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Here, meet the first of six entities accounted for in John's final two chapters of Revelation. Satan appears in the guise of the Dragon in Revelation 12. His behavior depicted here in John's Revelation parallels his behavior in the OT's Job. But, as Job overcame Satan in the Age of Patriarchs, the brethren overcome Satan at the other end of redemptive history! Both Job and the brethren in the Tribulation justify God's faith in their endurance on the front lines of most dire spiritual warfare. I offer this as a study in light and darkness.
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XXX: SATAN– FLAILING AND
FAILING
In which we see Satan warring on the Saints and being defeated by them.
A Production of
the skOG
Workshop
Satan is one of the six protagonists who
figure throughout John’s Revelation. This
slide set focuses on him. The next five slide sets feature the remaining five.
I intend to collect information on Satan’s role
in the Tribulation from scattered entries in
Revelation Chapters 5-13.
But first, let’s take a look at Satan’s role as Job’s tormentor and challenger.
I’m just filler . . . you know, ‘No
hyperlinks for you till Slide 4!” Contracts on the cat and the kid ran out and now Lenny’s using
me. ‘Best for last’ and all that!
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VISIT: skOG Workshop Headquarters at www.lennyhoy.com for other items of interest.Slide Array Table of Contents
IMAGES:
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SATAN, JOB AND THE 70TH WEEK
SATAN, JOB AND THE 70TH WEEK
SUGGESTION: Satan’s
behavior and purposes in
tormenting the Patriarch
Job serve as a model for
understanding his behavior
and purposes in tormenting
the people of God in the
70th Week.
SATAN, JOB AND THE 70TH WEEK:The Mechanics of Satan’s Work
Satan has frequent access to God in Heaven (Not citizenship, access!) in both Job’s time and ours.
Job 1:6 “And the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”
Rev 12:9 Satan thrown OUT of heaven . . . must have been IN heaven, accusing the brethren before the throne of God (12:10)
Satan defames Job and us before God.
Job 1:9-11 “Put forth Your hand now and touch all that he (Job) has and he will surely curse You to your face.”
Rev 12:10 “He (Satan) who accuses them (the brothers) before our God day and night.”
SATAN, JOB AND THE 70TH WEEK:Satan’s Purposes and Means
Satan challenges God’s ability to fulfill His promises. If God fails at any point, God fails in all!
Job: Satan thinks that God cannot establish a lasting relationship with fallen man! Even the best of them (Job) will fail under enough pressure.
Revelation: Satan thinks that NT salvation changes nothing in the Christian’s selfish heart. ‘New creature’, indeed! Bah, humbug!’
Satan thinks that we believers represent the weak link in the God-human believer relationship.
Job: I’ll oppress Job so he’ll curse God and die
Church Age: I’ll oppress believers so severely that at least ONE ‘true’ believer will reject Jesus and He shall have died for nothing! I win!
SATAN, JOB AND THE 70TH WEEK:Satan’s Motives
Satan’s Pride Drives Him–here’s how he thinks: I’m more worthy of worship than God-I do not limit my power with a silly necessity to behave righteously. God’s weakness = my opportunity!
God dotes on mere men! He trusts them! God’s foolish obsession = my opportunity
He Has an Intense HatredOF GOD: God cramps my style, hedges me in and limits me unfairly. God’s jealous and afraid of me.
OF HUMANS: God forgives humans their folly but damns me for mine! God plays favorites!
OF WOMEN: It’s all Eve’s fault! (See: Origins of Sin and Evil!)
SATAN IN REVELATION 12
The full scope and breadth of Satan’s aggression: Rev 12:1-6A Bare-Bones Outline of Key Events:
IN HISTORY: Satan has aggressively fought against
The Woman: Israel (for OT parallels to imagery of pregnant Israel + birth of Messiah, see Gen 27:9, Jer 4:31, Is 26:17, 7:14, 66:7, Mic 5:3.)
The Angels: 12:4 The “third of the stars of heaven” refer (IMO) most likely to Lucifer’s Fall and its enlistment of 1/3 of heaven’s angelic host.
Against Male Child: Christ? Church? 144K? I choose Child=Jesus and therefore verses 4+5 would refer to Satan’s aggression against Jesus, from Bethlehem to Gethsemane to the Ascension.
IN THE FUTURE: A flash-forward! Against the Woman, Israel in 70th Week: 12:6 and against the ‘rest of her children’ (Saints)
SATAN IN REVELATION 12
Refocus Your Lens: A Close-up of Satan in 70th Week: Rage and Hatred Unshackled: Rev 12:7-17
IN HEAVEN: Satan fights against Michael the Archangel and the faithful host. Thrown down to earth in defeat. (12: 7+8) No more access to heaven.
ON EARTH: With only a short time left to him, Satan persecutes 2 entities
The Woman: Israel’s 70th Week edition (12:13-16)
Offspring of the Woman: (12:11,12,17) Satan attacks those who 1) keep the commandments of God and 2) hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Can these two descriptors signal any other spiritual group but born-again believers in Jesus Christ? IMO? No!)
Get set to look at Revelation 12 with two competing mindsets:
Pessimism and Fear VERSUS
Courageous Steadfast Hope
Get set to look at Revelation 12 with two competing mindsets:
Pessimism and Fear VERSUS
Courageous Steadfast Hope
God enables believers to beat the odds! Right? The bigger they are . . .
REVELATION 12Mindset 1: The Case For Fear
SATAN SPARES NO ONE HIS WRATH He’s determined to do his very worst to disrupt God’s stated intentions to save Israel, preserve the Saints and redeem the Earth from the curse and its tyrant.
Aware of His Crisis: 12:12 tells us that Satan, thrown from heaven, knows his time is short! Satan proceeds without hesitation to destroy God’s plan.
1260 days left
42 months left
Time, times and half a time left
SATAN SPARES NO ONE HIS WRATH He’s determined to do his very worst to disrupt God’s stated intentions to save Israel, preserve the saints and redeem the Earth from the curse and its tyrant.
Full of Wrath: 12:12 again. Satan unleashes his aggression and wrath, holding nothing back.
Unrestrained: II Thessalonians 2:6-8 God removes Satan’s restrainer–nothing holds back his hatred, cruelty and strength. Satan will reveal his protege, the AntiChrist, because nothing keeps him from doing so. He uses the Harlot to increase the AntiChrist’s reach.
SATAN SPARES NO ONE HIS WRATH:
He’s determined to do his very worst to disrupt God’s
stated intentions to save Israel, preserve the saints
and redeem the Earth from the curse and its tyrant.
Flexible Strategist 12:13-17 Satan engages targets of opportunity in quick succession, never lingering too long over any setbacks
The Woman-IsraelThe SaintsThe gullible (13:3+8)
Clever Administrator: 13:2 Satan delegates authority and power to the Beast/AntiChrist. Mimics Christ’s incarnation
SATAN SPARES NO ONE HIS WRATH:
He’s determined to do his very worst to disrupt God’s
stated intentions to save Israel, preserve the saints
and redeem the Earth from the curse and its tyrant.
Powerful Adversary 13:3+ Satan resurrects the Despicable Person who will become the Beast, grants him power to perform miracles. Mimics Christ’s resurrection.
Focuses on the Saints 13:7 Satan’s war on the saints succeeds on many physical and political levels–Bible says AntiChrist will ‘overcome’ them!
REVELATION 12Mindset 2: The Case For Hope and Courage
SATAN’S FAILURE ASSURED
For all his great power, fierce determination and
cruelty, Satan fails on virtually every front.
Fails in History: 12:1-6
Falls from Heaven (vs 4) long ago-loses citizenship, as it were.
Cannot disrupt Christ’s ministry
Fails in Heaven 12:7-14 His assault on Heaven in the End-Times fails when Michael defeats him and throws him to Earth-never to ‘visit’ Heaven in any capacity again.
SATAN’S FAILURE ASSURED
For all his great power, fierce determination and
cruelty, Satan fails on virtually every front.
Overdriven by Time Constraints: 12:12 Satan knows his time is short, his doom all but sealed. Hate drives him and blinds him at the same time. He behaves desperately, loses knack for subtlety and tries to bull his way to victory.
Fails Against the Church 12:11 The brethren overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and they did not love their life even when faced with death!
SATAN’S FAILURE ASSURED
For all his great power, fierce determination and
cruelty, Satan fails on virtually every front.
Fails Against 70th Week Israel: 12:14-16 When cast to earth by Michael, Satan pursues The Woman. God supernaturally protects this remnant.
Fails to God-proof His Own Kingdom: God bruises and strikes Satan’s Kingdom throughout the deployment of the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls. God demonstrates His omnipotence in plague after brutal plague and Satan can do nothing to prevent the drubbing!
REVELATION 12Relevance for ‘Everyday’ Christian Living
Revelation bathes its readers in
1. Realism-spiritual, emotional and physical truths
about the christian life-it’s a rugged marathon!.
2. Training: How to cope with life’s marathon in
ways that honor God and build us up in our faith.
3. Encouragement: From rebuke to promises of
victory and reminders of God’s unfailing love, the
Bible encourages us to constantly persevere.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, REVELATION CALLS US TO
MOST IMPORTANTLY, REVELATION CALLS US TO
Deepen our focus on the risen Lord, not the beaten
Adversary.
Invest more time in the Word, not in the worry.
Consider these truths . . .
Greater is He who is in you
than he who is in the world! I John 4:4
But in all these things
we overwhelmingly conquer through Him
who loved us Romans 8:37
I am convinced that
neither death nor life . . . can separate us from the
love of God . . . Romans 8:38-9
And the angel laid hold
of the dragon, Satan, and bound him for a
thousand years. Rev 20:2
And the devil who
deceived them was thrown into the lake of
fire and brimstone. Rev 20:2
The kingdom of the world
becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ . . .
Rev 11:15
The kingdom of the world
becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ . . .
Rev 11:15
The brethren overcome Satan
because of the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and they
did not love their life to the death. Rev 12:11
For the Lord has not given us a
spirit of timidity, but of power and
love and discipline. II Timothy 1:7
But take heed; behold, I have told
you everything in advance. Mark 13:23
Submit therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of His might, putting
on the full armor of G
od, so that
you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil,
for our struggle is not against flesh
and blood . . . Ephesians 6:11
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of His might, putting on
the full armor of God, so that you will
be able to stand firm against the
schemes of the devil, for our struggle
is not against flesh and blood . . .
Ephesians 6:10+
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of His might, putting on
the full armor of God, so that you will
be able to stand firm against the
schemes of the devil, for our struggle
is not against flesh and blood . . .
Ephesians 6:10-12
. . . but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 6:12
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 6:13
Therefore, take up the full armor of God . . .
resist . . . stand firm . . .
Gird your loins with truth
Put on breastplate of righteousness
Shod your feet with the gospel of peace
Take up the shield of faith
Put on the helmet of salvation
Take up the sword of the Spirit-Word of
God Ephesians 6:14-17
Get a Spiritual Spine: ‘Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you . . . I Peter 4:12
Know that any measure of faithfulness one can
imagine taking into a testing situation was first
nurtured in times of relative tranquility.
Bathe yourself in the Word, in Christian fellowship and determine that you will take back any ground you have yielded to the Adversary.
Get a spiritual spine. Pursue Godliness and the love of the brethren. Prune your character; weed your thoughts; sharpen your knowledge of the Word. Crave holiness.
Do these things and you’ll be ready for anything!
Get a spiritual spine. Pursue Godliness and the love of the brethren. Prune your character; weed your thoughts; sharpen your knowledge of the Word. Crave holiness.
Do these things and you’ll be ready for anything!
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
Next: XXXI Prince Who Is to Come
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
AntiChrist. Everybody’s central figure of the
Tribulation. (But don’t overlook the Harlot!!)
Generator of awe and fear and loathing. AntiChrist.
For all the damage he does, and for all his blazing
hatred of the brethren, there’s actually less here
than meets the eye of the imagination. “Lo, his
doom is sure”, goes the hymn. His doom is sure.
Next: XXXI Prince Who Is to Come
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
AntiChrist. Everybody’s central figure of the
Tribulation. (But don’t overlook the Harlot!!)
Generator of awe and fear and loathing. AntiChrist.
For all the damage he does, and for all his blazing
hatred of the brethren, there’s actually less here
than meets the eye of the imagination. “Lo, his
doom is sure”, goes the hymn. His doom is sure.
Next: XXXI Prince Who Is to Come
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