It Is Finished Audio

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

King of kings and Lord of lords: Who is Satan? (Part 4)


Fallen Angels and Demons

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).


         
After Satan had been kicked out of Heaven along with his demonic host, they went into action to begin chaos upon the face of the earth. Satan began by deceiving Eve, which had a domino effect and caused mankind to be under the curse of death until Jesus came. Unlike God, Satan is not omnipresent, which means that he cannot be everywhere at the same time. Therefore, he sends his agents throughout the earth to do his bidding. The Bible says, “Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that performs signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:13-14).

            Now there are many scholars who have done extensive research into the differences between fallen angels, demons, Nephilim, their origins, etc. For the sake of this short lesson, we are going to talk in general regarding  Satan’s representatives because at the end of it all, anyone who does the bidding of Satan is a demonic agent. Under Satan’s authority, their mission is to kill, steal, and destroy. The Bible says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The devil and his agents have had plenty of practice throughout the centuries to cause destruction on the planet. They go out to cause as much unhappiness, grief and iniquity in the lives of mankind. Satan knows that his reign of terror will one day end, but until then, he plans to take as many people with him as he possibly can. The Bible says, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

            After man’s fall, humanity had become increasingly wicked. This was due to man having a need for self-satisfaction with no regards to God. We see this in the story of Cain who refused to do what God wanted, but desired to have things done his way instead. Therefore, his rebellion caused him to have envy in his heart, which led him to kill his own brother. The Bible says, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1 John 3:12). Cain allowed the devil to tempt him into doing wrong, and the demons of hate and jealousy filled his heart, which enabled him to carry out the vile act of murder.

            Satan didn’t stop there. His angels lusted after the women who were on the earth, and therefore, slept with them to create a race called the Nephilim (giants). The Bible says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterward – when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:4). These were abominations that were never supposed to be because God did not want the human race to be contaminated with demonic seed. As a result, God decided to send a flood to wipe them out with the exception of Noah and his family who were granted safety by building an ark for protection.

            Satan’s agents continued to wreak havoc upon the earth. After the flood, man became sinful once again, but this time, God targeted two cities – Sodom and Gomorrah for destruction, instead of destroying the whole earth. These two cities were very wicked, and the stench from their sins reached up to God’s nostrils. However, it did not go without a response from the Lord. Those cities have been remembered throughout the centuries for their wickedness and punishment.

            Satan continued on his mission to corrupt the entire world. Even when Jesus came down to earth, Satan wanted to kill Him in an attempt to block Him from saving mankind from their sins. The Bible says, “When they had gone, and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him” (Matthew 2:13). The devil’s attempt to kill Him as an infant failed miserably, but he continued on his quest to harm Jesus through the most horrific death that anyone could possibly imagine. Yet, this was all a part of God’s plan, and Jesus was victorious. He conquered death and hell, but first He was betrayed by someone He loved. 

            Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples who had been chosen to follow him. He had witnessed all the miracles, heard all the sermons, walked side by side with Jesus, and yet, the devil was able to enter into him. This was possibly brought about due to greed and maybe even jealousy because Satan had envied God from the very beginning. Judas was a vessel used to accomplish the demonic plans that the devil wanted to fulfill, but he still had freewill and could have chosen a different path. The Bible says, “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money” (Luke 22:3-5).

            The Bible lets us know that the devil aims to kill, steal and destroy and that is exactly what he did with Judas by allowing his demons to possess him. He killed his love for God, stole his heart for heavenly things, and destroyed his soul in the end. The demons of greed, jealousy, sorrow, and death were all inside of Judas and this is why he was able to betray Jesus as he did because he was taken over by demons that he allowed to enter in. The Bible says, “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born” (Mark 14:21).

            Satan, his fallen angels and demons are busy today just as they were during biblical times if not more. He knows that his time is about to come to an end, so he and his minions are doing whatever they can to take with them as many people that they can. Satan uses all sorts of tools such as lust, greed, witchcraft, thievery, atheism, deception, and much more to lead people away from God and into a pit of despair. He offers temporary gain for a permanent destination and unknowingly many are choosing to spend eternity without Christ. Nevertheless, we all have a decision to make.

We can either be deceived by the devil or rely on Truth that is made available to all who are willing to believe. The choice is up to you. The Bible says, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15).  

No comments:

Post a Comment