Truth Matters - Weekend, 6

Hey, this is Jim Graham from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explore relationship instead of religion every week. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Welcome to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis, heard daily on this station at 8 20 AM and 5 20 PM. Truth Matters is a ministry of The Truth Project, whose mission is to empower men and women in the Christian faith to teach biblical truth in the culture and marketplace of ideas, using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth and sharing the message of Jesus. Learn more about the ministry of The Truth Project at www.projecttruthmatters.com.

And let's join Dr. Cheryl Davis for this week's extended edition of Truth Matters. In this week's edition, it's Satan being cast down to earth. The war in heaven is a continuation of the war that has been going on for ages between God and Satan. The war breaks out in heaven during the tribulation. This is a war between Michael, God's angel and Satan.

We see this war in the future, but the war is going on right now as we speak in heaven. But the best place to learn about this is Daniel chapter 10. Months ago, you know, we did the book of Daniel before we got into the series, and I won't necessarily go back to Daniel chapter 10, because I know you've been following the Daniel series as well as Revelation. But chapter 10 of Daniel, he's in captivity, and he's made a request to God in prayer.

I'll just summarize it for us. He received no answer to his prayers for 21 days in spite of fasting and mourning. But on the 24th day, he is told by an emissary from heaven that the answer to his prayer was delayed due to the opposition from the prince of Persia. And that is in Daniel chapter 10 verse 13, and I'll just read that really quickly. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

His answer only came through as a result of the assistance furnished by Michael, one of the chief princes. What I want to say is that, you know, we think a lot of these signs are abstract or that they're theoretical, but this war is not abstract or theoretical. It is concrete and real. Evil has a personality, as do his angels, and they use their personalities to influence the personalities of earthly rulers to accomplish their desires. Just as God will one day punish earthly rulers for their sin, he intends to punish angelic influencers. And so we see that in Isaiah chapter 24 verse 21.

And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exhausted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. But really, why does this war even exist? You know, we've established that the war has been going on since Genesis chapter 3, but why does spiritual warfare even exist? If Christ defeated Satan at the cross, then why is he still the prince of this world? You know, that's a pretty tough question.

And when going through this in our class, that is a real valid question. You know, why wasn't the sentence carried out for Satan immediately? If Satan was defeated at the cross, why is he still roaming around and seems like he's in control?

And why is he of a point of prominence, being the prince of this world? But to be honest, when we think about it, Satan appears to have more freedom than we think he should. You know, really, when I think of Satan being defeated, I don't know why he's still able to influence the way that he does and why humans are following such prey to him, even more so in these last days. And we know that Jesus died on a cross and defeated Satan.

But really, for a long time, I really didn't get this and didn't understand until I really got into studying Revelation to fully understand it. The best way to understand this disconnect is to remember that the cross was first and foremost a legal transaction. Christ appeased the wrath of God and satisfies his justice with his blood as the sacrifice, which was foreshadowed by the sacrificial system given with the law. But because of this, Satan was disarmed as an accuser of people before God because of the sacrifice of Christ. So legally, Satan was judged and disarmed. But like any legal transaction, there is a difference between legislation and enforcement.

The sentence will be completely carried out at the millennium. But that's a key point. There's a difference between legislation and enforcement. But the Church of Jesus Christ can partially enforce Satan's sentence by standing against him on the legal ground we have in the death and resurrection of Christ.

For example, let's talk about a law. A law that is not enforced will not do any good at all. It doesn't mean that it's not a law.

It just means it is having no effect since it is not being enforced. The Church of Jesus Christ is the enforcer of the penalty of Satan based on Jesus's death on the cross. If the cross does, if the church does not do its part, then we are not showing any indication that Satan was judged and disarmed at the cross. We're failing to enforce the legal reality that Jesus Christ defeated Satan. We're failing to put on our spiritual armor and resist the devil, causing him to flee. It takes spiritual weapons to win spiritual battles. You know, and oftentimes we go to spiritual battles with carnal weapons and they're totally useless. It takes spiritual weapons to win spiritual battles, and we know that in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 4 through 5.

But the problem is that the church does not perceive the spiritual battle. One of the most important weapons in our arsenal is prayer, and we know that prayer worked for Daniel. But moving on to the other verses in this chapter, you know, we've just summarized Satan's thrown out of heaven and the woman, the child, and the dragon. Satan is cast out of heaven and relegated back to earth for his final attack on God's people.

And let's finish chapter 12 by reading verses 10 through 17. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she will fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and a half time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. In verses 7 through 9, we see that Satan is thrown out of heaven. And I wanted to ask the question, why is Satan in heaven in the first place?

Now wasn't he expelled out of heaven for the sin of pride? Why is Satan in heaven, even during this time? But prior to his final casting out, here in chapter 12, Satan still has access to the throne of God.

You know, and I think some of us may not even think about it like that. We find that in Job chapter 1 and 2. Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 calls Satan the accuser of the brethren. And this is what Satan did to Job.

Satan and God had a conversation. So if you remember the story of Job, Satan comes to Jesus and he says, what have you been up to? And Satan says, I've been out and about going to and fro, seeking whom I may devour. And Christ says, Have you considered my servant Job? And he says, No, you know, you have a hedge around him. So even when Christ lifted the hedge, or God lifted the hedge for Job to then be tempted by Satan, Satan comes back to say, you didn't allow me to touch him, you know, you only allow me to touch his stuff, his stuff didn't have a hold on him.

But if you allow me to touch him, I'm pretty sure he'll curse you. So we know that Satan has access to the throne of God just because of the story of Job. But in Revelation chapter 12, we come to the last period in Satan's existence, when he has the freedom to enter the presence of God as an accuser of the believers. And in verse 10, it says, then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who have accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. Verse nine mentioned several names for the accuser of the brethren.

First is Satan. Satan in his current state means to oppose that is generally an Old Testament term. His opposition is towards God, his fall from heaven was due to pride as evidenced by his attempt to exalt himself above the throne of God. And we've talked about that before that is found in Isaiah, as well as Ezekiel, he is now confined to the realm of this earth as the prince of the power of the air. And we find that in Ephesians chapter two, verse two, yet he still has access to the presence of God and the throne of God currently, the next name for Satan, which is often used as the devil, which is the Greek word Diabolus, which means slanderer. As a slanderer and attempter, Satan is active in many ways in the New Testament to cause the people of God to fail and to fall.

And we see that throughout the Bible. But just a couple examples are Matthew chapter four, where Satan tries to seduce Jesus in the wilderness. John 13, two in Luke 22, three, where Satan betrays Jesus in Judas' mind. In Luke 22, verse 31, it made Peter fail in his leadership role. In Acts five, verse three, Satan persuaded Ananias and Sapphira to lie.

And there are many more examples. But a key verse, as I said before, that Satan is cast down and he is thrown out of heaven. There are three key things that happen when Satan is thrown out of heaven. Verses 10 through 12, we see a song that is sung in heaven when Satan is cast down. And here we see the praise of heaven.

I heard a loud voice. Many believe the loud voice is the song of the martyrs described in Revelation six, verses nine through 10. He is singing in praise of the fact that Satan has been cast down, no longer able to accuse the brethren in heaven.

And really, this is good news and bad news. Good news is that he's leaving heaven. So the martyrs and those that are in heaven are praising God.

But the bad news is that he's coming to earth. And the martyrs are praising because Satan has been overcome. Remember, they were the souls underneath the altar, and that they gave their lives for Jesus Christ. In verse 11, they overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and not loving their lives more than they loved God. And we know by loving God more, they gave their life. We must overcome the same way the martyrs do in the early church and during this time, and we overcome three ways.

The first way is by the blood of the Lamb. Revelation chapter seven, verse 14, pictures the martyrs coming out of the tribulation with robes made white in the blood of the Lamb. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan's defeat was made legal on that day, meaning that Satan has no grounds in which to accuse the repentant, faithful believer. We overcome also by the word of our testimony. Martyrs are killed because they would not keep quiet about their faith.

Those who are bold enough and faithful enough to testify for Christ will overcome the devil. And the third way that we overcome is by loving God more than life itself. Christ died to overcome our greatest fear, which is the fear of death. The promise of eternal life means little to one who would fight to keep hold of his earthly life.

Some of us may not be confronted with death, but it may be that we lower our status or things or our profession or our jobs, etc. But it may be that we love those more, more of our friends, more than Christ. We love our relationships. We love our jobs.

We love our status. Right. It may not be that we have to give our lives or we'll be faced with giving our lives at this time.

I think at some point we may. But at this point, it's about do we love our idols more than we love Christ? So the first was the praise in heaven that happened when Christ was or when Christ cast Satan out of heaven. The second is the persecution on earth, which really this is the most dreadful part of Satan being cast down to earth. So imagine the praise in heaven when the enemy's cast out of heaven. You can imagine it is a glorious praise that they're finally finished with Satan. But you can think about that opposite wrath from the devil as a result. And we see in these verses that there's an aggravated assault. The devil, knowing his time is short, comes to earth filled with wrath.

So he only has three and a half years of freedom left before he's bound for a thousand years. The intense and awful nature of the great tribulation is directly related to the wrath that the devil brings with him to earth. And that's a key point that you need to understand is the reason why the great tribulation is so terrible is that Satan is cast down to the earth, which he unleashes his wrath on the earth. This is an anti-Semitic assault also. And when we talk about anti-Semitic, we talk about anti-Jew or anti-Israel.

When the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman. You remember the woman is Israel. As we said before, Satan has been persecuting the Jews as God's chosen people for their entire existence. He hates the Jews because of Jesus. And even we know today that Jews are subject to a tremendous amount of persecution in the U.S. as even across the world. But in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 15, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

And we know that Israel has been subject to bondage, literally, as far as the bondage in which they were delivered from out of Egypt, but also spiritual bondage today. You've been listening to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of the Truth Project, a North Carolina-based ministry dedicated to teaching biblical truth and sound theology to those inside and outside of the church. If you'd like to listen to these messages on demand, go to projecttruthmatters.com and click on the podcast link. Dr. Davis is also available to speak to your ministry group or church function. She can be reached by email at cheryldavisatprojecttruthmatters .com. Or if you'd like to send a letter, the address is Project Truth Matters, Post Office Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28384. You can hear Truth Matters devotionals on weekdays at 8 20 a.m. and 5 20 p.m. Until next time, let's all work together to teach a biblical truth, to assist, equip, edify, and encourage one another, and bring the Gospel to the world, because truth matters. This is the Truth Network.