Karl's former pastor at Stonewall New Life Church has been doing a series on the first chapters of Genesis, and we have been watching his messages on YouTube. Recently, he focused on the first verse of chapter 3, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made..." Where did this serpent come from?
Pastor Rusty pointed out that the very first sin actually happened before Adam's, when one angel became discontented with his position and decided to choose his own will over God's.
Read what is said about angels... "Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the LORD, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure" (Psalm 103:20,21). The writer of Hebrews says this about angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" (1:14). Angels are spirits created to praise God and do His will, which includes serving the heirs of God's salvation. That's us!
But this is what is said about this one particular angel, named Lucifer, in Ezekiel 28: "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering...You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you...You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, til iniquity was found in you" (28:12b,13a,14a,15).
But Lucifer, the "seal of perfection", the "anointed cherub", got tired of being subject to God and decided to rebel and do his own thing. He has a series of "I will" declarations in which he states his intention to change his position from a servant of God's to lord: he said in his heart "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest side of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13,14).
As a result, he was "fallen from heaven" and "cast down to the ground" (Isaiah 14:120, Ezekiel 28:17). Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). A host of angels joined in his rebellion, one third of them, according to Revelation 12:4 and 9, and are now demons, doing his bidding here on earth.
Adam and Eve similarly sinned when they rejected a commandment of God's, and decided to follow their own will.
In Revelation 12:9, Lucifer is now called the devil which means accuser and deceiver, and Satan which means adversary. He has made it his business to cause all of us to serve our own wills and not God's. We are born with this sin nature. You can see in even very young children that they want their own way. Satan's weapons are "wiles, schemes, strategies and deceits" (Ephesians 6:11 in various translations). Notice 2 Corinthians 11:3: "...as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." The battleground is in our minds. His aim is to "steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10).
Satan even tempted Jesus to do His own thing. Jesus declared a number of times that He did nothing of His own will, but only what the Father told Him to do (John 5:19 and 30, for example.) Why would it have been so wrong for Jesus to "command these stones to be made bread" when He was hungry after 40 days of fasting? For at least two reasons: His Father hadn't told Him to, and it would have meant He would be obeying the devil.
What was Jesus' response to the temptations of Satan? "It is written, it is written, it is written."
One of my personal battles is in the early-ish hours of the morning when I wake up and feel that my Saviour is inviting me to get up and join Him for some "us-time". But my will says, "I want to sleep some more." Sometimes I get up, and sometimes I don't. It gets ugly now, to think that I am yielding to Satan's influence when I choose my own way,
We do face a true battle constantly, whether to obey God or ourselves.
But there is victory for us. Pastor Rusty preached that we should be "aware and alert, but not afraid." What recourse do we have when we are tempted? The one weapon in the list of God's armour that is available for every one of us (Ephesians 6:10-18), is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We too can resist Satan, using Scripture, especially Scripture that has become real and alive to us personally.
Jesus defeated our enemy: "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in (the cross)" (Colossians 2:15). He calls us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). When He said He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning, He also told His followers, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy..." (Luke 10:19). We have God's armour (Ephesians 6:10-18). We have the Holy Spirit within. When we invited Jesus to come live in our hearts, He moved in with all of His power and wisdom, and all of His other attributes. We overcome because the One who lives in us is greater than the deceiver (1 John 4:4). It is so empowering for us to focus on these truths.
James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." This follows right after the first part of the verse: "submit to God". That's where the "I will" has to bow to His will. While Satan's desire is to steal the truth from you so he can then kill and destroy, Jesus said He came so we could have and enjoy life, to the full until it overflows (John 10:10 Amplified version).
Let's choose to submit to God and to do His will, using His word as our weapon. Then we can enjoy His abundant life.
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