On Monday we saw Satan tell Eve a half-truth. Eve ate the
fruit and offered it to Adam and he also ate. Their eyes were opened and they
saw they were naked. They were ashamed and sewed leaves for garments. God asked
what happened and they each tried to place the blame elsewhere. Now God will
have something to say to Satan.
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and
above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you
shall eat all the days of your life. 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.” Gen
3:14-15 (ESV)
In this first Messianic prophecy, God clearly tells Satan
that he is now the enemy. Remember that the “offspring” of the woman is Jesus!
Satan has been cursed since he was thrown from heaven.
The serpent played a role in one of the first events recorded
in the first book of the Bible. He will also play a role at the end of the age,
and the war he participates in is recorded in the last book of the Bible.
Now war
arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And
the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there
was no longer any place for them in heaven. 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. 10 And
I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and
the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the
accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and
night before our God. Rev
12:7-10 (ESV)
That passage makes me want to stop, bow down, and worship!
In Genesis, Satan is portrayed as a serpent. In Revelation,
he is called a serpent, a dragon, the great dragon, the deceiver, the accuser,
Satan… God wanted to make sure we knew who He was talking about! According to
this passage, until this war is fought Satan accuses us night and day before
God.
Thinking about your own life and rereading the two passages
today, can you see ways that Satan works? What does he accuse you of? Do you
think that his angels also accuse – you?
In what ways does Satan deceive?
·
Advertising that seems to promise happiness by
purchasing certain products;
·
“You can do that just once.”
·
“The Bible contains God’s word but it’s
not perfect because men wrote it.”
·
“No one will ever know.”
·
“You deserve it.”
·
“Go ahead and get saved, but wait awhile. You’ve
got all the time in the world.”
·
__________________. Send me a comment and tell
me what you’ve thought about.
In what ways does he accuse?
·
“You’ve done too much wrong for God to ever love
you.”
·
“You will never be good enough.”
·
“You aren’t loveable.”
·
_______________________
If you’re the list making type, take some time to write down
the lies you’ve heard from Satan. What does he say to you, personally,
that hinders your life and your walk with God? Take that list to Jesus and ask
Him to help you overcome the lies spread by Satan.
Predictably, Jesus had a teaching or two regarding Satan and
his way of working. We’ll read about that on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment