Sunday
Morning Bible Study
June 10, 2001
Introduction
Illustration
Big Shot
A newly promoted colonel had moved into a makeshift office during the Gulf
War. He was just getting unpacked when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed
a private with a toolbox coming his way. Wanting to seem important, he grabbed
the phone: “Yes, General Schwarzkopf. Of course, I think that’s an excellent
plan.” He continued: “You’ve got my support on it. Thanks for checking with me.
Let’s touch base again soon, Norm. Good-bye.” “And what can I do for you?” he
asked the private. “Uhhh, I’m just here to hook up your phone.”
By Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg; Becoming a Contagious Christian
We’re in a war too. But we don’t
have the luxury to play games. If
you’re pretending to be something you’re not, you’re in for trouble.
In Revelation 12, John has seen a vision of symbolic things in heaven. In
his vision, he sees a panorama of history showing a great battle between Satan
and God’s people, the Jews.
:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
war – polemos
– a war; a fight, a battle; a dispute, strife, quarrel
Michael – Michael = “who
is like God”; the first of the chief princes or archangels (Jude 9), and is
apparently the guardian angel of the Jews (Dan. 12:1)
(Dan
12:1 KJV) And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which
standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble,
such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that
time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in
the book.
Michael is known as an archangel,
or “head” angel. (Jude 9)
We believe that Satan, also known as “Lucifer” was also once an
“archangel”. Satan is not the opposite of God, Satan is the opposite of an
angel like Michael.
:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
prevailed – ischuo
– to be strong; to have power. Satan was not “strong” enough.
Some time before the Garden of Eden, Satan rebelled against God and took
1/3 of the angels of heaven with him in his rebellion (Rev. 12:3-4)
But even after the fall of Satan and the fall of man, Satan continued to
have access to God in heaven. We caught a glimpse of this in the book of Job:
(Job 1:6-7 KJV) Now there
was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and
Satan came also among them. {7} And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and
from walking up and down in it.
The “war” we’re reading about here will take place in the middle of the
Tribulation. It’s at this point that Satan will be kicked out of heaven for
good.
:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him.
world – oikoumene
– the inhabited earth; the universe, the world
Just to be clear, in case you were left guessing who this “dragon” is, it
is Satan.
:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:
A victory is declared in heaven, even though there are still events to
transpire on earth before Jesus comes back.
:10 for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night.
the accuser – kategoros
– an accuser; a name given to the devil by the rabbis
which accused – kategoreo
– to accuse; before a judge: to make an accusation; present participle
meaning continuous action.
Until the midway point in the Tribulation, the devil has a job in heaven.
He still goes to work every day. He is heaven’s chief prosecutor, working to
accuse us before God. This District Attorney’s office is opened twenty-four
hours a day.
Lesson
Be careful how you defend yourself.
I think that sometimes we make a mistake of trying to defend ourselves
before God and to our own selves.
We tend to make up excuses for what we’ve done. Instead of admitting our
faults, we try to shift the blame to others.
Illustration
(Exo 32:1-6; 15-24 KJV)
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the
people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us
gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us
up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. {2} And Aaron
said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your
wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. {3} And all
the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought
them unto Aaron. {4} And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with
a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. {5} And when
Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and
said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. {6} And they rose up early on the
morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the
people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
It’s at this point that God tells Moses that he needs to
get back to the camp because the people have walked away from the Lord.
{15} And Moses turned, and
went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand:
the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other
were they written. {16} And the tables were the work of God, and the writing
was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. {17} And when Joshua heard the
noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of
war in the camp. {18} And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for
mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the
noise of them that sing do I hear. {19} And it came to pass, as soon as he came
nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger
waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the
mount. {20} And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire,
and ground it to powder, and strowed it upon the water, and made the children
of Israel drink of it. {21} And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people
unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? {22} And Aaron
said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they
are set on mischief. {23} For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go
before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of
Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. {24} And I said unto them, Whosoever
hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into
the fire, and there came out this calf.
The sin was in making and worshipping this golden calf.
The idea to make a calf was the people’s idea, but I don’t read about them
putting a knife to Aaron’s throat and forcing him to make a calf. And when
Aaron as the leader ought to be taking responsibility, he blames it on the
people and comes up with one of the world’s lamest excuses, “I threw the gold
in the fire and out jumped this calf”.
Satan is a great “District Attorney”. He is the one who accuses us before
God. And even though he may at times come up with some lies to tell God, he
really doesn’t have to lie much, he only has to tell God the truth about us.
But if we’re going to ever get to the point where we receive God’s
forgiveness, we need to stop hiding behind our excuses and learn to say, “It
was my fault”.
The good news is that we don’t have
to stand on our own before God while Satan is accusing us. Whereas Satan is a
“prosecuting attorney”, Jesus is our “defense attorney”
I John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is
the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins
of] the whole world.
The way we deal with our accusations is to confess our sins, admit that we
are wrong, and receive God’s forgiveness.
(1 John 1:9 KJV) If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Once we’ve turned from our sins and confessed them to God, we need to
believe what God says about us:
(Rom
8:1 KJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
(Rom 8:33-34 NASB)
Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; {34}
who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was
raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
:11 And they overcame him
overcame – nikao
– to conquer; to carry off the victory, come off victorious
Who is the “they” that overcome Satan? It would seem in the context that it
would be applying to Michael and his angels, but these are human-oriented
“weapons”.
The “they” here refers to the “brethren” of verse 10, not to Michael and
company.
Lesson
Earthly warfare is reflected in
heaven.
The victory on earth of the tribulation saints was reflected in heaven with
Michael's victory.
Jesus said to Peter,
(Mat 16:19 KJV) And I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven.
There is somehow a sense in which the things we do on
earth affect the things that happen in heaven, in the realm of the spirit.
Michael and his angels overcome Satan in part because of the spiritual
warfare conducted by the “brethren” on the earth.
:11 by the blood of the Lamb,
In the context of the passage, we are reminded that one of Satan’s major
attacks is that of accusing and condemning us before God.
Lesson
Victory by the blood of the Lamb
Our answer to Satan’s accusations is simply the blood of Jesus.
Your sins and the condemnation that you deserve are very, very real. To
satisfy the justice of the universe, a price has to be paid. And the price that
comes attached to sin is “death”.
From the earliest of times, God began to make a way for the price to be
paid, through the shedding of blood.
(Lev 17:11 KJV) For the life
of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for
the soul.
When an animal is sacrifices and it’s blood is poured out, it’s the life of
the animal that is being given to pay for a sin.
The writer of Hebrews wrote,
(Heb 9:13-14 KJV) For if the
blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: {14} How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
As we are walking close to the Lord and allowing God to shine His light on
all of our lives, we become aware of where we have problems and were we need
His cleansing.
I John 1:7 But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The practical way this happens is by admitting our sin.
I John 1:9 If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
And as we confess, we need to accept God’s forgiveness.
:11 and by the word of their testimony;
word – logos
– a word
testimony – marturia
– a testifying; what one testifies, testimony, i.e. before a judge
God’s Word is meant here, it is the “word” of our “testimony”.
Lesson
Victory from the Word
God’s Word is a powerful weapon.
It’s the “Sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17)
(Eph 6:17
KJV) the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
It’s sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12)
(Heb 4:12
NASB) For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints
and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Word is what God uses to build our faith, and faith is our shield from
Satan’s attacks.
(Rom 10:17
KJV) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(Eph 6:16
KJV) Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
We see an example of this in action in the life of Jesus.
(Mat 4:1-11 KJV) Then
was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
{2} And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an
hungered. {3} And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread. {4} But he answered and said, It
is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. {5} Then the devil taketh him up into the
holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, {6} And saith unto him,
If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give
his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. {7} Jesus said unto him,
It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. {8} Again, the
devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; {9} And saith unto him, All these
things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. {10} Then saith
Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. {11} Then the devil leaveth
him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Jesus was able to counter each temptation that Satan threw
at Him by quoting Scripture.
I think this starts by having a daily time in God’s Word.
(Psa 1:1-3 KJV)
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. {2} But his
delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and
night. {3} And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
How do I do this? Get up a little extra early in the
morning. Ask God to speak to you. Open your Bible and read.
But spiritual protection doesn’t come by just holding a book up in front of
our face when we’re tempted or sleeping with it under your pillow. It comes by
knowing what is IN the book and putting it into practice into your life.
In the Old Testament there was a time when the priests were very wicked
people. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phineas lived such wicked lives that people didn’t even like going to the
Tabernacle and offering sacrifice to God.
One year (1Sam. 4) the Israelites were in a war with the Philistines and
they were loosing badly. The leaders of
Israel hit upon an idea and decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant into their
camp, thinking that the Ark would save them.
The Ark was the gold-covered box that Moses had built as a
storage container for the two stone tablets containing the Ten
Commandments. It also was a picture of
God’s throne in heaven.
God had even promised victory in battle if the people
would learn to obey the things that God had told them to do, if they had obeyed
God’s Word.
(Lev
26:7-8 KJV) And ye shall chase your
enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. {8} And five of you shall
chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and
your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
The people had fallen into a trap of thinking that this was some kind of a
“magic box”, when in reality, the real power for them was in the keeping of the
Ten Commandments, which their own priests broke regularly.
What happened in the battle that day? The Israelites suffered a great defeat with
30,000 killed, including the priests, and the Philistines captured the Ark.
Just having a Bible and even reading it doesn’t bring
victory. Victory comes when you LIVE
the Bible, when you obey what it says.
:11 and they loved not their lives unto the death.
loved – agapao
– to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly; to be well
pleased, to be contented at or with a thing
lives – psuche
– breath; life; the soul
unto – achri
– until, unto, etc.
death – thanatos
– the death of the body
Lesson
Victory from correct priorities (not
loving your life)
For the angels in heaven, they will be able to experience victory over
Satan because the saints on earth won’t be afraid of giving their lives for
Jesus.
Jesus had said,
(Mat 16:24-25 KJV) …If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. {25} For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
The apostle Paul was one example of this.
On one of his trips back to Jerusalem, he began to receive warnings
about the trouble that awaited him there.
Paul said to the elders at Ephesus,
(Acts 20:22-24 KJV) And now,
behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that
shall befall me there: {23} Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. {24} But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God.
He had been told by the Lord that he was facing some tough
times ahead in Jerusalem. But he wouldn’t be stopped by the thought of facing
difficulties.
In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego had the right attitude when
Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into the fiery furnace for not bowing
to his idol:
(Dan 3:17-27 KJV) If it be so, our God whom we serve is able
to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of
thine hand, O king. {18} But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we
will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
{19} Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed
against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that
they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be
heated. {20} And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery
furnace. {21} Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their
hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. {22} Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and
the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. {23} And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. {24}
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and
said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of
the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. {25} He answered
and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they
have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. {26} Then
Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake,
and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God,
come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth
of the midst of the fire. {27} And the princes, governors, and captains, and
the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose
bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither
were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
What can you do to people who are willing to die for the
Lord?
Do you have your spiritual weapons in place?
Have you put your trust in the blood of Jesus to cleanse you from your
sins?
Are you living out the things God tells you in His Word?
Is there anything more important to you than following Jesus?