|
SUBJECT: Satan
QUESTIONS: I have heard about a war in heaven before
the creation of man. What can you tell me about that? Did
man and dinosaurs live on earth at the same time? How did
the dinosaurs die out?
ANSWERS:
There is no evidence that man and dinosaur lived at the same
time. We can see from the Bible that there is a vast gulf
between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2:
Genesis 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters.
Note: Verse 1
says that God created the heaven and the earth. Clearly, He
would have done a perfect job and everything would have been
perfect. Now in verse 2 we see a problem....something has
changed. The earth is void, without form and in darkness.
Something happened. A war.
From our doctrinal statement on Angels:
Long before man, one of the cherubim—his name in Latin is
the familiar word Lucifer—had the honor of covering the very
throne of God (Ezekiel 28:14), indicating a position of very
high authority and power in God's government. However, he
was lifted up in his own vanity, became resentful and
jealous of God, and finally rebelled against God's
government. He drew with him as cohorts a third of the
angels. These became evil angels or demons with Lucifer,
now Satan the devil, as their leader
From the Nelson's Bible Dictionary:
SATAN
History. Two Old Testament passages-- <Isaiah 14:12-15> and
<Ezekiel 28:11-19>-- furnish a picture of Satan's original
condition and the reasons for his loss of that position.
These passages were addressed originally to the kings of
Babylon and Tyre. But in their long-range implications, many
scholars believe, they refer to Satan himself. They tell of
an exalted angelic being, one of God's creatures, who became
proud and ambitious. He determined to take over the throne
of God for himself. But God removed him from his position of
great dignity and honor.
~from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary
There was a war in heaven. It takes place between Genesis
1:1 and Genesis 1:2. The result of the war left the earth
without form, and void and in darkness.
Here are those two quoted verses above:
Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I
will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be
like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit.
Ezekiel 28:11-19
11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus,
and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up
the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious
stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the
emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy
tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day
that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have
set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou
hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the
midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore
I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and
I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of
the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou
hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I
will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings,
that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of
thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore
will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall
devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth
in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be
astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt
thou be any more.
These verses show the severity of the battle. It had to be
bad to leave the planet void. It was in this battle that
the dinosaurs perished. We have much evidence of these
great animals being around much earlier than man. According
to the Bible there are easily billions of years between
verses 1 and 2 but only the 6000 years since then. Science
is wrong on the idea of prehistoric man living millions of
years before the Genesis account. Adam and Eve were not
cave people. Man has a habit of making the scientific finds
(bones, fossils, etc.) to fit their preconceived theories.
Just take a look at evolution.
Also coming in prophecy is Satan being cast down to earth
for the final time, just before the Great Tribulation.
Notice this from our booklet, “Is the Next Prophetic Event
the Rapture of the Saints?”:
(1) THE GREAT
TRIBULATION,
(2) the heavenly signs, (3) the Day of the
Lord.
Are the saints still on the earth
during the Great Tribulation?
Those who espouse the false
doctrine of the "secret" rapture say no! They claim
the saints are secretly whisked away from this earth, or
"snatched away" BEFORE the events Jesus described as the
Great Tribulation.
Yet your Bible says that a major
part of the Tribulation to come is the martyrdom
of saints!
Notice! "And there was war in
heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;
and the dragon fought and his angels,
"And prevailed not; neither was
their place found any more in heaven.
"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.
"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: for the
accuser of our brethren [saints!] is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night.'
"And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and
they loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation
12:7-11).
These are God's own converted,
chosen, saintly people! They are members of His church!
This great persecution which
follows Satan being cast back down out of heaven into the
earth IS the Great Tribulation!
Notice that the saints overcome
Satan and his persecutions "by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives
unto the death" (Revelation 12:11).
This is not describing a secret
"snatching away" of God's people to some remote wilderness,
or up into heaven, but describing God's people right in the
midst of the great events talking place on the earth;
describing God's people as actively witnessing and warning
the nations of this world, and therefore bringing
hatred and persecution upon themselves.
Notice the last verse of this
chapter: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman [God's
true church!], and went to make war with the
remnant [the last end-time remnants of God's true church
on this earth] of her seed, which keep the commandments
of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ"
(Revelation 12:17).
This can only be describing God's
true church. This is describing those who are obedient to
God's commands, and who have the "testimony of Jesus
Christ."
The testimony of Jesus Christ is
the gospel, the advance good news about His
soon-coming government which will overthrow the Beast
power and all other worldly governments. These who are
persecuted during the Tribulation are God's true
saints, members of His true church who are doing the
WORK OF GOD! They are active in international
affairs, not secretly hiding, uninvolved, sitting on the
sidelines of the greatest events in all history.
Notice Revelation 13:7: "And it
was given unto him [the Beast power] to make war with the
saints, and to overcome them......" Once again,
this shows that Christ's true disciples, the saints,
the true church, are on this earth, and that some of
them are to be martyred by the Beast power and the
False Prophet!
---end---
So there are two wars with Satan. One is done, having taken
place before the creation of man. The last will be just
before the Great Tribulation.
back to the top |