The Redeemed and the Lamb

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Don Merritt

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

Revelation 14:1-5

As we begin chapter 14, I would like to point out that the chapter is divided into three parts beginning with verse 1, and then at verse 6 and verse 14. We can see the section breaks with “then I looked” (v. 1), “then I saw” (v. 6) and “I looked and…” (v. 14) clearly showing John’s structure.

This first part is easy to understand, in contrast with some of the passages we have just been through, since we already are familiar with the images being used. Of course, I will once again begin with the reminder that this is not a literal passage, and is intended to be understood figuratively.

We open with the Lamb (Jesus) standing on Mount Zion which was the location of the Temple, God’s dwelling place in the Old Testament. Often it was used in the figurative sense in places such as Psalm 125:1. In the New Testament, it is associated with heaven, as in Hebrews 12:22: “ But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly”. Thus, we open with Jesus in heaven.

 

Along with Jesus in heaven, we once again have the 144,000 who as we have already seen represent the redeemed. I’m sure that you will recall that even though 144,000 was the number that represents the redeemed in Christ, it is not literally limited to 144,000; the full and literal number of redeemed may well be in the billions.

This great multitude of the redeemed are singing a “new song”, and as we have already seen, this represents their status as the redeemed at the culmination of the Church at the time of Jesus’ return. The sound of their singing is extremely loud, like roaring waters of peals of thunder, yet it is sweet like harpists playing their harps. Only those who are redeemed in Christ can sing it, and boy, are they singing! There they are, before the throne with the living creatures and the elders, just as we saw earlier…

The only questionable part of this passage is found in verses 4 and 5. Again, remember this isn’t a literal passage, it is an apocalyptic image! These were virgins who were “not defiled” with women… what could this mean? It doesn’t mean that only virgins go to heaven, that’s for sure. Keep reading: They follow the Lamb wherever He goes, they are “blameless” and there is no “lie” found in their mouths. This is because they have had their sins taken away. Often we speak of atonement of sins or forgiveness, but to be honest, few Christians seem to fully comprehend what Jesus did for us: He took our sins away entirely. It isn’t just that He paid the price for our sins, they are gone; there remains no record of our having ever sinned at all. That is what John is showing us here: Accept God’s grace, and the entire record of our sins is gone.

These are the “firstfruits” of God, belonging only to God. You may recognize the Old Testament parallel that John is using here (cf. EX 23:19; Num. 18:12). In the Old Testament, the firstfruits were set aside for God, the rest belonged to the people; there was a separation between the firstfruits and everything else. This image is telling us that to be in Christ is to be His firstfruits, set apart for God (actually ‘purchased by God’ would be more accurate); everyone else is not of God. We can see this in such New Testament passages as James 1:18:

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

See also Matt. 9:37; 13:30; Luke 10:2; John 4:35; Rev. 14:14 ff.

Thus, chapter 14 begins with the redeemed in heaven singing a new song before the throne, but there are still two more parts to go!

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The Second Beast

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Don Merritt

Revelation 13:11-18

We pick up in verse 11 where another beast appears on the scene. Unlike the first beast, this one came up from the land, having only two horns “like a lamb” yet it “spoke like a dragon”. This is a curious thing to say; what does a dragon speak like? Remembering that the dragon, which is standing right there in the picture, is Satan, we know how a dragon speaks: Lies, lies and more lies! The first beast symbolized the persecuting power of the anti-Christian governments. It was very powerful… but it wasn’t at all subtle. This little monster, on the other hand, is subtlety itself, looking innocent like a lamb and speaking lies like the dragon.

This new beast worked on behalf of the first beast, which had all of the power of Satan at its disposal; they are not only allies, but partners in Satan’s crimes. It is quite fitting that this beast, who speaks for the dragon, came from the land, when you consider the New Testament paradox of earth and earthly things as opposed to heaven and heavenly things. We are told to set our minds on heavenly things, not earthly things; earthly sources are the sources for human wisdom that is in opposition to God (cf. James 3:15; Phil. 3:19). Reading through our text, we quickly see that this beast has the power to perform signs and wonders to deceive the people of the earth, but then why would that be a shock to anyone? He speaks like the dragon, which is one big deception!

We then discover that this beast has the power to cause not only economic discrimination against God’s people, but can also have them put to death for not “worshipping” the first beast. At this point, you might recall that we have seen in earlier visions the combination of persecuting governments and economic persecution being used against the church, both in John’s time and throughout this age. In this vision, we are seeing the same pattern, only from a different point of view, for here we are looking at the spiritual forces behind these earthly manifestations.

Finally, we come to the most controversial part of the vision, the sealing of people with the mark of the beast; 666. Before we go crazy, don’t forget that this is not a literal passage. If we forget this, we can end up with the most outrageous speculations and loose track completely of the message of the text. We might come up with a great horror movie, or a thrilling novel, but we’ll miss what God is trying to communicate through John.

There is nothing new in Scripture about the imagery of the forehead and the right hand. In the Old Testament Law, where were the commandments placed to remind the people of them?

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Deuteronomy 6:8

These locations symbolize all of your thoughts and all of your deeds. The seal being placed on all of a person’s thoughts and all of their deeds is the number of Man. Think about it: Human governments waging war against God. Human false religion, false philosophy and wisdom waging war against God and His people… in all of a person’s thoughts and deeds. This is no literal mark… it is so much more than that; it is Satan’s game plan to destroy God and His Church! If your life isn’t about opposing God, then they will kill you. This is the most dangerous and terrible thing in all of Scripture; it is the Devil’s fondest dream, not just some stupid tattoo.

With this in mind, think about the world around us; what do non-beliers say about why they have made their choice not to believe? They might say that the Bible doesn’t answer their deep questions, or they might say that science proves there is no God. Maybe they say they follow another way of life, or a different faith. Perhaps they are very wise in the ways of this world and have no room for God. Do you see the pattern? “Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” (James 3:15) They have been fooled by the second beast.

In the next chapter, we meet another of the dragon’s partners in crime… I can’t wait!

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The Beast!

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Don Merritt

Revelation 13:1-10

In these verses, John sees the first of two “beasts”. The first comes up from the sea at the dragon’s call and is given power by the dragon to persecute the followers of Jesus Christ. Notice that the dragon, who has been frustrated time and again has sought allies to do his bidding. Also, let’s remind ourselves once again that this is a vision, not to be taken literally, thus this terrific beast rising up from the sea is a symbol of something.

The sea represents nations and governments of this world, an image we find in Isaiah 17:12:

Woe to the many nations that rage—    

 they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar—     

they roar like the roaring of great waters!

This is further borne out in Rev. 17:15:

Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.

Thus, this monster emerges from the nations…

Back to our text, we see something quite telling in verse 2: “The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.” The beast emerging from the nations of this world gets its power and authority from the dragon which is Satan. John sees the monster’s horns rise up, there are ten horns, each covered with a crown. You might recall from earlier discussions that horns represent power, crowns represent authority, in this case illegitimate authority from Satan. There are seven heads, each of which has a blasphemy written on it. Remember that seven is the number of completeness. The beast has a body like a leopard, feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion (cf. Dan. 7:6; Hos. 13:7; Hab. 1:8; 2Sam. 17:8; Prov. 17:12; Hos. 13:8; Ps. 17:12; Hos. 5:14; 1Pet. 5:8). It utters great boasts and blasphemies against God, heaven and God’s people. The world is transfixed at the power of the beast, and all who are not followers of Christ “worship” him. The monster has been called up to make war on the Church.

The question we must ask is this: Does this beast represent one ruler or empire, or does it represent more than one?

We have two clues in our text: First, it exercises its authority for 42 months, and as we have already seen multiple times, 42 months is 3 ½ years, and that represents this entire age. Thus, we can easily see that the beast is exercising its Satan-given authority for this entire age. In John’s day, Rome was the greatest power on earth, and it was a persecutor of the Church. Yet in the many centuries that have come and gone since then, there has been one earthly power after another that has persecuted the church, and been feared by the world… and this trend is still under way; just pick up a newspaper….

The second clue comes in the animal imagery of the beast: leopard, bear, lion: Remind you of anything? In Daniel 7, the prophet saw four beasts three of which used the same or very similar animal imagery. These were four separate empires. In Revelation 13, we have a composite of all four in one, and when we consider that our beast operates for the entire present age, and that it is a composite of several empire images, we must conclude that we are dealing with a succession of anti-Christian empires that persecute the church and blaspheme God… and history certainly bears this out, for such governments have always been in play during this age, from John’s day to our own.

Our beast also has seven heads, and one of them appears to have a mortal wound that has been healed. As I mentioned above, seven is the number of completeness. John is telling us that this succession of persecuting governments has many guises and form, but they are all against God, they are all powered and inspired by Satan, and they are all terrible.

That injured but healed head is interesting, and much ink has been spilled about it as many differing opinions have been asserted over the centuries. As is my usual custom, I’m perfectly happy to let others do the speculating and debating, but I would suggest a thought: Over the centuries there have been many great world powers that could fit this bill, and as time went on, they faded away into history, while others have risen in their place. Isn’t it just possible than a new power could rise up from the ashes of an old one? You might recall that a few decades ago, Saddam Hussein declared that Iraq would be a new Babylonian empire. That didn’t come to pass, and nor did Fascist Italy become the new Roman empire as Mussolini claimed, but that doesn’t mean that such a thing couldn’t happen. The old Soviet Union was a mighty persecutor of the Church, and it is no longer with us. Yet Russia is on the rise today, and there are voices there calling for the old Soviet Union to be revived. I’m not predicting anything here of course, but it isn’t so far out of the realm of possibility.

OK, so what do we have in our text? We have a beast that symbolizes the anti-Christian governments of this age, those that persecute and try to destroy God’s Church. They may dazzle the world with their might and glory; many will “worship” them (“worship” means to adore or give adoration), but God’s people remain on the earth, because in spite of all of Satan’s power, God’s power is greater, and Satan’s ultimate downfall is only a matter of time… he is desperate and his warring is futility itself.

Next time, we’ll continue with the next beast; see you then!

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The Dragon’s Counterattack

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Don Merritt

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

Revelation 12:13-17

After being cast out of heaven, the Dragon is furious. He has utterly failed to destroy the woman’s “seed” the Christ, and now turns his rage against the woman, the people of God. God protects His Church, and she is taken off into the wilderness (remember, this is not intended to be taken literally).  The dragon spews forth a torrent from his mouth that is intended to destroy the woman (the Church). Let’s stop right there…

What comes out of the mouth of Satan?

Lies, falsehoods, distortions, frauds, and they take the form of false teaching, false religion, false philosophies, false science, false lifestyles, false political utopias… and the earth swallows all of it, leaving the Church safe. There will be much more to say about what the earth represents in the next chapter, so for this passage, I’ll simply point out that those who are not followers of Christ have no problem soaking up all of Satan’s lies.

Seeing that God will not permit His Church to be destroyed, the dragon changes his tactics. Note verse 17: God’s protection of His Church enrages the dragon, so he begins to target individual Christians.

Notice in verse 14 that God would take care of the woman for a time, times and half a time, which parallels verse 6 where the woman was in the wilderness to be taken care of for 1,260 days. As we have seen earlier, “time, times and half a time”, “1,260 days”, 3 ½ years”, “3 ½ days” and 1,000” years all symbolize this present age, the gospel or “Church” age. This tells us that this attack that failed, resulted in Satan targeting individual Christians for this entre age, and that should give each of us a sobering thought…

You, me and every Christians who reads this is in the cross hairs of the Enemy: Beware!

…And rejoice, for greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world!  As we will see next time, the dragon has allies, and we must also be aware of them; see you then!

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The Dragon is Defeated

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Don Merritt

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Revelation 12:7-9

In Revelation 12:1-6, we saw that the dragon, Satan, waited to destroy Jesus Christ at His birth, and failed. We saw that Satan and his friends tried to destroy Jesus during His earthly ministry, and failed. They finally thought they had defeated Him when He went to the cross, but they failed, and He ascended to heaven to rule the universe. This is where we pick up in verses 7 ff.

At the point that Jesus ascends to heaven, war breaks out; notice who is on the offensive: Michael and the angels of God attack Satan and his forces… and they are defeated and cast out of heaven. Of course, we must keep in mind that this is a figurative passage and not a literal one, but once again we can glean much from it. Michael is the leader of God’s angelic army (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9). They go on the offensive against Satan, who is the accuser of God’s people, and they do so at that precise time because Satan’s accusations against the people of God have been rendered impotent by the atoning work of Christ on the cross. What can Satan say about those of us who have accepted God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ? The whole argument is pointless, for our sins have been taken away entirely. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” (Rom. 8:33).

As always, the song tells the story for us:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
    who accuses them before our God day and night,
    has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
    by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.

Therefore rejoice, you heavens
    and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
    because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
    because he knows that his time is short.”

Revelation 12:10-12

The dragon has been defeated in heaven and cast down to earth where the battle will continue through this present age until Jesus returns for His final and total victory. The victory in heaven has three elements to it:

First, the victory of Christ over sin, and the defeat of the Satanic forces in heaven has made God’s rule manifest, and vindicated His name; there is great rejoicing in heaven (v. 10).

Second, God’s people who proclaim the good news of the victory of Christ on the cross, and persevere even to death bring great glory to God and vindicate His name on the earth (v. 11).

Third, Satan has now been defeated twice in rapid succession; he knows his time is short and he is none too happy about it as he takes his fight to the earth. Consequently, there is jubilation in heaven, for Satan’s fate is a foregone conclusion (v. 12).

We, God’s people here on earth, should rejoice as well, for even though we are living on the front lines of battle in this present evil age, we also know with surety that Satan is fighting his last ditch battle in utter futility, for God will win out no matter what Satan may do.

Next time, we will pick up with verse 13 and find out how Satan will make his last ditch effort here on earth…

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The Child and the Dragon

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Don Merritt

In the last post, we saw that the woman in Revelation 12:1-6 represents the people of God, the true Israel, the Church. In this post, we’ll take a brief look at the child and the dragon…

The child is the Christ, of this we can be certain; He “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” (Rev. 12:5 cf. Psalm 2:9). In citing this messianic passage from Psalm 2, John paints the child as the seed of the woman, which relates to Genesis 3:15 (cf. Gal. 4:4). If that were not enough, you might recall that these words were applied to Christ already, in Revelation 2:24. What I think is really interesting here is the connection between the son (seed) of this woman and Genesis 3:14-15…

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

Our current vision from Revelation 12-14 will see the fulfillment of this curse against the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and when we view Scripture in this context, we will see that the entire Old Testament tells of this story, the implications of which are nothing short of massive for the Body that is here symbolized by the woman. The woman, representing God’s people, is ready to give birth to this “seed” and before her is the great dragon, ready to destroy the child. If you apply this to the story of the birth of Jesus, can you see a parallel?

Remember King Herod’s reaction to the news of the birth of the Christ child in Bethlehem? Yes, that’s right… he sent his soldiers to murder all male children aged 2 and under… but an angel warned His parents, and the child was secreted away. Have you ever wondered why Jesus was assaulted by demon possessed people wherever he went, even though demon possession is almost never mentioned in the Old Testament? Yes, that’s right: the whole realm of darkness was trying to destroy Him, and in the fullness of time, they were able to have Him killed, only to rise from the grave and be taken to heaven.

This brings us to the dragon, which represents Satan (Rev. 20:2). His seven crowned heads represent his world dominion (cf. Eph. 2:2; 6:12). His crowns are not the crowns of victory that we have seen elsewhere in Revelation, these are the crowns of his stolen power that marks his illegitimacy. His horns represent his destructive power, and there he stands waiting to destroy the seed of the woman. With his tail, he sweeps a third of the stars of heaven down to the earth, obviously not a literal thing, but representing the fallen angels formerly of heaven. (See Job 38:7; 2Pet. 2:4; Jude 6).

Next time, we will pick up at verse 7; see you then!

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The View from Heaven

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Don Merritt

A New Vision; a New Section

As we move into chapter 12 of Revelation, we not only begin a new vision (Rev. 12-14) but we also begin the second main part of Revelation that continues through chapter 22. Unlike chapters 1-11, these chapters will show us the spiritual battle that is the cause of the travails of the “present evil age”. The main characters of this section are introduced in the fourth vision of Revelation (Rev. 12-14) and they are: the dragon, the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth, Babylon and those humans who bear the seal of the beast. As we will shortly see, these are the enemies of God, and the things that we witness and experience in this present evil age are but the manifestations of the spiritual warfare raging between the Christ and the dragon, and his allies. As we study these remaining chapters, I must remind you, dear reader that these are visions that John saw “in the Spirit”. Thus, we must resist the temptation to try to take them as literal prognostications of the future; they are entirely symbolic. Yet that isn’t to say that they aren’t important, far from it! These are some of the most significant passages in all of Scripture, and if we will allow ourselves to grasp what they are telling us, we will not only understand the Scriptures better, we will also have an enhanced understanding of the world around us.

The action begins in chapter 12:1-6…

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

John’s vantage point is now from a heavenly perspective; he is seeing the story of his (and our) time the way God sees it. It is particularly interesting that John is the one who reports of this vantage point, since he is also the one who wrote the Gospel that presents Jesus’ earthly ministry from a heavenly point of view, beginning not with His birth, but from the perspective of His eternal identity (John 1:1-4; 14).

The woman who is about to give birth is described in glorious terms; she is representative of God’s people, His true Israel. You might recall that in our recent study of Romans, we learned that there was always a remnant within Old Testament Israel who was faithful to God, even when most were not; these were those of the Jews who believed that their path to salvation lie in their faith, not their ability to keep the Law by their own strength. We also learned in that study that these were the ones likely to follow Jesus Christ as the church began after His resurrection from the dead, and who now, together with faithful Gentiles make up the Body of Christ, the Church. These are the ones symbolized by the woman… God’s true Israel, the Church. (cf. Is. 50:1; 54:1; Hos. 2:1; Eph. 5:32 in addition, see Is. 54; Amos 9:11; Matt. 21:33 ff.; Rom. 11:15-24; Gal. 3:9-16, 29; Eph. 2:11; 1Pet. 2:9; Rev. 4:4; 21:12-14). The next character is the child, who is the Christ, and the third character is the devil, Satan.

Next time, we will see what these characters are up to, and how this affects the world we live in today.

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“Programming Update”

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Don Merritt

I’ve been here in Illinois for a week now, and we still haven’t been able to move into our house yet. As of yesterday, we were informed that our “stuff” was still in the Washington area, and the moving people have no idea when they will get around to shipping it west. So, here we are… “homeless” in a hotel (while paying for 2 residences)… it’s getting a little bit old to be honest.

However, I will resume posting on Revelation today (11:30 am EDT). Please feel free to leave your comments, but also please understand if I am a little slow in moderating, since I have rather limited internet access, and the posts are scheduled, but I may not be able to be online very much.

Thank you all for your understanding and for the many well-wishes; you are all awesome, and I appreciate each and every one of you!

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Photo of the Week: August 12, 2015

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Don Merritt

Davenport, Iowa as seen from across the Mississippi River in Rock Island, Illinois.

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Christian Apocalyptic Theology in the New Testament: Conclusion

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Don Merritt

In the last post, I pointed out that the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb marked the beginning of the general resurrection of the dead, so you might well wonder when it will be resumed and completed. The general resurrection will take place when Jesus returns:

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Notice that Paul’s discussion on this topic is there so that 1) we will not be ignorant, and 2) to give each of us hope, a hope that can sustain us in our darkest hour.

From that moment forward, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”.

The fourth point in our continuing discussion of Christian Apocalyptic Theology and the resurrection of Christ is that the resurrection of Jesus signaled the beginning of the last age, which is the “present evil age” in which we live now. The early church knew that there was no age of the earth that would come after this, for when Jesus returned for His Bride, He would also preside over the final judgment, with what we have come to call “heaven” following. Earlier Jewish apocalyptic teaching held that the dead would be raised, marking the arrival of the Kingdom of God in its fullness, and so they were right about that; Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of the process. During this time, the Kingdom of God is present on the earth, but it shares the earth with the “kingdom” of Satan, and this provides the setting for spiritual conflict between the two, and this is why Revelation paints us the constant picture of battle between God and His forces, and Satan and his forces, and the conflict’s manifestation in the physical realm in which we currently live. Dear reader, if you are astute, you have already recognized what I am about to tell you, and this is an utterly profound reality of our lives: The “kingdom of Satan” has controlled the earth ever since the aftermath of the Fall, way back in the Garden, as we can see in the histories of the Old Testament. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb, and the subsequent pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, was the first move in God’s invasion of the satanic kingdom, and the Body of Christ is God’s invasion force. Our artillery is the prayers of the saints for God’s will to be done. The ground forces go on the attack against the forces of darkness by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ and the making of disciples. Our supply line is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the enemies are really not flash and blood. Victory for God’s invasion is assured. Here’s an illustration:

In 1939-1941, the powers of the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan) were invincible as they conquered nation after nation. In 1942, the tide began to turn in the direction of the Allies. In 1943-1945, the Allies swept to victory after victory, with the end result that the evil of the Axis powers was totally destroyed.

In the same way, Satan and his forces rolled over the entire earth from the Fall onward. When Jesus came and began His earthly ministry, the tide began to change, and with His resurrection came God’s invasion force, the Church. Just as in 1943, it hasn’t always been obvious that victory was inevitable, but in the end, with the return of Jesus Christ, the enemies of God are to be entirely obliterated from the face of the earth; this is the Revelation story.

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 13:11-14

 

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