Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Angelic Conflict. Part 43. Out of the lowest, God shall bring the highest.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Point 10. The Pseudo Victory of Satan in the Original Fall of Man.
1. He had the power to strike down Satan and the fallen angels and just cast them in a prison without giving them a day in court to state their case.
2. He could give them an opportunity to prove the claims of Satan to equality with God and superiority in power, and allow these claims to have a complete trial.
God’s plan was for all the universe to see, once and for all, if it were possible for any creature whatsoever, of any rank, however exalted, to live for even a moment independent of God the Creator.
This trial, the angelic conflict, the invisible war, actually brings out the result of a second will, the creature’s will over God’s will, and it takes place in time or human history.
After they had their say and God found them guilty of rebellion, and the reason they had been created which was to glorify Him, God revealed His hatred toward the sin of rebellion by putting an ice pack around the earth and confining Satan and all of his followers to this prison, GEN 1:1-2, 2PE 3:6, JOB 9:5-8, JER 4:23-25, PSA 18:7-15.
From the very moment when Lucifer in his pride, cried out, “I will, I will, I will,” he was doomed to everlasting disappointment and damnation.
Anyone who thinks even for a moment that he can get along without God, that he can accomplish anything in his own power, is doomed to the sensation best described as “dust in the mouth.”
After all he had learned that his wisdom was not omniscience, that his power was not omnipotence, that he was a creature and had no ability to create.
He had carried with him a group of angels and demons who had been willing to accept his authority and his ways, and they would learn that all of them with their combined intelligence and power would be unable to put the chaotic world together again.
He had the appetite and desire to be like God, to act like God and to possess the universe, but there was nothing but a sense of emptiness, impotence because of inability!
Every man and woman who wishes to be independent of God should know that the path of any creature who cuts loose from a surrendered dependence upon God is in the path of Lucifer. Emptiness, inability, frustration, dust: these are the portion of the man who walks his own way.
JER 49:20, JER 50:45, Therefore hear the plan of the Lord!
One of the main problems that God has to deal with in the human race is the fact that most individuals are so stubborn and rebellious toward God’s plan for their life.
PSA 78:8 A stubborn and rebellious generation does not prepare its heart, And their spirit is not faithful to God.
Satan, who had claimed that he would be like the Possessor of heaven and earth, was to be revealed as the bragger and boaster who could not fulfill what he claimed to be!
God was choosing man as the arm which would defeat Satan, both in bringing him to total defeat and in replacing him in the scheme of the government of the universe.
EPH 3:10 in order that the manifold [or the abundance of the] wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
The earth was Satan’s kingdom; God had set him in authority over it, EZE 28:14.
Satan had never been dispossessed of the earth even in his confinement; he had been placed on the earth!
God created man lower than all the angels and limited him to planet earth under the law of gravity, confining man in space, in time, in intelligence, and in power.
HEB 2:7 Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;
Out of the lowest, God shall bring the highest.
Even out of man’s fallen condition, God will reach down below the level man was created and offer mankind salvation and eternal life.
He hates grace because grace reveals the glory of God.
Satan wants the creature to earn or deserve things because he is the greatest creature to come from the hand of God, and therefore he would receive more merit than anyone else.
God’s will for your life as a member of the Royal Family of God is to bless you!
In eternity past God provided a fantastic plan which included His highest and best just for you.
EPH 1:3 Worthy of praise and glorification be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Anything God does results in His glorification.
God does not depend on us for His pleasure and glory, but instead He expresses His pleasure and glory toward us.
God is not glorified by our system of human works but is glorified by meeting our every need.
ISA 26:15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation, Thou art glorified;
ISA 60:21 “Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.”
PSA 50:15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will glorify Me.
He hates to see someone living by faith because they make Satan and the fallen angels look ridiculous.
Because we are confined to planet earth, we have to live by faith and believe what the Bible has to say about God; and Satan hates when we trust in the character and nature of God by believing what His word says, even when it doesn’t seem right!
2CO 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight -
HEB 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
ROM 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Out of the creation of a lower creature called man will come the greatest glory to God and the full and total victory in the invisible war or the angelic conflict.
As this drama continues we will see “the paradox of the fortunate fall.”