A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Well, good morning again, brethren. Glad to see all of you today. Certainly, we've got a very wonderful opportunity to come together on the Sabbath and be able to worship God and be able to honor and praise Him, and to learn more about the plan. The plan that He is working out here on this earth, and particularly in our lives. It's very great to be able to read verses that picture the future and to know how different the world to come, the age to come is going to be.

And yet, of course, that's in the future. That's something we can envision. That's something we seek. That's something that we are desiring to be a part of. But what about today? See, do we really comprehend the depth of how it is that the devil has corrupted this world? I think we surely do, to a degree. But unless we fully think about that, if we fully comprehend how it is that we are told to resist the devil, or we are told, Jesus told His disciples to pray, deliver us from evil.

That should be our prayer every day. That God would deliver us from the oppression of evil, that Satan and his minions and his wavelength, as we've described it in the past, as his wavelength affects the entire world. You know, during the life of Jesus, when He was walking the earth, when He had come to be the physical example of what a Christian is to be like, He had come as the Son of God, as the Lamb of God, He was fulfilling a role that the Father and the Word had determined would be necessary.

We would need a Redeemer. We would have to be redeemed. And of course, every one of us should have every reason to thank God every day for that redemption. And yet, during His life, you actually see Jesus, and one of the things you think of, if you study even the first part of Matthew or Luke, you see Jesus tempted in the wilderness. And of course, that was a big deal. A real big deal, where the devil would try to sidetrack and try to distract Jesus from His purpose.

But, not only on that occasion, we also see many other encounters of Jesus confronting evil spirits. And I say confronting because often people were brought to Him who were affected by demons, by evil spirits. And actually, you see, if you read through the book of Mark, it seems that Mark was kind of fascinated by how it was that Jesus managed to identify and then overrule the work of the devil in the lives of people. And yet, most of the time, His disciples were with Him. They were often with Him. They were being taught.

They were kind of learning. But Jesus' awareness of the spirit world was far greater than His disciples. You know, I think that's a pretty obvious statement to make. Clearly, He understood having created everything and even having created the angelic realm and having aware of Lucifer having fallen from the role that he once had. He was far more aware of that than His disciples. Now, I'll point out a few verses here, Matthew 16, that kind of show how it was that normal people will say the disciples...

You could say, well, yeah, Jesus was the Son of God. Well, yes, He was. And yes, His perception was clearly better. And fully, He understood. And yet, what we might term as normal people like Peter... You know, Peter really didn't even know what manner of spirit He was of. Here in Matthew 16, 21, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed on the third day to be raised.

He told them that numerous times. And He again is pointing that out. And yet, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. That just sounds scary to me. That the great God who was walking the earth at that time is rebuked by one of the subjects. And said, God forbid that, Lord. That should never happen to you. Of course, that seemed like almost an innocent statement. And yet, He turned and said to Peter, Jesus did, Get behind me, Satan.

You're a stumbling block to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things. He says, you don't know how much Satan has infected the world. You don't even know how much Satan has infected you. See, that's what he was telling Peter. And of course, Peter's perception was going to grow. It was going to get better. And later on, he would even write about the battle that we have against.

The God of this world. And yet, here in this example, he showed Peter, you don't know what kind of spirit you're of. See, that should tell us something. Because, team Peter was one of the leading apostles. One of them that Jesus kind of had in the inner circle of Peter and James and John. He often showed them certain things that the others didn't directly see.

If we look over to Mark 9, Mark 9 is another account. And like I said, if you read through Mark, you can see even in the first few chapters, you can see how that Jesus' perception of the spirit world and of the influence of the spirit world in human lives, he understood it far better than his disciples. In Mark 9, we have an example of people bringing a young boy. Verse 17, someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought you my son. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast him out, but they couldn't do it.

And so here's someone coming for help, obviously affected by a evil spirit. And over in verse 25, I'm not going to read the entirety of that account, but I'm going to show, they said, well, we brought him to your disciples and they couldn't help him. But what is it that Jesus says in verse 25? When Jesus saw the crowd coming toward him, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying, You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you to come out of him and never enter him again.

After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out and the boy was like a corpse. He looked like he had died. And it came out, he was appearing to be dead. In verse 27, Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and he was able to stand.

And when he had entered the house, verse 28 is in contrast to the disciples not being able to help with this particular problem. Their perception of the spirit world was even far different than Jesus. And when they entered the house, the disciples asked Him privately, Why couldn't we cast out that demon?

And He said to them, This kind comes out only through prayer and fasting. Now, clearly, He was saying, Well, your perception of the problem, your closeness to God is quite limited. And I needed to help this child. I needed to, in a sense, cast out this demon because only through closeness to God, only through the power of God is the influence of the devil in whatever way overcome. It's not by our power, not by our ability, not by our might, but see, the disciples were going to learn, well, we need to be closer to God.

We need to fast and pray as we are directed to do. And, of course, Jesus even said about His disciples, Well, they're not fasting right now because I'm still here. How much closer to God are they going to be? Well, they're going to watch what He did and see what He... See, over in Luke chapter 10, you see another account. Luke chapter 10, whenever the disciples had been sent out to do a kind of a temporary mission and they had been given some authority, even to cast out demons, they'd been given at least awareness that, well, through the power of God, you know, demons will respond, or they will be cast out.

Again, not reading all of this, but in verse 17, the seventy, those who were sent out, returned with joy, saying, Lord, in Your name, even the demons submit to us. And Jesus pointed out that my perception of this spirit problem is far greater than yours, because I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.

See, I was there. I watched the rebellion. I watched, you know, I had created Lucifer as an archangel, but he became defective. And actually, he chose the path of no victory, because, you know, he forgot he was a created being. And yet, clearly, the disciples, you know, they were excited, that, well, in Your name, the demons submit. And Jesus said, well, I watched Satan fall from heaven.

See, I've given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions over all power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, don't rejoice in that, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that Your name is written in heaven. See, he was teaching them about something that they really didn't understand at all. They could understand and learn that, well, in the name of Jesus, through the power of God, you can overrule the influence of the devil.

Clearly, Jesus was teaching them about an invisible world and how to better understand it and how to be on guard against it. Now, I want to focus today on a statement that Jesus makes and it's recorded in Matthew and Mark and Luke. He says, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. So, Mr. Jackson, you have a title here, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Actually, he explains that to be a principle that he applies to the spirit world. See, the fact is, Satan is divided against himself.

That's why we see so much unrest, so much turmoil, so much conflict, so much bickering in this world, and even sometimes in our own lives, we see conflict where we feel like we're not victorious. We're needing the help of God. The first of these accounts I want to look at in Mark 3. Mark 3 tells us something. Now, Mark's account is a little bit shorter. It doesn't go into all of these specifics. And so you learn a little bit from each of the accounts that I'm going to read here. But in Mark 3, starting in verse 22, it says, the scribes came down from Jerusalem and said, He has bells above, and by the ruler of the demons, bells above, He cast out demons.

Now, clearly, another poor selection on their part, Peter was wrong to rebuke Jesus. Clearly, the scribes are wrong to attribute to Jesus the Son of God, that, well, He's just acting by the power of the devil. He goes on in verse 23, He called them to Him, and He spoke to them in parables. And so here, He's going to give a parable. At least according to Mark's account, it calls this a parable. How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

So in essence, He was saying, that's what Satan's doing. He is so conflicted, He is so divided, He is so corrupted in that way, that clearly He is going to fail. Verse 25, He goes ahead, if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand either. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but has come to an end.

He's not going to be victorious. And He says in verse 27, But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man, and then the house can be plundered. He throws all kinds of stuff into this short parable. But a focus of what He is saying is that a house divided against itself, or a kingdom divided against itself, cannot stand.

Now, I want to look at this same account in the book of Matthew, because this is a little bit longer description of what appears to be the same account. In Matthew 12, it says in verse 22, They brought to Him a demonic who was blind and mute, and He cured Him, so that the one who had been mute could see and speak. And the crowd was amazed, and they said, Can this be the son of David?

They wondered, is this the Messiah? Is this who we're looking for? But of course, in verse 24, when the Pharisees heard it, they said, It's only by bells above the ruler of the demons that this fellow cast out demons. So that's what they attributed it to. They didn't understand. They understood less than the disciples. They understood none about the spirit world that clearly the disciples were learning about, and Jesus fully understood.

But in verse 25, it says, He knew what they were thinking. Amazingly, He could tell by looking what they were conspiring to do. He knew what they were thinking and said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city and every house divided against itself will not stand.

So He elaborates and expands it a little bit. Every kingdom, every house, every city. If Satan cast out Satan in verse 26, he's divided against himself. How is that type of kingdom going to stand? See, that's why this world is going to be replaced. We look toward the time of the depicted in the Day of Atonement when Satan will be constrained. And that's going to be during the time of the millennium, the thousand year rule of Christ on earth. But at this time, Satan is clearly divided against himself.

He creates conflict, he creates division, he creates and motivates people through anger or jealousy or greed to achieve conflict. He says in verse 27, If I cast out demons by bells above, and by whom do your own sons cast them out, therefore they will be your judge. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. He was a representative of the kingdom of God.

He understood His role quite clearly. The disciples didn't understand quite what was going on, but they knew it was certainly safe to be with Jesus Christ. And then he mentions this again. How can one enter in verse 29, A strong man's house and plunder his property without first dying up the strong man? And then indeed the house can be plundered. Now that almost seems to be a confusing addition, although we will understand it better when we read what Luke says in explanation.

But of course in verse 30, this summary of what Jesus was teaching His disciples, and what He is teaching those who are His disciples today. Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. See, those two accounts in Mark and Matthew appear to be of the similar episode that they were talking about.

They describe it in similar ways. We see in Luke 11 another account, which I believe is an additional account at a different time, but talking about the same thing and even making it clearer what He wanted His disciples to know. Here in Luke 11, as I said, I don't believe this is the exact same account. I believe it was a later account, again teaching the same thing. In verse 14, now He was casting out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

So it seems similar, but it has a little variety to it. And yet some said He cast out demons by bows above the ruler of the demons, and others testing Him sought with Him a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts, in verse 17, said, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house will fall. And if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? If you say that I cast out demons by bows above, now if I cast out demons by bows above, by whom do your exorcists or your sons cast them out?

In verse 20, He references here in Luke a little bit different. If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. He references the Spirit of God there in Matthew. Here He says it's by the finger, by the power, by the authority of God.

If I'm doing this by the power of God, then the kingdom of God is represented here before you. And then He describes this deal with the strongman, what is that talking about? A little more here in this account in Luke. In verse 21, when a strongman who is fully armed guards his castle, then his property is safe. But in verse 22, when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, then he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. And so here He points out how that illustration that seems unclear in Mark and Matthew, but is much more clear here, that He was pointing out that, well, I have greater power.

You couldn't cast out the demons on your own, talking to His disciples, but if you rely on Me, if you rely on My power, then the demons recognize that and flee. So again, whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. So there's a little bit in several different places about this particular topic. And I think as we approach the Day of Atonement, even though the Day of Atonement does deal with the setting aside of the devil so that he is not able to affect the Millennial Rule of Christ, it also pictures how it is that through the blood of the Lamb each of us are redeemed.

So there are many positive things that we think about that are connected to the Day of Atonement. But as we think about this teaching that Jesus gave about a kingdom divided against itself, it cannot stand. How could that principle be applied to our world today? How can we think more like our Master? See, I don't just want to know what the disciples knew. I want to understand what Jesus knew.

I want to understand what He says. I want to comprehend the type of closeness that He had with the Father, and how it was that through the finger of God He could overpower the effects of the evil spirits in the world. How can we combat this sinister adversary of the family of God?

Because see, the devil is an adversary of each of us. And so we need to fully understand how it is this topic is applied in several ways. I'm going to apply it to several different, say, situations. I think it's pretty obvious that you could apply this, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand principle. You could apply that to the kingdoms of the world. First of all, to the nations all over the globe. To the national governments, not just here, but in Europe, in Africa, in the Middle East, in China, in Russia, in South America, and Central America.

See, this world, according to Revelation 10, 12, 9, has been deceived. It is held captive by Satan and by his lies. And these verses are verses that you are very familiar with, so I'm not even going to turn to them. I'll reference them. 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says, The God of this world who has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe. Paul writes about how it is that Satan is the one who has deceived the entirety of this world. And here in Ephesians 2, he describes, so obviously, Paul's perception was enhanced to be more like Jesus, to be more aware of the effects of the devil's influence on the world.

But here in Ephesians 2, verse 1, it says, You were dead. Talking to members of the church, you were dead. Through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. See, that verse is surely a verse that we probably can quote at least parts of, because that's been a common teaching of the church of God for decades. To understand the power that Satan has exerted on the world to where the world is held captive. I think we even had a booklet in the past that had a jail cell around the globe with bars.

Just to try to illustrate the fact, I think the title of it was, A World Held Captive. See, that's what Jesus said about a kingdom divided against itself. It has no chance. It has no hope. It is doomed, because a greater power is going to isolate. And that, of course, is what's going to happen during the millennium. Satan is not able to get out of that. What could that be? That could be a sentencing. He's already been judged. He's going to be sentenced during that time to be confined.

And a greater power than he has exerted today on all the nations around the world. See, most people think others are somewhat good, and they think that they are pretty good. A lot of people have that impression. Of course, we'd like to be good, like to think that anyway. But that isn't what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that the whole world has been deceived.

And this is what we read about here in Ephesians 2, that everyone's following the course of this world, following the ruler or the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, among those who are disobedient. The children of disobedience. Who is that? Well, that's all of us. That's everybody. And he says in verse 3, All of us once lived among them in the passion of our flesh, following the desires of our flesh and our senses.

And we were by our very nature the children of wrath like everyone else. And so Paul doesn't pull any punches. He said the members of the church that he writes to, you have to understand that's where we all work. And Paul clearly understood this, knowing how it was that God had entered his life. And yet he said, I've been, you know, the prince of the power of the air is really a pretty good, that's a really good description.

And of course, you know, some of you perhaps understand better than I do the way that television wave, radio wave, radio waves are transmitted through the air. You know, that's the way Satan, his being the prince of the power of the air, he's able to affect everything just in an invisible way.

You know, I thought about this the other day, that, you know, how well we understand that really is important. And another description might be that Satan's wavelength or his effect on all of humanity is kind of like dust. Maybe that's not as good of a comparison, but see, I don't see dust all over everything in our house. But after a little while, it begins to accumulate and accumulate, and then there's dust on something we just dusted. Where did it come from? Did we just try to make it dirty? No. But it's there. It's in the air. It settles on the nightstand or table or wherever you can easily see it. And yet, I think this principle, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, is applicable to the nations of this world.

Now, secondly, I think we could also apply that even directly to this incredibly blessed land of Joseph. You know, this country that we enjoy living in, the United States, and most of you live in Missouri, I live in Kansas. You know, it's no problem going back and forth between states. No problem for us to travel wherever we might wish among continental United States anyway. But see, our country is in trouble.

It is divided today, perhaps in a greater way than any time in the past. Now, probably some of the same effect has been taking place, but today, you know, there is more partisan division, more anger, less civility, less morality. It's almost just openly expressed. Is our country divided against itself? Well, I think if you can stomach watching the news, it's almost hard to listen to anymore. I mean, it just becomes a dull throb all the time that there really are no solutions. And of course, you know, in some ways, as some of our government officials and maybe lawmakers think that the legal system is going to help.

I don't believe that we're going to find that that has an answer. That's not really. Here in Isaiah, you see in Isaiah 1, you see a description of this was directed to Judah, but talking about the people of Israel and could easily apply to the people of the United States today. Isaiah 1, verse 4, O sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, offspring who do evil, children who deal corruptly, who have forsaken the Lord, who have despised the Holy One of Israel, who are utterly estranged.

Why do you think or why do you seek further? Excuse me, verse 5. Why do you seek further beatings? Why do you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot. Even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds.

They have not been drained or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate. Your cities are burned with fire and your very presence, aliens devour your land. This desolate has overthrown by foreigners. Could that apply to what we see in our country today? Well, I think in many ways you can see a pretty direct comparison because that's why we are divided against ourselves.

And that's why, ultimately, the United States is not going to be the power around the globe that it has enjoyed in the past. You know, President Abraham Lincoln, actually prior to him ever being president, he gave a pretty famous speech. It's one of his noted speeches about a nation divided against itself cannot stand. That was the title of it. It was something that anybody who read the Bible understood a little bit about what he was meaning.

He was talking about slavery. It was an issue that divided the country at that time. He gave that during or around the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. I think in 1858 was the time frame of when that occurred. It was prior to his presidency. And, of course, ultimately it would lead to the devastation and bloodshed of the Civil War. See, now, this country did live through that, but we still personified what it says about a kingdom divided against itself, or a nation divided against itself simply cannot stand.

And we might wonder, well, how is it that the United States could be overthrown? Because clearly in our lifetimes, it has been the dominant nation in the world. But, see, you see biblical examples how God is able to bring any nation down, any leader, any ruler down. The book of Daniel is an example of that, Daniel 4, primarily because in dealing with Nebuchadnezzar, who because of his arrogance and his vanity and his selfishness, even though God had told him under Daniel's direction through Daniel, that you're the head of gold, you're the king represented in Babylon.

And yet he wanted far more than that. He wanted to be worshipped himself. And God says, well, I can solve that, and you can eat grass like a cow for seven years. And he didn't take the kingdom away from him right then. I mean, during that time, obviously, he was unengaged. He was out mowing the grass instead of ruling in the kingdom, instead of drinking wine out of the goblets from Jerusalem. He was growing long hair and longer fingernails and more like an ox instead of the king.

He really was. God said, you're the king that's the head of Babylon. And then in chapter 4, of course, it points out, Daniel points out, God's the one who causes nations to rise or fall. And even during the book of Daniel, you see Daniel living through the demise of Nebuchadnezzar and Velshazzar and Darius, and I guess into the time of Cyrus.

See, those were coming and going. Different rulers, different, even nations ruling. God's the one who brings that about. It's not going to be. And unfortunately, we are in a new cycle of continual election coverage. Whether there is an election going on or not, it makes no sense at all. It is simply sniping at one another and divided against yourselves.

Even one commentator says that we're in the midst of a cold civil war here in the United States. That's kind of where we are. We're not making progress. We barely can solve one problem without three more problems cropping up. And that's pretty much how the legal system and the subpoena barrage is going on from all sides. So we could apply the understanding that Jesus has about the lack of success of Satan's rule on earth to the nations of the earth, to our own country.

You could bring that down to our own state. We have our own problems in each of the states and each of the cities or counties. How about if we applied this to the Church of God? Does it have something to do with the Church of God? Clearly, division is a problem that we are warned to avoid. See, when you read what Paul says, 1 Corinthians 1 is an excellent. 1 Corinthians is an excellent example of this. Actually, I wanted to read Acts 26, because this is Paul actually describing what it was for him to come into the Church of God.

The amazing blessing it was to be empowered to be a part of the Church of God. Paul, in a defense of his work, he's defending himself, but here in chapter 26, verse 16, he says, "...stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose." So here, he was saying what God told him to do. He did strike him down, but he says, I want you to get up.

"...Stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this very purpose, to anoint you to serve, and testify to the things in which you have seen me, and to those in which I will appear to you. And I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan, who has deceived the whole world, to the power of God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who were sanctified by faith in me." That was one of the statements that Paul made in defense of what he had been called to do.

See, I point that out because the transition from darkness to light, or from the power of Satan, to the power of God is what he has done in the lives of those who understand his working in our lives. And so, here in 1 Corinthians 1, whenever he says, you know, being divided is going to cause you to fail. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 10, I appeal to you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement, and that there is no division among you but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.

And then he describes how he had been hearing that people were bickering and fighting and carrying on in a way that didn't represent God. It represented the evil world that Satan deceives. In chapter 3, he says in verse 1, brethren, I really couldn't even talk to you like spiritual people. Rather have to talk to you as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.

Even now you're still not ready for you are still in the flesh, or of the flesh, for as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving according to human standard? Are you not just carnal? See, he's writing this to members of the church. And so, I think we could say that we need to apply. We each have an individual responsibility to be in unison with one another, to be in unison. How is it that I can do that?

Well, I can't wait for everybody to agree with me. I have to agree with the leadership that God provides. And of course, Jesus Christ is the Head. But here in Ephesians 4, he talks about how the church is to be united. In verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner of our Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling of which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness and patience and bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

See, that's something I have to individually do to be united. Even as our name implies, the United Church of God, that's certainly a desire. But that's up to us, to whether or not we are really united or are we of the same mind and in agreement with what God is doing. And you actually read from verse 17 on down to verse 16 about using the gifts that God has given us as members of the church to build up one another.

See, that's a part of what we're asked to do. In verse 15, speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the Head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love. See, each of us has a ligament. All of us have to be pulling together in that same direction. And so I think clearly, you know, the principle could apply to nations, it could apply to our nation, our country, it could apply to the Church of God.

Can it apply to our homes? Can it apply to our houses, our marriage, and what God intends? Does He desire unison, unity, love, caring, sharing? Or does He want bickering and fighting and arguing?

So you can read many verses that talk about how it is that husbands and wives are to follow God's instruction regarding how to properly love and lead, and how to properly love and follow. See, we've gone over some of that over the last few years.

But see, Jesus' principle about a house divided against itself won't be successful. And of course, you can read a lot of different verses, actually a number of different Proverbs that talk about, you know, one of them, Proverbs 29.2 says, When the righteous rule the people rejoice. That's what my house should be like. That's not always the way it is, because I'm a stumbling block. I create some problems. And you have other verses that talk about a prudent wife is from the Lord, or he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

See, working together in unison, pulling together in working with children, in working with whatever activity we need to achieve. Now that's a part of working together in unity and in harmony, instead of being affected by the Spirit that rules this world, which is for conflict and for strife and for failure. Because that's what Jesus said. If Satan is divided against himself, then he's sunk. He will not succeed. And of course, that's why we know that here at the end of the age, at the end of the time when Christ is going to have to rescue this world and protect the elect.

We want that. We pray for that. We're told to watch and pray that we can stand worthy to be spared. That we can be doing the things that God expects us to do to be protected and ultimately fulfilled in His family. In 2 Corinthians 10, the last verse here that I'll read, 2 Corinthians 10, Paul again summarizes, and this is in a section here in chapter 10 where he is having to defend himself and defend the work that he was doing.

But he says here in 2 Corinthians 10, I, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I, who am humble and face to face with you but bold toward you when I am away. I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think they are acting according to the flesh or in the flesh. But he goes ahead to say in verse 3, indeed, we live as in the flesh as human beings, but we do not wage war according to the human standard.

For the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds, to destroy arguments and every proud obstacle that's raised up against the knowledge of God, and to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ. See, he describes a Christian's battle as desiring to be united with God, desiring to understand, as Jesus did, the effect of Satan's influence in this world, to comprehend that on a personal level, on a family level, on a church level, even on a national level, which isn't going to happen because we know what the predictions are going to bring about. But see, God wants us to grow in His power to be able to overcome.

What did Jesus say about the strong man, if he's containing everything? And then if he gets overpowered, well, then everything will be plundered. The power that God has made available to us, He describes here as divine power, to destroy strongholds. And I think that would be a part of the lesson of what God wants us to grow in love and unity.

He promotes unity and harmony in the interaction of the Father and the Son. That's the way God is. They have existed eternally in love. That is their way of life. And that is the way of life that He wants, of course, for all of us as His children.

So, as we will discuss more on the Day of Atonement, we need to be aware of the impact that Satan has on this world and on us individually. But ultimately, Satan is going to be confined. And when that happens, then man will be able to be closer to God. Now, be able to be at one with God as Atonement, being reconciled, being forgiven, being able to trust.

But even as we do that, we have to be aware that it is through God's power that we can be delivered from evil. And it is through God's power that we can resist the devil and know that He will flee.