McIntyre Eternal Defeat of Satan

1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9910136-9-2
Verlag: Empowering Grace Ministries
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

Christ rose from the dead and was enthroned at His Father's right hand. He was given all authority in heaven and on earth. Why has the Church postponed His triumph to a coming age after He returns? Jesus defeated Satan and gave us the keys of dominion.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McIntyre, Joe

Leseproben

ONE

CREATED FOR DOMINION

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26–28

Humanity was created to reveal the image and likeness of God. We don’t know everything we would like to know about the world in which Adam and Eve were to bring this image, but we know there was a force that was opposed to God’s purpose. We are not given much clear information about the being we know as Satan, or the Satan, as the original has it. The Satan means “the adversary, one who resists.” This being and his many followers (see Luke 4:5–6) are clearly in opposition to God’s purpose for humankind. Humanity was created for dominion over all the earth, including apparently, Satan and his fellow rebels.

Think about this: Humanity was created by God to have dominion and reflect the image and likeness of God in the earth. God created humans knowing an adversary existed in the earth who would seek to undermine God’s purpose. God apparently intended that humankind, created in His image and likeness, would overcome this adversary and subdue him. Yet we know what happened. Both Adam and Eve listened to this being and disobeyed God, opening the door to an amazing amount of wickedness. But Father was undeterred from believing His image and likeness would overcome this adversary and his followers.

It is valuable to take note of the process of temptation used by this being. First, he introduced a doubt: “Has God said?” Then he implied that God was withholding knowledge from them to keep them from becoming god-like beings. They already were the image and likeness of God, as much like God as a created being could be! Yet Satan got them to doubt the love and goodness of God and then encouraged them to act in disobedience to God’s Word. He uses the same tactic on us today!

David, many years later, under a prophetic anointing, restated God’s original purpose in creating humanity.

What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. — Psalm 8:4–6

The NASB dares to translate these verses literally: “You have made him a little lower than God.” Here is the accurate translation for the Hebrew word Elohim, meaning “God.” Our Father intended humankind to rule in the earth over His creation. We were as much like God as a created being could be.

One of the keys to allowing the Father to paint the picture in our hearts of what He has done in the new creation is to get an accurate picture of what Adam was like before his fall into sin. He was as much like God as a created being could be. He was a God-like being.

FREE TO CHOOSE

For relationships to have meaning, they must be freely chosen. Love means nothing if it is coerced. Father gave humankind the ability to choose or reject His love. God’s great gift was the freedom of their wills to come into a loving relationship with the Father and eat of the Tree of Life. That same freedom allowed them to make the wrong choice as well. This freedom was the price necessary for loving relationship and fellowship.

Adam and Eve were created as reflections of the uncreated One. They were to perfectly express Father’s image and likeness in the earth. They were given dominion over the earth for this very purpose. “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men” (Ps. 115:16 NASB). It was God’s purpose to express His rule through His race of image-bearers. Father—who is love-created humankind to destroy the dominion of selfishness-Satan’s image—through His new creation species. Adam and Eve and their descendants, before their disobedience, were to bring underfoot the accuser, who both seduced them and accused God of selfish motivation by keeping the knowledge of good and evil from them. Because, he suggested, God didn’t want them to be wise and become like God.

What a farce! They were already as much like God as a created being could be! If they had eaten of the Tree of Life they would have had access to heaven’s wisdom to deal with any challenge they might meet. Plus, they would have lived forever in union with the Lord and revealed His character in the earth.

THE ACCUSATION

Some believe the rebellion of this being we call Satan took place in the spirit realm before the creation of Adam. He was certainly in rebellion when he approached Eve in the form of a serpent and tempted her. What would Satan have used to tempt the other angels, assuming he was the author of their rebellion? I believe we have a clue in one of the oldest books of the Bible, the book of Job.

In the book of Job, we get a behind–the–scenes view of the universe. The sons of God (angelic beings) came before God, and Satan was among them. (We will discuss the why of that situation later.) Summed up, the adversary said if Job lost his blessings he would curse God (see Job 1:11). However, Job proved faithful and didn’t curse God. The basis of Satan’s accusation is that selfishness is a better way than love. Implied in this is the idea that self–preservation will always rule humankind, that self–interest always trumps obedience to God.

Job still blessed God, even though he mistakenly attributed the evil to God because he couldn’t read Job 1–2 and find out who the real problem was. You and I can read these chapters, so we can never be “another Job.” Even still, though depressed and deceived because he believed God brought these things upon him, Job still didn’t curse God. After his severe trial, God delivered him and gave him twice what he ever had. And, in the process, He corrected his ‘comforters” theology, remarking that they had “spoken wrongly about Me” (Job 42:7).

Adam was created to father a race in God’s image and likeness. The race was to have dominion over the earth and subdue anything contrary to God’s will. But doubt and unbelief opened the door to the accuser. Consider, for a moment, the nature of the temptation. Satan first questioned Eve about what God had said. “Has God said...?” he inquired. He questioned the authority of the Word of the Lord, and she first questioned and it and then doubted it. Then he, in his craftiness, made his insinuation against God: God doesn’t want you to be like Him, knowing good and evil. This fruit, he said, will make you wise. But note this: wise apart from God; you will become an independent self. Doubt was and is the door opener. She then accepted the lie as truth. When we embrace a lie and act on it, that is unbelief. Unbelief is not non–belief; it is believing and acting upon the lie. Jesus told some very religious men, “You are of your father the devil. He is a liar and the father of the Lie” (John 8:44 MLT).

It is important to note that this temptation is rooted in making it desirable to see ourselves as independent creatures. The Father’s purpose was that we see ourselves in the light of His love. In reality, we are utterly dependent on God for our very breath. Satan, himself, only exists because he is allowed to by God.

Imagine for a moment this heavenly scenario: Satan had successfully seduced a number of the angels into believing they could live well independently of God. They followed him in rebellion and with him opposed God and His purpose. So, with this accusation ringing in the universe, God created humanity in His image and likeness to subdue and overcome this rebel army. But something went horribly wrong. His new creation listened to this accuser and believed his suggestion that God was withholding the knowledge that would make them wise. God was selfishly not sharing with them valuable knowledge so that they too could be wise—or so Satan implied.

We know that nothing any created being could do could catch God by surprise. Actually, Father would use this tragedy to reveal His love and mercy in a profound way that would instruct even the angelic realm (see Eph. 3:19). God knew of this possibility before the foundation of the world and had a plan to have sons and daughters who would carry out His original intention. We were chosen in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world (see Eph. 1:4). We were included in the mystery hidden in God before the ages:

To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. — Ephesians 3:9–10

You are a part of God’s unfolding mystery, chosen in Him before the foundation of the earth to show forth God’s amazing wisdom in redeeming the very race...