Four parts

This is Part Three of a four-part study about Satan. Herein you will learn about Satan's on-going battle to prevent the coming of Messiah.

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In His Bible, God did not see fit to record every little detail of Satan's activities and motivations. Therefore, a goodly portion of the narrative that follows is no more than "reading between the lines" of what God HAS seen fit to reveal. Yes, there are MANY Bible scholars who have reached conclusions similar to my own. In other words, my narrative is "orthodox" -- not simply a weirdo trip for the sake of sensationalism. At the same time, recall that God's truth is NOT arrived at by a vote of the majority. How do you separate my OPINION from God's facts? In every case, I have been careful to quote the main Bible verses upon which my opinion is based. As a good Berean (Acts 17.11), you should... Read the verses themselves Then talk to God And THEN decide how much of my conjecture you accept and reject. Special Note: In this study, Lord Jesus is sometimes referred to as human. And that is true. The incarnate Jesus is fully human AND fully God, at one and the same time.

Recapitulation of Parts One and Two
Part One "Sons of God" is another name for angels. The angelic hosts reside in "heavenly places -- the celestial heavens of stars and planets. Satan is the type of angelic person known as a cherub. Satan was created by God as the most intelligent and beautiful of God's creatures. Before Satan rebelled against God, his job was to serve as a covering cherub - a guardian of God -- and his domain was Planet Earth.		Part Two Satan's rebellion against God began uncounted eons ago, and continues even today. He rebels by means of trading in deceit and slander, and NOT by a contest of strength. His goal is to subvert the hearts and minds of angelic and human creatures, to turn them against God. Satan seeks to turn angels and humans away from serving God, so that they will instead worship and serve Satan. Satan's strategy strikes at a "weakness" of God. Namely, God LOVES. Because of His great love, God will not coerce or force His creatures to love Him in return. The question yet to be answered is this: will the love of God be victorious against Satan's weapons of lies, greed, and lust? Stay tuned!

God's judgment of Satan for his rebellion
Prior to his rebellion, Satan held the high office of serving as personal guardian of God. As such, he was entitled to routinely enter God's innermost sanctum -- "the mount of God... among the fiery stones." (Ezek 28.16b) Moreover, Satan had dominion over Planet Earth, where he resided in Eden, God's own garden. Because of Satan's rebellion, God imposed the following judgments: Satan was disgraced. God made a spectacle of him before the angelic kings and hosts of heaven. Satan was expelled from his office of personal guardian to God, and denied further access to God's innermost sanctum. The right to rule Planet Earth was taken away from Satan.		...you (Satan) sinned. So I (God) drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings (angelic kings). (Ezek 28.16b-17)

Who will rule the earth?

When Satan was divested of his dominion over Planet Earth, he was undoubtedly curious to know who God would choose to reign in his place. Would God give rulership of earth to some other powerful angel? Worse yet, would God give dominion to Michael, the archangel who was Satan's hated enemy? God's decision on this matter was surely a source of amazement, not only to Satan, but also to the entire host of heaven. Instead of placing earth under angelic rulership, God created a NEW kind of creature to exercise dominion...

God's surprising decision
The new creature that God made to rule the earth was (drum roll) -- MANKIND! Satan must have instantly realized that this new creature was not a spirit person. No, this creature -- this "Adam and Eve" -- was a puny bag of fragile flesh and bones, bound to the earth by gravity and the creature's need to eat and breathe. Not able to freely roam the universe, as Satan could. Not nearly so beautiful as Satan. Not nearly so intelligent. Not nearly so powerful. Not even able to see Satan, unless Satan willed himself to be visible. Satan determined to immediately challenge these puny humans for earth's rulership. And he had no doubt that he would win!		Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Gen 1.26)

KEEP the garden
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep [shamar] it. (Gen 2.15) So He [God] drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard [shamar] the way to the tree of life. (Gen 3.24)		Adam was warned that he had an enemy. This warning was contained in Genesis 2.15, where God commanded Adam "to tend and keep" the garden of Eden. The word "keep" in Genesis 2.15 translates the Hebrew word "shamar," which means "guard." It is this same Hebrew word "shamar" that is translated "guard" in Genesis 3.24. Yes, Adam was put on notice that an enemy would come. And Satan DID come.

Devil serpent
In the guise of a serpent, the enemy undertook his treacherous subversion of Adam and Eve. Revelation 12.9a defines this serpent-enemy as a tool or personification of Satan himself. Satan's first target was Eve, the woman. 1 Timothy 2.14 tells us that Eve was deceived by the serpent's lies, but Adam was NOT deceived. Do you say, "Shame on Eve?" Read on. Genesis 3.6 tells us that Adam was right there with Eve when the serpent deceived her. Adam was not deceived. After all, God had warned Adam (not Eve) that an enemy would come. Even so, Adam stood silently by and allowed the serpent to trick Eve. Shame on Eve? No, no -- SHAME ON ADAM! Because Adam failed to heed God, Satan's ploy succeeded. Whether they knew it or not, Adam and Eve had joined Satan's rebellion against God.		Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, `You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?'' (Gen 3.1) And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Tim 2.14) So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Gen 3.6)

Satan grabs back his dominion
Again, the devil took Him [Jesus] up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.'' (Mt 4.8-9) (Jesus said:) "Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14.30) ...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. (2 Cor 4.4)		By virtue of Adam's willful disobedience of God, Satan usurped mankind's dominion over Planet Earth. In Matthew 4.8-9, Jesus did not contest Satan's right to offer Him rulership of earth's kingdoms. Satan's dominion over earth is further attested to by his titles, "prince of this world" (John 14.30) and "god of this world" (2 Cor 4.4).

God promises to send Messiah
Genesis 3.14-19 records the judgment that God pronounced on the human race because of our sin in the garden of Eden. From that time on, childbirth would be painful & people would die. At the same time, however, God gave the first hint that He would some day provide mankind with a Messiah, the man Christ Jesus. No, God did not mention Jesus by name. Instead, God gave Jesus the strange title of "her Seed." Satan immediately understood what God was saying. Messiah would come to do battle with Satan. Satan would bruise Messiah's heel -- a non-fatal blow. Messiah would bruise Satan's head -- a FATAL blow.		The "Protoevangel" (God said:) "I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed He [the seed of the woman] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.'' (Gen 3.15)
Suddenly, Satan had a new foe to conquer. A foe that Satan knew only as "her seed." Of course, Satan missed the significance of the fact that God called the Messiah "her seed" -- a title that meant the Messiah would be a child of a woman, and ONLY of a woman. A title that meant the Messiah would be VIRGIN-born!

Satan's first attempt to prevent Messiah's coming
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. (Gen 4.3-5a) (Jesus said:) "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning..." (John 8.44a)		Satan felt certain that his new foe, the Messiah, would be a child of Eve's. When Eve gave birth to two children -- Cain and Abel -- Satan waited to see which of them was Messiah. Genesis 4.3-5 records that God respected Abel, whereas He did not respect Cain. Aha! Abel was undoubtedly God's Messiah, Satan decided. So Satan moved Cain to slay Abel and poof! No more Messiah. Or so he thought. John 8.44 proves that it was Satan who caused Abel's murder, because Jesus said the devil "was a murderer from the BEGINNING."

Satan's second attempt to prevent Messiah's coming
But Satan's murder of Abel was to no avail, for God gave Eve yet another child, whose name was Seth. Satan realized that murdering Seth wouldn't work -- God would simply provide another son. So Satan set out on a different tactic. Namely, Satan began a campaign of fostering mankind's sinful nature, and of perverting mankind's sexual nature. This campaign must have lasted many decades of years, but the end result is clearly described in Genesis 6.5 -- the human race eventually became so totally wicked that God would not permit its continued existence.		And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. "For God," said she, "hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." (Gen 4.25) And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6.5) And the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." (Gen 6.7)

continued ==>Go to Part 3, Page 2