Fundamental Biblical Beliefs - Bible Study

We're going to begin statement three this evening of a fundamental belief called Satan the Devil. And this evening I'll be joined by Wayne Ward, a ministerial trainee that is serving here in southern British Columbia. Satan is a spirit being. This is the first point. Now, as soon as we say that Satan is a spirit being, we might think we know something that we don't because the caveat here is we're not spirit. We are humans. We weren't made with some connection to the spirit dimension that has perception, that has understanding, that knows what the we might call it the the physics of the spirit realm are like even or even what the beings are like. God and the spirit beings aren't humans that are just invisible. It is a very different dynamic than what we have here. So tonight we're going to be talking about spirit beings, one in particular, a spirit being. And when we do this, what we want to make sure we understand is we can't know everything, okay? We just cannot know everything. And while we might wish we could, and maybe even try to invent that we can, we're not going to, okay? So let's just understand that when we talk about Satan tonight, there are only certain things the Bible reveals to us. We can't go beyond that. And even some of those are in a vision or in a description that's in human kind of concepts.

But we are told what we need to know, right? That's what's important, not necessarily what we're curious about. So let's go to Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7. The first thing we find out here, it says, and war broke out in heaven, and Michael, who is an archangel we read of in Jude, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. So we can interpret from this statement that Michael the archangel and the angels fought against someone who was similar. Can't say that they're exactly equal, we don't know, but we can make an assumption here that probably Lucifer or Satan and Michael the archangel are created roughly with the same sort of powers initially anyway. Those Satans, of course, went dark after that. We know that Satan is about darkness, the opposite of Jesus Christ, light. He has become that, and yet the scriptures in Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12, if you want to turn there, translate Hillel as Lucifer. So in Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12, it says, how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer. Now, a loose in Latin means light, and a Lucifer was the guy who went down the street lighting the lights. He was a light, a lighter, or a light bringer, as you might say. And so it says here, how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, the light bringer, perhaps, son of the morning. So we can interpret from this statement one of two things. One is that he used to be a light bringer. He used to be a son, and that's not in a literal sense, but the sons of God are referred to anybody that God is using, whether it's the angels or humans, and certainly spiritually now we are the literal sons of God. So this term son, son of the morning, could be one who used to work for the one we know of as the word, but now he's gone the other direction, obviously. Another thing we can look at here, Adam Clark commentary. I've been kind of curious about this for years. Adam Clark commentary says this, I doubt much whether our translation be correct, because the word Hillel, which we translate Lucifer, comes from yalal, which means to yell, to howl, or shriek.

So you could have this one way or the other, I guess. You could have the light bringer who became dark, or you could have the one after he became dark is now the one who is shrieking. But that's, again, part of the enigma here. We don't know the spirit realm. We're only given these little glimpses, and we try to interpret sometimes too much. What we do know, however, is that he was created perfect, but he sinned. And, you know, that sin is something that has brought him to the fore as the agent of evil. And you look down in verse 15, because of that, yet you have not been, but you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the grave, to the lowest depths of the pit. Now, this is interesting. You see, he was a carob covering over the throne of God where it's just total brightness. So he could have been, like I said, a son or a related to that brightness of the throne. Not that it emanated from him, but he was there or was bright. But now he will be thrown down to the lowest depths of the pit.

When you look at the word there, the ultimate depths, the lowest depths, this reminds us of Revelation chapter 20 and verse 3. You know, when after the battle with humanity and Jesus Christ and the saints, Satan then is taken by the arm of a strong individual and he's cast into the bottomless pit. So what we read of there in Isaiah 14 12, and what we read of in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 3, you have this bottomless or this depth of a pit. Now let's go to 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4, and we'll see that also the demons are heading that direction. In 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4, it says, If God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to the grave, just like we saw with Lucifer, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment.

What this gives us, rather than trying to figure out what this is exactly, what this gives us is how a person falls from God, from light, and goes into the ultimate darkness, the depths of the pit.

And Satan's different names expose this character that he has that is this full of evil and full of sin. When you think of the first name we find as we read in Genesis, it's a serpent, a very deceptive serpent. And then we're told he's a devil. He's called a polyon, a balial, a bailezebub, and a dragon. So all these descriptions, though they do not exactly define for us clearly what the spirit being of Satan is, they certainly do show us his character. And something we want to be wary of and stay away from. So now for the next segment, we'll go to Wayne Ward. Well, thank you, Mr. Elliott. It's good to be with everybody once again. Wayne here from cold and snowy Alberta. It's warm to be with you all. I'm going to be tackling the next point of the fundamental belief here on Satan the Devil here, which is Satan is the adversary of God and the children of God. And Satan, we know, is a hero. He remains adversary. He is our adversary. Let's start off here in 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. 8 and 9 says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same suffering are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. So what Peter is explaining here is that a means affording our efforts to walk with God really is allowed by God, is allowed to affect us. But Peter commands that we resist. This is part of our experience. This is part of God's plan, to allow an adversary. Satan is allowed to affect adverse circumstances in our lives. And this is common for all of God's people, but we must resist. Perhaps we can think of it as resistance training. When you work a muscle against a null position, we make it stronger. Similar thing is happening here. Let's turn to James chapter 4.

James 4 and verse 7. It says, Therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from them. Resistance also seemingly frustrates Satan. He will then go after easier prey. If we show the determination to be steadfast against perhaps a sin that we've had, where otherwise he would have known he could exploit a weakness in us, now he will let up on us. He will go find easier prey. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 and verse 14. It says, So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. So God here has forecast really a hatred that would be caused by God's redemption plan between Satan and the woman. You know, not a woman. I mean, God, Satan doesn't hate women more than men.

This is a spiritual forecast of those whom would be gotten by the Spirit of God, primarily, of course, that of Jesus Christ, and then those who would be gotten in like matter, you know, in due time, the church of God. Satan is, I mean, he has become a very natural enemy of the church of God. Let's turn to Job chapter 1.

Job 1 and verse 6, it says, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. I'll turn up to verse 9 here. And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shines evil. So Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?

Verse 13, so now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking.

Oh, I'm sorry, verse 11.

But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. Okay, so Satan from the beginning has always been accusing God's people, downplaying any good that could be in it. Always he's our accuser. And we'll see that again here in Revelation, turn to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation 12 in verse 10. So that I heard a loud voice it's saying in heaven, now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren, who has accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And then verse 13, it says, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman and gave birth to the male child. And then in verse 17, and the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Here we get dot, dot, dot. Jesus reveals Satan has been the accuser, you know, of the brethren, and has been a direct persecutor of the brethren when he has been allowed, and will make war with the first chance he gets. So he is our enemy. And there is only really one goal on Satan's mind, and that is annihilation of God's people. He is not friendly to us at all.

So we see where we are heading. We are heading in a direction where he was, right? He was before the throne of glory, you know, and he was there until, okay, let's turn to Ezekiel 28, until when and why? 28 in verse 15, it says, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. Okay, I mean, he was there until iniquity was found in you. And that is very important for us to know what brought Satan down. And he was then cast from God's presence. And Jesus told us of that. Let's turn to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 in verse 18 says, Jesus himself said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

So there is a very natural enmity between Satan and the seed, right? The seed of the woman, of the church, and it is Satan whom we wrestle against, and the whole demonic realm. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 6. 6 in verse 12.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We do not wrestle against anybody friendly. And it is their effort to find ways to knock us off our path to the kingdom. And that's really putting it lightly.

Their effort to see that we are really stillborn or aborted in some way from our internal life existence. And he is something we have to be very, very mindful of. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 2.11. 2 Corinthians 2.11, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. And here in this passage, Paul is vehemently encouraging the forgiveness of the congregation against the previous offender among them. And Paul put it back in verse 8.

Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him, your love of this person. This is showing us how Satan can influence through a hard-heartedness between brethren. And he can sow a bitterness in us between one another if we're not careful. And it obviously can lead to divisions through a lot of hardness between brethren that we shouldn't have. And so, yes, we need to be mindful of all the devices of Satan, because he is a roaring lion and he seeks us like prey.

So we need to be vigilant about this at all times. I'm trying to turn to part three over to Mr. Hale. Satan has been given dominion over the world for a specific period or periods of time. He's very much in God's control. The interesting thing that we might think about regarding Satan is he does provide a useful tool in God's hands in testing people for entry into his divine kingdom. You know, when God is going to raise humans to be powerful and divine like he and his son, to have power and glory and rulership, Satan does provide God with a tool for humans to be tested in advance to see what they really want to do, how they really want to think, what their real true motives are under temptation and also under pressure.

So he has been given dominion over the world for a specific period of time. For instance, let's look in Revelation chapter 20 in the first three verses. I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

That's a specific time frame. We know that right now Satan is the god of this world. We see then he'll be bound for a thousand years. And at the end of verse three, after these things, he must be released for a little while. And during that time in verse three, he is shut up, a seal set on him, so he can't deceive the nations.

So God keeps this tool in the drawer, as it were. He keeps it under wraps, within bounds. We know that he can give Satan opportunity to do certain things for certain periods of time, like with Job, for instance. But ultimately, it's all according to God's plan, and he uses this tool as he will. Currently, he is the ruler of this society. Let's go to John chapter 14 and verse 30.

John 14 and verse 30. It's important for us to understand here, when we talk about a kingdom or a world, oftentimes we jump to the territories. The kingdom of God, oh, that's the territories, or the world. Well, that's all the way around the world, when in fact, both the word cosmos, which is translated world, and the word kingdom, both have two meanings. One is territory, but that's not primary in Scripture. It's the society, or the rulership.

And so, currently, we find here in John chapter 14 and verse 30, Jesus is going to talk about him, and he says, I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. So he is the ruler of the world, and we tend to think the ruler of the territory. But wait a minute, you're in that territory. He's not your ruler. So it must mean he's the ruler over society. Satan is the ruler of this society.

Let's go, for instance, to John chapter 18 and verse 36. Jesus says here in John chapter 18 and verse 36, My kingdom is not of this world. Well, is he saying that he doesn't have anything to do with planet earth? No, that's not the case. He created it. He's saying my rulership is not of this society. My rulership is not of this society. But in chapter 1430, we just found that the ruler of this society is coming.

That's that's Satan the devil. So to better understand the role of Satan is right now he is the ruler of this society. And what's going to happen in the not too distant future is there's going to be a change of rulership in the human society.

In Luke chapter 11 and verse 17, Luke chapter 11 and verse 17, Jesus says every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and a house divided against a house falls. In verse 18, if Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Does Satan have a kingdom? Is there the kingdom of God and Christ and the kingdom of Satan? No, he's talking about the rulership. How will the rulership of Satan stand? So in John chapter 14 verse 30, we see that he's currently the ruler of this society.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, he's the god of this world, god of this society. And Jesus said, my rulership is not of this society. I'm not about this. See? That is not what Jesus is about. Let's just go to John chapter 18 and verse 36 again. And notice this very clearly. John 18 and verse 36.

Jesus said, my kingdom, my rulership, is not of this world. If my rulership were of this world, then my servants would fight. We would be in here doing what the world does. We would be mixing it up and fighting. But my rulership is not from here. He is not ruling at this time. Because God has given Satan this period of time where he is the rulership, he is the ruler of the world. Now in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 8, let's see the contrast here between rulers. Because here, Satan takes Jesus and he is going to try to get him to not defeat him later.

And so in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 8, one of the temptations was, the devil took him up on an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Now, you and I are human beings once again. Here we're talking about two rivals, as it were. But one is a God being and one is just a fallen angel. There's no real contest here, but Satan makes it a contest. And it has been ever since Genesis 3. And all the way to the end, Satan is just trying to lust after and wants the throne that Jesus has. And this all works into God's plan of salvation. Makes Jesus Christ one who came and he was the first fruit. And he is the one now qualified to reign and rule. So here he takes him up and he shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, the physical glory. And he says to him in verse 9, all these things I will give to you, Jesus, if you will fall down and worship me. You know, knock off this trying to, you know, be the savior and die for the sins of others who can come up with you and be part of this great kingdom of God. You know, bow down and worship me and I won't torture you to death if you do. And Jesus said, away with you, Satan. Away with you.

You know, there's no representation here. This didn't even enter Christ's thinking for a moment. He said, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And that's, you see, Satan's global society does not represent God's family. And don't think that somehow you or me or Christ or anybody else is going to come in here and somehow fix Satan's society. It's not going to happen. There should be nothing enticing to us. As he said there, I'll show you all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. Well, look around. Look at all the wealth and all the people and all the fighting and everything that's going on and say, is that really exciting? It is not exciting to Jesus Christ and therefore it is not exciting to us. And now for part four, back to Wayne. Thank you, Mr. Elliott, and that was actually a perfect segue into the next point. Point four here of this fundamental belief is Satan has deceived humanity into rejecting God and his law. One of Satan's most powerful devices that he has is deception, influencing, you know, a subtle sway in another direction, very subtle. And actually deception really is a bit of a mislord. I mean, Satan is more of a seducer, as Mr. Elliott was saying, enticing, creating enticements for people, you know, to see other paths, you know, greater, you know, something more sensational, some sensational knowledge or something more pleasurable. Let's turn to Genesis 3, where that all began. Genesis 3. Genesis 3 in verse 1 says, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, As God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree desirable to make one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate.

Same enticed me with something that looked good and pleasing. I could make her wise, make her like God. And if we follow the comparison, perhaps of the Eve, maybe somehow being a type of the church, you know, this is what we can see. This is what's before us all the time by Satan. Things that are enticing, things that look good, something that catches our eye, and it looks wow, that's, you know, and easily to follow, and it looks right, and it looks good.

The difference being, of course, is that the church will prevail, but will you or I be a part of them? That church. So we must, you know, obviously then remain with the church. But how do we prevail? Let's go to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3 and verse 7 says, Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifesting, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. And good news, verse 10, in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. So we prevail by not practicing sin, but practicing righteousness. This is how we destroy the works of the devil in our lives. We have to keep our hands to the plow. We know, yeah, there will be incidental sin because of the weakness of the flesh. But we're talking about here a matter of practice. When we follow, we get up, do better next time, when we keep going. We are in a practice. We keep on going. We always acknowledge and we always confess our sin, and we always acknowledge the law is what we follow. We never ever let go. 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy 4 and verse 1 says, Now the Spirit expressly says in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines and demons.

Deceiving spirits and doctrines and demons, these are the ways that seduce us from the law of God and from the Word of God. They seduce us to sin in the subtle ways and seduce us through a practice of sin. We must not think we can't be deceived. We can be seduced just like he was. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3 says, But I fear, lest somehow as the serpent to see leave by his crackiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Yeah, verse 14. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. So, we'll go to Revelation chapter 13. Chapter 14. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lives. So Satan most definitely is a powerful subducer. He has deceived mankind from knowing God at all. And in the final hour, he will deceive them to attack him, to distract himself as he comes to save it. So false Christ and false prophets will arise in the last days and the world will deceive the world. You know, we have to think, could it deceive you? Could it deceive you, myself, any of us? Turn to Matthew 24 and verse 22. Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. And then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, for there or there do not believe it. For false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

To the kingdom of the Satan. So yeah, so we have to be very very mindful that I mean we that Satan is that powerful that is if we are not being vigilant we will we can easily be swayed by him as well as the world is. So I'll stop there and turn the next part of the team to reality.

Thank you, Wayne.

Point number five is Satan has ruled by deception with the aid of a host of demons.

Deception is a big part of what he and the demons are about and they are all rebellious to God. They are not truth. They are not right. In fact, they are opposite and all of these have joined in rebellion. If we look in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 9, we see a statement here that is very telling. Revelation 12 verse 9. So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He deceives the whole world and God wanted nothing to do with him in heaven so he was cast out and here he's called a serpent he's called a devil he's called a Satan and he's a deceiver. The whole mindset of his rulership is lies and deception. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 9 and 10.

We see this in time Antichrist, the lawless one, the head of the ten nations and his religious beast as well. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish.

So you see it's unrighteous deception and this is the key whether you're thinking about the mark of the beast or wondering how to navigate events in the end time. It's obvious to a person with God's Spirit what truth is and lies are, what deception is rather than illumination of truth among those who perish because they didn't love God. They just didn't love God.

And notice in verse 10 they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So unrighteous and deception go together. In other words, doing what is not right. You can't somehow be tricked into breaking God's laws, all of them, and say, oh it's not my fault.

Of course not. Of course it's our fault. And that's why God tells us, you know, that we have to not look at these lying wonders and then go into sin. The whole thing isn't some sort of a case of mirrors, you know. The whole thing is lawlessness and righteousness. So He is deceiving the world, but He is putting them into sin, and they love sin. And in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, and verse 3, we'll look in verses 3 through 6 of 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.

Because here, once again, we see this mindset that just follows wherever Satan is. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. We just read about them. Whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Now it's important for us to realize who we are of. In the next verse, verse 5 says, For we do not preach ourselves, but we for Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves your bond servants, for Jesus' sake. So this is about supporting the rulership of Jesus Christ in your life and mine, the rulership of God. And of course, yes, the kingdom does have boundaries as well, but we'll get to those boundaries in the next life. For right now, we're coming under the rulership of God. And it's important that we declare that Jesus Christ and God the Father are our rulers. That's what Jesus asked us to do in the model prayer. Pray, your rulership come, your will be done in my life today and in all human lives at some point. That's the goal. So now we'll go back to Wayne for part six. Let's turn to 2 Timothy chapter 26, verse 26. It says that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, haven't been taken captive by him to do his will. Here we see, we're basically summing here, and seeing that how Satan is the adversary. He's the adversary, and he is allowed to influence. People can be seduced to follow his influence, and in a sense, be taken captive by Satan to do his will. And by the same effect that Satan has become, the ruler of this world. Let's turn to John chapter 12, verse 31. It says, now this is the judgment of the world, but now the ruler of this world will be cast out. So we see how Jesus shows how he is the ruler of this world. And we know, as was read already in the Jesus with being tempted, Satan had all sorts of authority to offer him this kingdom or that, because he has been given for this time a rulership as God allows him.

Actually, people, in a sense, are nothing. I mean, think of the power that he has. Let's turn to Revelation 12 and verse 4. And it says, his tail drew a third of the stars and head of heaven and threw them to the earth, and the dragon slid before the woman who was ready to give birth. Well, that's the first line there. I mean, you forget about people. He's had the power to deceive a third of heaven. You know, talk about crafty. So he easily deceives this world. You see how powerful he is, and his power to deceive and to seduce the world.

Turn to Revelation 20. Revelation 20 verse 1, we've been here already, says that, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having a key to the bottom of his head, and a great chain in his hand. He lay ahold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottom of his head and shook him up instead of sealing him, that he should deceive the nation no more till the thousands years were finished. Okay, so he will, he, no, he has been the deceiver. That's what he's been doing, and he will be bound for a thousand years from doing that.

And then verse 7, he will be released for a time to do it again. Verse 7, now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. Right? And so, and he will go out and deceive the nations which are on the four corners of the earth. And then, and then of course he will be stopped altogether. And verse 10, the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire, and brimstone would be East in the false prophet hour.

Okay, in the final hour, he will be, he will be the blame for all of the sin of mankind. And this is, you know, really this is quite an amazing thing. This is the Azizel goat on the day of the poem. This turn to Leviticus chapter 16, 21 and 22.

Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over all of the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the goat into the wilderness.

This is amazing, you know, that man will have had this intimate experience of sorts, you know, with sin, to know, and to know the horror and the sorrow that it causes. But then once repented of and absolved of this, the penalty of it, as eternal beings, we will be absolved of having to do, having any blame of having anything to do with sin whatsoever. It all lies on Satan, you know, he is the author of it. He's the one who has duped us into this situation. You know, we will love God without question for eternity for what he has done, and we will never ever touch sin again for eternity, knowing what sin has, what it does.

I think God has done such an amazing, an amazing thing for all of us, and we will love God. But in this current age where we are now, Satan has blinded mankind for the good of Christ, you know, for the good of Christ and the light of his way.

Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4. He says, Who is mine as the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, did shine on you.

Right? So he does this by looking like that light. Right? Turn to 2 Corinthians 11, verse 14. It says, No wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. So we have to be very, very vigilant to his tactics. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 6, verse 11. And this is where we know we put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand the wiles of the devil, but we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual host wickedness and having many places.

And here Paul goes through all of the different aspects of how we need to make sure that we are vigilant to his tactics. The wiles and the devil. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 2, 11. So right, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. By God's word, we are not left ignorant of the devices. Right? We are given the warnings. We are given his manner.

We have to be very vigilant in that, by practicing righteousness, by putting off sin. So let's be that. Let's be sure not to give Satan a hold to take away the word of God that's in our hearts. Let's be aware and vigilant every day to hold fast to the word that has been sown in us. So I'll leave that for there, and I'll leave the conclusion here to Mr.

Eliot. And now the seventh and final point I'd like to bring tonight is Satan's role will be eclipsed by Jesus Christ and his bride. Let's look in Revelation chapter 12. I'd like to just notice a couple of verses here. In verse 11 of Revelation chapter 12, Jesus Christ died. He was really killed by Satan. Humans were the agents of it.

But we find that he also has called others to suffer at this time and ultimately be glorified together. As we also know that he said in Revelation 2 and 3 to the church that if we overcome like he overcame, we will sit on his throne like he overcame and sat on his father's throne.

So in verse 11 here, and they talking about the firstfruits, they overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb. So as powerful he is, as dark as he is, as hateful as he is to Jesus when he was on earth, and to all of those who are Christ's, it says here, they overcame him. They won this battle. And they did not love their lives to the death.

So this is quite a struggle. It's a mental struggle. Sometimes it involves a physical struggle as well. We drop down to verse 13. Now when the dragon saw he'd been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman. He persecuted the sons of God, the church, Old and New Testament, that gave birth to the male child. He's always been against God and those who are with God.

Now in verse 17, and the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And this is all kind of negative, and it's strong, and it's terrible. But we do have the armor of God, and we can resist Satan. We can win. We can overcome, and we can stand. We can endure to the end.

We do find that he has term limits. Let's go to the next chapter here in Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Note, when the seventh angel sounded, there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. So we see this word, kingdoms again. So the rulership and the rulers of this world have become under the purview of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. So we now have a transfer of the rulership. It's taken away from Satan. Now, as we see even in society, there are a lot of dictators who don't want to leave office. Let's go, for instance, to Revelation chapter 16 and verse 14.

Revelation 16 verse 14.

Here we see that spirits of demons performing signs go out to the kings of the earth, and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. He doesn't want to give up. You see, he wants to take back his rulership of this world, and he wants to fight.

In chapter 19 of Revelation and verse 19, Revelation 19, 19, notice, and I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army, who are the saints. So we see, even when he's been replaced, that he does not want to give up. And so consequently, he is put in chains and put in a bottomless pit. He and the angels, or the fallen angels, for a thousand years. But he's going to be released for one brief final period at the end of the millennium. And once again, you see what he does. And in Revelation chapter 20, we won't go there. Verse about 10 through 13, you'll find it, or nine through 10, he just tears the earth apart from east to west and everything else. It's back to sin and death and fighting and warfare. So in conclusion, let's go to Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10. I want to conclude by reading half a verse. Revelation chapter 12 and the first half of verse 10. Once Satan is cast out, it allows a completely new society to envelop humanity.

In verse 9, we see that that dragon called Satan the devil deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth. The angels are cast out. Ultimately, they're going to be bound as well, as we just read. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now, oh, that's an interesting word. If he's cast down and he's taken out, now, now what can society have? Now what can society become? Now, salvation.

Just think about that for a minute. Salvation has never been offered under Satan. There's no salvation of any sin and rebellion against God, but all of a sudden, salvation and strength and the kingdom or the rulership of our God and the power of his Christ have come. This is a beautiful thing. It's kind of like, I haven't been there, but some of you will identify. It's kind of like going through childbirth, and wow, a baby comes out. How wonderful this will be. The millennial reign of Christ will be fabulous.

Now, if we can focus on that and imagine what your role and mind will be in a wonderful world tomorrow that we celebrate every year at the Feast of Tabernacles. You know, we read the prophecies in the Old Testament, and we just dream of a wonderful society in which righteousness dwells. What a wonderful world tomorrow you and I are preparing to assist Christ in bringing humanity in the near future.