Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Satan’s Power To Be Broken

Isaiah 14:1-20

“For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.  And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.” (Isaiah 14:1-2)

When God destroys Babylon, he will again set the Jews in their own land.  In that day other peoples will flock to Israel and those who ruled them as captives and slaves will serve Israel instead.  About eight years after the Medo-Persian Empire  conquered Babylon, Cyrus gave the order for Jerusalem and Judah to be rebuilt as a territory of the Empire.  After the death of Alexander the Great, the Jews were tossed back and forth between the Seleucid or Eastern Empire and the Ptolemaic or Egyptian Empire until the Roman emperor, Octavian or Augustus had Cleopatra killed.  Under the Romans, Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.  They retained control of the land until the Collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire until about 565 AD.  Israel did not even exist as a separate country again until 1948.  Clearly, this part of the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.

It will only be fulfilled after the destruction of Babylon, at the end of the Tribulation period, when Christ sets up his millennial kingdom after defeating the world’s armies.  According to Revelation 20:4, those who were faithful to Christ during the Tribulation will serve as his administrators during that period.   “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

“And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!” (Isaiah 14:3-4)

Throughout history, the Jews have tried to be like other nations, instead of following God’s covenant, as is clear from their demand for a king in I Samuel 8:19-20.  “Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”  When they see the destruction of those they have tried to emulate and experience what God has promised them they will finally understand that all the pomp and power meant nothing.  They will look at the destruction of Babylon as an example of what happens when man depends on his own power. 
“The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.  He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.  The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.  Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.” (Isaiah 14:5-8)

When God breaks the power of all the wicked and the rulers of the earth, punishing all those who have abused their power or attempted to increase it, the entire world will be at peace.  There will be great rejoicing because there is no longer concern about protection from those who want to cut them down.  

“Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.  All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?  Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?”(Isaiah 14:9-17)

Humanity will finally realize that the driving force behind every one of those governments and empires they desired to copy were in fact driven by Satan in his efforts to overthrow God.   Ultimately, he will be cast into the lake of fire, along with everyone who has tried to help him rebel against God.  At that point they will realize that he is not a god, but just another created being like themselves.  His pride and power cannot protect him from the judgment of God, even though he terrified people, trying to destroy anyone who refused to go along with him. 
 
“All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.  But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.  Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.” (Isaiah 14:18-20)

The world ruler during the Tribulation, known as the Beast or Antichrist, and his chief religious supporter, the false prophet, will be cast straight into the Lake of fire according to Revelation 19:20.  “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” Because they have been willing to sacrifice even their own people to gain power, they will not get to have a rest or a trial.  They will not even buried.  The Judgment of the rest of the wicked will be postponed for a thousand years, giving them a break that Satan’s representatives will not get.  Revelation 20:5 tells us, ”But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished…”

At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be freed to give people a chance to choose between him and God.  Those who choose him will be killed, and Satan himself will be cast into the lake of fire where he will be joined shortly by those who chose not to believe in god and his son on earth after their trial according to Revelation 20:7-10.  “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” 


The old picture of Satan laughing as he pitches people into hell is total distortion.  His only concern is to use people to keep himself out of hell any way possible.  His only hope is that he can gather enough supporters that God will give in.  He doesn’t care how many of his supporters are killed in the process. 

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