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28 Jun 2007 07:43:56 AM |
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Satan's Conquest of the Earth |
Satan's Conquest of the Earth
Genesis 3:1-7 As we discovered, Lucifer coveted for himself the glory
that belonged to an infinite and eternal God. To attain that glory, Satan
desired to bring an innumerable host of angels into subjection. In
Revelation 12:4 we read that, when Satan rebelled against God, he led
along with him a third of the created angelic beings. But Lucifer desired
to clothe himself with the glory of God by also extending his authority
into the earthly realm of creation. Then he might declare himself
independent of God and claim an authority equal to God.
This desire to rule over the earth put a plan into operation. In the
first chapter of the book of Genesis, at the time God created man, God
said in verse 26: "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the
air and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them." And
when God created man and placed man upon the earth, God gave man
authority over the earth. Man was not independent of God. His dependence
made him recognize that God was sovereign, that God had the right to
rule, that God is a God of glory. But man was appointed as God's
representative on earth in the administration of the things of God and
God's kingdom. Man was a ruler, but he ruled by divine permission. Satan,
in his desire to gain control over this earth, had to realize his purpose
by attacking man.
When we turn to the third chapter of the book of Genesis, we find the
first assault that Satan made in this earthly realm against God's
representative, man. The record of the temptation is a very familiar one.
Those who believe the Word of God believe that this was a literal
incident, that it is not to be relegated to the realm of myth. This is
not the personification of some vague idea that arose in the minds of men
to explain the presence of sin that must be dismissed as a fact. This is
history. Lucifer came into the Garden of Eden where God had placed man at
the time of creation, in order to turn his heart away from the path of
obedience to God.
When God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, which was a reflection of the
perfections of heaven, God said in Genesis 2:16: "Of every tree of the
Garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." This restricted the liberty and the
freedom of man. Man is not free when he is totally independent of any
authority. Man is truly free when he can choose the one whose slave he
will become. And Adam was free in that he could choose to obey God, by
submitting his will to the will of God. God had put this prohibition upon
Adam: "Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:
for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." It never
entered into the heart or mind of Adam to question this restriction. It
never crossed his mind to think that God had jealously withheld something
from him that would have been for his good or his benefit. God in His
infinite grace had provided for His creature all that he could want or
need or desire. Yet when Lucifer came to test Adam, he tested him in the
very area of God's prohibition, the area that had made Adam truly free.
We read in the first verse of Genesis 3 that the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. It should be
observed at the outset of our understanding of Satan's methodology, that
Satan cannot materialize his body which was suited for a heavenly
existence so as to appear on the earth in physical form. If Satan is to
manifest himself upon the earth in any visible form, he must appropriate
a physical body through which to work. The eternal Son of God could
appear in physical form. In the Old Testament the Angel of Jehovah is a
preincarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. The Angel
of Jehovah appeared in physical body and walked and talked with men. But
Satan does not have this power. Rather, he has to operate by controlling
a man or a woman or some beast of the field through which he can manifest
his presence among men. When Satan came into the Garden of Eden to test
Adam and Eve, to bend them to his own will, he chose to use the body of a
serpent.
We are not to think that a reptile was originating this plan, that a
reptile was contradicting the pronouncement of God, that a reptile was
interested in the decisions which Adam and Eve made. This reptile only
provided the body which Satan used. And it is recorded that the serpent
(as now possessed by Satan) was more subtle than any beast of the field.
For no animal ever yet has conceived the thought of rebelling against
God. Animal creation is in perfect subjection to God. When Christ was
tempted of Satan forty days in the wilderness, the gospels record that
His only companions were the wild beasts. What is significant about that?
Because all creation except man recognizes that God is sovereign. And the
wild beasts that were with Jesus Christ in that time of temptation
submitted to His authority. This serpent in Genesis was not chosen
because it was wiser but because it was a suitable vehicle through which
Satan could approach Eve. And it became wiser than any beast has ever
been in that it advocated that Eve rebel against the will of God.
The subtlety in this approach was that Satan could approach Eve without
revealing who he was or what his purpose actually was. For had Satan come
to Eve and openly and forthrightly revealed himself as the enemy of God
and had invited her to repudiate God's will, Satan could anticipate that
Eve and Adam would have said no to him, repudiated his attempts, and his
desire to rule this universe would have been thwarted. So it was
necessary for Satan to change himself into something that he is not. If
you turn to the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14, the Apostle
notes Satan's use of this very method. We read: ". false apostles,
deceitful workers [are] transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light." This transformation is also referred to in the twelfth chapter of
the book of the Revelation where, in speaking of Satan, we read in the
ninth verse: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called
the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. ."
Now devil and Satan are significant words because they mean "deceiver"
and "slanderer." When Satan came to oppose the will of God, he appeared
as a deceiver and he slandered the character and the love of God in order
that he might divert Adam and Eve from the will of God. Mark this
principle: Satan always works by slandering the goodness and the holiness
of God and by deceiving men concerning their relationship to God and the
will of God. And the serpent by subtlety, by deceit, came with a
question. "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden?" This was a question to discover how much Eve actually knew about
what God had said. If Satan is to deceive a man, he must start with the
knowledge that the man has. That principle is true today. If a man is
totally ignorant of the Word of God, so that he knows nothing of the
person of God, of the character of God, of the requirements of God, it is
easy for Satan to deceive a man into believing that he is completely
acceptable to God without dealing with the sin question at all. But if a
man knows the Word of God and the holiness of God, and he knows his own
unholiness, then it is much more difficult for Satan to keep that man in
darkness.
So Satan probed to find out how much of the Word of God Eve knew. Thus he
raised the question, "Is it true that God said you shall not eat of every
tree of the garden?" And Eve had to confess that God had put a
restriction upon her for she said correctly: "We may eat of the fruit of
the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall
ye touch it lest ye die." You will notice that Eve knew the prohibition
and she knew the penalty for disobedience. Now this much had been
established: Eve was familiar with what God had said, that He demanded
obedience to His word, and He had affixed a penalty for disobedience. On
the basis of this knowledge Satan now proceeds.
Satan responded to Eve's knowledge with an outright denial. "The serpent
said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die." This is a categorical
denial of what God had said. And this is the greatest insult that any
creature has ever offered to God, because he openly said God is a liar.
He accused God of deception. Is it not significant that the one who came
to deceive, the one whose nature it is to deceive should charge a holy,
righteous God with that which is his own distorted and perverted
character?
Then he explained in the fifth verse why God had withheld the fruit of
this one tree from Adam and Eve. "God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil." It is necessary for us to change the reading of this
verse to discover Satan's intent. For the word translated "gods" is
Elohim and it is an Old Testament name for God. Adam and Eve knew nothing
of false deities. What Satan is saying is that, if you eat of this tree,
you will be like God. Do you remember what the prophet Isaiah recorded as
the desire of Satan? "I will be like the most High." Now his enticement
to Eve was that, if she reached out and took of the fruit of that tree
and ate it, in disobedience against God, she would elevate herself to the
place that she would be just like the most High.
Satan knew that the one who has the right to be obeyed has the right to
be worshiped because he is sovereign. He also knew that, if he could
entice Eve to disobey God, that disobedience would be an act of obedience
to him and he, consequently, would have the right to be worshiped. And if
man will obey Satan and worship him, he has usurped God's place in
creation and he has become like the most High. He said in effect, "God is
jealous; God wants to reserve the right to rule for Himself. He does not
want to share His glory with another. God knows that, if you take this
fruit and eat it, you will be elevated to His throne and you and God will
be on an equality because God has withheld from you the one thing that
makes you less than God. And if you eat this fruit, you will be like
God."
A desire was created in the mind of Eve to elevate herself to this
position of equality with God, to clothe herself with the glory that was
associated with the throne of God, a desire to share the glory of God's
throne. And Eve reached out and took that fruit and ate it and offered it
to Adam, and Adam ate it. And as a consequence, verse 7, "The eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." They were
naked, not in the sight of each other nor in the sight of the animals in
the garden, nor even naked in the sight of Satan. They were naked in the
sight of God because there is no covering for the disobedience that now
characterized their life and their walk. There is no covering for the sin
and wickedness generated by their rebellion against God.
To take that fruit Eve offered him, Adam had to release his hold on the
scepter that God had given to him when He said, "Have dominion over the
earth." For Adam could not hold the scepter and the forbidden fruit in
his hand at the same time. Adam could rule only as long as he was
obedient. And Lucifer was there to snatch up the scepter that Adam
dropped.
When we turn to the second chapter of Ephesians, verse 2, the Apostle
writes that "in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, ye walked according to the prince of the power of the air." That
description, the prince of the power of the air, recognizes that Satan
has usurped the power of God in the angelic realm. In 2 Corinthians 4:4,
we find that Paul recognizes that Satan has usurped authority in another
realm. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine unto them." Satan is called there the God
of this world. In his rebellion against God, he led angels after him and
became a prince in the heavenly realm. But by leading Adam and Eve into
disobedience, he has become the god of this world. Satan by his
usurpation of power in these two realms has sought to cover himself with
the glory that belongs to God.
As he is obeyed by an innumerable host of fallen angels, he declares
himself independent of God and equal or superior to God. By the obedience
given to him by all men from the time of Adam's fall, Satan claims the
authority that belonged to the Creator, and that he now is sovereign in
this earthly realm.
When we consider the temptation in the Garden of Eden, we are impressed
with the fact that Eve had a knowledge from God. She knew the command of
God. She knew the will of God. She had been walking in harmony and
fellowship with His love in the garden in the cool of the day. Eve's sin
began when she substituted natural reasoning for divine knowledge. When
she listened to the whisperings of Satan who questioned the Word of God,
then she had taken the first step toward renouncing the authority of God.
Doubt and skepticism have to begin in the mind. When a man begins to
approach the Word of God with his own natural mind, he has opened the
doorway to repudiation of the whole of divine revelation, for he
substitutes human reasoning for divine revelation. The Apostle points out
to us in the first chapter of Romans that the world does not know God.
And the wisdom of God is foreign to the wise men of this world. 1
Corinthians 1:18-25 makes this so clear: For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
[that is all natural wisdom], and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this
world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that
in wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
And when the Apostle came to Corinth he said, "I did not come to Corinth
as a philosopher because philosophy is natural reasoning, a natural,
darkened mind seeking to reason its way into the things of God. I came as
a revealer. I did not come to seek after light. I came to bring light.
That light is in the Word of God. That light is in the Gospel of Jesus
Christ." Therefore, Paul said, "I determined to know nothing among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified."
If one today trusts natural wisdom, natural reasoning, natural
philosophy, he will never come to an understanding of the things of God
or the person of God, because man by philosophy does not know God. One
will not come to know Him until he sets aside his own wisdom and accepts
God's revelation. Until one by an act of faith trusts that which is
revealed in the Word of God, no matter how many degrees he may write
after his name, he will remain in ignorance concerning the things of God.
Lucifer asked Eve: "How much do you really know?" His denial of that
which she knew raised skepticism in her mind, and that skepticism
produced disobedience. As as result of disobedience, the scepter that God
had given to Adam was transferred to Satan. Because Eve was swayed by
doubts concerning the truth of God, Satan clothed himself with the glory
of God, because Eve and then Adam submitted to him and worshiped him
instead of obeying God. You may reproduce that same sin.
Until you commit yourself completely to the truth of the Word of God,
make that the foundation for eternity and standard for your life today,
you can be deluded and deceived and led in a path of darkness. Satan's
desire is to keep you in his authority, to keep you under his control, to
keep you subject to his rule. Not until you by faith accept Jesus Christ
as your Saviour is there any deliverance from this kingdom of darkness,
deliverance from the god of this world. Not until you receive Jesus
Christ do you become a partner with God in eternal life. God offers you a
Saviour who is the wisdom of God and the power of God and the
righteousness of God, the One who can break Satan's rule over you.
Pentecost, J. D. (1997). Your adversary, the Devil. Originally published:
Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan, 1969. (40). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel.
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