God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in ‘spirit’ and in ‘truth’. Jesus said His ‘Words’ that He speaks to us are ‘truth’and ‘Life’, and that He is ‘The Way’, ‘The Truth’, and ‘The Life’.
Paul speaks of man as being ‘body’, ‘soul’, and ‘spirit’.
We have given a brief overview of angels and the mystery surrounding the spirit world when Adam was created.
The Bible says that the angels of God sang and shouted for joy, over the beauty of His creation. Yet, when God shows up to speak ‘Let there be Light’ the earth is covered in water and darkness, without form, and empty. It was chaotic. What caused this chaos? Everything that God makes is always good, yet He did not pronounce the second creative day good. The second day was when He separated the third heaven from the second and first heavens. The first heaven is our atmosphere and the second heaven is the stars and planets. The third heaven is where God dwells.
He had to put a ‘veil’ between the third heaven and the rest of creation to keep it pure from Satan’s corrupt darkness. He did not call it good. God is not the author of confusion but of order.
We are given a brief mention of a war in heaven, where Michael and the good angels had to fight against Lucifer and his bad angels. Satan and his angels were cast out to the earth. Satan was created as Lucifer and seems to have been in authority over all the other angels, until iniquity was found in his heart. He then tried to replace God on His throne. He wanted to be worshiped as God. Lucifer’s five “I Will’ statements are listed in Isaiah 14:13-15. Lucifer’s ‘self’ got in the way. This is interesting, as the major problems with our relationships in this world are over the battle of the ‘wills’ or ‘self’. We live in a very materialistic and selfish world.
Lucifer means ‘Light-Bearer’. Theologians believe that he ‘reflected’ the Glory of God’s light throughout heaven. He has no light in himself. When he was cast out of heaven he lost this light reflecting ability, and now he is known as Satan. His name means to ‘obstruct’ or ‘oppose’ or ‘adversary’. He is given many names in the Bible. John said that there is no ‘light’ in Satan at all. Jesus, and the apostles gave him various names describing him as darkness, the Power of Darkness and the Prince and Power of the Air.
Satan was in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were standing at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was in the wilderness when Jesus was praying and fasting. He told Jesus that he could give Him all the kingdoms of this world, for they were his to give. Jesus did not refute this statement, but refused to worship Satan.
What we do know is that there are angels and demons involved with the heavens and this earth. The good angels have access to God and must travel through the other two heavens to minister to man. The bad angels are limited to this world and the planets and stars. Satan does seem to have to report to God from time to time, according to the book of Job. This activity in the heavens could explain the mystery of some of the UFOs and other strange sightings in the heavens.
We also know that there was demonic activity involving women before Noah’s Flood. There are demons who are reserved in chains of darkness until the day of Judgment. There are demons that desire to inhabit the human body. Jesus dealt with many people who were demon oppressed and demon possessed while He was here on this earth. There are many signs of demon activity in this world today. I have had my share of dealing with demons down through the years.
Man is a spiritual being. He lives in a spiritual world. The spiritual world is invisible to the natural eye, but many Near Death Experiences tell of ‘spirit’ beings that are seen beyond the veil of death. These beings interact with us once we are out of this body of flesh. Medical Professionals are becoming more and more aware of this reality, and some have written about it.
There is a battle for the souls of men. Why?
Some think that God needs man to replace the thousands and thousands of angels who fell with Satan. Instead of creating more angels, He has chosen to create man instead. The Bible says that we are created a little lower than the angels, and it also says that we shall judge angels. How is this possible?
Jesus gave one parable about a father who gave his one son a request to do a project for him. The son said he would not, but then regretted it and went to take care of it. The father then asks the second son to do a project for him. The second son said that he would go, but didn’t do it. Jesus asks which one did the will of His father? The answer was the first son.
Satan, as Lucifer, said that he would do the project, but ended up not doing it, and refused to repent.
If man is to judge angels, how will he be able to do so?
Man is made of dust. He has never seen God, who is a Spirit and God can’t be seen with human eyes. Man has never seen heaven, except for those who have shared their Near Death Experiences. Man does not understand what the spirit world is fully about. But Satan, as Lucifer, has been at the throne of God, beholding all the beauty and glory of His creation, and he was privy to the spirit-world ‘Tree of Knowledge’. Yet, he chose to rebel against God and he was banished to earth and the air until the Judgement. As he told Jesus, he has power over the kingdoms of this world.
At the Great White Throne Judgement, God will point to man, burdened with a body of dying flesh, and who has suffered pain and heartache, while he overcame all manner of obstacles in order to maintain his faith in his God. Then He will point to Satan, without a body of flesh, who has dwelt where there was no pain, heartache or suffering of any kind, and say, “Depart from me into everlasting damnation.” “Man as a ‘lower than angel being’ has overcome many horrible things to believe in me and give me worship”. “You were created a higher being than man, yet you were too proud to be obedient.”
We will be the ‘justification’ for banishing the devil and his demons away forever. He will never hurt man again, or sow discord among God’s heavenly Host. Jesus said ‘Hell’ was prepared for the devil and his demons. It was never meant for man.
To be continued…