Participants: Pastor Stephen Bohr
Series Code: CGC
Program Code: CGC000006
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01:12 Shall we bow our heads for prayer?
01:13 Our Father in Heaven, we thank You once again for the privilege 01:17 of being here to study the marvelous things from Your Word, 01:21 and specifically from the book of Genesis. 01:23 We ask for the guidance of Your Holy Spirit as we study about 01:29 the origin of evil, and how You will dispose of it eventually, 01:35 very, very soon. We thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayer 01:39 for we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. 01:42 I'd like to begin our study in the book of Genesis 1:31, 01:50 Genesis 1:31. This is a very well known verse. 01:55 It's speaking about the conclusion of creation, 01:57 and it makes a very important statement. 02:00 Genesis 1:31. This is at the end of the sixth day. 02:06 It says there: Then God saw every thing that he had made, 02:11 and, indeed, it was very good. 02:16 Notice every day God sees, that's it's good, 02:21 but on the sixth day we're told that God saw that every thing 02:27 that He had made was very good. 02:30 So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 02:34 Thus the Bible begins by telling us that God made every thing 02:41 good in this world. 02:43 But then we go to Genesis 3 and we discover that in the 02:49 garden of Eden a mysterious serpent shows up. 02:53 And this mysterious serpent is actually slandering God, 02:59 which seems to be a discordant note in the context of every 03:04 thing being created good, and created perfect. 03:08 Notice Genesis 3: 4, 5. 03:20 See, God had said, you're going to die if you eat from the tree. 03:23 The serpent says: 03:26 In other words, God is a liar. Verse 5: 03:43 Now in Genesis the serpent appears suddenly, speaking, 03:49 talking, and it makes you wonder where this serpent came from, 03:53 because God made Adam and Eve in His image. 03:56 He gave them the capacity to speak. 03:59 He gave them the capacity to communicate, 04:01 to make moral decisions, to hold on rational discussions. 04:05 Here we have a serpent holding a rational discussion 04:08 with the woman. The question is, where did this serpent 04:12 come from? Obviously, the serpent, as he's spoken of 04:16 here in Genesis 3, was not part of the creation of God. 04:20 I know that the snake itself was, but the serpent who was 04:24 using this animal obviously was not created during creation 04:29 week, because God made everything good. 04:32 Now where did he come from? 04:33 Go with me to the book of Revelation chapter 12. 04:37 Revelation chapter 12 speaks about the origin 04:42 of this slanderous serpent. 04:44 We're told there in Revelation 12:7 the following: 04:53 And war broke out in heaven. 04:56 Where did war break out? 04:58 It broke out in heaven. 05:00 This is important. 05:01 Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; 05:05 and the dragon and his angels fought, 05:08 but they did not prevail. 05:10 That is the devil and his angels did not prevail, 05:13 nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 05:24 Now notice the reference back to Genesis. 05:26 The Old King James version says: the ancient serpent. 05:29 So this is referring to the story in Genesis 3. 05:33 That ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan... 05:49 Now we know how the Devil got to planet Earth. 05:53 Scripture tells us that he was cast out of heaven, 05:57 and he ended up here on planet Earth. 06:01 Now I'm so thankful that God in His Holy Word has given us 06:06 some details about the origin of this being in heaven. 06:10 We know about his origin. 06:13 We know about his sin in heaven. 06:16 And we also know what his final end will be. 06:20 Let's study a few things about this being as he originally 06:27 existed in heaven. Go with me to the book of Ezekiel 28, 06:32 and I would like to read verses 13 and 15, Ezekiel 28:13, 15. 06:42 Speaking about this being, it says this: 07:10 Notice what we find in verse 15. 07:26 How was this being created according to Ezekiel 28? 07:31 He was created perfect in his ways until iniquity was found 07:39 in him. God did not create the Devil. 07:44 God created a glorious, perfect being who chose to become 07:51 the devil. Because if God created the devil, 07:55 God is a greater devil than the devil. 07:57 But scripture tells us that God created him perfect 08:03 in all of his ways. 08:05 He was beautiful. 08:06 Now the question is, who created this glorious being, 08:12 which according to Isaiah, his name was Lucifer, 08:16 the star of the morning. 08:18 Who created him? Well, go with me to Colossians 1:16, 17, 08:26 Colossians 1:16, 17. 08:29 We read this in our last lecture, but we want to read it 08:33 again, because it's very important to understand who 08:36 created this glorious being. 08:38 It says there in verse 16, speaking about Jesus: 09:11 Clearly these verses teach that Jesus was the Creator 09:16 of everything in the universe. 09:19 Not only things in heaven, but also things on earth, 09:24 which must mean that Jesus was the Creator of Lucifer. 09:30 Now let's go back once again to Ezekiel 28:12, Ezekiel 28:12. 09:41 Here we find another interesting detail about this glorious 09:45 being. It says there: 09:51 And, of course, the king of Tyre is an earthly being, 09:54 but behind the earthly being is this Lucifer. And so it says: 10:18 Is it clear to you that this being was originally perfect? 10:24 He was full of wisdom. 10:26 He was full of beauty. 10:29 And that there was no sin in him when he was created by God. 10:34 This is very, very clear in Ezekiel 28. 10:38 Now what position did this majestic individual occupy? 10:45 Well, go with me to Ezekiel 28: 14, Ezekiel 28:14. 10:54 We find a very important detail here that I want to underline. 10:58 Very, very important! 11:00 It says here, speaking about this being: 11:08 Wow, now we understand that this being was an angel. 11:14 And he wasn't any old type of angel, he was a covering cherub 11:22 according to this verse. 11:23 Now let's continue reading verse 14. 11:35 By the way, that's Mount Zion. 11:40 The fiery stones are stars. 11:41 They represent angels. 11:43 He walked up and down in the midst of the angels, 11:46 according to this. Now you'll notice here that he's called 11:50 the covering cherub. 11:52 Now what is that, a covering cherub? 11:55 Well, we have to go back to the book of Exodus to discover 11:58 what a covering cherub is. 12:00 Let's go to the book of Exodus 25:19, 20, Exodus 25:19, 20. 12:11 Here we find a description of the sanctuary that Moses was 12:16 commanded to build by God. 12:18 And I want you to notice when the ark of the covenant 12:23 was built, how it was supposed to be built. 12:26 It says there in verse 19: 12:36 That is of the ark of the covenant. 12:40 That's the plural. 12:55 And now notice the next word. 13:07 So you noticed that the cherubim, or the cherubs were on 13:12 either side of the ark of the covenant. 13:15 The top of the ark of the covenant was known as the 13:18 mercy seat, and that's where the glory of God was manifested, 13:21 which is known as the Shekinah. 13:23 In other words, the ark of the covenant, the cover, 13:26 the mercy seat, represents the throne of God, 13:29 which means that Lucifer was one of the individuals who were 13:34 closest to God, who was sitting on the throne, because he was 13:39 one of the covering cherubs on one of the sides of the ark 13:44 of the covenant. Now somebody might be thinking, well, 13:47 Pastor Bohr, are you saying that in heaven there was an 13:51 ark of the covenant originally? 13:54 Wasn't that just an earthly piece of furniture that God 13:58 told Moses to build? 14:00 The fact is folks, that the Bible tells us in Hebrews 8:5 14:06 that the earthly sanctuary was a copy of the heavenly sanctuary. 14:12 In other words, what God did was show Moses on the mountain 14:17 a scale model of the heavenly sanctuary, and He told Moses 14:21 to build the earthly sanctuary in harmony with the scale model 14:25 of the heavenly one which God showed him. 14:28 So this must mean that if there was an ark of the covenant 14:33 in the earthly sanctuary, and the earthly sanctuary is built 14:38 according to the scale model, which is a model of the heavenly 14:42 sanctuary, that must mean that the heavenly sanctuary must also 14:46 contain what? It must contain the ark of the covenant. 14:51 Now let's prove that from scripture. 14:53 Go with me to the book of Revelation 11:19, 14:58 Revelation 11:19. Here we are told of a moment when the 15:07 heavenly temple is opened, and I want you to notice what John 15:10 sees inside the heavenly temple, of which the earthly temple 15:14 is a shadow or a copy. It says there: 15:31 ...and there were lightenings, noises, thunderings, 15:34 an earthquake, and great hail. 15:37 Question, is there an ark of the covenant in the heavenly 15:40 sanctuary according to this verse? 15:43 Absolutely, because John saw the heavenly sanctuary open 15:48 and he saw in the temple the ark of the covenant. 15:53 So when you have these two cherubim in the earthly 15:58 sanctuary on either side of the ark of the covenant, 16:01 is that a reflection of two covering cherubs that are 16:06 originally, and also now, even though Lucifer isn't 16:09 one of them, does the heavenly sanctuary have an ark of the 16:13 covenant, and are there cherubim on either side? 16:16 Obviously, yes. Now there's something else that we need to 16:20 take a look at when we talk about the ark of the covenant. 16:23 Go with me to the book of Deuteronomy 10:2, 16:28 Deuteronomy 10:2. 16:32 Here we find a description of the ark of the covenant. 16:35 And we're going to find that inside the ark of the covenant 16:38 was something very, very important, which all of us have 16:42 heard of. Actually, let's begin by reading verse 1. 16:45 It says: At that time the Lord said to me, Hew for yourself two 16:51 tables of stone like the first,... 16:54 Because Moses had broken the first. 16:56 ...and come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself 17:00 an ark of wood. 17:09 And now notice this: 17:15 What was Moses supposed to put in the ark? 17:19 He was supposed to put the tables of stone with the 17:22 ten commandments inside the ark of the covenant. 17:26 Now here's my question. 17:28 If the earthly sanctuary is a reflection of the heavenly 17:32 sanctuary, and the heavenly sanctuary has an ark of the 17:36 covenant, and the earthly sanctuary has an ark of the 17:39 covenant, and the earthly sanctuary has the 17:41 ten commandments within it, what must be within 17:45 the ark of the covenant in the heavenly sanctuary? 17:48 You must also have the ten commandments, 17:51 because if the earthly sanctuary is a reflection of the heavenly, 17:55 and the earthly sanctuary had the ten commandments inside, 17:59 it must mean that in heaven the ark of the covenant must also 18:03 contain what? It also must contain the ten commandments. 18:06 And by the way, the reason why the ten commandments are inside 18:10 the ark, the mercy seat is above, is because God is trying 18:13 to teach that the ten commandments are the foundation 18:17 of God's government. 18:19 They are the foundation of God's throne, just like the laws of 18:23 the United States are the foundation of our government. 18:26 In other words, the mercy seat is the throne of God, 18:29 the ten commandments underneath, 18:31 inside the ark of the covenant represent the fact that the 18:34 ten commandments are the foundation of God's throne, 18:38 the foundation of His government. 18:40 Now we need to take a look at something that happened 18:45 with this being, Lucifer. 18:49 Go with me to Ezekiel 28, and let's read verse 16, 18:53 Ezekiel 28:16. Something happened with this being. 18:59 It says there: 19:04 We'll come back to what means later. 19:17 You what? sinned! 19:30 Why did God cast this being out of heaven? 19:33 Because he what? Because he sinned. 19:37 The question is, what is sin? 19:40 Go with me to 1 John 3. 19:43 The Bible has a very clear definition. 19:45 1 John 3 and we will read, first of all verse 8, 1 John 3:8. 19:53 Here we are told, and the reason why we connect this verse 19:59 with Ezekiel 28 is because it's speaking about the same being. 20:05 Now notice verse 8. It says: 20:15 From Mount Sinai on. 20:20 What does the text say? It says: 20:33 So Jesus came to destroy sin, right, correct? 20:37 When did Satan sin? 20:40 He sinned from the beginning. 20:43 Where? In heaven. 20:45 Now what is sin? Go with me to verse 4. 21:00 I like the way the King James Version translates it. 21:03 It says sin is the transgression of the law. 21:08 In other words, sin is breaking God's holy law, 21:13 according to 1 John 3. 21:16 And the devil sinned from the beginning. 21:18 So let me ask you, did Satan, did Lucifer break 21:23 God's holy law? He must have! 21:26 And where was that law? 21:27 That law was in the ark of the covenant. 21:31 In fact we just noticed that the angels, you know they were on 21:35 either side of the ark, and they were looking down in reverence 21:39 towards the place where the glory of God was manifested. 21:42 Towards God's holy law. 21:44 In other words, this being came up with the preposterous idea 21:49 of breaking the very law of God, which was found 21:54 in the ark of the covenant. 21:56 And thus he sinned, and for this reason the Bible says that 22:02 God cast him out of heaven, and he came to this Earth. 22:07 Now we need to look at something that happened on this Earth. 22:11 Now that we know where this being originated, where he was. 22:16 He was created perfect. 22:17 By the way, he was created; he's not eternal. 22:20 He going to have an end, according to scripture, 22:22 because he was created by God. 22:24 Everything that God creates He can destroy if He wishes. 22:28 Now let's notice what happened when this being came 22:31 to this Earth. Go with me to Genesis 2:16, 17, 22:36 Genesis 2:16, 17. 22:40 Here we find a commandment given by God to Adam and Eve, 22:45 and it says there: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 22:51 Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. 22:56 I like the fact that God gives a positive command first. 22:59 He says, You can eat of every tree of the garden. 23:01 Verse 17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 23:07 you shall not eat: for in the day that you eat of it 23:13 you shall surely die. 23:15 One command that God gave Adam and Eve. 23:18 Now listen to what I'm going to say. 23:20 In this one command were actually contained all of 23:24 the ten commandments. 23:25 You say, now how is that? 23:27 Well, let me take a look at some of them. 23:30 You know, I've gone through all of them, but I'm going to go 23:32 just through some of them, and I'm going to ask you 23:34 if when Adam and Eve ate from the tree, 23:37 they actually broke that commandment. 23:39 The first commandment says thou shalt have no other gods 23:42 before me. Did Adam and Eve break that commandment? 23:45 What did the serpent say to Eve? 23:48 You shall be like God. 23:52 So did she break that commandment? 23:54 Did Adam? Absolutely! 23:56 Let's take the third commandment. 23:59 What does the third commandment say? 24:02 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 24:06 You say, well, Eve didn't break that one. 24:08 She certainly did. Do you know in fact that she attributed 24:12 to God words that God had not spoken, bringing dishonor upon 24:17 the name of God, because she told the serpent, 24:20 God has told us that we should not eat of the tree, 24:24 or even touch it. The fact is God didn't tell them 24:28 that they couldn't touch it. 24:29 God told them that they couldn't eat, so she's bringing dishonor 24:34 to the name of God. 24:35 What about the commandment that says, 24:37 Honor your father and your mother? 24:39 Does that include honoring our Heavenly Father? Yes. 24:43 Did they break that one? Yes. 24:45 How about the commandment, Thou shalt not kill? 24:47 Did they break that one? 24:49 What came into the world as a result of what they did? 24:51 Death came into the world. 24:53 What about the commandment that says, 24:55 Thou shalt not commit adultery? 24:56 Spiritually, did they break that commandment? 24:59 They most certainly did, because their only love relationship was 25:03 to be between them and God. 25:05 Marriage is used as a symbol of the relationship between 25:08 God and His people, but when Eve listened to the serpent, 25:13 she, so to speak, spiritually adopted a different lover 25:17 than God. There's a commandment that says, Thou shalt not steal. 25:21 Did Eve steal? Yes, she took the fruit that did not belong 25:26 to her. There a commandment that says, Thou shalt not covet. 25:30 Did Eve covet? It says so in Genesis 3. 25:34 And so contained in this one command, in principle, were all 25:39 of the ten commandments. 25:40 Now the question is, what was the serpent trying 25:44 to get Adam and Eve to do? 25:46 Let's go to Genesis 3:4, 5, Genesis 3:4, 5. 26:00 In other words, God is lying. 26:11 We'll study this a little bit later on. 26:20 Do you know what the serpent is really telling the woman? 26:23 He's saying, listen you think that God has to define 26:26 what is good and what's evil? 26:28 You think that you just have to listen to God? 26:31 That it's okay to eat from all of the trees, but you can't eat 26:34 from this one because you're going to die? 26:35 He says, listen, you don't have to have God define what 26:38 is good and what is evil. 26:40 You can be God, and you can define that yourself. 26:45 You can know what is good and evil without God telling you 26:50 what is good and evil. 26:52 Are you understanding what I am saying? 26:53 What is the serpent trying to get Eve to do? 26:57 He is trying to get her to disobey God's commandment. 27:04 He is trying to get Eve to disobey God's law. 27:08 Is that exactly what happened to him in heaven? 27:12 Did he sin? Did he transgress God's law? 27:17 He most certainly did. 27:18 So now he comes to Earth and he says, I'm going to do 27:21 the same thing with the human race. 27:24 I'm going to get them to break God's commandment, God's law. 27:27 I'm going to get them to depend upon themselves, and in that way 27:32 they will have the same experience that I have. 27:37 They will be mine! They will be my slaves. 27:40 So what happened to him in heaven 27:42 is now happening on Earth as well. 27:47 By the way, the law is much deeper than what most people 27:55 realize. Let's go to the other passage that speaks about 28:01 the rebellion of this being, Lucifer, 28:04 and look at a deeper dimension of sin. 28:06 You see, sin isn't only breaking a code. 28:08 You know, some people look at the ten commandments just as a 28:12 bunch of rules written on tables of stone. 28:14 They say, okay, I'm not supposed to steal. 28:17 I'm not supposed to commit adultery. 28:19 I'm not supposed to kill. 28:20 I'm not supposed to bear false witness. 28:22 I'm not supposed to covet. 28:23 Okay, I'm going to try my best to obey the ten commandments, 28:26 and they can't, because in ourselves we can't, 28:34 because we have a sinful nature. 28:37 We'll be talking about that, by the way, in our next lecture. 28:40 What On Earth Is Happening is our next lecture. 28:42 We're going to be dealing with this issue of the observance 28:45 of God's Holy Law. Sin is deeper than breaking a code. 28:51 Sin is deeper than breaking a list of rules. 28:54 Now let's notice what the essence of sin is. 28:58 It is breaking the law, but there's something deeper than 29:02 just breaking the law. 29:03 Notice Isaiah 14:12-14. 29:07 Here it speaks about Lucifer and what happened to him. It says: 29:28 Now it's going to explain the reason why he was cast down. 29:32 And I'm going to underline one little word here. 30:02 I would say that Lucifer had an I problem. 30:05 And the I problem is called myopia. 30:10 He was near sighted. 30:12 He could only see himself. 30:15 In fact, do you know, that we're told, and we're not going 30:20 to read this now, but I'll just mention it. 30:22 We're told that Lucifer was created with four assets: 30:28 First of all he was created beautiful, with beauty. 30:35 Secondly, he was created full of wisdom; wise. 30:40 In the third place, he was created very rich. 30:45 You could find that in Ezekiel 28. 30:47 And in the fourth place, he was created to occupy a very 30:52 powerful position next to the throne of God. 30:55 And so Lucifer had beauty, wisdom, riches, and power. 31:02 But if you read Ezekiel 28, you'll discover that it says 31:07 that he was lifted up because of his beauty. 31:11 We're told that he corrupted his wisdom. 31:15 We are told that his heart was lifted up because of his riches. 31:19 And we are told in the passage that we just read that he said, 31:24 I will be like the Most High. 31:26 I'm not satisfied with being second fiddle. 31:30 I want to be first fiddle. 31:32 I want to be the main thing. 31:35 So really at the heart of breaking God's law is what? 31:42 self! That is the root of breaking God's holy law. 31:50 Now I'm going to mention some words, and I want you to give me 31:54 the antonym of these words. 31:56 Right: wrong. Wrong, good. 32:00 Good: evil. Come on, you just had supper. 32:05 You can do better than that! 32:06 White: black. Light: dark. 32:12 Love: hate. I knew you were going to say that. 32:20 The opposite of love is not hate. 32:23 The opposite of love is self. 32:29 Let's take a look at the ten commandments. 32:32 Go with me to Romans 13:8-10. 32:37 I always trick people with that one. 32:39 Don't feel bad. Romans 13:8-10. 32:43 I'll be you this is the second time I've tricked 32:45 some of you, too. 32:46 Romans 13:8-10. It says here, the Apostle Paul speaking: 32:53 Owe no one any thing, except to love one another: 33:01 for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 33:06 Did you catch that? 33:10 Loving others is to what? To fulfill the law. 33:14 Somebody says, well, which law? 33:16 Verse 9: For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, 33:20 You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear 33:25 false witness, You shall not covet; and if there is any other 33:30 commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 33:34 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 33:37 Love does no harm to a neighbor: therefore love is the 33:42 fulfillment of the law. 33:44 So Lucifer's attack was against God's love. 33:48 In attacking the law, he was attacking God's love. 33:55 Now what do I mean? 33:56 Can you really understand the ten commandments unless you 34:00 understand that the purpose of the ten commandments is to 34:03 protect relationships? 34:07 For example, honor your father and your mother. 34:12 Could you really keep that commandment 34:14 unless you had a father and a mother? Obviously not! 34:18 You shall not kill. 34:20 Could you keep that commandment if there wasn't someone to kill? 34:25 You shall not commit adultery. 34:28 Could you break that commandment if there wasn't someone else's 34:30 wife that you could commit adultery with? 34:33 You shall not steal. 34:35 Could you break that commandment if there wasn't someone 34:38 you could steal from? 34:41 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 34:43 Could you break that commandment unless you had a neighbor 34:45 to bear false witness against? 34:46 You shall not covet. 34:49 Could you covet if there wasn't something that belonged 34:52 to someone else that you could covet? 34:54 Obviously not. The purpose of the commandments is to protect 35:00 relationships. Let me ask you, the commandment 35:04 thou shall not commit adultery. 35:05 Does that protect human relationships? 35:07 Is it a good commandment? 35:09 How many of you believe that the commandment 35:10 thou shall not commit adultery is a good commandment? 35:12 Do you think that's a good commandment? 35:13 Don't think it was nailed to the cross, huh? 35:17 It's a good commandment. 35:18 How would you like to live in a world where everybody keeps 35:21 the ten commandments? 35:23 What kind of world would it be? 35:25 Ho ho, my lands! It would be wonderful! 35:28 You would have no death, no killing, everybody would respect 35:32 each other's wife. You could leave your doors open 35:35 day and night; no theft. 35:39 And, by the way, the first four commandments protect our 35:42 relationship with God; our loving relationship with God. 35:44 You see, if I love God, I'm not going to have other gods. 35:47 If I love God, I'm not going to worship a representation of God, 35:54 which lowers my image and view of Him. 35:58 If I love God, I'm going to respect His name. 36:02 If I love God I'm going to spend the time that He has set aside 36:07 for me to spend with Him, to enhance my 36:10 relationship with Him. 36:11 In other words, the purpose of the ten commandments is to 36:14 protect human relationships. 36:17 They define what love is. 36:20 So an attack on the ten commandments 36:23 is an attack on love. 36:24 Raise your hand if you're understanding what I'm saying. 36:27 To attack the commandments is to attack love. 36:30 And, by the way, when we break the ten commandments, 36:32 you break relationships. 36:33 When Adam and Eve sinned, they're hiding from God. 36:38 They've broken a relationship. 36:40 In fact Isaiah 59:2 says, Your iniquities have made separation 36:45 between Me and you. 36:46 And when Adam and Eve sinned, they broke their relationship. 36:50 Adam who, by the way, knew what he was doing when he sinned, 36:54 but he couldn't stand the idea of living without Eve. 36:57 His real sin was that he loved Eve more than he loved God. 37:06 He says to God, huh, this woman that You gave to be with me. 37:10 A little while before he's saying, oh, I can't stand 37:16 the idea of living without Eve, so I'm going to sin, too. 37:20 So now he's bickering with Eve, because when they broke God's 37:26 law, they broke their relationship, 37:29 their loving relationship, one with another. 37:34 Are you understanding the depths of sin? 37:36 And, by the way, sin, basically, is selfishness, 37:40 because selfishness is the opposite of love. 37:45 Do you believe that? 37:46 You know what? I have to do a lot of marriage counseling. 37:49 Do you know what the biggest problem is among couples? 37:55 Selfishness! He doesn't do what I want. 37:59 He doesn't go where I want to go. 38:02 He doesn't pay any attention to me. 38:04 He forgets my Anniversary. 38:06 And the same the other way around. 38:10 It's self! That's why we find in Isaiah 14 the word I 38:18 used six times by Lucifer; saying, I will be 38:23 like the Most High. 38:24 His attack was an attack on the love of God, 38:30 which was attacking the law of God. 38:34 But the law cannot be isolated from human relationships. 38:39 So whoever today tells you that the law was nailed to the cross; 38:42 that Christians don't have to keep the law; 38:45 what they're doing is they're attacking love, because love is 38:50 fulfilling the law. 38:51 Somebody says, well I only live by two now. 38:53 Jesus said love God and love your neighbor. 38:59 What does it mean to love you God? 39:00 It means you keep the first four. 39:02 What's the definition of loving your neighbor? 39:05 It's the last six. 39:07 The ten commandments simply amplify the two, 39:13 but they do not get rid of the two commandments. 39:15 Now the question is, how many in heaven followed Lucifer 39:23 in his rebellion? Go with me to the book of Revelation 12:4, 39:30 Revelation 12:4. Do you know that we live in a world filled 39:36 with demons? But do you know that for every demon there's two 39:43 of God's angels. Praise the Lord! 39:45 It's two against one! 39:47 Ha ha! And we have God on our side besides. 39:51 So don't worry about it. 39:53 Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:4 Speaking about this dragon, 39:58 the ancient serpent. 39:59 It says: His tail. We'll talk about the tail in a moment. 40:13 So you'll find how many of the stars of heaven did he take 40:16 with him? A third of the stars. 40:18 What were those stars? 40:20 Go with me to Revelation 12:7. 40:23 And war broke out in heaven. 40:44 The stars represent what? Angels. 40:49 So a third of the angels were cast out with him. 40:52 And, by the way, when you realize that according to 40:55 Revelation 5:11, if you'll go with me there for a moment. 40:58 Revelation 5:11. The number of angels is practically 41:03 incalculable. You know that this world has lots of angels 41:10 involved in the battle between righteousness 41:13 and unrighteousness. 41:14 It says there in Revelation 5:11: 41:29 By the way, in the Greek there's no word for million, 41:32 and so it's calculated by multiplying thousands. 41:37 Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. 41:42 How could the devil get one third of the angels to follow 41:49 him in his rebellion? 41:50 Well, we need to take a look at this because this is very 41:54 important because the devil is doing the same thing on Earth 41:57 right now. If we know what he did in heaven, 42:00 we're going to know what he does on Earth, and we're going 42:04 to be able to protect ourselves from his power. 42:06 Let's go back to Ezekiel 28:16 and notice a very important word 42:12 here. We're going to see the strategy that the devil used 42:15 to deceive a third of the angelic host to follow him 42:19 in his rebellion. It says there in Ezekiel 28:16: 42:29 That's the word I want to underline. 42:41 What did he do? The abundance of his what? trading. 42:46 So the devil trades. The devil is a wheeler dealer. 42:54 The devil is a businessman. 42:56 The question is, what does he trade? 42:58 What does he try to sell? 42:59 Well, we need to look for this word other places in scripture. 43:04 It's the same root word, but it's translated differently. 43:09 It helps us understand what he did. 43:10 Go with me to Ezekiel 22:9, Ezekiel 22:9. 43:16 The very same root word. 43:20 You would never know it by the translation, but if you go to 43:23 Strong's Concordance you'll find that it's the same root word 43:26 in Hebrew. It says in verse 9: 43:44 That word, slander, is the same root word trading. 43:50 Isn't that interesting? 43:53 You can check me out in Strong's Concordance, if you wish. 43:56 And notice that it says, In you are men who slander to cause 44:01 bloodshed. Do you remember that we read in Ezekiel 28 44:05 that because of his trading he became filled with violence 44:09 within? So what was he trading? 44:13 He was actually trying to sell what? 44:16 He was trying to sell lies. 44:20 What do you say sometimes when somebody says something that 44:24 sounds pretty preposterous? 44:26 You say, I don't buy that. 44:30 We even use the expression today. 44:34 Oh, you can't sell me that one! 44:36 You see what he was trying to do was to sell his slanderous 44:42 accusations against God. 44:44 Notice also Leviticus 19 where the same root word is used. 44:50 Leviticus 19:16. We'll just read one verse. 44:55 Leviticus 19:16. God is saying to Israel: 45:16 The word talebearer there is the same root word that is used for 45:22 trading in Ezekiel 28. 45:24 So what did the devil do? 45:26 What did Lucifer do in heaven? 45:29 He started telling tails about whom? About God. 45:33 Do you know what he said? 45:34 He said, listen, we don't need God to be telling us what's 45:38 right and what's wrong; what we can do and what we can't do. 45:40 We're smart enough. We can decide that on our own. 45:45 You know, God is a slave master. 45:48 He wants us to render him blind service. 45:51 You can see this by the way in which the devil spoke to Eve 45:54 in the garden. He says, you know, you don't have to accept 45:58 what God says as the definition for good and evil. 46:00 He says, you can be God knowing good and evil. 46:05 By the way, he was telling Adam and Eve that God wanted them to 46:07 be blind, because he says, if you eat from the tree your eyes 46:09 are going to be opened. 46:10 God wants blind service. 46:13 He wants you just to obey without questions. 46:16 Well, you don't have to have God tell you what to do. 46:18 You're smart enough, and you're wise enough to decide that 46:22 on your own. So he's saying God is a dictator. 46:27 And a third of the angels bought his lies. 46:32 Now do you remember the tail? 46:34 It says the tail of the dragon drew a third of the stars? 46:40 Now what does a tail represent? 46:42 Go with me to the book of Isaiah 9:15, Isaiah 9:15. 46:50 Very clearly we're told what the tail is there. 46:53 It says here in Isaiah 9:15, The elder and honorable, 47:05 he is the head; the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 47:13 What is the tail? The prophet who teaches what? lies. 47:19 How did the devil get a third of the stars of heaven to follow 47:23 him? By telling lies. 47:28 The tail is a prophet who tells lies. 47:32 And, by the way, there's an interesting phonetic 47:37 relationship between tail and to tell a tale. 47:44 There was the tail that draws a third of the angels 47:49 by telling tales about God. 47:53 And we know that because he came to the Earth, 47:56 and he did the same thing. Didn't he? 47:57 If you know what he did on Earth, you will know what he did 48:01 in heaven. We have Biblical examples of this as well. 48:03 It's very, very interesting. 48:05 You take, for example, the story of Absalom, the son of David. 48:09 David was the king. Absalom was his son. 48:13 And Absalom gets the preposterous idea that he needs 48:18 to be sitting on the throne instead of his father. 48:20 And so he sits at the gate of Jerusalem, and anybody who comes 48:25 to the king for judgment, to set things right, Absalom says, 48:32 don't even bother to go to the king. 48:33 He doesn't care about you. 48:34 But if you put me on the throne I would look out for you. 48:40 Same spirit of Lucifer in heaven! 48:45 He said to the angels, listen, if you put me on the throne 48:49 things will improve. 48:50 No loss! Everybody can live according to the law that comes 48:54 from within. I guess he was the first New Ager. 49:01 No dictators! Everybody will live to himself. 49:04 Same thing that the devil has done with human beings 49:08 on this Earth ever since. 49:11 John 8:44. We're told that Satan: 49:24 In other words, Satan is the father of lies, 49:29 according to scripture. 49:30 From the very beginning he lied about God. 49:34 And, by the way, it's no coincidence that Jesus came 49:38 to this Earth to reveal the truth. 49:43 Do you know that Jesus came to this world to counteract 49:45 the lies of Satan? Satan said, Ah, God only sits on the throne 49:49 and He has everybody serve Him and do what He says. 49:52 And when somebody doesn't do what He says, He makes them sick 49:57 and He casts them out of heaven, and He mistreats them, 49:59 and He beats them up. 50:01 Jesus comes down to the Earth and He leaves His throne 50:04 in heaven. He who had the power of God now becomes a servant. 50:12 The Jews believed that God made people sick. 50:15 Why is that man blind? 50:16 Who sinned, his parents or did he? 50:18 Why does that man happen to have leprosy? 50:21 Oh, because it's the finger of God. 50:24 They believed that God made people sick. 50:28 Jesus came to the Earth and now He heals people. 50:32 He casts out demons. 50:35 He restores people. And the devil hated Him because Jesus 50:39 was showing what God is really like; 50:44 that God loves human beings. 50:46 That Tsunami; that wasn't any more an act of God 50:50 than the man in the moon exists. 50:56 I mean, how can you conceive that God caused that Tsunami 51:00 to kill over a quarter of a million people? 51:03 The book of Job tells us that this is the work of Satan. 51:06 It is not the work of God. 51:10 Yes, God withdraws His hand and allows it, but God does not 51:14 cause these things. Now the question is, is the devil 51:18 ever going to have an end? 51:20 Do you know where he got his death blow? 51:23 He got his death blow on the head. 51:28 He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel. 51:34 But you know, when his head was whacked by Christ, 51:39 the devil still exists. 51:41 In one of our future lectures we're going to study about the 51:45 conflict between David and Goliath. 51:47 That story has to be seen in the light of Genesis 3:15. 51:51 You know, David, he swung his sling, threw the stone, 51:58 the stone encrusted itself in his forehead, and he fell to the 52:04 ground, but he wasn't dead. 52:07 He was almost dead. 52:09 He had received the death blow on his head, but the Bible says 52:13 that David went and with his own sword, he took out the sword 52:18 and he cut off his head. 52:19 The devil has been wounded with this stone. 52:23 What only remains is for his head to be chopped off. 52:30 And that will happen after the millennium, which we will study 52:36 in this seminar. Revelation 20 refers to that. 52:40 Notice Ezekiel 28:18, 19, speaking about the end 52:47 of this being. Praise the Lord that he is going to 52:49 come to an end. Meanwhile we have to battle with him. 52:52 We have to put up with his lies, but we don't have to give in 52:57 to his lies. When the devil tells us to break God's law, 53:01 we don't have to break God's law, because we know what 53:05 he's up to. Now notice Ezekiel 28:18, 19. 53:11 It says: You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of 53:15 your iniquities. By the iniquity of your trading. 53:18 There's the word again. 53:27 Notice he's going to be reduced to ashes. 53:44 Is that good news? That's great news! 53:47 It's coming soon. Now allow me to conclude by saying this: 53:54 In this world there are only two groups, not three. 54:02 There's not the good, the bad, and the half bad: 54:06 those that are going to heaven, to hell, and to purgatory. 54:12 In the world there are two groups: the seed of the serpent, 54:17 and the seed of the woman's seed. 54:21 The Seed is Christ, but Christ has seed. 54:25 If you are Christ's you are His seed. 54:26 So there's only two groups in the world. 54:29 Now let me ask you, what is it that characterizes both groups? 54:34 Go with me to 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:10. 54:41 And actually we'll read several verses from 1 John, 54:46 as we bring this to a close. 54:47 1 John 3:10. We find the two groups mentioned and what 54:53 characterizes the two groups. It says there: 55:08 In this way you can know who a child of God is, 55:11 and who a child of the devil is. 55:12 Notice what the characteristics are. 55:22 What is righteousness? 55:23 If sin is transgression of the law, what is righteousness? 55:27 It is obeying God's law; not because we can do it, 55:31 but because we love God, and He empowers us. 55:34 You need to come to the next lecture. 55:36 We're going to talk about the law of God, 55:38 and how it is possible to overcome; 55:40 not in ourselves, but in His power because we love Him. 55:43 And so it continues saying there, in 1 John 3:10: 55:48 In this the children of God, and the children of the devil 55:51 are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of 55:56 God nor is he who does not love his neighbor. 56:03 And what is keeping the commandment? 56:05 It is what? love. 56:10 Now go with me to two passages in closing: 1 John 2, 56:19 1 John 2:3, 4. Now by this we know that we know him: 56:28 If we keep his commandments. 56:32 He who says I know him and does not keep his commandment 56:37 is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 56:43 Hello! Who was the first liar, and the truth was not in him? 56:46 John 8:44. Who was it? Satan. 56:49 So whoever says, I know him and does not keep 56:52 his commandments; whose seed is he? 56:55 Satan's seed. It says so here. 56:58 Now let's notice one more text. 57:01 1 John 5, very quickly, and verse 3. 57:06 For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. 57:12 And his commandments are not burdensome. 57:19 Because some people say, oh, that old law. 57:21 That's such a hard thing to keep. 57:23 It's such a burden. 57:24 Don't believe it. |
Revised 2014-12-17