| JESUS, THE CHRIST
OF GOD
Section
5 - Christ Came: To Save All Mankind
Christ Came: To Annul the Works of the Adversary
Christ
Came: To Save All Mankind
Scripture tells us that,
in keeping with His name and title, a main reason for Christ's becoming
flesh is for the purpose of saving. And it does not leave us in the dark
about who are sinners.
1Tim1:15
Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome,
that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners,…
Rom.3:23
for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.
Since the ‘to die shall you
be dying’ penalty on humanity, through Adam, was imposed by God, none of
us can effect its removal. Only God can provide a way out of this seemingly
insurmountable obstacle to our relationship with Him. Scripture reveals,
Rom.8:20-22
For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily,
but because of Him Who subjects
it, in expectation that the creation itself, also,
shall be freed from the
slavery of corruption
into the glorious freedom
of the children of God.
For we are aware that the
entire creation is groaning and travailing together until now.
This is not a mere ‘hope’, as
most translations have it, that God places in us. It is an expectation
(the Greek is ‘elpis’, and not ‘prosdokaö') that He
talks about. Something that is sure to happen because God says it will!
God does not keep us guessing
about how this will be done or even who will do it. He reveals His intentions
and lets us in on His counsel on this matter. He will do it! But,
first, He wants humanity to come to realise, through tough experience,
that it is totally impotent and incompetent to effect this salvation
by its own efforts! And then,
Rom.3:21-23
Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest
(being attested by the law
and the prophets),
yet a righteousness of
God through Jesus Christ's faith,
for all, and on all
who are believing, for there is no distinction,
for all sinned and
are wanting of the glory of God.
This passage makes it clear
that this is a righteousness of God. This righteousness is demonstrated
when, when we cannot save ourselves, God saves us. This is effected by
His applying the merits of Jesus Christ’s faith to humanity for whom Christ
mediates. It is for ALL - but, according to a set schedule. In the meanwhile,
however, it is only on all who are believing!
Heb.2:9
Yet we are observing Jesus,
Who has been made some bit
inferior to messengers…,
so that in the grace of
God, He should be tasting death for the sake of everyone.
2Cor.5:14 …
if One died for the sake of all, consequently all died.
1Tim.2:3-6 for
this is ideal and welcome in the sight of our Saviour, God,
Who wills that all mankind
be saved and come into a realization of the truth.
For there is one God, and
one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus,
Who is giving Himself a
correspondent Ransom for all (the testimony in its own eras),…
Rom.6:9,10
...Christ, being roused from among the dead, is no longer dying.
Death is lording it over
Him no longer,
for in that He died, He
died to Sin once for all time,…
Col.1:20
through Him to reconcile all to Him…
whether those on the
earth or those in the heavens.
Rom.10:13 For
everyone, whoever should be invoking the name of the Lord,
shall be saved.
Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures (1Cor.15:3). He did not die for those who were righteous
and deserved salvation. There were none, and there are none (Rom.3:10-18,23)!
He did not die to save those who would place their faith in Him. In reality,
our faith in Christ does not save us! Christ’s faith in God is what
saves all humanity. If Jesus Christ did not place His faith in God, all
our faith in Him would be an exercise in futility! Our faith in Christ
is a result of our having been given Christ’s faith! Our faith in
Him is a sign that what Christ has earned through His faith has
been applied to us now! It is God's way of declaring that we have been
saved already! We are the first category of mankind to have become subject
to Christ in God's operation of subjecting all to His Son as a reward
for His obedience (cf.Phil.2:5-11).
Eph.2:8,9
For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out
of you;
it is God's approach
present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.
Gal.2:16
a man is not being justified by works of law,
except alone through the
faith of Christ Jesus, [ …dia pisteös Iêsou
Christou ]
we also believe in
Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ… […Christou]
Phil.3:9
and may be found in Him, not having my righteousness, which is of law,
but that which is through
the faith of Christ, […dia pisteös Christou
]
the righteousness which
is from God for faith:
This is the essence of the evangel
of the Uncircumcision. It is not about our faith, or about our
righteousness;
it is about God's righteousness through Christ's faith! We
are saved because of God's gift of faith, and not because of our
self-generated faith. The gift is out of Christ's faith for [ literally:
into]
our faith.
Rom.1:16,17
For not ashamed am I of the evangel,
for it is God's power for
salvation to everyone who is believing
For in it God's righteousness
is being revealed,
out of faith for
faith… [ ek pisteös eis pistin ]
When Jesus walked the earth
2000 years ago, John the baptist identified Him as:
Jn.1:29
"Lo! the Lamb of God Which is taking away the sin of the world!
Since Adam, the whole world
has been consigned to a condition of stubbornness, locked up
in sin, to be released only according to a schedule set up by God. We are
all ‘sons of stubbornness’ and under the jurisdiction of Satan - until
God intervenes.
Rom.11:32
For God locks up all together in stubbornness,
that He should be merciful
to all.
Gal.3:22
But the scripture locks up all together under sin,
that the promise out of
Jesus Christ's faith may be given to those who are believing.
Eph.2:1-3
And you, being dead to your offenses and sins, in which once you walked,
in accord with the eon of
this world, in accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air,
the spirit now operating
in the sons of stubbornness (among whom we also all behaved ourselves once
in the lusts of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the comprehension,
and were, in our nature, children of indignation, even as the rest),
While we deserve nothing less
than the indignation of God, and did not, because we could not,
obey and please Him, He set the wheels in motion for our deliverance.
Rom. 5:6-10
For Christ, while we are still infirm, still in accord with
the era,
for the sake of the irreverent,
died…
yet God is commending this
love of His to us, seeing that,
while we are still sinners,
Christ died for our sakes.
Much rather, then, being
now justified in His blood,
we shall be saved from indignation,
through Him.
For if, being enemies,
we were conciliated to God
through the death of His Son,
much rather, being conciliated,
we shall be saved in His life.
1Pet.3:18
seeing that Christ also, for our sakes, once died concerning sins,
the just for the sake of
the unjust, that He may be leading us to God;…
Scripture declares the sacrificial
work of Jesus Christ is effective universally, as intended by God. No one
is exempted from its efficacy. It is only the time-frame for this that
varies (cf.1Cor.15:22-28).
Jn.1:29
… "Lo! the Lamb of God Which is taking away the sin of the world!
Jn.6:33
My Father is giving you Bread out of heaven, the true,
for the Bread of God is
He Who is descending out of heaven and giving life to the world.
Jn.6:51
I am the living Bread which descends out of heaven.
If anyone should be eating
of this Bread, he shall be living for the eon.
Now the Bread also, which
I shall be giving for the sake of the life of the world,
is My flesh.
[It is interesting to note
here that Jesus was born in Bethlehem which in the Hebrew is literally,
HOME-bread.]
Death resides in us. This is
not we would want for ourselves. What we need, and what we really
want, is life. But we are powerless to effect any change in our situation.
Where is the source of life that will overpower and remove the dying condition
in us?
Jn.5:26
even as the Father has life in Himself,
thus to the Son also He
gives to have life in Himself.
Jn.5:21
as the Father is rousing the dead and vivifying,
thus the Son also is vivifying
whom He will.
Jn.3:14,15 … that
everyone believing on Him should not be perishing,
but may be having life eonian.
Jn.10:10 .... I came
that they may have life eonian, and have it superabundantly.
Act.3:15 …the
Inaugurator of Life …Whom God rouses from among the dead,…
Jn.5:39,40 …
the scriptures,… are testifying concerning Me…
come to Me that you may
have life.
Jn.14:6
Jesus is saying to him, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one is coming to the
Father except through Me.
2Cor.5:21 RSV For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.
1Jn.2:2
He is the propitiatory shelter concerned with our sins,
yet not concerned with ours
only, but concerned with the whole world also.
Jn.3:14,15 …as Moses
exalts the serpent in the wilderness,
thus must the Son of Mankind
be exalted,
that everyone believing
on Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.
It is popular to quote Jn.3:16
in isolation to declare that salvation is dependent on the individual believing,
out of his own determination, in Christ. This is unfair to the context
of the verse. Verse 17 gives the actual goal of God's programme while verse
16 describes the process where each one is led to recognise and believe
in Christ as Lord to the glory of God (cf.Phil.2:9-11). This is well supported
by many other passages.
Jn.3:16
For thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten
Son,
that everyone who is believing
in Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.
Jn.3:17
For God does not dispatch His Son into the world
that He should be judging
the world,
but that the world may
be saved through Him.
Jn.12:32,33
And I, if I should be exalted out of the earth, shall be drawing all
to Myself."
Now this He said, signifying
by what death He was about to be dying.
Jn.12:47
for I came not that I should be judging the world,
but that I should be saving
the world.
Jn.4:42 …we
are aware that this truly is the Saviour of the world, the Christ.
1Jn.4:14
And we have gazed upon Him, and are testifying
that the Father has dispatched
the Son, the Saviour of the world.
1Jn.2:2
And He is the propitiatory shelter concerned with our sins,
yet not concerned with ours
only, but concerned with the whole world also.
2Cor.5:19 …God
was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself,
not reckoning their offenses
to them,…
To see the effects and influence
brought on by Christ’s obedience against that brought on by Adam’s disobedience,
let us arrange the following passages according to corresponding elements,
for clarity,
Rom.5:18:
Consequently, then,
as it was
through one offense for all
mankind for condemnation,
thus also it is
through
one just award for all mankind
for life's justifying.
Here we see that Adam’s one
offence, through disobedience, brought condemnation on all humanity. In
the same way, 'thus also', Christ’s award for His obedience (Phil.2:9-11),
brings justification on all humanity.
Rom.5:19:
For even as,
through
the disobedience of the one man, the many were
constituted sinners,
thus also,
through
the obedience of the One,
the many shall be constituted just.
In this passage, we see that
because of Adam’s disobedience, the ‘to die shall you be dying’ penalty
was passed down to all his physical progeny and they become sinners. They
cannot help but be sinners! It is designed as part of their
character for now - until God steps in.
In the parallel, because
of the obedience of Christ even to death on the cross, and taking on Himself,
as humanity’s representative, the ‘to die shall you be dying’ penalty -
even though He was not a physical descendent of Adam - the rest of humanity
will become just. They cannot help but be just! It is a character
that will be given to them by God.
Christ, our Lord, the Logos
of God, created us (Jn.1:3); He came in the flesh as one of us (Phil.2:7,8);
and experienced life as we have (Heb.4:15). He is our Mediator with God
(1Tim.2:5), fully qualified to represent us in all things. Because He created
the universe for God, He takes full responsibility for its operations!
Christ died, even though He did not deserve to die for He knew no sin.
But He died on humanity’s behalf, for humanity’s sake, for
humanity’s
sins.
1Cor.15:22:
For even as,
in Adam, all are dying,
thus also,
in Christ, shall all be vivified.
Our being sinners and in a dying
condition is through NO choice of ours! In the parallel, the 'thus also',
our becoming just and in an undying, immortal, condition is also through
NO choice of ours!
It is declared in Scripture
that the Consummation, when the eons end and God’s purpose is achieved,
is:
1Cor.15:24-26whenever
He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father,
whenever He should
be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power.
For He must be reigning
until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet.
The last enemy is
being abolished: death.
This tells us that there will
be a point in time when DEATH will not exist. It will become redundant
when its purpose is fulfilled. It will be abolished! All its debilitating
effects will cease to exist. There will be no sickness, no weakness, no
pain, no tears of sorrow. Every sentient being will be vibrantly ALIVE,
never to die again because such a thing will be impossible!
All this has been won for
us by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, through His faith in God
as made evident by His absolute obedience even to the death on the cross!
But, the effects, the blessings,
of Christ’s obedience go far beyond humanity, beyond the confines of this
earth. Scripture declares that,
Col.1:16,17
for in Him is all created,
that in the heavens and
that on the earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones, or lordships,
or sovereignties, or authorities,
all is created through Him
and for Him,
and He is before all,
and all has its cohesion
in Him.
Jn.1:3
All came into being through it,
and apart from it not
even one thing came into being which has come into being.
Scripture declares, just as
emphatically, that all that have been thus created, will be reconciled
to God through Him, too!
Col.1:20
and through Him to reconcile all to Him
(making peace through the
blood of His cross),
through Him, whether those
on the earth or those in the heavens.
Christ
Came: To Annul the Works of the Adversary
Satan, the Adversary, was
instrumental in the fact that mankind now has, inherent in its make-up,
an affinity to sin, so to speak. He had inveigled Adam and Eve into the
disobedience that brought upon them the penalty of death. He lied when
he said that they would not become dying as God had declared they would.
This first lie that humanity heard and believed continues in the doctrine
of the 'immortal soul' that is the mainstay of all religions. It is not
a doctrine of Scripture, absolutely!
When Scripture says death,
it means death - the cessation of life (cf.1Cor.15:12-19)! Death
is NOT life in another form or in another dimension. When a man is dead,
he is just that - DEAD. He is NOT conscious of anything anymore! He is
non-existent, except for a few days while his body disintegrates into soil.
And so, unless there is a resurrection, he will not be alive again!
This is the repeated declaration of Scripture!
The record of the creation
of Adam illustrates some basic facts.
Gen.2:7
And forming is Yahweh Elohim the human of soil from the ground,
and He is blowing into his
nostrils the breath of the living,
and becoming is the
human a living soul.
Scripture says that the human
was formed of soil, a physical element. He was given the breath of the
living, spirit. And he became a living soul, which depended upon the presence
of the body and the spirit to become a living entity. The soul is non-existent
until
the introduction of spirit to the body. It is not an independent element.
It comes into existence when spirit is introduced into a body. It ceases
to be when the body-spirit combination is disrupted.
At death there is a reversal
of this sequence. When God gathers back the spirit, which is the life-sustaining
element, death occurs. At that very moment the soul disappears. Figuratively,
it goes to the unseen [Heb: sheol], an imperceptible location.
The body is, of course, lifeless. Decomposition begins and the body eventually
disintegrates into its original form - soil!
Gen.3:19
In the sweat of your face shall you eat your bread,
till your return
to the ground,
for from it are you taken,
for soil you are, and to soil are you returning.
Eccl.12:7
And the soil returns to the earth just as it was,
And the spirit, it returns
to the One, Elohim, Who gave it.
Act.2:27 For
Thou wilt not be forsaking my soul in the unseen,
Nor wilt Thou be giving
Thy Benign One to be acquainted with decay.
Act.2:31
…concerning the resurrection of the Christ,
that He was neither forsaken
in the unseen,
nor was His flesh acquainted
with decay.
Death marks the end of man's
consciousness. He is totally unaware of all that goes on around him, unable
to function in any way. This is the confirmed position of Scripture, doctrines
and traditions of human wisdom, as well as purported 'personal experiences'
of 'reputable Christians', notwithstanding!
Ps.146:4
His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his ground;
In that day his reflections
perish.
Eccl.9:5,6 For
the living know that they shall die,
But the dead know nothing
whatsoever;
There is no further reward
for them; Indeed remembrance of them is forgotten.
Both their love and their
hate as well as their jealousy have perished already,
And there is no further
portion for them for the eon In all that is done under the sun.
Job.14:19-21 …You
cause the expectation of a mortal to perish….
His sons may attain glory,
yet he does not know it;
Or they may be discredited,
yet he does not understand it of them.
Eccl.9:10 All
that your hand finds to do, do with your vigor,
For there is no doing
or devising or knowledge or wisdom
In the unseen where
you are going.
Ps.6:5
For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the unseen, who shall
acclaim You?
Ps.88:10-12
Would You perform marvelous works for the dead?
Or do Rephaim arise and
acclaim You?
Is Your benignity recounted
in the tomb, Your faithfulness in destruction?
Are Your marvelous works
known in darkness,
And Your righteousness in
the land of oblivion?
Ps.115:17,18
The dead cannot praise Yah, Nor all those descending into stillness.
But we, we the living, shall
bless Yah, Henceforth and unto the eon. Praise Yah!
Isa.38:18,19
For the unseen is not acclaiming You, nor is death praising You,
and those descending into
a crypt are not looking forward to Your truth.
The living! The living one!
He is acclaiming You as I today.
The father to his sons shall
make known Your truth.
Ps.30:9
What gain is there in my blood poured out, In my descending to the
grave?
Does soil acclaim You?
Does it tell Your faithfulness?
As far as man's efforts and
abilities are concerned, death spells the end of the road. But, is this
the end for which God made man? Of course, not! God specifically created
man for Himself (Rom.11:36) - not for the grave, nor for Satan's
pleasure. Death is part of the process determined by God for His
benefit, for man's benefit, and for creation's benefit.
Christ came into the world,
and suffered and died, so that we can have life (Jn.10:10; 6:51). In fact,
Scripture reveals to us of the body of Christ,
2Tim.1:10,11
yet now is being manifested through the advent of our Saviour,
Christ Jesus, Who, indeed,
abolishes death,
yet illuminates life and
incorruption through the evangel
of which I was appointed
a herald and an apostle and a teacher of the nations.
Life and incorruption! The antitheses
of death and decay! Scripture asserts that we have not reached the end
of the road - there is no end of the road to be reached! God created us
to have life, to be alive! Vibrantly alive! Death brings
on a temporary 'time-out', an interval during which time and experience
have no part, for those in it.
Job.14:11-15
As waters depart from a lake, And a stream is drained and dries up,
So a man lies down and shall
not rise;
Until the heavens fail,
they shall not awake,
Nor shall they be roused
from their sleep.
O that You would seclude
me in the unseen,
That You would conceal me
until Your anger turns back,
That You would set a statutory
time for me and then remember me.
If a master dies shall he
live again?
All the days of my enlistment
I shall wait until my relief comes.
You shall call, and I shall
answer You;
You shall long for the
work of Your hands.
Ps.104:29,30
You conceal Your face; they are filled with panic.
You gather away their spirit;
they breathe their last And return to their soil.
You send forth Your spirit;
they are created, And You renew the face of the ground.
Ps.17:15 As
for me, with justice done, I shall perceive Your face;
I will be satisfied, when
I awake to Your semblance (likeness).
Job.19:25-27 Yet as
for me, I know my Redeemer is living,
And after this He shall
arise on the soil;
And behind my skin I will
stand erect,
And from my flesh I shall
perceive Eloah,
Whom I shall perceive for
myself,
And my own eyes will see,
and not an alien.
My innermost being is consumed
in my bosom.
As for the venerated tradition
that the faithful who have died are now alive with the Lord and are enjoying
heavenly bliss and rewards in sizeable mansions, Scripture asserts in passages
written long after Christ's resurrection and ascension, that
Jn.3:13
…no one has ascended into heaven
except He Who descends out
of heaven,
the Son of Mankind Who is
in heaven.
Act.2:29
Allow me to say to you with boldness concerning the patriarch David,
that he deceases also and
was entombed, and his tomb is among us until this day.
Act.2:34
"For David did not ascend into the heavens,…
Heb.11:13 In
faith died all these, not being requited with the promises,
but perceiving them ahead
and saluting them,
and avowing that they are
strangers and expatriates on the earth.
Heb.11:39,40
And these all, being testified to through faith,
are not requited with the
promise of God concerning us
(the looking forward is
to something better),
that, apart from us,
they may not be perfected.
Christians speak of 'out-of-body'
experiences. They speak of 'visitations' by the spirits of their dearly
departed at particular times. Where do all of these come from? These are
not
biblical beliefs. They have been gleaned from pagan sources and perpetuated
in special rites and rituals. And, who is the one who directs all false
religion and controls the minds of its devotees?
Working within the limits
God set for him, Satan has been doing a thorough job. Even members of the
body of Christ accept his insidious teaching on death, completely unaware
from where it actually comes. They do not seem alert to the fact that this
doctrine subtly undermines their understanding and full appreciation of
God's teaching on the reason for, and the power of, the resurrection.
Always true to his character,
Satan's track record is one of cunning and deception to which the whole
world continues to fall victim. This is not unexpected since the whole
world is under his control (Eph.2:2; 1Jn.5:19). The sad part is that believers,
too,
are being duped along with the rest, caught in the trap of the Adversary
(2Tim.2:25,26). How many are there who believe the truth of Scripture about
him? Many there are who are wont to defend his teaching against the weight
of Scripture!
He is a master at camouflage.
A chameleon. He can even hide his character from the eyes of those who
look at Scripture. And he can lead them to accept a concocted 'description'
of himself from details of other individuals. How many are there who heed
the warning of Scripture, concerning the Adversary and his agents, where
it says,
2Cor.11:13-15
For such are false apostles, fraudulent workers,
being transfigured into
apostles of Christ.
And no marvel, for Satan
himself is being transfigured into a messenger of light.
It is no great thing, then,
if his servants also are
being transfigured as dispensers of righteousness
Christian Theology accepts and
perpetrates falsehoods regarding his original status and character, thereby
maligning God's integrity and testimony. It is taught that Lucifer, as
Satan was supposedly called originally, was a 'good' angel with the highest
position in heaven. One 'fine' day, pride surfaced in him (from whence
it is not said), causing unbounded ambition to foment in his mind and made
him rebel against God's authority. So he led an insurrection among the
angels but was defeated by Michael the archangel and his good angels. His
name became Satan and his followers became devils. They were cast out of
heaven into hell - from which there is supposedly no reprieve -
yet
they roam about the entire earth tyrannising humanity.
To support such an idea a
passage from Isaiah (14:12-15) and another from Ezekiel (28:2-17) are usually
cited. Taken out of context they do seem to lend credence to this false
teaching.
An examination of the contexts
of the Isaiah passage shows that this contention is not tenable. In the
KJV, the name Lucifer appears - but the Hebrew is actually a verb, not
a noun, and the plural form is rendered 'Howl ye…' in Isa.13:6 and
'Howl, O gate; cry O city…' in Isa.14:31. Following the lead of
the KJV, the NIV renders it 'morning star' and the RSV 'Day Star'. The
context of the passage, using the KJV, shows that the 'the king of Babylon'
is a man, and able to be killed.
Isa.14:4
That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say,
How hath the oppressor ceased!
the golden city ceased!
Isa.14:10,11
All they shall speak and say unto thee,
Art thou also become weak
as we? art thou become like unto us?
Thy pomp is brought down
to the grave, [and] the noise of thy viols:
the worm is spread under
thee, and the worms cover thee.
Isa.14:16 They
that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee,
[saying, Is] this the man
that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
Isa.14:18,19
All the kings of the nations, [even] all of them, lie in glory,
every one in his own house.
But thou art cast out of
thy grave like an abominable branch,
[and as] the raiment of
those that are slain, thrust through with a sword,
that go down to the stones
of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
The Ezekiel passage addresses
'the prince of Tyrus' and he is shown to be a mortal man, too, in spite
of his bombastic pretensions.
Ezek.28:2
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus,
Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because thine heart [is] lifted up,
and thou hast said, I [am]
a God, I sit [in] the seat of God, in the midst of the seas;
yet thou [art] a man, and
not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Ezek.28:8-10
They shall bring thee down to the pit,
and thou shalt die
the deaths of [them that are] slain in the midst of the seas.
Wilt thou yet say before
him that slayeth thee, I [am] God?
but thou [shalt be] a man,
and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Thou shalt die the
deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers:
for I have spoken [it],
saith the Lord GOD.
Scripture declares the truth,
the 'inside story', of Satan's audacious masquerade that has 'taken in'
people by the millions, Christian and non-Christian alike! It exposes the
liar for who he is and warns us about his crafty strategy concerning the
truth for believers.
1Jn.3:8a
Yet he who is doing sin is of the Adversary,
for from the beginning
is the Adversary sinning….
Jn.8:44
You are of your father, the Adversary,
and the desires of your
father you are wanting to do.
He was a man-killer from
the beginning,
and does not stand in the
truth, for truth is not in him.
Whenever he may be speaking
a lie, he is speaking of his own,
for he is a liar, and the
father of it.
2Cor.11:3,4
Yet I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deludes Eve by its craftiness,
your apprehensions
should be corrupted
from the singleness and
pureness which is in Christ.
For if, indeed, he who is
coming is heralding another Jesus whom we do not herald,
or you are obtaining a different
spirit,
which you did not obtain,
or a different evangel,
which you do not receive, you are bearing with him ideally.
Satan has proven himself to
be an adept Adversary (which is the meaning of the Greek diabolos,
THROUGH-CASTer, the equivalent of the Hebrew Satan), his cunning
schemes taking in the whole world. The world thinks it has the truth
- and will jump to its defence at the slightest provocation. Its people
do not realise at whose beck and call they react. How well Satan has done
his job.
Rev.12:9
And the great dragon was cast out,
the ancient serpent called
Adversary and Satan,
who is deceiving the
whole inhabited earth.
Rev.12:10
And I hear a loud voice in heaven saying,
"Just now came the salvation
and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of His
Christ, for the accuser of our brethren was cast out,
who was accusing them before
our God day and night.
2Cor.4:4 …the
god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving
so that the illumination
of the evangel of the glory of Christ,
Who is the Image of the
invisible God,
does not irradiate them.
1Jn.5:19
We are aware that we are of God,
and the whole world is lying
in the wicked one.
Eph.2:2 in which
once you walked, in accord with the eon of this world,
in accord with the chief
of the jurisdiction of the air,
the spirit now operating
in the sons of stubbornness
Though he gives the impression
of being independent of God, Satan is NOT free to do as he likes. God sets
bounds within which he can operate his wiles. Just so far, and no farther!
But within those limits his enthusiasm is insatiable, his energy inexhaustible,
and his ego unaffected by any apparent setbacks.
Lk.22:31,32
… Simon, Simon, lo! Satan claims you men, to sift you as grain.
Yet I besought concerning
you, that your faith may not be defaulting.
Jn.13:3-6
Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
And, coming away, he confers
with the chief priests and officers
how he may be giving Him
up to them. And they rejoiced, and they agreed to give him silver.
And he acquiesces, and sought
an opportunity to give Him up to them minus a throng.
Act.5:3 … Ananias,
wherefore does Satan fill your heart
for you to falsify to the
holy spirit and to embezzle from the price of the freehold?…
2Thes.2:9
whose presence is in accord with the operation of Satan,
with all power and signs
and false miracles
Believers are warned about the
Adversary's insinuations and suggestions. For him, everyone is fair
game and he will exploit every situation and use every means
at his disposal to keep all of them under his thumb.
Eph.4:26,27
Are you indignant, and not sinning?
Do not let the sun be sinking
on your vexation, nor yet be giving place to the Adversary.
1Tim.3:6
...no novice, lest, being conceited,
he should be falling into
the judgment of the Adversary.
1Tim.3:7 Yet
he must have an ideal testimony also from those outside,
that he should not be falling
into the reproach and trap of the Adversary.
2Tim.2:25,26
with meekness training those who are antagonizing,
seeing whether God may be
giving them repentance to come into a realization of the truth,
and they will be sobering
up out of the trap of the Adversary,
having been caught alive
by him, for that one's will.
1Cor.7:5 Do
not deprive one another, except sometime it should be by agreement
for a period, …and you may
be the same again,
lest Satan may be trying
you because of your incontinence.
2Cor.2:11 lest
we may be overreached by Satan,
for we are not ignorant
of the things he apprehends
Jas.4:7 … be subject,
then, to God,
yet withstand the Adversary,
and he will be fleeing from you.
1Pet.5:8,9
Be sober! Watch!
For your plaintiff, the
Adversary, is walking about as a roaring lion,
seeking someone to swallow
up; whom withstand, solid in the faith,…
Rev.12:10 …
the accuser of our brethren was cast out,
who was accusing them before
our God day and night.
Just as in the case of Job,
however, it is all a part of God's design and method to control
the course of events that must be the experience of humanity in order to
achieve His goal.
2Cor.12:7
there was given to me a splinter in the flesh, a messenger of Satan,
that he may be buffeting
me, lest I may be lifted up.
Jesus Christ, during His ministry,
gave evidence of His superiority over the Adversary, setting people free
from the clutches of the enemy.
Act.10:38
Jesus from Nazareth, as God anoints Him with holy spirit and power,
Who passed through as a
benefactor and healer
of all those who are tyrannized
over by the Adversary, for God was with Him.
Victory is ours, though many
are unaware of it. For this is another major reason for Christ becoming
flesh -
Heb.2:14
Since, then, the little children have participated in blood and flesh,
He also was very nigh by
partaking of the same,
that, through death, He
should be discarding him who has the might of death,
that is, the Adversary,
Heb.2:15
and should be clearing those whoever, in fear of death,
were through their entire
life liable to slavery.
Act.26:18 to
open their eyes, to turn them about from darkness to light
and from the authority of
Satan to God,
Rom.16:20
Now the God of peace will be crushing Satan under your feet swiftly….
1Jn.3:8b …For
this was the Son of God manifested,
that He should be annulling
the acts of the Adversary.
Contrary to the teaching of
our much-vaunted Theology, Satan, the Adversary, is still able to
operate in heaven as 'the accuser of our brethren'. And that is
from where he directs his universal operations - until he is defeated and
cast out in the near future (Rev.12:7-12; Rev.1:10).
But, as evidenced by the
teachings that have been foisted on us, most Christians are completely
unaware of his actual whereabouts. They do not know from where he will
launch his attacks and they do not know what form these attacks will take.
How many are there who realise that they are victims of his lies and strategies?
How many know that they can defend themselves against his overt and covert
operations? Scripture encourages us to be ready and able to meet his onslaughts.
Eph.6:10-12
…be invigorated in the Lord and in the might of His strength.
Put on the panoply of God,
to enable you to stand up to the stratagems of the Adversary,
for it is not ours to wrestle
with blood and flesh,
but with the sovereignties,
with the authorities, with the world-mights of this darkness,
with the spiritual forces
of wickedness among the celestials.
2Cor.10:3-6
For, walking in flesh, we are not warring according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare
are not fleshly,
but powerful to God toward
the pulling down of bulwarks;
pulling down reckonings
and every height elevating itself against the knowledge of God,
and leading into captivity
every apprehension into the obedience of Christ,
and having all in readiness
to avenge every disobedience,
whenever your obedience
may be completed.
February 2001
Back to:
....Main
menu of articles
....Section
1 - Introduction
......................The
Image and The Firstborn
....Section
2 - The
Son of God
......................The
Christ of God
....Section
3 - The
Way Jesus is God
....Section
4 - Christ
Came: To Minister to the Lost Sheep of Israel
......................Christ
Came: To Confirm the Patriarchal Promises
Proceed to:
....Section
6 - Scriptural
Evaluation
......................Conclusion
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