GOD TRIUMPHANT

A Spiritual War

Is God a lie and evolution the truth and are we the results of blind, mindless chance?  To give an answer to these questions would take a greater ability than I possess and since there is a great deal of excellent material dealing with this subject it is recommended that you seek them out for your answer.

As for me I do not believe that this cosmos has always existed, for according to the law of thermo dynamics, that would demand a lifeless universe incapable of sustaining let alone generating life (unless of course there is a powerful intelligence, aside and separate from the physical elements, capable and willing to kick start the process over and over again).  Others may apply their faith by believing in evolution, but I cannot.  I do not believe that such complex beings as Homo sapiens, or for that matter any other life form, could possibly come into existence without the power and direction of a supreme intelligence; an intelligence who is way and beyond creation itself and which logic demands to be Spirit. 

I believe in the God of the Bible so find it easy to believe in this supreme Spirit.  I also believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and find it to be the historical reality of God displayed in the lives and experience of chosen men throughout the ages.  It is God’s testimony to mankind regarding his plan and purpose for the creation, and as a consequence, for our lives, yours and mine. 

Can it be trusted?  The liberals along with all other forms of unbelief will tell you, No it cannot be trusted and by their system of scholastic intellectualism will force the Scriptures to their own destructive heresies.  Or as Peter puts it in his second letter: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”   

Can the Bible be trusted?  The best answer to this question is another question.  Can the God of the Bible be trusted?  In Gen.18: 25 we have Abraham’s response: “…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”   Of course he will and if God is to judge the world then he must, in all righteousness, give us clear and fair warning of that judgement to come. 

The warning will not come from within the conscience of the individual for we are all subject to the pleasures of the world, the flesh and the Devil, therefore it must be an external source.  It will not come from the mind of priesthood or other intelligentsia, for as men they are also subject to the same forces of pride and conceit.  To be just, God must give a written and an unchangeable account to all men: to the unlearned, to the knowledgeable, to the illiterate and to the scholarly, so that all men everywhere might come to knowledge of the truth. 

That word must not be subject to the intellect for then it will cease to be God’s word and become man’s opinion.  It must speak to the heart, to that indefinable part of man, his spirit; for it is in the heart that man believes unto righteousness, Rom. 10:10.  It must be preserved throughout the ages so that all men of every period might know and believe the truth; and by God’s grace, we have that word available to us today.  The Bible is continually under attack from the ungodly, but we thank God for his inerrant word and for the truth that our God, the God of all the earth will do what is right.

I will accept the simple statements of scripture and though I may not understand all things, I will trust him to make the truth known to me in his good time.      Amen.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  Genesis 1:1

The simplicity of this, the first verse of God’s word to man, plus the almost incomprehensible all inclusiveness of it, makes it the most majestic of statements.   It cuts across all the pomposity of the present age and declares the religious and secular philosophies of men to be vain.

“In the beginning”, before the creation of the material universe, before the forming of those instruments of time, the sun and the moon, and therefore before time, God existed eternally.  This is an eternity totally unrelated to time; an eternity in which God dwells and from which he rules his creation: an eternity beyond time and beyond the grasp of those who are ruled by time, for we are ruled by time, as Solomon wrote: -

^“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

However, from God’s eternal viewpoint, time is seen from beginning to end, and the end, with all its building, with all its breaking down, with all its war and with all its peace, is as evident to him as the beginning.

“…for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”  Isaiah 46:9b-10

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Revelation 22:13

Can we know what is beyond this vast universe of time and matter?  Science tries but cannot say.  Religious thought, no matter how deep, can do no more than acknowledge it as the unrevealed habitations of eternity.  God’s word shows it to be the habitation of the Almighty: El–o–heem - the ‘mighty one’, the God of creation, the God of the Bible. 

El, meaning strength; or as an adjective mighty, is dependent on its context to show to whom it refers.  In Genesis 1:1 it is in the plural form Elôhîym (el–o–heem), and is of course referring to the creator of heaven and earth.  Its plural form is foundational to the Trinitarian belief of the Christian church, a belief that though God is one in essence, as Deuteronomy 6:4 states “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”, he exists in plural form.  This is brought out in the progressive revelation of scripture as in Gen. 1:2; Ps. 104:30; Zech. 4:6 where the Spirit of God moves, is sent and motivates.  The Spirit of God is again seen in Isaiah 48:16 where he and the LORD God send Messiah; and Messiah himself, in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7, is revealed, not only as a descendant of David, but also as almighty God, the Everlasting Father.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commissions his disciples to go, teach and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and Paul, in 2Cor. 13:14, farewells the Corinthians with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

To quote from Adam Clarke’s commentary on the Old Testament:

“The original word Elohim - God, is certainly the plural form of El, or Eloah, and has long been supposed, by the most eminently learned and pious men, to imply a plurality of Persons in the Divine nature. As this plurality appears in so many parts of the sacred writings to be confined to three Persons, hence the doctrine of the TRINITY, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who have been deemed sound in the faith, from the earliest ages of Christianity. Nor are the Christians singular in receiving this doctrine, and in deriving it from the first words of Divine revelation. An eminent Jewish rabbi, Simeon ben Joachi, in his comment on the sixth section of Leviticus, has these remarkable words: “Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees, and each degree by itself alone, and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other.”

To quote Jerry M. Henry:

A proper biblical view of the Trinity balances the concepts of unity and distinctiveness. Two errors that appear in the history of the consideration of the doctrine are tritheism and Unitarianism. In tritheism, error is made in emphasizing the distinctiveness of the Godhead to the point that the Trinity is seen as three separate Gods, or a Christian polytheism. On the other hand, unitarianism  excludes  the  concept  of  distinctiveness  while focusing solely on the aspect of God the Father. In this way, Christ and the Holy Spirit are placed in lower categories and made less than divine. Both errors compromise the effectiveness and contribution of the activity of God in redemptive history.

This triune God who is from eternity, created the heavens and the earth and in this statement, the Bible refutes every form of unbelief.  To quote Peter Moses of the Evangelical Bible College of WA: -

“In Genesis 1:1 we have one of the most attacked verses in the Bible, we have 8 factors:

  The Character of God                                       -which opposes atheism

  The existence of an Eternal Creator                   -which opposes polytheism

  Creation of matter                                            -which opposes evolution

  God is above and beyond all things                   -which opposes pantheism       (worship of many gods) 

  Freedom of God                                               -which opposes fatalism

  Requirement for Supernatural Revelation            -which opposes naturalism

  Appeals to faith                                               -which opposes rationalism, empiricism

  Utter helplessness of man (grace)                     -which opposes legalism”

All these are philosophies of men and all of them in their origin, require faith to believe.  In maintaining these beliefs, faith will continue to be necessary if facts are not forthcoming.  The facts will never be forthcoming because none of these philosophies have irrefutable truth on their side.  Their fundamentals are not proven by observation and replication but are based upon predisposition, therefore it is a matter of ‘I am what I am because I believe’, and not ‘I am what I am because of the facts’.   This is of course also true for those of us who believe in the God of the Bible, but we make no other claim than to a belief, a faith that is dependant upon the historical and revelatory accuracy of the Bible.  Some religious philosophies and philosophic religions are not so honest.

Evolution is the most notorious philosophy for fraudulent claims to facts, yet it has no facts to prove its claims.  It is a convoluted system of belief with only one generally accepted foundation, the belief that God did not create heaven and earth. (If such a life force existed, it is the same life force that created in the first place, and created with such intricacy and design that the attributes of omniscience and omnipotence are clearly revealed, which in turn confirms creation and Deity.)

Pantheist beliefs are akin to polytheistic thinking and in their rejection of the Supreme Being, allow themselves the freedom of worshipping whatever object, element or concept they care to deify.  As all these are part of the natural order of things, the pantheist’s worship of sticks and stones, wind and rain etc., is to put it mildly, the worship of ‘lesser’ gods: for ultimately these owe their existence to Elohiym; for ‘Mother Nature’, as we have just seen, is a polytheistic smokescreen.

Fatalism supposes the existence of things to be a mindless gamble, with no set design or purpose and no guiding principle.   

Naturalism denies the supernatural and only accepts that which the ‘here and now’ of the natural world can be seen, felt, smelt, tasted or heard.  The five natural senses of the human body dictate the conditions of life.   

Rationalism and Empiricism are closely related to naturalism, as the ‘here and now’ of the natural world is the basis of all balanced and experiential thinking.  People who believe in evolution are neither rational nor are they empiricists for the evolving of life and species is founded on speculation and assumption.

Legalism is an appropriation of personal jurisdiction.  A belief that self is to be the ‘master of its own destiny’ and if perchance there is life after death, can by personal righteousness, achieve even that goal without recourse to a higher power.   This thought is carried over into all religions, where the good works of ‘self’, the prayers, the fasting, the ‘sacrifices’ etc., are expected to please or appease the Supreme Being: Where God is expected to accept the imperfections of self, because in self’s opinion, human good is good enough.  

It is only the true believer of Old Testament Judaism and New Testament Christianity who recognize the infinite quality of God’s holiness and that in their finite and limited being they “have fallen short of his glory”.  It is at the moment of this revelation that a man or woman will see his/her need and turn by faith to God, seeking his underserved mercy and favour.

     

Many of the above philosophies are intertwined with common ideas, but every one of them, except perhaps legalism, is founded upon a negative: ‘A personal God did not create the heavens and the earth’.  As supporters of these philosophies cannot establish this, nor produce unarguable facts to prove their own beliefs, we who do believe in the eternal God of creation should feel as free in preaching the Biblical testimony as any other does in promoting their faith. 

The faith of the believers of old was grounded in the faithfulness of their God and his ability to fulfil the promises he had made.  They saw this ability in his past dealings with their nation: in leading them out of Egypt, in his personal approach to them at Mt Sinai and in leading them into the Promised Land.  Yet these things were but an extension to the truth that was so powerfully stated in the first verses of Moses’ Book of the Law. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

This verse is as powerful today as it has ever been and we can begin to understand the power and wisdom of our God when we observe the vastness and intricacy of the visible and knowable universe.  Some of the most eloquent language is found in the Old Testament scriptures where men of God, under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, tell of God’s creative power.

“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? But the thunder of his power who can understand?”   Job 26:7-14

Atheism says there is no God, yet in that brash statement proves itself to be both arrogant and foolish.  Only those with omniscience and omnipresence can have such an assured knowledge, and these are two of the very attributes atheism denies.  Finite man does not have omniscience and omnipresence and is therefore incapable of such knowledge; consequently to make such an assertion is foolish and presumptuous.  

Polytheists claim the natural elements to be God: God is everything and everything is God.  Those people who give to nature the appellation ‘Mother’ are modern day Polytheists.    They will probably deny such an accusation because of its religious connotation, but it is the basic thought behind the title.  If Elohiym did not create heaven and earth then it must have been some ‘natural’ combustion: it created itself, or has always existed with its own vital ‘life force’.  Such reasoning’s are circular and an attempt to disassociate nature from its creator.  

“He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens: And He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth.  He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.” Jeremiah 10:11-13

The conception of the material universe was the outcome of God’s sovereign decision.

“Where were you (O man) when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?  Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?  Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”  Job 38:4-7

“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out the constellations in its season?  Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?”    Job 38:31-33

It is God’s sovereignty that is on display here, a sovereignty, which not only commands the material but also the immaterial, for by the sheer power of his will “all things (were) created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17.  That this passage is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ only proves him to be the sovereign creator of the universe and when placed in conjunction with such passages as Genesis 1:1-2, Job chapter 26 and Jeremiah 10:11-13, the doctrine of the triune God is clearly seen.

The ‘all things’ of Colossians 1:16 is complete.  It includes the seats of political and social government; the spiritual forces (whether good or evil) that operate within those governments, as well as the material universe.  The fact that spiritual forces operate behind the scenes is illustrated in Daniel 10:10-21.

In this passage we read of a great angelic being, coming and talking to Daniel in a vision “to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days:” But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was instrumental in delaying his coming and would continue to hinder him on his return.  A prince of Greece is also mentioned in context, and when we read Daniel 10:13, 21: 12:1, Jude 9, Rev. 12:7 and see Michael as one of the chief princes (‘the archangel’ who serves as the guardian of the nation Israel), it becomes obvious that the designation ‘prince’ is also a reference to certain angelic beings both good and bad, and that those spiritual beings can and do interfere in the world of men.  In Matthew 18:10, the Lord Jesus says quite clearly that children at least have an angel representing them before the God of heaven. 

The contemplation of creation and all that it entails brings to mind some understanding of the awesome power and wisdom of our God, and also the sovereignty he holds over his creation.  In the historical record of his word we see his control over this world.  God can and has and will interfere in the schemes of men when those schemes are detrimental to his plan.  He has destroyed the earth with a flood; confounded the language of men, sent great and terrible plagues upon the earth and destroyed the armies of his enemies.  He has spoken to man through the mouth of an ass, removed kings from their power, established others in their stead, chastised and disciplined his people and when necessary removes people, even his own, from that plan through premature death.  He is coming again to claim his Church from out of this world; he is going to judge mankind again with terrible plagues and in the end will physically return to rule this world with a rod of iron. 

Because of the manifest sovereignty of God and his recorded and guaranteed promises to mankind, we who live in this age of intellectualism, can also have a serene and an unruffled faith, a faith that need not be upset or confused by the claims of so called scientific and intellectual men.  God has given his word to all of his people, not just an educated priesthood or intelligentsia but to us all; and this being the case, those who are God’s people must have the God given ability to understand it or God would seem to be unjust.  The scholarly man’s intellect is of no advantage to him if he will not take God at his word and conversely, the ignorance of the unlearned is no disadvantage if he believes.

“Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”      Mark 10:15

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”      Matthew 18:4

The purpose of the creation has been subject to much discussion and wonder, and even some speculation, and this is not surprising seeing we are finite men and he is the infinite God:“ For who hath known the mind of the Lord?” Romans 11:34.  There is nothing in man that allows him to know the mind of God; we do however have his thoughts, for as 1 Corinthians 2:16, speaking in the same vein continues on to say, “But we have the mind of Christ.” 

In the context of the previous verses, the mind of Christ is that which the Spirit teaches and which the Apostles committed to writing, i.e. The New Testament.  As Christ (Israel’s Messiah) is the God of Israel and the source of Old Testament writings also, the mind of Christ is the Bible, the complete canon of God’s word.  The natural man cannot know the mind of the Lord, but those who are spiritual have available to them ‘the mind of Christ’, 1 Corinthians 2:11-14.

In Romans 11:36, Paul notes that ‘all things’ came together from God’s creative hand, by God’s power and design and for God’s purpose, and in this, all glory is his alone. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”  The ‘all things’ here are the same as the ‘all things’ of Colossians 1:16 and in that they include mankind, signifying that our existence is for God’s glory.   The Westminster Catechism of A.D. 1647 agrees to this, as is seen in its answer to the question: What is the chief end of man?   “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Most of us can accept this as true and even be content with it as far as it goes, but supposition would go beyond this with the seeking of answers to such reasoning’s as “If God is all in all, and has been before time began, and is sufficient unto himself, and in his triune being capable of fellowship and love and therefore unchanging tranquility; has he any need of other beings?  And if the answer to this is a resounding no, as it must be, then the primary reason for creation, though ultimately for the glory of God, must lie somewhere other than with angelic and human beings.”  

A suggestion put forward by LS Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, runs along these lines:

‘In eternity past before the creation, evil existed only as an antithesis to the good that was God.  The creation of living volitional beings brought about the opportunity for this antithesis to be fully manifest in all its stark and destructive contrast, and in the fullness of time to be destroyed, thereby leaving the holiness of God unopposed in his universe’.  The course of history will expose evil as totally and thoroughly destructive and leave no reasonable challenge possible to God’s goodness.

Whether there is truth in this, or even if it is pure supposition, the fact remains that evil has invaded God’s creation and the tempting of Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was its first earthly manifestation, for it was a flagrant disobedience to God’s specific instruction.  The fact that it was the serpent, a part of God’s creation and one which had been pronounced ‘good’ that enticed her raises the question: Where did this evil originate? 

John P. Newport, in his article in the Holman Bible Dictionary writes:

Matthew, Mark, and Luke clearly accept and teach a doctrine of a personal Satan and his agents called fallen angels or demons (Mark 3:22).  Matthew 4:1 tells of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. In Matthew 25:41 even hell is described as being prepared for the devil and his angels. Satan and demons are seen as able to inflict disease (Matt. 17:5-18; Luke 13:16). Satan possessed Judas (Luke 22:3). John saw Satan as the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) with the whole world in his power (1 John 5:19).

Satan, adversary or accuser, is revealed in the Old Testament as an angelic being who opposes God’s purpose in and through his creation (1Chronicles 21:1; Job 1 & 2; Psalm 109:6; Zechariah 3:1) and in Revelation 12:9 he is called the ‘great dragon’, ‘that old serpent’, ‘the Devil’, and one, “which deceiveth the whole world”. 

In Ezekiel 28 we are giving a lament against the king of Tyre in which a portrayal is given, of a being that is more than a man, and a setting that is more than earthly.

“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering….  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.  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”

“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.”

“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…” 

In Isaiah 14:12 –15 we have the same picturesque language within a condemnation of the king of Babylon:

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 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:  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” 

It is seen from other portions of scripture that Satan is an angelic being of great influence:  One that has obviously departed from the perfection of his original creation and who will be cast into hell prior to the establishment of the new heavens and new earth, Revelation 12:1-9, 20:10.

The description in Ezekiel 28 is of a cherub “O covering cherub”; one of the cherubim (winged angelic beings) whose allotted tasks were to do with the guarding of the tree of life, Gen. 3:24, and to “cover” or surround or protect the throne of God, Exodus 25:22; Ezekiel 10:1, 10:20, and in the passage from Isaiah just quoted, we have a description of the ultimate rebellion, where pride and arrogance rise up against the heavenly majesty and where destruction and the greatest of falls follow. 

It would seem that these passages portray the pride and fall of “Lucifer”, one of the cherubim, who became Satan the adversary and opposer of God.

It is clear from Job 1:6-12, 2:6; that Satan has access to God and is used of God to test the faith of believers.  In Luke 22:31 we see by the words of Christ himself that this access continues on into the present age, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” 

It is more than reasonable to assume that it was Satan who, through the serpent, tempted Eve to sin and brought about the fall of man and the destruction of perfect environment.   God’s creation had been pronounced as very good; or literally, the very best, and he has made it clear from scripture that that very best is going to be restored.  He is going to restore perfect environment and complete his program for the ages against all the opposition of the demonic forces.

That program includes the restoration of the human race, restoration from the control of sin and evil and into an eternal and living relationship with the Almighty God within the new heavens and new earth.  This is our assured hope; assured because God has promised that it will come to pass.

Satan has taken the human race captive through temptation and sin and is at war with God to keep them enslaved to their sin.   God, in the fulness of time sent his Son into the world to redeem mankind from that enslavement and to set them free and it is in the area of faith, or obedience to his word, that human beings are set free and sanctified. 

Satan captivated Eve through pride and ignorance, but Adam sinned in that he deliberately chose to follow his wife instead of obeying God.  Satan holds us all captive by the same means: willful disobedience, ignorance of God and his provision of a Saviour, and a misplaced belief in the basic goodness of man.  Mankind’s best standards are constantly being marred by greed, selfishness, pride and conceit yet many still insist that God will lower his own perfect standards to accept theirs.  God cannot and does not lower his standards, for how can perfection do so without ceasing to be perfection?   God’s standards remain and sin continues to be an impassable barrier, which imperfect men cannot overcome.   

By the giving of his perfect life as a sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ the Son of God paid the accepted price for the ransom of sin’s captives, and any who recognize the truth of these things and who accept him as Saviour, will receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who in turn will regenerate and cause them to be born into the family of God.

All who are born again in this manner enter into an eternal relationship with God and are enlisted into the ranks of Christ’s church, to go to the world with the gospel of salvation.  The satanic forces will not appreciate this and everything will be done to hinder such a ministry.  It is when the new believer begins to recognize this that the truth of Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:10-18 will gain real meaning:

“be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”

In 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 Paul alludes to this warfare, a battle which he was quite  willing  to  wage  against  such   satanic  emissaries as  had  infiltrated the Corinthian church and who, through the slander of his person, were attempting to usurp his apostolic authority.  The NIV is quoted here as it brings out the sense better than the KJV. 

“By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.”

This is strong language indeed, but one does not enter into conflict if one is not prepared for a fight.  Paul was a soldier of the Cross and he was prepared to use all of his considerable knowledge and verbal skills to destroy the arguments and the pretensions of those whose teachings and lifestyle was at variance with the knowledge from God.  The strongholds are those philosophies which men preach in opposition to God, which philosophies we have seen in earlier pages.  The pretensions and arguments they advocate are not sustainable against truth, and we weak and susceptible creatures are able to gain the victory over their insidious appeals, only by displacing them from our minds by means of belief in the truth.  The battleground of this warfare is now revealed to be the mind of the believer, and our mind is cleared of Satan’s deadly arsenal of false ideologies, when we have the knowledge from God resident in our souls. 

Satan, through his human and demonic representatives, attacks God’s people on three fronts: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  This covers every aspect of human experience: from the bodily appetites to the craving for material possessions to the desire for fame and recognition.  If we deny the presence of these lusts within us, Satan has already gained the victory and we are found to be in denial of God’s word.  For “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8), but, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) and we are ready once again, like Paul, to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14).

Satan is the personification of evil, and all beings, angelic or human, who are led by him, partake of his evil ways.  He was a murderer from the beginning and a liar (John 8:44): a liar in that he departed from the truth and now attempts to pervert God’s word in the world.  Every philosophy that runs counter to God’s word is a perversion of the truth and comes directly from Satan’s influence.  He is a murderer, in that he will persecute God’s people even unto death, and the fact that he has been allowed to do this is very evident throughout history.  There have been many Christians who, in their unyielding stand for the truth have been martyred for their testimony to the reality of God in their lives.  They would not compromise truth.

But even though Satan so often seems to have the upper hand, it is not so, for “Greater is he who is in you, than he who is in the world” 1John 4:4.  Though Satan accuses us before God and slanders God’s name in this world, his capacity to inflict physical hurt is strictly limited by God.  He is used as a tool in God’s hands; to test our faith, which faith is displayed in our obedience to God’s guidelines; to inflict discipline, which is designed by God to bring us back to the path of righteousness; and as a last resort, to kill the believer in the ‘sin unto death’, which is the final discipline administered to those believers who are incorrigible and will not acknowledge God’s authority. These areas of Satan’s sanctioned commission are all within the field of the human will, the battleground for the spiritual warfare that is being waged in and around us.

God’s created beings are endued with free will and this is evident from the choices they have made: Satan in his pride and rebellion, Eve in her obvious disinterest and subsequent ignorance and Adam in following the woman’s lead and disobedience to God’s command.  This rejection of God and ensuing fall of the human race resulted in the knowledge of good and evil, which we as children of Adam inherit.  It is this ability to discern between good and evil and our propensity to follow the dictates of the flesh rather than the control and discipline of the mind, which entices us to evil. 

The passions and desires of the flesh came from God’s creative hand and were pronounced good, and we can know this because Eve, in her perfection, “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise”.  But by adding the words “neither shall ye touch it” to God’s prohibition, Eve shows a lack of attention to detail and because of her inattention and ignorance “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” Genesis 3:6.

Knowledge of good and evil, or discernment between right and wrong is in the mind and it was at this point that the human race took upon itself the responsibility for their actions, and innocence was lost.  The desires of the body, the desires of the eyes and the desire for status were, from that moment on, to be under the discipline of the mind and we are to do only that which is good, i.e. not destructive to ourselves or others.  We are in fact to follow the law of love and not the dictates of evil.

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus spelt out the all-encompassing sufficiency of this law when he said to his disciples, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

This was a quotation and amplification of the command given by Moses in Deut. 6:5   “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”  Both the commands are a simplification of the first four of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 and these, in turn, are a reasonable and natural extension to the very first verse in the Bible.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

When as Christians, we look at the observable creation and try to comprehend the incomprehensible majesty of God, and then examine ourselves; we see our constant failure to fulfill such commands.  Instead of love, we see pride and selfishness; pride in that so often we put God out of our lives by treating his word as a non essential; and selfishness, in that we live to please ourselves with no thought to the welfare of others.  We are made to see ourselves as sinners and are forced by our failure, to turn once again to God.  It is when this has happened time and time again, we begin to appreciate the riches of God’s grace and the immeasurable depth of Christ’s sacrifice.

The sacrifice of Christ Jesus the “Lamb of God” was and still is the pivotal point of history and of the individual life.  We have made a brief reference to the infinite qualities of God’s holiness and also the absurd notion held by religion that that holiness can be invaded by human imperfection, yet do we fully appreciate the human dilemma contained within those irreconcilable positions?

Holiness in regard to man is sanctity, piety, devoutness, godliness etc., and yet in regard to man, these are never a designation of perfection.   In regard to God however, holiness relates to the infinite righteousness and infinite justice of God’s being.  It is with these infinite qualities of God that finite man finds it impossible to relate.  In his ignorance of absolute righteousness man substitutes it with relative righteousness, and thinking he has attained righteousness, becomes self-righteous.  Yet the Bible tells us that “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” Isaiah 64:6a.

It would be a contradiction for infinite God to be less than perfect, therefore to accept imperfect men would be inconsistent with his being.  It should be obvious to all who are sane, that no one is perfect, and to follow that logically is to conclude, rightly, that all mankind are unacceptable to God.

Because we are imperfect, again using logic, we are incapable of producing perfection, therefore incapable of making an offering acceptable to God.  We are in truth, lost; lost in the deepest and most devastating meaning of the word.   

It is this impassable void between God and man that is the basis of the human dilemma of death. 

Adam suffered the consequences of violating God’s righteousness in that he became separated from God and from God’s provision for the sustenance of life, found in the ‘Tree of Life’.  God’s warning, “you shall surely die”, moth tamuth; is literally, a death thou shalt die; or, dying thou shalt die.   Adam died to God the moment he sinned and suffered physical death as an inevitable result of separation from the tree of life.  God drove him out of Eden and placed guards to keep him from the tree of life in case he ate of its fruit and lived forever, Gen. 3:22-24.   That man should live forever is God’s intention, but not in a state of imperfection. 

As Isaiah 11:1-9; 56:17-25 shows, it is God’s intention to restore creation, and as it was the human will, bowing to the dictates of evil, which brought about the destruction of perfect environment, so it is the human will, bowing to the purpose of God, which will lead to the restoration.  There are many who will strenuously deny such an emphasis on the free will of man; yet faith, that means by which the individual comes to know God and by which he or she enters relationship with him is all to do with the mental assent, the free un-coerced will of the individual human being.

“Faith is not the exclusive possession of religion.  It is a basic characteristic of all men from the youngest to the oldest and is therefore a God given quality set into the design and purpose of his creation.  It is first seen in Genesis 2:16-17 where the prohibition was given to the parents of mankind.  “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die".  Adam and his wife were to trust and obey God.

 Faith is the very foundation of all learning, for at every stage of the process, our findings are dependent on the accuracy of what goes before.  We place our trust and faith in the accuracy of previous conclusions.  Even the atheistic evolutionist exercises faith in what he believes, for he places trust in information used in establishing the tenets of his belief.  The issue here is not the truth of a mans conclusions, but the use of faith in making those conclusions.  In all learning there is this progression, the progression from knowledge to belief.  Having knowledge of something does not constitute a belief in that thing.  Though a man may have knowledge of the theory of evolution, it does not necessarily mean that he believes in it; knowledge only progresses to belief when knowledge is accepted as truth.  We may have heard that the world is round, but until we accept it as truth we cannot claim it as a belief. 

Although a man may have knowledge, it does not follow that he will put his trust in what he knows, and it is this trust that reveals the delicate difference between belief and believe, the subject of belief and the action of believing.  It is this action of believing, or trust, that is faith.

Knowledge progresses to faith when the object (or subject) of that knowledge is implicitly trusted.  We may understand the principles of salvation, but until we actively trust in God’s word we cannot in truth, claim Christianity as a belief.

The book of James is an extension of this truth within the spiritual life.  It is essential to believe in God our Saviour, but if that saving faith is not followed by obedience, it is a lifeless belief.  You may be saved, you may have eternal life, but your profession of faith is without power and you become a candidate for Gods’ call to awake and rise from the dead.  Eph 5:14 “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”  True Christian faith includes both mental and physical obedience in loving God and your neighbour.

As the progression from knowledge to belief is true in both the secular and spiritual field of learning, in both evolution and theology, the conclusion here and throughout the Scriptures is that God has given all men the capacity for knowledge and faith.  The faculty of faith is God’s gift; trust or the act of faith is man’s responsibility.

It can now be seen that faith is a combination of both God’s sovereignty and man’s volition?  The evolutionist, as an example of all unbelief, uses his faith in trusting a lie; the Christian uses his faith in trusting God’s word.

The Scriptures have innumerable passages where man’s responsibility is commanded or encouraged. Every command to believe is an acknowledgment by God of man’s obligation.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” is a simple statement of fact added to an encouragement to act positively.   In effect we are being told, “You have the ability to believe, therefore in the interest of your eternal soul, act upon the knowledge received”.”

Adam was lost, yet he learned the lessons of faith which he passed on to his sons. Abel displayed this same faith when he offered the first of his flock as a sacrifice; for the type of sacrifice had been set in Genesis 3:21 when God took the life of an innocent victim to cover the results of sin, Adam and Eve’s nakedness.  Abel believed and his sacrifice was accepted, Cain did not believe and offered the fruits of his labour instead.  Because of the imperfection of human effort the works of our hands are not acceptable (Eph. 2:8-9) and so Cain’s sacrifice was rejected.

Here we see the origin of the Old Testament sacrificial system and its underlying principle, the principle of substitution, the innocent for the guilty.  These sacrifices had a twofold purpose: on man’s part they were to display confession of sin, on God’s part they were to cover, or atone for those sins, until “the fulness of time was come, (when) God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons”.  Galatians 4:4-5

The letter to the Hebrews, chapter 9 through 10:18, brings this truth out in all its fulness.

Under the first covenant, there were regulations for the worship services carried out within the Jewish Tabernacle and later Temple.  This Tabernacle/Temple was in two sections with both being referred to as tabernacles: the first was called the sanctuary, the second, being partitioned off from the first by a veil, was the Holiest of all, or to use an Old Testament term, ‘the most holy’ (Ex. 26:33).  Both had certain items of furniture which were used in the service, but the object of the writer of Hebrews was not to elaborate on anything but the ministry of the high priest only and his entry into the Holiest of all, once a year, and with the blood of the sacrifice, which he was to offer for his own sins and for the sins of the people of Israel.  (Heb.9: 1-7)

The fact that the veil was there and access was denied to all but the high priest signified that entrance into God’s presence was not yet apparent.  This tabernacle was an illustration, a type or figure of things to come and epitomized the old covenant of Sinai, which covenant embodied material and earthly regulations and benefits, but could not perfect the conscience.  As the writer of Hebrews says, it was imposed on them until the time of reformation.   This word ‘reformation’, is from the Greek: diorthosis and has the meaning, to ‘straighten thoroughly’ and is a reference to the time when God would bring in the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34.  (Heb 9: 8-10)

Messiah, who Isaiah tells us is the Almighty God and Everlasting Father, would be born of a virgin and as a son, given to Israel and the world as the anointed Saviour, to be a propitiatory sacrifice for sin (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 53; 1John 4:10).  This perfect man would perform the role of the high priest and by means of his own sacrificial blood (or death) enter into the Holiest of all to represent mankind before God.  If the sacrifice of bulls and goats could atone, or temporarily cover the sins of men, how much more shall the sacrifice of Messiah/Christ cleanse our very conscience from our past manner of life, so that we might honour God in both mind and body?  This question can only lead to a positive answer.  (Heb 9: 11-14)

The new covenant of Jeremiah 31 would be ratified by the shedding of the blood of Messiah who was to be the fulfillment of those Temple sacrifices made year after year.  The sacrificial death of Christ accomplished two great objectives: 

a. It released the power of the ‘new life’ contained within the covenant, for as the writer of Hebrews writes, “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth”, and this is verified by the words of our Lord “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit,” John 12:24.

b. It consecrated his work of redemption in that a perfect sacrificial offering had been made and God’s holiness had been satisfied or propitiated

Everything pertaining to the old covenant was dedicated with the blood of the sacrifice.  “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.”  If such sacrifice was necessary to dedicate the pattern of propitiation, it is of necessity that a far greater sacrifice is made for the dedication of the heavenly reality?  (Heb 9: 15-23)

For Christ did not enter into the holy places on earth, but by means of his resurrection, entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.  Because of his resurrection and in the power of an endless life, Christ needed only to offer himself once to bear the sins of many, and to them that believe in him he will come again to take them to himself.  (Heb 9: 24-28)

The Temple ordinances foreshadowed these things to come but because of the sinful nature of mankind, were unable to introduce the reality.   But Christ, “after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God… For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”  God’s Spirit, who he has given as a seal to those who believe, testifies to the reality of these things, and it is the truth and light, which he brings to the heart of man, wherein lies the power of the new covenant.  “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”  (Heb 10: 1-17)

In vs.18 the writer of Hebrews gives a succinct assessment and dismissal of Temple ritual: “Now where remission of these (sin and iniquity) is, there is no more offering for sin”. It was the ‘once for all’ propitiatory sacrifice of Christ that has paid for sin and ended the need of further sacrifice, and because it was planned before the world began and is conclusive in its achievement, it is seen to be God’s (Elôhîym) strategic defeat of evil.  “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,” “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,” 1 Peter 1:18-20 & 23.

The tactical victory over evil (that warfare in which we humans have our part), is achieved in regeneration, described here as being ‘born again’, and in the sanctification of God’s people.  This victory will be completed in the resurrection of the saints and the setting up of the new heavens and the new earth. 

In that day, evil will be totally vanquished and God’s original purpose for the old creation will be accomplished within the new, where only righteousness will dwell.