear him because we are protected from him by the Lord of hosts.

SDG                 rmb                 9.13.2020