Major Bible Themes

So for those of you who read the chapter this week, you found out it was really short and didn't have a tremendous amount of content because I think that Schaeffer gave Satan just about all the credit Satan was due and kept it short and brief and kind of to the point. So we may be able to make a run on that on the break room upstairs a little early, people get the choice piece of coffee cake or whatever. I didn't amplify things too terribly much beyond what Schaefer did.

So we're going to look at five judgments of Satan. Number one judgment in the Garden of Eden, and this is intended to be more of a review than anything else. I think chapter 22 was about what happened there. Second one, judgment of Satan at the cross. Turns out Satan was destroyed for some value of destroyed.

And so we'll have to look at what we actually mean when we use that word. NASB even sidesteps using that word and goes with a different translation. Then we get Satan cast out of heaven. It turns out he's not strong enough to stay there, and the Bible's really clear about this, saying, in fact, he's not strong enough, so he gets cast out. And then things turn really ugly here on the earth for a little while before he gets cast into the abyss. And finally we end up with Satan's final judgment.

And this is a story I really like to present to kids who are a little unsure of the world around them. Hi Bill. Hi. Who are unsure of the world around them because Hollywood media sort of portrayed this epic battle between God and Satan, and it's always portrayed as more or less a fair fight between the two of them. They're evenly matched. You don't know quite who's going to win until the very end. And so Revelations 20 is a great thing to read to kids who sort of view things this way, because you get Satan's final judgment and you find out that it's not all that much of a battle whatsoever.

So, let's start in the garden. So before we get into the judgment against Satan in the garden, I think it's kind of fun to look at what Satan wanted, what his goals were when he decided, you know what, I'm going to go my own route. And so Ruth, can you read Isaiah 14, 12 through 14?

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn. You have been cast down to the earth. You who once laid low the nations, you said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens. I will rise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zofran. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Okay, so Satan's got a pretty clear plan. What does he want? He wants to be higher than everybody else. I mean, he wants to be way up there in physical location, but also in stature. So he wants to be way, way up.

And so this is why I'm really liking what his punishment was when he messed things up in the Garden of Eden. So, he sends Eve, you know, scurrying off after the apple, and lo and behold, that didn't come without consequences. So, April, if you can give us Genesis 3, 14, and 15. The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast on the field. On your belly will you go, the dust you will eat all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed and he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Okay, so let's start in 14.

So what did Satan want? Satan wanted to be way, way, way, way, way up high, right? Where does Satan end up? Crawling on his belly on the ground. Could he have gotten lower? No, so the punishment ends up being really just for the action that Satan took and for his desires and what caused him. Again, we see that God addresses the hard issue and so chooses a punishment that's appropriate for the situation. Roger, when he did this, did a study on dust because he was trying to figure out, well, okay, what does it mean that you're going to be eating the dust and came across a pretty interesting verse that I will read for you guys. It's Lamentations 328 and there's no real need to run it over there. Though it could be fun to see if we all know where Lamentations is. Non-iPad people, that is. Okay, so Lamentations 328.

Let him sit alone and be silent since he has waited on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there is hope." So the mouth in the dust, the mouth buried in the dust, suggests a picture of being silenced, which is interesting. But this is why I've got it listed on the slide, the interesting passages. We're not going to delve any deeper into it, but one interpretation of you know, eating dust as you go, that Satan has in some sense been silenced here. Alright, so let me run back to Genesis. So that is crawling around on the belly, eating dust. But we ended up with some more.

So there's going to be enmity between Satan and the woman. Her seed is going to bruise Satan on the head, and he's going to bruise that seed on the heel. Do we know what the head and the heel stuff is about? Yeah, we're exactly talking about Jesus and Satan. So the seed, that being Jesus, is going to be coming through the woman.

And so, just maybe the most brutal way to think about this, I've got a hammer. And I'm giving you one choice. Do you want me to smack you on the heel or on the top of your head? Which one are you going to go for? Yeah, I would think so. Unless you're really, really, really unhappy right now. And then you might go for head.

So it's not of like kind. It's not, okay, you're going to be trading blows. But in fact, there's going to be a small blow dealt to Jesus and a larger blow dealt to Satan. The smaller blow being, of course, the crucifixion on the cross, the death that had him buried for under three days before he was raised. Not a mortal blow. Not a finishing blow. But the judgment to Satan, the crushing on his head, very much so, a mortal blow, and that's dealt with at the cross, and we'll see what that looks like on the next slide. In terms of this crushing blow, there is mention of it in the New Testament, Romans 16, verse 20.

Okay, so there you go. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. It's kind of interesting to have that dichotomy. The God of peace It's going to crush Satan, right? But this is how we bring about peace, so that's not a problem whatsoever.

Alright. So like I said, this is going to end up being a pretty short lesson this morning. Any questions on the judgment in the garden? Alright, moving right on. Judgment of Satan at the cross. So, Mike, why don't we start in John 16, 7 through 11. And this is Christ talking to his disciples as he's preparing to, I guess as he's preparing them to cope with him dying on the cross.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, a helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. because I go to my father and see him or her, of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Okay, so we have the ruler of this world judged, and I think that it's interesting that once we get Christ crucified, then we get the Helper, so the Holy Spirit comes, and it's the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and of righteousness, and the whole program that Satan has set up at this point is a program of sin, and so now people are going to become very aware of the fact that they're sinning, and that they need to seek out an alternative to this sort of thing.

So, Courtney, John 12, 31. Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. Okay, and I guess 32's good too, and I have I am lifted up from this earth will draw all men to myself." So still Christ talking about his death on the cross is referring to judgment being upon the world and upon the ruler of the world. The ruler of the world of course being Satan.

Hebrews 2.14 Tristan. Therefore since the children share in flesh and blood He himself likewise also partook of the same, and through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. Okay, so through Christ's death he renders powerless Satan.

Who has a different translation than NASB? And basically every translation I looked at other than NASB chose to translate that differently. Inasmuch as then as the children are taken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death you might destroy him in every power of death that is to go. Okay, so New King James, King James, NIV all say the devil's been destroyed by this point.

So that's interesting. Don't we think that's interesting? Is that word destroyed like it was in Romans 6-6? Yeah, that's why made powerless, Romans 6-6 is the place that we're going to go. Absolutely. Same word. Same word. It's catargale. Okay. So just tuck that in the back of your mind. Has the devil been made powerless or has the devil been made destroyed? Okay. That's an important distinction. But while we've got that tucked back here, let's run over to 1 John 3-8. And that is to you, Erica.

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. Okay, and here even the NASB says, the Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

This is actually a different word. And the destroying, do you have a different word for that, Mike? I'm trying to think. I think it might be New King James. Give me just a second here because there is another translation of it that I liked also. Maybe it's NIP. Mine's NIP and it says destroyed. Well, doggone it. What am I doing? Ah, modern King James.

It says, undo the works of the devil, which is an interesting translation of it. So the word is luo, means to loose, to release. So here, the the works of the devil have not been destroyed, they've been sort of undone. I like all that positive momentum that the devils had, or negative momentum depending upon perspective, of setting the world into a particular direction, well that's been undone. We're no longer heading down that direction because of the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. So I like that translation, but that's a different destroy.

So we still have it in the back of our minds that The devil has been destroyed, so Nick, why don't you read Romans 6.6 for us? Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

Okay, and since Mike's our resident with the wrong translation of this, why don't you give us Romans 6.6? Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, with that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Oh really, so body of sin is done away with there as well?

Well your translation is just fine, I don't know what I'm talking about. I can do a paraphrase. Yeah, you could paraphrase and make it as wrong as you wanted to make it, couldn't you? Mine has a footnote that says be rendered coward. Okay. Yeah, be rendered powerless. The body of sin might be rendered powerless is a great way. Yes?

King James says destroyed. That's what I was looking for. So you've got this newfangled King James that's a little bit more in line with the way it ought to be. But we've got old school King James back there and the old school says destroyed. Which puts us in a pretty interesting place, because at the point of the cross, if we're looking at King James translation, we now have the devil destroyed, and we have our old man destroyed. So what are we doing running around doing all of this sinning? And so it's important to understand what this word means, and some translators have gotten it right, some have not. The word is katergail, which means to leave idle, to occupy, to make of no effect, to nullify.

And so if you get in your car up in the parking lot, you throw the thing in neutral, fired up and just start revving that engine like crazy, it's going to make all sorts of impressive noises, but it's not doing anything. It has been made powerless. It has been nullified. All the value of this engine, that's the same place where the believer is now with respect to Satan and toward the sin nature. So it's in that sense that there has been a destruction.

Made powerless is much more effective. Satan's still running around doing all of his old tricks. Old man's still trying to convince you all sorts of things that you know better are great ideas. But for the believer who is standing in his position in Christ, those things are in neutral. I mean, they've got no forward momentum. Does that make sense? Okay.

It seems like Satan's still doing plenty of evil. Yeah, I agree with that. Satan's doing plenty in this world. We know that Satan is not everywhere all the time. Not all powerful and so he focuses his attention. I tend to think that Satan focuses a whole lot of attention in Hollywood and Bollywood because that's a pretty good marketing program right there.

I think that these verses which he's trying to convince you by keeping you where you are that you're not ever going to find it out and if you don't ever find it out you still operate under his dominion you have to know that you're free and exercise faith in the facts in order to be free you never know that even as a believer you're not free you still will function from the dictates of the That's why these truths, like the Romans 6 truths, are so minimalized in the church, mostly never taught, because they point to the fact that Satan has lost his power over you, over the believer.

And I would think that his goal is to keep you ignorant of those facts, and as long as he can do that, he still controls. so let me try to find okay so this is Luke 10 17 so the 70 have been sent out Christ has given them instructions. These are the people you're supposed to be talking to. This is what you're supposed to do if they don't receive you well, all of these sorts of things.

And the 70 come back. And I think this really reinforces something that Mike just said. So the Seventy returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. And this is where Schaeffer stops the quote and says, So, you know, here's Jesus foretelling Satan's fall, and you've got these 70 who are just thrilled, you know, even the demons are running away from us when we mention your name. But I think what reinforces what Mike just said is if you continue, Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

And here's the important part. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. So it's not about, hey, now we get to tromp on Satan because we've defeated him. It's, hey, we've got this glorious position in our Lord Jesus Christ. Forget about that. That other stuff is like a symptom. It's a, it's a fringe benefit. The real deal is our position in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Just hand the ball over. No need to gloat. The victory is secure. Okay, so that's judgment of Satan at the cross. Now we'll go to Satan getting cast out of heaven.

And so we'll start with a description of Satan, which is the dragon, if you can give us Revelations 12, 3, and 4 from that old school King James. And behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads, and his tail grew to the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to birth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to deliver, or to devour her child as soon as it was born. The male child portion of this can go straight to Satan getting cast out.

I just wanted to set the stage of Satan as the dragon. And hearing this just now really personally disturbed me because my background is mathematics and I like symmetry and I'm trying to figure out how you're going to distribute ten horns among seven heads and it's just not going to be good looking. That is not going to be an attractive creature.

Anyway, the angel Michael, and I'll read this part. And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. So, first point from this verse, it was Michael, an angel, against Satan and Angel, God was not engaged in this fight whatsoever. And even with God standing on the sidelines, letting Michael take care of the situation, the dragon and his angel, they were not strong enough. So the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world and he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And the point at which this is happening is actually the midpoint of the tribulation. This is when things are about to get really ugly on the earth. Cast out is kind of funny. It's BALO. So BALO, what does that word sound like? BALO? Sounds like ball, right? So you just sort of picture Satan getting bundled up. All right, out he goes. Okay.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him, because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life, even when faced with death. For this reason rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Remember, we're midpoint of the tribulation. Things are about to turn ugly, right?

Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you having great wrath, knowing he has only a short time. So devil gets thrown out of heaven. Now he is spitting mad. I mean, just crazy mad. And now we're going to wreak some havoc on the earth. I mean, some real, real havoc. But the, the part that was interesting in that to me was he knows he only has a short time. Didn't change the program. He's mad. He's a, he's a little kid having a temper tantrum on the earth. He knows he's got a short time, which makes the next step.

So we've got Satan cast out, and now we're going to go to the... Yes, sir? The one thing that I noticed, he's always, he's there right now, accusing the brother. Yeah, constantly. That program ends right here. Yeah, day and night, and that's over. That's done. And so we are in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ. Satan gets cast out. There's no more accusing. We're rejoicing. So we get to rejoice, you know, three and a half years earlier than the folks who are down here on earth. Hold it in the back of your minds again that Satan knows his time is short because that's going to become relevant in a couple slides. He knows he's doomed.

Yeah. I was just wondering, when it says that you said in the letter of the woman that she was about to give birth, they didn't devour the baby as soon as it was born. Remember the thing with the king that wanted to prepare it when they killed the firstborn child? I wonder if that relates at all. Do you remember when Rachel, my niece, had all these babies Christ's child is doomed. And you know, tried to destroy a net, you know, to hear it in his voice, and tried to do it again in the desert.

It actually is talking about Christ's second coming. The piece that we skipped, she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God. So there she would be nourished for 1,260 days. So if you've got a 360 day calendar that works out to exactly 3.5 years, this is how we know that Satan getting cast out is right in the middle of the tribulation. So let's move on to Satan bound and cast into the...

The way that I come up with images for my slides, more often than not, is to Google for something semi-related and then snag one of the images. I don't know if anybody like wrestling? Nobody's admitting to it, but one of you may have been incriminated by one sister. When I Googled, I didn't even know what WWE stood for. Back when I watched wrestling, it was the WWF, World Wrestling Federation. Now we're World Wrestling Eatery or I don't know what. World Wrestling Entertainment. World Wrestling Entertainment. That's probably better because it's somewhat of an acknowledgment that it's not reality. They got sued by the World Wildlife Foundation.

Okay, so it does seem like your sister was right in incriminating you. Anyway, this dude's name is the Abyss. So that's how he ended up up there, because we're about to get Satan cast into the Abyss and chained. So anyway, mystery solved. So we can go to Revelations 21 through 3 to see that. And I think we've come all the way back around to you, Ruth. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan, and bowed him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. Okay, so we've got Satan, we've got him chained up, and was this an epic struggle between God and Satan? Turns out it wasn't. It took one angel with a good chain, and now Satan's locked up for a thousand years, and he's not going to magically break free.

It's preordained in 1,000 years, we're going to let him loose because he's got one more purpose to serve. And we talked about this a lot when we went over the Millennial Kingdom, but God is setting up the Millennial Kingdom to be a really cool time. And so part one of that program, take Satan, get rid of him for a while. Part two, take the unbelievers, put them off to the side for a while, and we're going to start the Millennial Kingdom without Satan and with only believers. So pretty fertile ground.

And what's interesting is when we come to Satan's final judgment, he doesn't have any trouble finding unbelievers. So we're going to fast forward a thousand years later. We've had a thousand years where there were only believers to start with. There was no Satan to deceive anybody during this time period. And yet when we release Satan, He's got no trouble rounding people up to go attack.

So, I'll read this one in dramatic fashion, the way that I like to read it to the kids. So, when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war.

The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came upon the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city. I mean, you can just see how Hollywood's got this picture right. You've got this huge epic battle. And we think we might prevail, you know, but we're not sure. And it might go on for days. And it's going to be a big bloody fight. Okay, so stage is set. Here's the fight.

And fire came down from the heavens and devoured them. The end. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The end. I mean, that's it.

Not much of a battle. But we like to paint that picture of it being kind of close, kind of something to be scared about. Something else that's interesting is that Satan is not a creative being. At no point has Satan come up with one really grand new idea or creation.

He stirs the pot, he does what the Lord lets him do. But sin looks a lot like sin looks a lot like sin looks a lot like sin and so Something that that's interesting turn to Ezekiel chapter 38 and see how much of this makes sense to you in the context of what we just read Oh by the way I told you to tuck it in the back of your mind that Satan knew his time was short.

He still went and got all the people and charged and tried to attack, right? Was that dumb? Okay, Ezekiel 38. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog. Familiar names? the Prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, and prophecy against them, and say, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you, O Gog, Prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal.

I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company, with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords, Persia, Ethiopia, and put with them all them with shield and helmet, Gomer with all its troops, Beth, Togar, Ma, from the remote parts of the north, with all its troops, many people with you, so they're going to come with a huge army. Be prepared and prepare to yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.

After many days you will be summoned, in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations. to the mountains of Israel, which has been a continual waste. But its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. You will go up, and you will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, and all your troops and many people with you. Thus says the Lord God. It will come about on that day that your thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. And you will say, I will go up against the land of the unwalled villages.

I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture the spoil, and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world. So, all of this was planned from the get-go. So I'm going to skip ahead just a little bit. I'm starting again in 16.

And you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I am sanctified through you. before their eyes, O Gog. And then it goes on to describe the entire battle, including the raining of the fire and the brimstone down upon Gog and Magog. Satan knows his time is short. This is something that has been known is going to occur for 3,000 years, and still Satan goes out, runs, grabs Gog and Magog, and charges the hill.

What I find interesting is that this major tool is deception. As believers, I think you can see deception going on around you all the time in the world system. That's the modus operandi is deception. Nothing's real. It's portrayed to be real, but it isn't. Along with that, I keep thinking, he's the great deceiver. Well, he's deceiving himself.

Yes, absolutely. That's the point I keep thinking. And it's... I can't imagine that he's ignorant of the Old Testament. No, he's not. No. Right? No, he knows all this. So he knows it's foretold. He's going to run out, he's going to grab Gog and Magog, he's going to charge the hill and fire is going to rain down on everybody and that's going to be that. So what does he do? He runs out and grabs Gog and Magog and charges the hill. Dumb.

Yeah. Deceived. Yeah. Deceives himself. I agree with that. Okay. And thus ends our judgments of Satan. The end. Yeah, that's great. And I guess one other point. God is creative. And we're going to find out week after next when Mike is teaching about the new heavens and new earth, that he's going to create something completely new and kind. That's something that we have never seen before. And it's not the first time that he actually was creative. So, pretty cool. Anyway, let's close. Father, thank you so much for this morning and this opportunity to run through and just see how completely silly Satan is and that you have conquered from the get-go. That's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.