The One
Who Has The Power Of Death (Hebrews 2:14) How The Evil One Works Part One
(Sermon video here)
Introduction
Did you go
hungry at any time this week? Did you even miss a meal or two? Were you exposed
to a bloody and degrading pagan ritual including sex, animal or human
sacrifice, and other horrible activities? These might sound like strange
questions to be asked alongside of each other, but the answers point to an
important truth. We have had it very good here in Australia, and really in the whole
West for quite some time now. And we have certainly never suffered as badly as
Meghan and Harry.
Aussies are
more likely to be overfed than go hungry, by a wide margin… And the Medieval
Church did such an effective job of rooting out the pagan religions from the
Western Nations, that even in this time of great apostasy and degradation,
still the idolatrous worship and sacrifices before the gods of old have not
fully caught on again yet…in the open that is.
We spoke
last week about how evil has been defeated, and that it will be judged on the
final day. The Devil has been defeated, his angels have been defeated, and his
people, all who align themselves with him in rejecting Jesus, will be
thoroughly crushed in the final judgement. But I don’t want to swipe away the
presence of evil or downplay it. In fact, I am genuinely convinced that most
Western Christians are not really fully aware of the level of evil in this
world, even in our own nation, and just how dominant and all pervasive it is.
Paul said
this to the Corinthians – “…so that we would not be outwitted by Satan;
for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:11). Paul made
sure his people were aware of the Devil’s designs. The modern Church has
probably not done this very well. Likely because some of this teaching is
uncomfortable for those who have lived comfortable lives to face. Partially because
some of this information overlaps with stuff that conspiracy theorists like to
dabble in. And partially because this sort of teaching in majored on by the
kind of super-spiritual Christians that make most of us “normal” Christians
uncomfortable. But also because we are just way too trusting in the West.
We Aussies
are high trust, high functioning people. It is partially a product of our
prosperity, and partly a product of our history. We have created a society here
where everyone is given the benefit of the doubt. We like to think the best of
people. We Westerners even tend to come up with silly ideas like this: that people
are generally good, political leaders are generally decent, selfless, people
wanting to serve, and we have long thought that most of society thinks us Christians
are nice, but a little weird. But the Bible says people are corrupt, leaders
are corrupt and that the world is against God’s people. We are too trusting and
because of our prosperous and comfortable lifestyle, we tend to forget that the
Devil really does move around like a roaring line, looking for people to
devour. We forget that his servants are both spiritual and flesh and blood, and
we forget that he never stops seeking to destroy and diminish good in the
world. The fight against evil doesn’t end, until the end.
It is
correct to know he is beaten. It is foolish for us to not be aware of the
damage he can and does do, on his way down to the pit. The Bible tells us a lot
about both of these things, and this is what we are going to be speaking about over
the next few weeks. Launching off from Hebrews 2:14 what I want to do is a
complete theology on how the Devil works, and how his evil is manifested in
this world, with the Bible as our foundation and history as our aid. Someone
once stated “that the Devil has convinced the world of two lies, that he
does not exist, and that he is all powerful.” We don’t want to make either
mistake. He has a power of a sort, and it is set against the people of God in
various ways, let’s make ourselves fully aware of his schemes.
1. The One Who Has Power Over Death – Our writers says in Hebrews 2:14, “14
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise
partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has
the power of death, that is, the devil…” I am almost certain that most
Christians don’t think of Satan in these terms, as the one who has power over
death. We even like to say things like this: “trust in God and the Devil cannot
harm you…” But the Bible speaks differently.
1.1 Jesus said, “16 Behold, I am
sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and
innocent as doves…26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will
not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the
dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather
fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:16,
26-28).
1.1.1 Jesus told us that those who oppose
him, and his message, and therefore us, are like wolves and can kill the body. And
who do these opponents work for? Ultimately the Devil. In Matthew 10 here the Devil’s
servants who will persecute the Apostles are both Jewish and Gentile.
1.1.2 People like to say that all Jews are
the people of God, but this is not true. Those who believed are God’s people.
Those who opposed Jesus, Jesus told us were of the Devil. Why? Because all people
who oppose Jesus are of the Devil, no matter their genealogy or origins or race.
1.1.2.1 Whether you are descended from Jacob,
Esau, Japheth or Nimrod, if you reject Jesus you are on the devil’s team, and
if you trust in God through Jesus you are on the Lord’s team. There are only
two teams.
1.1.2.2 One of the Devil’s greatest con jobs
is convincing people there are more than two teams.
1.2 The Devil has sway over his people and
he also has great power over death. He appears to be limited in how he can
attack people. Most of the time he attacks through his lackeys on earth, people
who do the Devil’s will knowingly or not.
1.2.1 But there are times when he attacks
more directly. For example, the Devil was given authority to make Job sick, and
cause bad weather. But even most of his attacks on Job came through other
people.
1.2.2 The most important thing we learn
from Job is that the Devil cannot touch you, unless God allows it. And if God
is allowing it, it is to test us, or sift us as Jesus said to Peter. Luke 22:31-32
– “31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might
sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
1.3 So, what I want to do over the next couple
of weeks is answer how did a created being, powerful, but puny compared to God,
get the power over death, even in a limited way? And also look at how does the Devil
go about his work? We will answer that as best we can.
1.3.1 I want to qualify this right now, not
every aspect of the answers are given to us in scripture, so I don’t want to
overstate my case, but the Bible does give us heaps of insight. This is where
we launch into our theology of evil and the evil one.
2. Overruled By The Beast (Genesis 3) – Again like I do often,
we need to turn to Genesis 3. There are those who would say that Genesis 3 is
not to be taken as literal truth, or as revealed history. But virtually every
doctrine of the Bible is dependent on Genesis 1-3, and the doctrine of evil
especially. We read there – Genesis 3:1 - “Now the serpent was more
crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.”
We see here the serpent, the Devil, the dragon, being referred to as a crafty
beast of the field. Why is this significant?
2.1 Because mankind was supposed to rule
over beasts of the field – Genesis 1:26 – “26 Then God said, “Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over
all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
2.1.1 Adam was supposed to put the beast in
its place. This was his job in the hierarchy, and his wife’s role was to help
him do it.
2.2 In this case the Devil is working
through a dragon, which the word translated serpent here actually means, and
which Revelation 12:9 confirms for us – “9 And the great dragon was
thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the
deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels
were thrown down with him.” It is likely that some dinosaurs were very
crafty and dangerous opponents of mankind, hence why they have all been hunted
to virtual extinction. As grand as dinosaurs, or dragons were, they were still
beasts, even possessed by the Devil. But here instead of ruling over this
beast, Adam let his wife be deceived by it, and it defeated them both, taking
humanity’s place as supreme in the earth, under God.
2.3 What did the Devil do? He subverted humanity’s
authority, corrupted it with evil, and usurped their place. And there is now
war between humanity and the evil one – “I will put enmity between you
and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise
your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
2.3.1 This is the state of our world. This
is the base reality. Our world is a place where the Devil has taken control of
the world system, and he is at war with the offspring of the women (mankind)
perpetually, up to and including the Son of God, who will finally crush his
head, as prophesied in this passage.
2.3.2 I saw an article the other day,
written by a clueless Christian minister saying that some Christians don’t want
to be part of any “culture war”. But the foolishness of this position is we
don’t get a vote. The Devil is against this world, and we are supposed to be
against the Devil. He has his culture, and we have kingdom culture. They are by
nature at war. We can choose whether or not to fight but not whether or not to
be at war with evil, because it is at war with us, we have no choice.
2.4 So, we can start our theology of the Devil
and how he works with these two points: The Devil got power over death by
dominating mankind in the garden where he became the “god of this age”, and he
is at war with humanity, especially the righteous descendants of Eve. But there
is more we can learn from Genesis 3, if we want to.
3. He Likes To Attack Through Women In A
Unique Way (Genesis
3:1) – Now before I go any further I have to qualify what I am going to say
here. This is going to sound sexist compared to our modern perspectives on
gender equality, because our world has twisted gender standards. But we should
not base our standards on the world’s destructive standards, we should base
them on God’s and adjust accordingly. Also I must state clearly, this is not
saying that women are more sinful than men. The ancient Greeks taught that,
some other cultures believed that. I think that idea is ridiculous. Men and women
are both sinful in similar measure. Some men are worse, some women are worse,
for every Jezebel there is an Ahab. But we are all corrupted by sin, regardless
of gender. There are examples in the Bible of women representing wickedness,
and examples of men representing wickedness. The beast of revelation, the man
of lawlessness, and the woman who rides the beast are just two examples. But
here is the key point, if we subscribe to certain wicked teachings of this
world, i.e. feminism or egalitarianism, or even just being overly nice, this
can cause us to miss important aspects of how the evil one works, which empowers
him even more. He wants people to miss how he works and making it uncomfortable
or taboo to talk about aspects of how he works, empowers his ability to work.
So, this being said, let’s notice something, we are not supposed to notice:
3.1 What does verse 1 say, “3 Now
the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God
had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of
any tree in the garden’?” Moses, significantly, tells us that the Devil
is “more crafty”. He’s a smart sucker. He’s a crafty, intelligent, general.
3.1.1 Now don’t shoot me for asking this,
but where does a crafty general, or a crafty opponent attack? In the most
vulnerable place. The Devil saw Eve as more vulnerable, and so he launched his
attack there. And he successfully took down the man and the woman, through this
strategy.
3.1.2 This worked because…and no one will
be offended by this…this worked because man’s greatest weakness is woman. And
here was Adam standing before the most perfect and beautiful women ever, naked,
offering him a bit of forbidden fruit…more men have fallen before that, than
have stood.
3.1.2.1 For every Joseph there are a thousand
Adam’s, a thousand David’s, and a thousand Samson’s helpless before Delilah. This
no one objects to today, or really ever.
3.1.3 The first part, though, that the Devil
likes to attack through women is not allowed to be said. But I seem to have
been born without the gene which stops people from breaking silly cultural
norms. And this needs to be said, this is a key part of how he wreaks havoc in
the world.
3.2 In fact, this teaching is fundamental
to understanding the scriptures, and it frames the entire approach to gender
post-the-fall that God would have mankind take. To summarize it simply: every
man has a duty, since the fall, to protect the women in his life from the evil
one’s deception, in a way that Adam did not. And frankly men suck at this.
3.2.1 The weakness in Adam that caused him
to crumble before this amazing woman, is found in men to this day, and it is
devastating. It is precisely this dynamic that the Lord was referring to when
he said, “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall
rule over you” (Genesis 3:16).
3.2.2 The fall put men at odds with women,
and the Devil exploits that like a master manipulator.
3.3 We see over and over in the Bible how
the Devil likes to attack through certain women, for example Numbers 25:1-3 – “25
While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of
Moab. 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the
people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of
Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” Numbers 31
tells us that these Moabite women were encouraged to do this by Balaam the
false, weird prophet guy “Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the
people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of
Peor…” (Numbers 31:16).
3.3.1 Balaam, a wicked man, knew this
strategy would work, because as an agent of the Devil, he knew how to bring
down the Israelite men: licentious, idolatrous women.
3.3.2 It’s a strategy literally almost as
old as time itself.
3.4 Then there are the Queens and Queen
Mothers. If you read
Kings and Chronicles, you will see that they note that bad queens or queen
mothers had terrible idolatrous effects on the kings, of course the opposite is
true as well, good women had good effects for example Amaziah’s godly mother in
2 Chronicles 25:1-2 – “25 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
yet not with a whole heart.” The most famous of all the wicked queens
was Jezebel, but she was just one of many. The Devil did much damage to Israel through
women just like Jezebel, for example 1 Kings 14:21-22 – “21 Now Rehoboam
the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the
Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His
mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. 22 And Judah did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they
committed, more than all that their fathers had done.”
3.4.1 Why does it note that she was an
Ammonite? Because the Ammonites were one of the idolatrous Canaanite peoples of
the Promise Land. In other word’s this is the Moabite women issue all over
again.
3.4.2 Another example – “15 Now in
the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign
over Judah. 2 He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3 And he walked in all the sins that his
father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God,
as the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 15:1-3). The good thing is
that this woman’s other son deposed her, “9 In the twentieth year of
Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, 10 and he reigned
forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of
Abishalom. 11 And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his
father had done. 12 He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and
removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 13 He also removed Maacah his
mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for
Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron”
(1 Kings 15:9-13).
3.5 This is a consistent theme in
scripture, the Proverbs talk about it, the historical books note examples, the
prophets speak out against it. The Devil has since the beginning attacked
through women in a unique way. Of course, he does damage through men in other
ways. But this is a favourite strategy of his and it has a particular effect on
western men, because ours is the culture that invented chivalry, ours is the culture
that gave women unprecedented rights, ours is the culture where defence of
women is more important than anything else.
3.5.1 Hence ours is the culture where men
are most easily made afraid to speak out on this clear strategy of the Devil…to
do so risks being viewed as un-chivalrous.
3.5.2 But Paul based his theology of Church
leadership and teaching on this understanding of Genesis 3 – 1 Timothy 2:12-14
– “2 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a
man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14
and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a
transgressor.”
3.5.3 When people say Paul didn't allow
women to teach because the culture of the day didn't allow it, they are
ignorant, or liars, because that was not the culture of the day, this is from a
history of feminism, written by feminists:
3.5.3.1 "In Rome she had not only
secured remarkable personal and property rights, but she officiated as
priestess in the most holy offices of religion. Not only as Vestal Virgin did
she guard the Sacred Fire, upon whose preservation the welfare of Rome was held
to depend, but at the end of every consular period women officiated in private
worship and sacrifice to the Bono Dea, with mystic ceremonies which no man's presence
was suffered to profane…All Pagandom recognized a female priesthood, some
making their national safety to depend upon them, like Rome; sybils wrote the
Books of Fate, and oracles where women presided were consulted by many
nations."[i]
Paul didn't allow women to teach in Church, because it was pagan, and tracked
back to Eve receiving the “divine mysteries” from Lucifer and passing them to
the Adam.
3.5.4 Why did Paul base his view of church
leadership and authority on such a view of the woman being the one who was
deceived, while many churches and all of society pretty much ignore this?
Because Paul was not unaware of the Devil’s schemes. Our modern culture is
completely blind to it, most of the Church is blind to it, and indeed they try
to silence those who are not blind to it.
3.6 There is a reason that progressives
targeted women’s shows, books and magazines to gain support for their movement.
Just as men are weaker before sexual sin, women are weaker before sinful
spiritualities.
3.6.1 There is a weird view that women are
generally more spiritual than men. But this cannot be true. Both men and women
are created in the image of God, they both bear his stamp. Plus, remember in
the Bible physical work, physically labour, tilling the ground, working to
produce, is a spiritual act. Men are just geared to express their spirituality
differently.
3.6.2 But think about this, the fact that
to corrupt women the Devil inspired horoscopes in women’s mags, and stories
about gay men with an amazing sense of fashion, and to corrupt men he just put
women in men’s mags kind of proves the point doesn’t? Which is Paul’s point,
the Bible’s point and the traditional Christian view in the Church up until about
1850sh.
3.7 “3 Now the serpent was more crafty
than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the
woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The Devil is a crafty bugger, the
craftiest. And Genesis 3 tells us some important stuff about how he works. The
next thing we can add to our theology is that he likes to attack through women
in a unique way.
4. Our theology so far – Now men, before you go thinking I
have let you off lightly today, know this, I am not finished, I am just
starting to explore this theology of the evil one, and evil, and we will pick
it up again next week. All we have had time this morning to do, is look at a
handful of verses from Genesis 3, and explore three pillars of our theology of
evil:
4.1 The Devil dominates the world – and because of this usurped the power
over death.
4.2 He is at war with the descendants of
Eve, that is all
humanity, and especially the righteous.
4.3 He likes to attack through women in a
unique way, and it
is highly successful.
4.4 Now, as I said, we have just started
this theology and we will carry on with it next week, and likely the week after.
If you are in disagreement with this teaching come talk to me. If you are
offended by it, remember this: one of the Devil’s greatest modern strategies
has been to create a whole new morality, and make those who criticize that
morality the bad guy.
5. Application – Now even though I haven’t finished
this theology of the evil one yet, I want to give some application of what we
have learnt so far.
5.1 Firstly, we can’t avoid the culture wars. We
might like to we might want to live quiet and peaceful lives, but the Devil
doesn’t give us a choice. Eventually the culture will confront you, better we
engage, peacefully, now.
5.1.1 You engage in the culture war, when
you speak God’s truth publicly, love your neighbour radically, advocate for
policies that are in line with God’s kingdom, stop financially supporting TV
shows, companies, or sporting organizations that hate you.
5.1.2 Also support those Christians who
speak out publicly, pray for them, encourage them, even if you think they are a
bit radical. They are advocating for a society where your children will be read
to from the bible rather than story-time by drag queens.
5.2 Secondly, we can undermine the Devil’s
strategy by structuring our families and our church around God’s vision for men
and women, and rejecting the world’s vision. Because the church’s tradition on
godly male leadership geared towards sheltering and protecting women existed
for a reason, a good reason, it hindered the Devil’s strategies.
5.2.1 Feminism has harmed women more than
anyone else. You’ve heard me teach on this before. If you don’t believe that
this is true, then why are the women who are the most angry at men, the women
of Hollywood who spend most of their time around the most progressive and
liberal of men? Think about it.
5.2.2 Husbands our job is to protect our
wives from being in a situation where the Devil can whisper to her, without our
vocal opposition to his efforts. The job of a church eldership is the same.
These are just two ways, in the power of Jesus and strength of Christ, that we
can push back against the Devil’s schemes.
6. Conclusion – We will continue with this theology
of the evil one next week, especially looking at the Bible through the lens of
Hebrews 2:8 “putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now
in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his
control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”
We walk in the victory of Christ, no matter how much it looks like we don’t.
But part of living out this victory is know how the Devil works, so we don’t
fall for his traps. Let’s pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment