Spiritual Warfare: Knowing the Enemy

September 27, 2017 by Judy

The devil…was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him (John 8:44).

In our last exercise, we learned how important it is to understand the nature of the spiritual conflict in which we, as the Sons and Daughters of God, are engaged. As we shall learn in this exercise, it is equally important for us to discover as much as we can about our adversary—that is, if we want to stay alert and guard against his assaults. For…

…unless we grasp how the devil fits into God’s scheme of things, we will find it more difficult to stand against his conspiracy against us personally and his influence within our culture. How we perceive our enemy will largely determine how we fight against him.[1]

Over the course of the past six exercises in our Workout Program, we have learned a lot about this adversary–the one who goes by the names of Satan, Lucifer, and the Devil—so let’s collect that information here and review what we have learned about him thus far.

His History and Character

As for his history and character, we now know that Satan…

Was a created being, making him vastly inferior to the God who created him, and meaning that…

Since he was created, he is not self-existent, and never can be free from the Creator. He may vainly propose to become independent, and even be permitted for a time to act under that delusion; but that only delays the inevitable judgment that awaits him.[2]

Was created perfect…

…or was the perfect fulfillment of the Creator’s intention. Satan was a free moral agent, capable of choosing evil but not obligated to do so. That he chose evil must ever be to his own condemnation, for the Creator had surrounded him with sufficient motives for choosing the good.[3]

Was created as one of the highest ranking in a class of Spirit Beings called Angels…

…powerful creatures who have a significant role to play in God’s unfolding plan for mankind; and who…
…were present at pivotal points in the spiritual history of man, including the creation of the universe, the proclamation of the birth of Jesus and will return with Christ’s heavenly army to establish His Millennial Kingdom.[4]

Possessed a superior intellect and surpassing beauty…

First, consider God’s statement [in Ezekiel 28:12] ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.’ For the God of the universe to declare that another is perfect in wisdom is remarkable. Satan must have incredible intellectual powers; repeatedly the Bible stresses his brilliance. His beauty and majesty also must be unimaginable.[5]

Became vain because of his beauty, proud because of his wisdom, and power-hungry because of his position. He conceitedly regarded these things as emanating from within himself, instead of acknowledging them as endowments from God—gifts given to him by the good pleasure of the Almighty, for the benefit of the Kingdom of Heaven…

Lucifer was God’s masterpiece, a showpiece whose presence brought glory to his creator… [And] until he sinned, he existed to serve God, without weariness, struggle, or competition. He was God’s worship leader; the director of choirs and coordinator of praise. If only he had known how fortunate he was![6]

Rebelled against God’s authority and attempted to usurp that authority for himself…

… instead of passing all of the praise to God, he began to keep some of it for himself. Like a trader who keeps a bit of the profits that cross his desk, so Lucifer would hold back some of the worship, enjoying what he thought was his share…

…[Until] consumed with jealousy and burning with a desire for recognition, he set out to do what he wanted to do rather than what God wanted him to do.[7]

Began his career as a liar and a slanderer of God in order to justify his misguided and failed actions…

Satan apparently concluded that he was so magnificent he didn’t need God. Like the first humans, he probably felt he could be his own God.

Once Satan enthroned himself and rejected God’s moral guidance, a whole series of negative character traits automatically developed. Any moral being who rejects God’s leadership finds it psychologically necessary to justify that decision…[Thus] Satan justified his rebellion by finding fault with God.

When Satan rebelled, he became the supreme accuser of God’s character.[8]

Became a murderer when he provoked Cain to kill his brother, Abel, in an effort to eliminate the righteous son of Adam and Eve—the one he thought might be the redeemer promised to Eve by God…

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts (Hebrews 11:4).

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous (1 John 3:12).

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you (Ezekiel 28:15).

His Ambitious Plan

in addition to his History and Character, we also know that…

Lucifer’s original plan—his Plan A—called for his overthrow of God and the take-over of His Throne in Heaven; this in spite of the fact that God was and is All-Powerful, and his own power was severely limited in comparison. But…

Far from withdrawing, Satan chose to escalate the conflict. Admitting defeat was too humbling; better to forge ahead with sustained rebellion than withdraw from the fray and accept his punishment. He would pretend that illusion is reality; he would call his defeats triumphs. And he would store up more retribution by expanding his rebellious rule.[9]

This, of course, led to the creation of his Plan B, which called for him to set up his kingdom and reign upon the Earth…

Pride caused Lucifer to gamble his privileges away. He took the big risk, thinking that if he could not dethrone God, at least he could set up his own throne somewhere in the universe. He had underestimated God and overestimated himself.[10]

This presented him with another problem, though—God had given the Earth to Man to rule, so what was he to do about that?

When the devil noticed that a new being existed, created in the image and likeness of God, destined to have the lordship over creation, he developed his own plan and wanted to destroy God’s work. Satan’s attack consisted in tempting Adam and Eve with exactly the same iniquity that constituted his own ruin. Lucifer himself had wanted to be like God. That was what he offered Eve, saying, ‘You will not surely die…’[11]

His Overall Strategy

Given that…

God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’ (Genesis 1:27-28)…

…so that, in bearing God’s image to the ends of the earth…

…the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea… (Habakkuk 2:14)

…for Satan to achieve his Plan B and realize his ultimate goal, his strategy had to include…

Gaining control of the Earth by taking God’s Representatives and intended Family captive through deception and lies. Lying about who he was, who they were, and who God is, Satan convinced Eve, then Adam, to disobey God. As a result…

Adam dropped the scepter and Satan picked it up. Man, created to be king of the earth, would now become a slave and be everywhere in chains… In Eden, the crown slid from man’s head, Satan picked it up from the dust and crowned himself…He would now treat the world as if it belonged to him.[12]

Preventing God’s Kingdom from coming to the Earth; keeping his captives from escaping to freedom by blinding them to the Truth of God, and keeping them ignorant of His Word and His free gift of Salvation…

By their disobedience, Adam and Eve abdicated their throne of earthly dominion, yielding it to Satan, the architect and instigator of their fall. This ushered in a counterfeit kingdom that the Bible calls the ‘kingdom of darkness,’ which is in constant conflict with the Kingdom of God…

Satan rules his kingdom of darkness by keeping his ‘subjects’ in ignorance of the true nature of their environment and of the existence of God’s Kingdom. He fills their heads with lies and deception. Satan controls his subjects by keeping them ‘in the dark’ regarding spiritual truth. He blinds their eyes lest they understand the glorious good news of Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven.[13]

The Enemy of the Truth

Harassing, intimidating, slandering, and deceiving them at every possible turn—and, should any of them manage to escape…

Satan sees our down times as his opportunities. True to his nature, he strikes with vile determination when we are weakest… Satan is relentless in his attacks because he utterly hates us. He desires our complete destruction. There is no goodness in him at all. He is absolutely void of virtue and compassion. This is his nature and he is not going to change.[14]

Frustrating the Service of those who manage to make it to the Kingdom of God by stirring up division and strife among them, and wearing them down until they finally give up and quit…

Satan is unable to destroy Christians, so his ultimate goal is to make us ineffective in our mission. Whether he can destroy faith or stalemate us in other ways, his point is to block Christians’ efforts to rescue those currently under his control…he wants to guard his captives from the power of the gospel. Satan can convince most Christians never even to try to advance God’s cause on earth. Others do try, but he can frustrate their plans or redirect them into fruitless projects…

He can divide believers or get them to pursue foolish, doomed-to-failure tactics. And he has been remarkably successful getting believers to preach a message so alien to the gospel that no one could meet Christ through their message.[15]

Corrupting all the institutions which affect their lives—especially the Family—and distorting the Image of God on the Earth through Sexual Perversion and Gender Confusion…

…when man chose to renounce the will of God…the knowledge of good and evil made its entrance. Man now had a knowledge that corrupted him, poisoned him…now humanity carries in itself the seed of evil that it transmits from generation to generation.

In the moment in which the devil enters into a place of authority over man and creation, the polluted and corrupt world becomes his vehicle of expression, a system designed to keep humanity in slavery. The Bible teaches us that since then, the world serves the devil’s purposes.[16]

His Defeat and its Impact on the War

From his victory over the First Adam to the coming of the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, Satan treated “the world as if it belonged to him.”[17] After all, he had wrested the lordship over the Earth from Adam and Eve, and now that they were his slaves, there wasn’t anything that they or their descendants could do about it. That is, until Jesus came, and then it became an altogether different story…

…Jesus came as a human being, living in our post-Fall human context ‘for a little while lower than the angels’ (Hebrews 2:7). As a man He retraced Adam’s footprints up to the point of temptation, facing temptation after temptation and succeeding in obedience where Adam had failed.

Jesus’ obedience, then, took Him even to the cross, and through that to the empty tomb. Thus He won the battle over Satan from behind enemy lines—won it as a man for both humans and God. When the Father resurrected Jesus, a cosmic battle was won, and the usurper defeated and deposed from second place in the universe.[18]

As a result of His Victory, this Second Adam reclaimed what the First Adam had lost, and restored it to those who would come to the Father through Faith in His Finished Work on the Cross. In spite of his loss, though, Satan isn’t about to roll over and play dead…

…like Nazi Germany even after D-Day, Satan still has plenty of fight left…Knowing he has been defeated doesn’t bring melancholy to Satan; it makes him furious. Seeing his end draw near makes Satan even more frantic to destroy. In the psychology of hatred, rage becomes irrational, and Satan apparently has become angrier than ever. But his strategy is far from irrational. He continues, in calculated and effective ways, to pursue his course of opposition to God’s plans.[19]

His Kingdom: Past, Present, and Future

From the Garden to the Cross—

Satan ruled over the Earth with impunity. Having already robbed Man of his innocence in the Garden, he was now free, from the Garden to the Cross, to successfully…

Sear men’s consciences through sin—leading to the destruction of the then-known world through the Flood;
Corrupt the governmental system ordained by God—leading to the rebellion at the Tower of Babel and the confusion of languages;
Introduce a false religious system into the world—which, once the nations were scattered, made its way into every culture in the world; and,
Compromise the worship of the people of God—ultimately leading to their expulsion from the land God had chosen for them.

At this point, given mankind’s colossal failures and his many successes, it must have seemed to Satan that his rule over the Earth had at last been firmly established. This, however, would soon be proven to be a false assumption. That’s because, in spite of Satan’s best efforts to destroy God’s plan and His people, the Lord has never left Himself without a faithful remnant. As prophesied by Isaiah…

…the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward… (Isaiah 37:31)

And, it would be through this remnant that the long-awaited Redeemer would finally come…

…when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5).

From the Cross to the Second Coming of Christ—

Although Christ soundly defeated Satan on the Cross, and conquered his power over death through His Resurrection, for reasons that are His own, God continues to allow Satan to rule—albeit as a Usurper—over the ungodly systems he has managed to establish during mankind’s time on the Earth. As we learned previously…

God could put Satan completely away, but He has chosen to use him to give the Church ‘on-the-job’ training in overcoming. Otherwise, there would be no more warfare of any kind. We are in apprenticeship for our place with Christ on the throne following the Marriage Supper of the Lamb…and without an adversary there could be no practice in overcoming.[20]

…Satan exists as God’s instrument of justice for the disobedient and God’s means of purification for the obedient. Our war with him teaches us about the nature of sin, the holiness of God, and our own helplessness apart from Grace.^[21]

So, until Christ returns to set up His Kingdom here on Earth, Satan…

Though under the restraining hand of God…is now in authority over the unregenerate world, and the unsaved are unconsciously organized and federated under his leading…

This federation includes all of the unsaved and fallen humanity; it has the cooperation of the fallen spirits, and is the union of all who are living and acting in independence of God.

This satanic system has its own ideals and principles which are in sharp contrast to the ideals and principles given to the redeemed, yet these two classes must mingle together as closely as the ties of human life can bring them.[22]

Jesus made mention of these two conflicting classes in His Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, characterizing the wheat as those in the Kingdom of God, and the tares as those in Satan’s Kingdom of Darkness. Since His instructions at that time were to…

Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’ (Matthew 13:30)…

…such will be the status of Satan’s kingdom until the time for God’s Harvest.

His Time Is Coming

From the Second Coming of Christ to the End of the Age—

When the time finally comes for the legal owner of the Earth to harvest the crops sown in it from the beginning of time—that is, when everyone who is going to be saved is saved, and Satan’s attempts at ruling the world apart from God have utterly failed, Christ will return to the Earth to execute judgment on Satan and his kingdom…

God’s judgment is often long in coming, but when it arrives it is swift and sure. When God begins to wrap up human history as we know it, the demise of the Serpent will happen in a series of stages. The lake of fire was inevitable from the moment Lucifer said, ‘I will make myself like the Most high’ (Isaiah 14:14), but for centuries God has postponed the inevitable. When He no longer needs Satan for His own purposes, the end shall come.^[23]

The three stages of Satan’s judgment are as follows…

First, he is cast out of heaven. Second, he is bound for a thousand years. Finally, he is cast into the lake of fire.

If the first step in Satan’s demise is that he is forbidden to reside in heaven, then the second step is that he is forbidden to reside on earth. For one thousand years the nations are permitted to go their own way without satanic direction or influence.

[Then] He who had always taken his own hell with him… [is] to be cast into a hell of a different sort. He must now relinquish control of all beings he ever influenced. The power is gone, so is the insolence, scheming, and defiance. Stripped of everything he once thought he had, he [the former Light Bearer] is now forced to abide in eternal darkness.[24]

And, once…

‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15)’…

The destruction of the Serpent in the lake of fire stands as a final witness to the fact that no creature who fights again the Creator will win. No will pitted against the will of God will ever find permanent fulfillment and freedom. God has proved that he alone rules, and beside Him there is no other.[25]

Be sure to join us for our next exercise, when we will begin creating a map of Satan’s territory.

In spite of Satan’s claims to the contrary, there is only one I AM–and it’s certainly not him!

[1] Erwin W. Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1996),20.

[2] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Satan: His Motive and Methods (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1964), 17.

[3] Chafer, Satan, 17.

[4] Grant R. Jeffrey, Heaven: The Mystery of Angels (Toronto, Ontario: Frontier Research Publications, 1996), 183.

[5] Dennis McCallum, Satan and His Kingdom (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 2009), 23.

[6] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 26-27.

[7] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 27-28.

[8] McCallum, Satan and His Kingdom, 24.

[9] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 40.

[10] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 33.

[11] Harold Caballeros, Victorious Warfare (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001), 65.

[12] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 44-45, 50.

[13] Myles Munroe, Rediscovering the Kingdom (Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Destiny Image Publishers, 2004), 84.

[14] Dean Sherman, Spiritual Warfare for Every Christian (Seattle, Washington: YWAM Publishing, 1990), 39.

[15] McCallum, Satan and His Kingdom, 56.

[16] Caballeros, Victorious Warfare, 67.

[17] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 44-45, 50.

[18] Charles H. Kraft, I Give You Authority: Practicing the Authority Jesus Gave Us (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Chosen Books, 1997), 21-22.

[19] McCallum, Satan and His Kingdom, 51.

[20] Paul E. Billheimer, Destined for the Throne (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 1975), 91.

[21] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 191.

[22] Chafer, Satan, 50.

[23] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 167..

[24] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 168, 186.

[25] Lutzer, The Serpent of Paradise, 191.

Searching for Truth in the First Book of Begats

April 10, 2015 by Judy

Genesis 5 is the Bible’s First Book of Begats

Although I now use the English Standard Version as my study Bible, when I first started out so many years ago, I used the King James Version—a translation that I loved because of the more poetic language it used in the presentation of the Bible Story. The one aspect of that translation that I did not care for, though, was its use of the word “begat” in the many genealogies recorded for us in scripture. “Begat” always sounded so harsh and impersonal that its use made those already tedious and uninteresting passages all the more difficult to get into and to appreciate. And yet, when I was finally able to get past the archaic wording, as well as all of the repetitious and somewhat sanitized documentation contained in the passages, I found that there was a lot of truth waiting to be discovered there among all of those old begats. And searching for some of those truths is what we will be attempting to do next, as we pause to critique the first such list in the Bible—the one which was presented in our most recent Vignette, The Lineup to the Flood.

This Vignette, number five of the nine which make up Act 1, Scene 1 of God’s One Big Story, covers the material found in Genesis 5, a chapter which introduced us to the descendants of Adam though his son, Seth. It should be noted here that Cain’s descendants, as the rejected line, were introduced back in Vignette #4 and following their brief moment in the spotlight, they moved to their proper place at the rear of the stage. Now, as for how we will conduct our search for truth in Seth’s line of begats, it will be done by analyzing the People, Patterns, and Precedents that were presented to us in the course of this Vignette.

The People…

When coming to this first genealogical list in the Bible, an important thing for us to remember is that all of these funny sounding and sometimes hard to pronounce names belonged to real people, living in real time, and doing life in very real ways. They were people who had to work for a living, find and make homes for themselves and their families, learn to relate to the other people around them—however difficult they may have been–and who had to learn to cope with the raising of children—many, many children, in fact. Because they were all descended from Adam, this meant that they were all members of the same family—with everyone, at any given time, having to fill the roles of mother or father, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, niece or nephew, or grandparent or grandchild to someone else. What a relationship nightmare that must have been!

However, there was more to being a descendant of Adam than merely belonging to the same huge physical family; it also meant being members of the same huge spiritual family. Since each one had come into the world bearing the image and likeness of Adam, this meant that they, like he, were all sinners in desperate need of redemption. Even though not all of them would go on to acknowledge this need in their lives, the ten that did were lined up across our stage—with one representing each of the ten generations from Adam to Noah. As the men who held on to their faith in God and to the promise He had made to Eve concerning a coming Redeemer, they, as the members of the Antediluvian Spiritual Hall of Fame, were the ones who kept the promise and the lineage of that Redeemer alive all the way to and through the Flood. Of these ten, there are four—Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah–who merit special recognition, something which we will be sure to give them when we get to the Precedents section of this critique.

The Line of the Righteous from Adam to the Flood

The Antediluvian Hall of Fame

The Patterns…

But for now, let’s take a step back and try to get a look at the big picture presented to us by the men in this genealogy. In so doing, we will see some Patterns starting to develop as a result of the sin nature passed down by Adam which will characterize the human experience from this point on. They are…

Life becomes a tedious and monotonous cycle of birth, reproduction, and death;
As this cycle repeats itself and as more and more people are born into the world, the level of wickedness increases dramatically while righteousness decreases in a corresponding manner;
This decrease in righteousness leads to a diminishing of the hope that God’s promise of a Redeemer will ever be fulfilled which, in turn, leads to an ever-increasing sense of despair among the people of God;
But even in the face of this all of this wickedness and despair, God repeatedly proves His faithfulness by His on-going preservation of a remnant through whom the Redeemer will one day come.

The Precedents…

As for the precedents that were established during this pre-flood period in history, if we look at the unusual way in which this chapter opens, and at the unique characteristics of the men previously singled out for special recognition, we will find these Precedents to include…

1. The Precedent of The Book of the Righteous…

When Chapter 5 opens, it does so by saying, “This is the book of the generations of Adam”—a statement marking out a whole new section in the book of Genesis. We know that it is the beginning of something new because toledoth, the Hebrew word for generations, is used eleven times in Genesis, and each of those times it is used to designate a break or a transition in the story. But while a break in the story is significant, it isn’t unusual enough to qualify as a precedent-setting event. For that, we need to direct our attention to sepher, the Hebrew word for book, because its use here marks the first time that a record of human history is made, and that God begins recording a list of the righteous.

First Mention of the Book of Life

This list of names will become a special set of books, later referred to as The Book of Life which, when human history comes to an end, will be brought out for all to see. Its ultimate revealing will take place at an event called the Great White Throne Judgment, the climactic end-time event described in Revelation 20:12,15, where the Apostle John describes how these books will be used…

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which was the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done…And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

From this, we can conclude that the name of every human being who has ever lived will be written in one set of books, The Book of the Living, along with everything he or she has ever done. In addition to these there is another set of books, referred to here and in other places as The Lamb’s Book of Life, which contains the names of all of those who, through faith, have trusted in God for their salvation. While everyone’s name will be listed in the first set of books, only the names of those who are deemed righteous according to God’s standards will appear in the second set of books—books which had their origins here in Genesis 5.

2. The Precedent of The Practice of Prayer…

From what we can gather about Adam and Eve’s, and Cain and Abel’s encounters with God, they appeared to have taken place on a personal and very intimate level. However, with the appearance of Seth and at about the time that his son, Enosh, was born, a new and different shift in the way men approached God seems to have taken place. This change is noted for us in Genesis 4:25-26, where it says that…

…Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

The Precedent of Prayer Established

Although this passage tells us that for the first time, men began to call upon God in prayer, it doesn’t explain why this practice became necessary. Was it because, as more and more people were born, worship became less of an individual practice and more of a corporate one? Or was it because God, in response to the ever-increasing level of wickedness upon the earth, had withdrawn His presence from among the people? Whatever the reason, here in the lifetime of righteous Seth, the practice of prayer had become a necessity and became an established precedent in the lives of godly men.

3. The Precedent of Preaching and Prophesying…

Because the population and the level of wickedness began increasing at such an alarming rate, it wasn’t long before the preaching of repentance and the prophesying about a coming judgment became a necessity. As we learn in Jude 14, 15, 16, 19, this was something that Enoch undertook with great zeal…

It was also about these [the wicked] that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” …These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage…It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

The Precedent of Preaching Established

Although there may have been others who had seen the need for this type of ministry and practiced it before the time of Enoch, it was during his lifetime and as a result of his ministry that the preaching of repentance and the prophesying about judgment became, for us, a Biblically-documented Precedent.

4. The Precedent of The Translation or Rapture of the Saints…

Not only was the Precedent of Preaching and Prophesying established in the life and ministry of Enoch, the Precedent of a Translation or Rapture of the Righteous was also established by him. For in Genesis 5:24 we are told that…

…Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him…

…and in Hebrews 11:5, that…

…By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

The Precedent of the Rapture Established

Although another translation from this life to the next, without experiencing death, was realized centuries later by the prophet Elijah, the ultimate fulfillment of the precedent set by Enoch is still to take place at the end of time when, just before the onslaught of an event known as The Tribulation, a global translation or Rapture of the Saints from the earth will take place. Just as Enoch was removed from the early world prior to the Tribulation of the Flood, those who are alive and whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life at the end of time, will also be “taken up” because they, like Enoch, had obtained the witness that they walked with and were pleasing to God.

5. The Precedent of God’s Long-suffering and Mercy…

In Genesis 5: 21-24, we learn that…

…When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

And, in Genesis 5:27 that…

…all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

The implication in the first passage is that before his son’s birth Enoch had gone his own way, but that following Methuselah’s birth he began developing a close, personal walk with God. This, to me, begs the question of “Why the big change all of a sudden?”

Although the meaning of Methuselah’s name has not been completely settled for some, many believe that it means, “When he is gone, it will come”—with “it” referring to the judgment of the flood about which Enoch would later prophesy. If so, it could be that Enoch had received a revelation about the coming judgment at the time of Methuselah’s birth and, if he had, it would only be logical for him to believe that he might only have a short period of time in which to repent. What if his son only lived a year or five years? Not knowing how long a life his son would have would certainly have been reason enough for getting his life right with God as soon as possible—and to begin preaching to others about their need to do the same.

Could it be that Methuselah lived longer than other human because God, in His mercy, was trying to give men every opportunity to repent like Enoch did? It would certainly seem so, for as the second passage tells us, not only did God extend Methuselah’s life longer than any other human being, but that the year he died was the same year that the flood came upon the earth.

6. The Precedent of The Preservation of a Remnant through Tribulation and Judgment…

The Remnant in the Ark

By the time Methuselah’s son Lamech had a son of his own, things must have seemed pretty dismal because when he named his name Noah, he spoke this prophecy over him, recorded for us in Genesis 5:29…

… ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.’”

We shall see the fulfillment of this prophecy in our upcoming Vignette, for it will be through Noah that God will…

Reach out to the lost in his generation;
Bring the judgment of the Flood upon all of those who refuse to repent; and,
Faithfully protect and provide for His own, through the Precedent of the Preservation of a Remnant through Tribulation and Judgment.

As you can see, there is a lot more truth in this First Book of Begats than initially meets the eye, and since…

…All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…(2 Timothy 3:16)…

…it is still relevant and has application for our lives today. That’s because like those living between Adam and Noah…

We are all sinners whose natural end is death and eternal separation from God;
However, we can choose life instead of death by choosing to follow in the way of Seth instead of in the way of Cain;
This choice will always put us at odds with the majority who will be following Cain and the ways of the world;
But it will also mean that our names will be written in the Book of Life;
This will give us access to God through prayer;
It will motivate us to reach out to the lost through our testimony of the truth; and,
It will provide us the assurance that God will either take us out before, or preserve us through, any kind of tribulation or judgment that may come upon the wicked.

Selah reminds us that throughout every age, God remains the “Faithful One…”

Vignette #5: Our Lineup to the Flood

March 21, 2015 by Judy

A Review of Our Story So Far…

Now that we have completed our critique of the story of Cain and Abel, it is time for us to move on to the next Vignette or mini story in the presentation of God’s One Big Story–one taking us up to Noah and the Flood. In order to put things into perspective, and as a benefit to those who may be new to our group, I think it is a good idea to do a brief recap of our story so far.

Here at His Truth, My Voice, we are currently undertaking a guided tour of the Bible, one which we have been referring to as The Journey into the Land of Revelation Knowledge. We have named it this because, in going deeper into the Word of God, we will be traveling to places where priceless revelations of who God is, who we are, and the parts we are to play in His wonderful Love Story of Redemption will be made known to us.

In order to aid us in our understanding of this Story, it is being presented to us in the form of a Play consisting of Two Acts, each containing Six Scenes separated by one long Intermission. The Scenes and Intermission are being acted out on a series of Fourteen Stages and, at present, we are at Stage #1 where Vignette #5 of Act 1, Scene 1 is about to get underway.

In Scene 1, we have been introduced to God in His role as “The Celestial Suitor”—the Supreme Being whose ultimate goal is to have a spiritual family to love for all eternity. Since a family is naturally made up of a Husband and a Wife who have children, in this scene (covering the first eleven chapters of Genesis), God will create the world of nations, from which He will choose one—Israel—to be His Wife. It will be through His relationship with her that His Son will eventually be born into the world; and it will be through His Son that God will one day obtain the family He has always desired. Thus far, this is what God has done toward the realization of His goal:

In Vignette #1/ Genesis 1…He created the earth as the ideal home for His future family.

In Vignette #2/ Genesis 2…He created Man and Woman to bear His image on the earth, and to multiply and fill the earth with that image of His glory. He also made them overseers of His creation and charged them not to do one thing—eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In Vignette #3/ Genesis 3…He allowed a malevolent spirit named Satan, who appeared in the form of a serpent, to test the first couple’s obedience to His will. In the serpent’s temptation, Adam and Even were presented with the only two real options in life—either to do things God’s way and live, or to go their own way and die. When Adam and Eve chose the latter, sin, disease, and death passed upon them and all of their descendants. But when their sin resulted in their separation from God, He graciously showed them that their relationship with Him could be restored if their sins were atoned for through the blood sacrifice of an innocent substitute.

In Vignette #4/ Genesis 4…When the time came for Adam and Eve’s sons to offer their own sacrifices to God, on one such occasion, Abel’s offering was accepted while Cain’s was rejected. This made Cain so angry that he murdered his brother. When he refused to acknowledge and repent of this sin, God’s judgment led to his separation from God and a life of wandering. Later God provided Adam and Eve with another son, Seth, and with his arrival, we see a division of humanity into two distinct groups taking place—with Cain heading up the line of the wicked, and Seth at the head of those in the righteous line. At the end of this Vignette/Chapter, and in keeping with the scriptural practice of identifying the members of the rejected line first, we were given the genealogy of Cain—an incorrigible line that would ultimately succeed in corrupting society, and one which would eventually die in the Flood.

This brings us up to date in our Story and to Vignette #5, which covers the material contained in Chapter 5 of Genesis. While there are many who would consider this to be one of the most boring chapters in the Bible, I hope to show you that there are some important things to be gleaned from its rather repetitious presentation of information.

Now Playing…

With that being said, the time has come for the next installment of our Story to begin—and for the lights in the theatre to dim and the curtains to part once more. As they do, we find ourselves looking upon a Stage that is pretty much in the same state as when Vignette #4 ended. The major difference is that Cain and his line of descendants have moved from the front of the stage to the back, forming a line across the rear of the stage. The spotlight, which was previously on our right, has moved to our left and is once more focusing on Adam, as we hear our off-stage Narrator begin his recitation with…

This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them and blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image and named him Seth.

Seth

Adam

At this, we see Seth walk across the stage and stand next to his father. As the spotlight moves to highlight him, we hear the Narrator speak again, saying…

The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.

This scene is then repeated five more times, with only the names and years being changed, and with our Narrator continuing in his very formulaic fashion…

When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.

Kenan

Enosh

When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 days, and he died.

When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.

Mahalalel

Jared

When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.

When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.

Up to this point, everything has been going along monotonously well, but it is here—at the seventh generation from Adam—that we find something unusual taking place. Our Narrator explains this, using the most economical description possible, by saying…

Enoch

Methuselah

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

In other words, unlike his predecessors, Enoch did not die but was translated out of his earthly realm of existence and into the heavenly realm of existence with God! Without offering us any more to go on, and just as though this revelation was of little or no consequence, our Narrator once again resumes his narration with…

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

But just as he seems to be falling back into the same droning pattern of…

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah…

…and the spotlight comes to rest on Lamech, we are surprised to hear a sudden outburst from him, as he makes this prophetic statement about his son…

Lamech

Noah

…Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands…

…after which, our Narrator continues, as before, with…

Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.

After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The Righteous Lineup

With the line of the righteous stretched out on the stage before us, Genesis 5 or Vignette #5 abruptly comes to a halt. The curtains close and the lights in the theatre come up again–and we are provided with yet another pause in our production for the purpose of critiquing what has just taken place. Although it is tempting for us to think that there is nothing worth critiquing in this very abbreviated episode, there is quite a lot that has been revealed here that will need to be discussed. So, let’s take a moment and change out of our Theatre Patrons’ Hats and into our Theatre Critics’ Hats once more, and get ourselves ready to analyze the People, the Patterns, and the Precedents being established in this seemingly uneventful passage of Scripture.

As Steve Green reminds us, let’s pray that when our lives are recorded in God’s lineup of the Righteous, may all who come behind us find us faithful…

Closing the Case on Cain and Abel

March 4, 2015 by Judy

Cain and Abel with Their Offerings

Before we can leave the story of Cain and Abel behind, there are still a few matters that we need to attend to; for, we have yet to identify…

The Life Lessons to be learned from their story;
The Contributions their story makes to the One Big Story being played out on the Heavenly Stage above us; and,
Any Revelations of God that their story holds for us.

The Life Lessons here are ones involving…

1. Choice

One of the first lessons to be learned from the story of Cain and Abel is that each person, at some point in his or her life, will have to choose whether to continue eating from and bearing the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or to step away from the that Tree of Death and head over to the Tree of Life. When that time comes, it will not matter who that person’s parents are or how godly they may be, every child born to those parents will have to decide for themselves if they will continue to pursue the Way of Works or if they will abandon that natural and fleshly way for the Way of Faith—a Faith that is founded on the Word of God and which provides the forgiveness of sins and salvation made possible only through the substitutionary and atoning work of Jesus Christ.

2. Cost

For those choosing the Way of Faith, the story of Cain and Abel also serves as an excellent reminder that their choices will come with a price tag attached. Just as Abel’s righteous deeds served to convict Cain of his own sins, the righteousness of those who come to salvation through faith in Christ will also offend and separate them from the wicked around them—sometimes the members of their own families—and may lead to their persecution and, at times, even to their deaths.

3. Consolation

Although we may recoil at the idea of an innocent person being senselessly slaughtered by a guilty one merely because the one in the wrong arrogantly refuses to admit his guilt, we can take comfort in the knowledge that no injustice will ever escape the notice or the judgment of God. Just as in the case of Cain and Abel, where Abel’s blood cries out to God from the ground, anytime the blood of a righteous person is poured out in the defense of his faith, it calls out continuously to the God who will see to it that the life represented by that blood will eventually be vindicated. From what we have learned so far about the principles of sowing and reaping, we can be certain that the seed sown by this, or any act of wickedness, will produce a harvest that is in keeping with the nature of the deed. On the other hand, the seed sown by the righteous will be sure to reap according to the promise of Jesus in John 12:24-25…

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

The Contributions here are all about Patterns…

1. Patterns of Generational Sin

In Vignette #4, the Fruit of the Fall, after God’s confrontation with Cain about the murder of his brother and Cain’s subsequent refusal to acknowledge or repent of his sin, we learned that…

…Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. [And] When he [Cain] built a city he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. (Gen. 4:17)

To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. (Gen. 4:18-22)

Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-seven fold. (Gen. 4:23-24)

The Pattern Began with Gain

From this account, we can see the beginnings of a Pattern for Generational Sin that will continue throughout the Story of the Bible; a pattern becoming more prevalent as more and more people choose to go the way of Cain, turning away from God and insisting on living life on their own terms. This pattern is laid out for us in the following illustration…

2. Patterns of Conflict

In addition to the Patterns of Generational Sin, here in the story of Cain and Abel Patterns of Conflict are also beginning to take shape. These patterns, naturally arising out of the opposing natures of these two men—natures derived from the two systems of faith which they represent—will result in the division of humanity into two groups, the Righteous and the Wicked.

Another Pattern Beginning with Cain

Just as God, on the first day of Creation, divided light from darkness and day from night, here in the lives of earth’s first siblings, we find the same kind of division taking place; a division which will continue to exist throughout the remainder of human history, and one which will provide the conflict needed to move the action of the story forward. We will learn more about this in our upcoming Vignettes but, for the time being, this illustration will help us understand these Patterns of Conflict and their sources a little better…

Revelations of God…

As for the Revelations of God in this story, we once again find Him presented as the gracious and loving God who, “…not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9),” seeks out the sinner, and confronts him with his sin for the purpose of bringing him to repentance and restoration. However, when these gracious gestures are rejected, we see God revealed as the Judge who must see to it that the righteous demands of the law are met and that any violators of that law are punished appropriately. Even in His judgment, the picture painted here of God is of One who remains merciful, even to the point of protecting the life of the unrepentant offender from revenge-seekers; and in His raising up Seth to take the place of righteous Abel, the One who remains faithful to His promise to Eve to provide her with a son through whom the Redeemer will one day come.

With humanity now divided into the two camps of the Righteous and the Wicked, and with Cain and Seth in place as their two heads, we are ready to move forward in our Story; and, to the presentation of our next Vignette, where we will learn how the actions and interactions of these two groups will result in the Judgment of the Flood.

If we could talk to Abel today, he would probably agree with the sentiments expressed in “All My Tears,” by Selah, with Kim Hill…

The Fruit of the Fall

December 20, 2014 by Judy

Exiled from the Garden

When we last saw Adam and Eve—at the end of Vignette #3 of God’s One Big Story—they were being evicted from their Garden home for violating God’s one and only condition in their lease agreement, which was to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree was one of two special ones located in the middle of the Garden and by partaking of its fruit, they became guilty of disobeying God, sinners with a firsthand knowledge of Evil. This meant that they could no longer stay in the Garden where they would have continued access to the other tree at the Garden’s center, the Tree of Life—for if they had eaten of the Tree of Life then, they would have lived forever in their fallen states and would never have known the joy of becoming a redeemed Child of God.

Cain and Abel in Happier Days

The curtains here at Stage #1 are preparing to open again on what will be Vignette #4 of our Story and, as they do, we hear the voice of our off-stage Narrator bringing us up to date on what has happened since that sad and fateful moment when Adam and Eve were thrust out of their first home—the place where they had only known the Good that life had to offer. He lets us know that a lot has changed, and that a considerable amount of time has gone by, when he tells us that…

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.’ And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. (Gen. 4:1-2)

Cain and Abel at Work

It is at this point that the Stage comes fully into view and while Adam and Eve are nowhere to be found, we see before us two young men in the foreground–the one on our left being Cain, tending to his crops, and the one on our right being Abel, tending to his flocks. Behind them is a field and beyond that, at the back of the Stage, there is the Angel with the flaming Sword who is still guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden. Close to this entrance, there is also a pile of stones stacked neatly in the form of an altar—which from the looks of it has been used a number of times in the past.

As we continue looking at the Stage, our characters continue going about their work, even as the lights are dimmed and then relit six times—simulating the passage of six days and nights. At the end of what would be the sixth day, their day-in, day-out routine is interrupted when Cain gathers up a portion of his crops, Abel selects what appears to be the very best—the firstborn—lamb of his flock, and they both head toward the altar at the back of the Stage—the place where they plan to meet with and to worship God, as they offer up to Him their sacrifices.

Cain and Abel at Worship

When they arrive there, the first thing they do is check to make sure the stones of the altar are clean and that none of them are loose; then, after going out and gathering up sticks, they proceed to light the fire for the altar. Once it is burning, Cain wastes no time in putting his offering on the altar—an offering which is very quickly consumed by the flames and one leaving behind no particularly fragrant odor to enjoy. Abel’s offering, on the other hand, takes a good deal longer to prepare. First, he inspects the lamb to make sure that it is unblemished in every way. Next, he kills the lamb and cuts its body into pieces, draining the blood from it as he does. Finally, he places the pieces on the altar—being sure to include the choicest pieces of fat—and then pours the blood out on the ground at the base of the altar. Now, completely covered with the lamb’s blood, he stands back, watching as the flames consume his offering and as its sweet-smelling aroma wafts its way to heaven.

Almost immediately, the Lord lets the brothers know that the sacrifice that Abel made has been found to be acceptable, while the offering made to Him by Cain has been rejected. When this happens, Cain becomes so obviously angry that it prompts God to question him in the following manner…

God: Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. (Gen. 4:6-7)

Cain and Abel at War

Sadly, it appears that Cain has taken no heed of God’s warning for, as he and Abel are returning from the altar, he begins arguing with his brother. Although we cannot hear what is being said, we can see that the argument is escalating very quickly—so much so that, by the time they reach the field, Cain has picked up a rock and has begun hitting Abel in the head with it. After a couple of well-placed blows, Abel’s lifeless body collapses on the ground. Upon seeing his brother lying there motionless, Cain, seemingly in a state of panic, rushes back to the front of the Stage. If he had hoped that in distancing himself from the scene of the crime, he would be able to claim his innocence, he was very quickly and sadly mistaken; no sooner than he had arrived, he found that God was there to meet him for the following confrontation:

God: Where is Abel your brother?

Cain: I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?

God: What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.

Cain: My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from you face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.

God: Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.

At that, we see God placing a mark of some kind on Cain’s forehead—a mark designed to keep any avenger of his brother’s blood (possibly one of their other brothers) at bay. Once that is done, we watch as Cain calls his wife, gathers up his belongings, and heads off into the distance—to a land east of Eden called Nod. As he leaves, and as the lights dim on him and his wife, our Narrator offers us some insights into what Cain’s future holds, as he tells us that…

Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. [And] When he [Cain] built a city he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. (Gen. 4:17)

Although we are not told so, we are left to imagine that in his building of a city, Cain was trying to provide himself with a fortification where he would be safe from anyone seeking vengeance upon him. We are also not told how he would be making a living, given that his former occupation was no longer a viable option for him. But we can wager a guess that, as a result of lives lived apart from God, the end that he and his descendants would eventually come to would not be a good one. We are given an indication of this as several men and a few women line up on the Stage before us—and, as our Narrator announces that…

To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

As our Narrator announces the name of each of Cain’s descendants, a spotlight shines on each one briefly, before moving on to the man in the next generation. However, when the light shines on the last man, Lamech, we are surprised by his sudden and arrogant outburst to his wives…

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-seven fold. (Gen. 4:23-24)

If Vignette #4 were to end here, it would be a very sad ending indeed. But, we are given renewed hope when our Narrator once again interjects…

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, ‘God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.’ To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. [And] At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. (Gen. 4:25-26)

Praise God, all is not lost!

Join the Gaithers in “There is Power in the Blood”…

His Truth, My Voice

The reflections of a reluctant prophet

Tag Archives: Cain

Spiritual Warfare: Knowing the Enemy

Searching for Truth in the First Book of Begats

Vignette #5: Our Lineup to the Flood

Closing the Case on Cain and Abel

The Fruit of the Fall