satan and God In Conflict (subtitle)
Subjects in the two kingdoms: From the moment satan set up a kingdom of his own he has been busy recruiting subjects and mobilizing his forces for warfare. Today he has a multitudinous satanic host in the aerial heavens, on earth and in the underworld.
Scripture speaks of "the devil and his angels." It tells us there are angels that sinned.
Matthew 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
Jude 6, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day."
As "prince of the power of the air" and "prince of demons" satan rules a vast host of spirit beings in the aerial heavens. The "demons" or "evil spirits" who are employed in satan's service are probably those who were under his rule when he was "the anointed cherub" and who followed him in his rebellion against God. The heavenlies swarm with these spiritual hosts of wickedness which are united in a most complete organization consisting of principalities and powers over which are intelligent world-rulers. The headquarters of this vast organization, satan's seat (Revelation 2:13) is above the earth and the sphere of activity of this satanic host is on the earth and in the atmosphere that envelops it.
Matthew 8:16, "And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick."
Ephesians 6:12, "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
satan is also ruler over a satanic order on earth. He is called "the prince of this world." The posterity of satan's seed is found not only among angels and demons but among men. The seed of the serpent can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. They are men and women who choose to live in self-will rather than in God's will, who refuse God sovereignty over their lives, who in pride and self-righteousness reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Cain is the first one mentioned as the seed of the serpent.
1 John 3:12, "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous."
The Lord Jesus recognized the serpent's brood in the self-loving, self-willed, Christ-hating, Christ-rejecting Pharisees of His day and did not hesitate to call them by their rightful names.
Matthew 23:33, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
On another occasion in speaking to those who rejected Him, He disclosed their spiritual ancestry, the devil, and said they were subjects in His service. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do."
At still another time Jesus called the unsaved among men "the children of the wicked one." He had told them the parable of the tares and the wheat and they asked for an explanation.
Matthew 13:38, "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one."
God has a multitudinous host in Heaven, in paradise and on earth who are His subjects. The seed of God can be traced from Genesis to Revelation and includes all those who from the beginning of human history have been rescued from satan's kingdom and removed into God's through faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Son. Abel was the first of the heroes of the faith.
Hebrews 11:4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh."
All down through the centuries men continued to offer those "more excellent sacrifices" which required the shedding of blood, thus expressing their need of and faith in the Saviour who was to come.
Then the Saviour came and made one sacrifice for sins through the shedding of His own blood. Since then through the preaching of the Gospel multitudes from out of all nations and peoples of the earth have renounced their citizenship in the kingdom of satan and have become subjects in the Kingdom of God.
Colossians 1:13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son."
Added to these vast multitudes of God's subjects on earth are the innumerable hosts of angels in Heaven whose delight is in unceasing worship of the Lamb that was slain.
Revelation 5:11, 12, "And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 25)
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