The Scripture reveals that there are rival programs of God and of Satan at the close of this age. It s important to understand that the name Satan means, literally, the resister. This indicates one major aspect of Satan's character and activity is that he deliberately and systematically resists and opposes every aspect of God's grace and mercy toward the human race. Satan has established a rival spiritual kingdom where he rules over fallen angels in the heavenly realm and demons on earth.
God's objectives and Satan's objectives
At the close of this age God has two major objectives on earth in relation to the Church:
1. To reap earth's last great harvest of souls. There is to be a great harvest at the close of this age because Jesus said so.
Jesus said, ".... the harvest is the end of the age ...." (Matt. 13:39, NKJV).
2. To prepare the Church as a Bride for Christ who is the Bridegroom (Eph. 4:25 - 27).
At the same time Satan also has his two specific objectives on earth:
1. Seek to gain complete political control. In order to do this he has to find a man that will be an instrument whom he can use, whom he can raise up to a position of unique and supreme political power, so that through this man he can accomplish his purposes. This man in Scripture is called the antichrist.
2. Satan's final objective, through this man, is to receive universal worship. This has been his objective since he fell. He wanted to be equal with God and to receive the worship that is due to God only (Isaiah 14:13, 14).
In relation to these two purposes of Satan, Christ has committed to his disciples (believers) two responsibilities - Firstly, to restrain Satan's purposes on earth, and secondly, to cast down Satan's kingdom from the heavenly realm.
The power of the believer to restrain Satan
I prefer to use the word "believer" to the word "Christian" because the word "Christian" is so often misused today (Please refer to my earlier message, "Definition of being a Christian"). Notice that all the promises of God are only for believers.
Our key verse comes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount:
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men" (Matt. 5:13).
There are two important things that salt does, both of them are extremely relevant to our function as believers today - Firstly, it gives flavor to the food which otherwise lack, and secondly, it has the ability to restrain the process of corruption.
To give flavor to the earth
Food which by itself alone is unappetizing becomes tasty and acceptable when seasoned with salt. As believers, our function as little grains of salt is to give flavor to the earth. The one who enjoys this flavor is God. Our presence makes the earth acceptable to God. Our presence commends the earth to God's mercy. Without us, there would be nothing to make the earth acceptable to God. But because we are here, God continues to deal with the earth in grace and mercy rather than in wrath and judgment. It is our presence that makes the difference. Salt is sprinkled just a grain at a time - a grain here and a grain there. But each little grain has its particular function and purpose to give flavor to that particular area where it is sprinkled. We are responsible for the situation in which we live; we are responsible for the atmosphere around us.
Let us illustrate this principle of believers as salt of the earth with Biblical examples:
1. God's dealing with Abraham concerning Sodom (Gen. 18)
Lot, Abraham's nephew, lived in Sodom and so Abraham had a very special reason for being concerned that God would not bring judgment upon Sodom while Lord and his family were still there. Abraham then decided to talk to God.
Abraham questioned God, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked" (Gen. 18:23)?
Abraham knew that it is altogether out of the question that a just God would ever do that - God's judgment for the wickedness of the wicked should ever touch the righteous.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and made righteous by Him, judgment for the wickedness of the wicked should not come near you; it should not touch you; it should not even bring fear over you. Abraham saw this and God saw it too and went along with it. And so Abraham reduced, stage by stage, the number of righteous person from 50 to just 10 - just 10 little grains of salt that would make Sodom acceptable to God, so that He would not deal with it with wrath and with judgment.
2. Paul's voyage to Rome (Acts 27)
Paul had been brought for trial in Jerusalem and then on his way, in a ship, to Rome where he would be judged by Caesar. The ship ran into a terrible storm for 14 days and nights and the people together with Paul had given up hope of being saved (V. 20). At that point in time, the angel of God came and spoke to Paul and assured him that there would be no loss of life among them.
Paul said to them, "For there stood by me this night an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.'" (Vs. 23, 24, emphasis added).
Notice the two good things Paul said about God - "I belong to Him and I serve Him". Every single person on the ship will be saved for Paul's sake. He had to be at Rome because that was God's program for him. Satan can hinder but he can never prevent the fulfillment of God's program. The presence of the true believer makes the difference. In the case of Paul, he was a grain of salt that changed the environment.
To restrain the process of corruption
In the days before refrigeration was made available, one main way of preserving things such as meat was to use salt. The process of corruption was already at work before the meat was salted. But the presence of salt restrains the forces of corruption to make the meat edible. This again is exactly what you and I are responsible to do. We are here to hold back the forces of corruption which is already at work in the world, until the purposes of God have been fulfilled. Then, corruption will come to its climax. This is very clearly stated in Scripture.
Paul said, "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ..." (2 Thess. 2:3, emphasis added).
The two titles given to the antichrist are "man of sin" and "son of perdition". Paul reminded Christians that the antichrist cannot be manifested before "the falling away" (Greek word is apostasy) comes to the Church - until Christians turn away from the true faith of Jesus Christ. As long as the believers retain the true faith, the antichrist can't be revealed. Why? Because the believers, as grains of salt, are holding back the final manifestation of total corruption or degradation.
Satan knows that if he is going to manifest this man, he has got to produce an apostasy within the Church. In other words, the salt of the Church has got to lose its saltiness; it has got to cease to fulfill its function. When the Church has lost its saltiness, the way is opened for the manifestation of this final evil satanic ruler.
Let us look at Matt. 5:13 again where Jesus said, when the salt loses its saltiness it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot of men. That is precisely what Jesus said about a believer who does not believe. Men become the instruments of God's judgment upon the saltless, apostate Church. The only hope to avoid this is the return to the faith by the believer.
Let us illustrate this principle of restraining process of corruption with Biblical examples:
1. In the days of Noah
Jesus said, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man; ..." (Luke 17:26).
The Scripture reveals the condition of the world in the days of Noah. There were two features - Satanic supernatural intervention in the spiritual realm and the breakdown of moral character of men in the natural realm. But God had a restraining force at work in Noah and his family. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Seven days before the flood actually began, God withdrew Noah and his family into the Ark (Genesis 7). The restraining force represented by Noah was withdrawn. In those seven days, iniquities, godlessness and lawlessness came to their climax and followed by the judgment of the Flood.
2. At the close of this age
It is going to be the same at the close of this age. God's representatives will be withdrawn, and for a short period of time, lawlessness will be allowed to come to its climax, But it cannot happen until God's people, the Church, have been withdrawn because the Church is the salt of the earth and it has the restraining power.
Let me put it in another way. The Holy Spirit as the third Person of the Godhead, came to earth on the day of Pentecost and formed a Body of Christ. When the Body is matured and complete, the Holy Spirit will return to heaven, taking the Body of Christ with Him. And the Body becomes the Bride of Christ.
This will happen according to what Paul said, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:7, 8, emphasis added).
I believe Paul referred to the Holy Spirit as a Person within the Church of Jesus Christ when he mentioned "He". The Holy Spirit and the Church need to be taken out of the way before God's judgment is poured out without restrain just as it was in the Flood. it will be altogether inconsistent with God's dignity that the final manifestation of Satan's power and authority should take place when the third Person of the Godhead is still personally resident here on earth.
The power of the believers to cast down Satan's kingdom
We can only discuss this section briefly, but when we come to the topics of Spiritual Warfare and Spiritual Weapons we shall deal with it in greater details.
Jesus has committed to His disciples (believers) the power and authority to cast down Satan's kingdom from the heavenly realm. It is part of God's program for His people. We must understand that God has made possible for us to have total victory. God would never commit His people, deliberately, within His will, to a conflict which they could not win. In fact, on the cross, Jesus had already defeated Satan on our behalf -He won the victory for us and defeated our enemy. It is now our responsibility to demonstrate and administer the victory of Jesus.
Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and evey high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:3 - 5, NKJV, emphasis added).
For the purpose of this message, just think of "strongholds" as roadblocks, and we are given the spiritual weapons to pull down these roadblocks.
We must understand that in our Christian walk we encounter many roadblocks. We must also understand the fact that Satan opposes some of the things that God leaves us to do and we should receive it as a compliment. If it wasn't pretty good Satan wouldn't bother to oppose it. Actually one sure way to find out the will of God is to notice what Satan opposes because he opposes the will of God.
An illustration of spiritual stronghold or roadblock may be seen in Daniel's prayer (Daniel 10). Daniel was mourning for 21 days, and then come the answer. It was Daniel's prayer that got the angel through with the answer to his prayer. When Daneil started to pray on earth, heaven started to move. But the angel couldn't get through, because of the roadblock, until Daniel prayed through. A lesson learned is that the initiative is with us and not with heaven.
Revelation 12:7 - 11 relates how Satan's is going to be thrown out of heaven and we are the instruments God uses to do this job.
"And they (believers) overcame him (Satan) bey the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Rev. 12:11).
Notice that the final culmination Satan's casting down from heaven is attributed to the believers on earth. This is our responsibility. Angels can't do it because they don't have any testimony, but we do! There is one final phase which is the destruction of Satan's forces on earth and that is left to Jesus. Jesus will come from heaven and he will personally deal with the antichrist. But the casting down of Satan and his angels from heaven is the believers' responsibility.
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