“Satan is defeated: Fear no more” Part 1
March 18, 2019“Satan is defeated: Fear no more” Part 3
March 18, 2019
The Bible was written in a poetic manner; for example, when it says, “You were in the Garden of Eden…”, this does not literally mean that the King of Tyre was in the Garden of Eden. The moment we grasp this, a lot of things which are confusing when reading the it will be clarified. We need to be aware that it is parabolic. The word ‘Eden’, that many have believed to be a geographical place somewhere on earth, simply means delight. God used to delight in Canaan, but due to the misconduct of the King of Tyre, God rejected it.
It included Tyre and Sidon but then became a nation by itself, there came a time when David was reigning as King, and he wanted to build a temple for the Lord –see [1 Chronicles 22]. However, he needed a lot of wood (timber); therefore, he entered into an agreement with the King of Tyre for importing of cedar wood, and precious stone.
“You have lifted your heart saying that you are greater because of your wisdom of trade.” As I had already explained, Tyre was in the business of exporting, so it began to have pride and esteemed itself as a greater nation because all nations depended on it for cedar and precious stones. The son (prince) was in charge of trading, he became a King after the Father. So, [Ezekiel 28], says, “write to the King of Tyre who were there in Eden.”
This means Tyre was part of Canaan, ‘’All trees envied you…’’, nations envied to be like it because of its riches. “You were clothed with stones.” When people read this, they picture the devil as a being adorned with beautiful, and precious stones, but this is a poetic element. The bible was written during an era when the language was deep. In the previous teaching, I taught that the country of Tyre was rich in precious stones. So in simple terms this verse is talking about the King of Tyre, not the devil.
[Ezekiel 31:9], “You were in the garden of Eden.” ‘I made it beautiful with the great mass of its branches, So that all the trees of Eden which were in the garden of God were jealous of it (Assyria). “Which among the trees of Eden do you equal in glory and in greatness [O Egypt]? Yet you [also] will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath (nether world). You will lie among the uncircumcised (the barbaric, the boorish, and the crude) with those who were slain by the sword. This is how it shall be with Pharaoh and all his hordes!” says the Lord God.’’
When did Pharaoh go to the Garden of Eden? The time Joseph was a Prime Minister, Israel ran to Egypt for safety and for food. God was in Egypt because a man whom God delighted in, was there, thus they could not experience drought. Jacob and his sons were residing in Canaan [the land of milk and honey] but they were struck by famine because God was not with them.
If we say the King of Tyre was Satan, it means we must also find a position for Pharaoh too. “You cherub…” A cherubim is an angel that covers the mercy sit with its wings, it does not worship. If the devil was an angel, he then only covered, and not worship. Immediately it talks about how other trees envied it and how other animals dwelt under its shade. This means other countries came to Tyre looking for food. God made the king of Tyre the source of stones and cedar wood.
After Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, Tyre and Sidon surrendered to him and became his slaves due to the power. After Israel was liberated from Babylon, they wanted to rebuild the temple. Many nations did not want to work with them (Israelites), but Tyre came to the rescue and supplied wood. There is a verse which affirms this, telling us that David entered into an alliance with Tyre.
Now the beauty in all of this is that it coincides and is recorded in history, so [even though many find history boring] we can [for our own benefit] read history to better understand the Bible. The better informed we are about generations that God walked with before us, the better we understand who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going.
If you came to someone’s aid just as they needed it, you would hear that person remark you as ‘My angel’. But that does not literally mean you have super powers possessed, by divine messengers (ministering Spirits) of God, sent to assist those who inherit salvation. Therefore, we understand when the verse says, ‘You were an angel.’ It is not referring to a literal angel, but a person displaying the character of the latter. It means that [Tyre] came to rescue, just at the appropriate time, so their conduct was like that of an angel. Here we can tell that a figure of speech – personification was used.
The reason people or Christians say Satan was Lucifer is because they do not want to admit that God created him. They are trying to cover God, to portray an image that no bad thing can come out of Him, so they conclude that God created an angel and it turned out bad and became [evolved to] Satan.
Why did God create Satan? I can summarize the answer into a scenario. How will you know that a bullet proof is secure unless it is shot at? And to test the bullet proof you need a gun (weapon). How will we know who we are unless we are tested and we stand? Satan is there to test us but not to destroy us. The devil can only kill the world but not us, he can attack us but at the end he does not prosper.
[Isaiah 54:14], “You shall not fear from terror.” The key is in verse (1), ‘’Blessed are they who are chosen, because we shall be far from terror and that fear shall not be found among us”. It is empowering to know that darkness cannot do anything to us. Darkness fills people with terror because it threatens life but when death cannot kill you automatically you live.
The devil was created to be a weapon, to be against you but bound by the words ‘‘…shall not prosper…’’ Every tongue that rises against you in judgment shall be condemned.” God is proud that he created Satan, why are you ashamed?
When heaven and earth was created, darkness had already been created. All this happened in [Genesis 1], chapter 2 is the account of chapter 1, and so [Genesis 1, 2 and 3] are repetition. Man was not formed in the Garden, but away from it then placed in it, so man was made in the midst of darkness. The serpent was crafty, he was already in the garden [as the tree of knowledge of good and evil], he did not come in, nor was he invited.
God formed man to defeat darkness. He said to him, “have authority and subdue every creature of the air, every creeping, crawling…” One may ask, ‘why did God place Adam in the Garden’? To subdue the darkness which manifested in the form of the serpent. So the light (the first Adam) that was formed in [Genesis 1] failed to conquer the darkness. Jesus is the second Adam; now for Jesus to be called the second Adam it means that he possesses similarities to the first one. Jesus was the light of man, so it means even the first Adam was light. God brought the second light (Jesus) to come and subdue the darkness.
The serpent was already in the Garden of Eden when he tempted Eve and was already in the mountain when he tempted Jesus; in both events, he did not come but was found in the supposed spot. As Jesus was in a fast, the Spirit led Him to the mountain to be tempted by the devil. Adam and Jesus were both tempted with three things: the lust of the eye, the pride of life and the lust of the flesh.
When Jesus met the devil at the mountain, He was facing the same trials and temptations that Adam faced. God was repeating and rectifying what happened in the Garden, but this time it was happening at the mountain. He was solving it, by conquering the devil at the mountain Jesus was subduing the darkness that Adam failed to subdue back in the Garden.
After the first Adam failed, the second one was brought to come and fight the darkness that was created in the beginning. [Colossians 1 & 2], everything was created is in the beginning. Before the beginning Satan was not there. Before the beginning there was a chosen generation but the devil was not yet created.
Another question that may arise is, ‘what was the devil doing in heaven’? Through the recent teaching about the devil the Lord has been giving me, I have realized two things: 1. Darkness was created by God. 2. It was always in His presence. From the beginning the devil did what he is good at – he has been playing the role of an accuser, so he had access to come into heaven but only to accuse brethren. So it is not completely out of proportion that he was in heaven, he was but only as an accuser, not an angel.
Verse (4), “This is the history of the heavens and of the earth when they were created.” Can we all agree that ‘history’, means that it is what has already happened? Ok, now that you get that part you will understand that the story of [Genesis 1 & 2] is being retold in [Genesis 3], because man never subdued darkness, it has been reigning since its creation. Adam found the serpent in the Garden of Eden, God placed him there and told him to ‘subdue’ but he failed, when he did God chased him and Eve out but Satan remained behind.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was still in the garden, that is why the devil was able to accuse brethren because he was in the presence of God, he could be on earth and before the throne of God and speak to God, that was his position. God chased everyone out but left the devil behind because his time to be cast out had not yet come.
“God does not want you to eat this (referring to the fruit) because the moment you do you will be like him,” said ‘’the crafty serpent.’’ By so saying, he was revealing a weakness in Eve; the woman thought that the devil was on her side. Therefore, she was deceived [by his cunning ways] and ate because she wanted to be like God. See, it is the duty of the devil to see wrong where God sees perfection, in simple words we can say he is a faultfinder!
YESHUA; A CITY ON A HILL, THE LIGHT THAT CANNOT BE HIDDEN (Zion)!!!
