theology-acst – Page 6 – jeffersonvann

ACST 50: The Sacrifice

As the Messiah, Jesus came to give up his life by crucifixion in order to rescue us from Satan’s grasp.[1] It was necessary that Christ be put to death to accomplish salvation. The question as to why this was necessary, and just exactly how his death saves anyone belongs to the locus of soteriology, and particularly the doctrine of the atonement.

the concept of atonement

Some explain the concept of atonement by saying that sin separates us from God, and what Jesus did on the cross caused us to be at-one with him again. Atonement is at-one-ment. This is fairly accurate, but it fails to really answer the above questions of why and how that is true. To get to those answers, readers must look to the Old Testament.

There is a formula that is repeated almost verbatim twelve times in the books of Leviticus and Numbers. It goes something like this: “the sinner shall offer the sacrifice to the LORD, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.”[2] This formula reveals four parties involved in the practice of atonement as described in the Mosaic law:

First, there was the offended party – the LORD himself. If God could not be affected by our actions, the atonement would not be necessary. But his righteousness is deeply affected by our acts of unrighteousness.
Second, there was the offending party – the sinner. Whether those sins were deliberate or done out of ignorance was not the point. The point was that something had been done or left undone that offended God’s holiness.
Third, there was the innocent sacrifice. A highly valuable animal was killed in order to reconcile the two above parties – to make them one again. There was a price to pay to restore the relationship between the sinner and his God. There was a price for forgiveness.
Fourth, there was the qualified priest. Priests serve as mediators between the two parties. The priest has responsibilities toward both parties. He represents them. He follows the rules set by the offended party (God) that will allow him (God) to forgive the offenses. The priest does not forgive the sins, but he does make it possible for God to do so. The Mosaic law provided for means for priests to be cleansed, so that they could qualify to serve in this vital function for their brothers and sisters.

Why?

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was offered up on the cross once and for all to bear all the world’s sins.[3] The Mosaic ritual of atonement was an analogy pointing to this great event. It taught us that an individual’s sins are – first and foremost – committed against God himself. To really understand the need for the cross, we must look at the problem of sin from God’s perspective.

It is entirely human to speculate about other scenarios where the problem of sin could be dealt with in other manners. But those who think of such things must realize that their own concepts of fairness and justice (and even mercy and grace) are products of their limited knowledge and experience. God is the only one who is the truly offended party, so only he can decide on the proper remedy for the offense. Only he knows what can reconcile him to a sinner permanently.

The best that the theologian can do in answering “why the cross?” is to see the correlations between the analogy and the event it predicted. So, it helps to recognize these correlations.

1. The cross was a God-thing. It was the destiny that Jesus was born to, the destination he was driven to. The Via Dolorosa was the path that God had ordained for Jesus to take from the very beginning. Jesus said that when he would be lifted up onto the cross that it would draw all people to himself.[4] He could not pray for God to rescue him from that hour of trial, because it was the purpose for which he had come.[5]

2. Jesus took sin upon himself at the cross, and bore the full punishment for it. Paul told the Corinthians that “for our sake (God) made (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin.”[6] Jesus took the place of every sinner who ever lived and suffered as our representative. When the Father looked down at his own Son on the cross he saw not the sinners, but their sacrifice.

3. The Son of God on the cross was the most precious and valuable sacrifice ever offered. If there were ever a man or woman who was completely sinless from the womb, and who lived a life exemplary beyond measure, then that person would have qualified for the cross. But humanity never produced such a saint. So, God in his grace stepped forward and provided the sacrifice himself. God became flesh,[7] so that he could sacrifice his own flesh.[8]

4. As fully human and completely sinless, Christ also qualified to offer himself.[9] He served both as sacrifice and as priest.[10] He “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins”[11] – which was himself. The offering was accepted, and need never be repeated. Christ, “by a single offering … has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”[12]

How?

Through time, people have speculated as to how Christ’s death atoned for the sins of others.[13] Some have even misinterpreted Scripture itself and held to ideas which fail to represent what it says about the cross.

For example, the Bible speaks of Christ’s death as a ransom paid.[14] Some have concluded that Christ had to die as payment to Satan to purchase back believers from the hell they deserved. This work has already shown that the only thing God owes Satan is destruction in hell.[15]

The Bible presents Christ as the example for believers to follow.[16] Some have included that Christ’s death on the cross is the ultimate example that believers should follow in obedience to God’s will, no matter what. But a careful examination of all the example texts will show that nowhere is the believer called on to die in the same way that Christ did. We are take up our crosses and follow him.

The real message of the cross is that by dying for us, Christ did something that we needed, but that we could not do for ourselves. Peter says “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”[17] Christ’s death on the cross made our sanctification possible. It was more than an example. Without Christ’s death, no one could ever follow his example.

Substitutionary Atonement

In a very real sense, Christ took our place on the cross. Humanity rightly deserved to die, and to die horribly for sinful thoughts, rebellion against God, and as a consequence of our actions. Enter Jesus. The Prophet Isaiah explained what the cross would be 700 years before it happened. He put it this way:

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried

our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was

wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed

for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement

that brought us peace, and with his stripes we

are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us

all” (Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV).

God lovingly provided a solution to humanity’s sin problem by sending his only Son to suffer and die in our place. This is what theologians call substitutionary atonement. It is the only definition of atonement that matches the Old Testament examples.

In the end, both questions (why the cross? and how the cross?) cannot be fully answered. We must simply accept that this is the way that God has chosen by his grace to deal with our sin problem without destroying us. Christ became our atoning sacrifice.

[1] see chapter 36.

[2] Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16, 18: 6:7; 19:22; Numbers 15:25, 28.

[3] Romans 6:10; Hebrews 9:28.

[4] John 12:32.

[5] John 12:27.

[6] 2 Corinthians 5:21.

[7] John 1:14.

[8] John 10:18.

[9] Hebrews 7:27.

[10] Hebrews 3:1, 14, 15; 5:5, 6, 10; 6:20; 7:3, 24, 26-28.

[11] Hebrews 10:12.

[12] Hebrews 10:14.

[13] For a more complete treatment of false theories of the atonement, see the Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1989).

[14] Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 1:18; Revelation 5:9.

[15] see chapter 44.

[16] John 13:15; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 2:21.

[17] 1 Peter 2:24.

ACST 49: The Chooser

The issue of personal salvation involves a number of questions. The temptation will be to narrowly define the issue so that only certain questions are studied – particularly if the student is tied to a certain theological tradition. Those with inclinations toward the Reformed or Wesleyan-Arminian tradition will be most interested in the “who” question. The Reformers emphasized that God is sovereign in the saving process, tracing salvation from its starting point in election. Arminians emphasize human freedom to respond to God.

In this work, while human responsibility is taught, God’s sovereignty in salvation trumps it. Salvation is described as a work of all three persons of the Trinity. The Father chooses, not at all based on the foreseen worthiness of the objects of his choice, but entirely by his grace. The Son sacrificed himself on the cross to atone for the sins of the world potentially, and especially for those who will respond to his atonement in faith.[1] The Holy Spirit applies that atonement to the lives of believers, transforming and regenerating those who are predestined to it.[2]

Equally important to the “who” question, salvation is also a “what.” It is important to nail down just exactly what it means to be saved, and what it means to be unsaved. For that reason, this work delves into questions as to what a saved individual does and does not do. There are traits in a person’s life that serve as indicators of salvation. These include a changed mind (repentance),[3] a redirected mouth (testifying to the gospel)[4] and a life of confidence in God and his future (faith).[5] These “what” questions are not entirely separated from the “who” question. This is where the human responsibility comes in. These indications of the transformed life are also obligations for individual believers. They are also a matched set. We can portray all the confidence in the world that we are saved, but if that confidence is not accompanied by a transformed mind, and a gospel-oriented testimony and life, then our salvation is still in question.

The Choice

A good starting point to help us begin studying the “who” question of salvation is Paul’s salutation in his letter to the Ephesians:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him

before the foundation of the world, that we should be

holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined

us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the

purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace,

with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we

have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our

trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which

he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making

known to us the mystery of his will, according to his

purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the

fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven

and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an

inheritance, having been predestined according to the

purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel

of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in

Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you

also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your

salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the

promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our

inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the

praise of his glory.[6]

It is quite clear from this text that Paul is describing a connection between himself and the Ephesians. That connection is the fact that he is a saved individual and he is addressing saved individuals. Notice how Paul describes salvation as a blessing that all the saved have been blessed with by God the Father (3,6). That blessing originated in God’s choice in the past, affects the believer’s status in the present, and will lead to ultimate salvation (glorification) in the future.

vs.	past	present	future
3	God has blessed us	with every spiritual blessing

A choice that God made in the past has affected the atmosphere in which we walk today. We experience some of the material blessings that go along with our allegiance to the LORD. But we experience all of the spiritual blessings. The material blessings may come and go during this life, but the spiritual blessings are permanent. Our future will include an immeasurable supply of both material and spiritual blessings. In fact, there will be no difference between the two. Presently, our Savior warns us to place our priority on seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness (spiritual blessings), and challenges us to trust God for the things that we need.[7] He has a plan and purpose for our lives, and, for now, the spiritual blessings are all we need to accomplish that purpose.

vs.	past	present	future
4	God chose us	that we should be holy and blameless before him

God’s choice was not merely a rescue from death or disaster. He had a purpose, and that purpose included our becoming like him. We are to (and will) reflect his holiness and blamelessness. Without that choice made by God in the past, humanity had no hope of ascending to God’s level. Babel taught us that we cannot build ourselves up to heaven’s height from the ground up. The work had to be done from the top down. God destroyed Babel not because he actually feared that man would reach perfection without him, but because he knew that man would ever incline himself toward that futile attempt. As long as Babel existed, God’s plan of grace would always be our second choice.

vs.

past

present

future

God predestined us

according to the purpose of his will

for adoption

Again, the choice of God in eternity past is being highlighted. No one becomes a son of God by his or her own choice. The choice is an adoption. Children may seek adoption. They may ask for it. But the parents are the ones who adopt. The child’s status does not change unless the potential parent chooses to become an actual one. Paul and the Ephesians celebrated their mutual status as adopted children of God not because of their own works, but because of works done for them in eternity past.

But, along with that appreciation for the grace of adoption comes an expected change in behavior and lifestyle that reflects the new status as sons. So, Paul would challenge these same Ephesian Christians with the words: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”[8] It was “through the church (that) the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”[9] Paul challenged the Ephesian believers to “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”[10] Their choices must reflect the same intent as God’s saving choice. That is how they show that an adoption has taken place.

vs.

past

present

future

God has blessed us with

his glorious grace

that we might praise him

for his glorious grace

Our praise of God is a reflection on what he has done for us that we did not deserve. Grace is God’s choice in eternity past that has resulted in our worship in the present. Grace is more that just the fact that God has made salvation possible. We worship God for something that he did. His choice is the grounds for our praise. His blessing is the reason for our worship. He is the divine Chooser, and we are the human choice. He chose us. It was a choice based on his grace. So, now we praise him for that grace.

vs.

past

present

future

God has blessed us with

his glorious grace

that we might have redemption

that we might have forgiveness

God’s sovereign choice to save us has also redeemed us from the slavery associated with sin. We are free in the present not to sin. We have also been forgiven for all our past sins. Our status has changed. The bondage which was our inheritance from Adam has been replaced because God has blessed us with grace. A slave is in no condition to demand release. A condemned man can seek forgiveness, but he has no ability to make someone forgive him.

vs.	past	present	future
11	having been predestined	In him we have obtained an inheritance

God’s sovereign choice to save us has given us a present inheritance. We have hope for the future because of what he has done for us in the past. That hope is a present tense reality. It assures of a future even though we do not deserve one. It is not at all evident what that inheritance will entail. Were we to get even a small glimpse of what we will be throughout eternity, it would overwhelm us. Faith takes the challenges of each day with confidence that even if there is failure today, there will eventually be eternal (permanent) victory. God has predestined it.

vs.

past

present

future

13-14

you were sealed with the

promised Holy Spirit

who is the guarantee of our

inheritance

until we acquire possession of it

The Holy Spirit’s involvement in the lives of believers links God’s sovereign choice in the past with our eternal inheritance. His presence within us is our guarantee that the forces that war within and seek to undo our deliverance will not ultimately win. Even when we face temporary setbacks and times of fear and failure – He assures us that these are only temporary. Our guarantee is more than simply knowing that we have been chosen. Along with that election, God has also predestined us to ultimately win. Along with that predestination, he has provided a living guarantee within us, his Holy Spirit.

The who behind it all is God, who has chosen us of his own free will eternity past. This was Paul’s basis for the connection he felt with the Ephesian Christians. This was the reason for Paul’s confidence that they would triumph over the problems that they faced. The more we know about who is behind our salvation, the more confident we can be. For that reason, it is helpful to review some of those key texts in scripture that affirm God’s initial choice, which the Bible calls his election.

“Am I not permitted to do what I want with what

belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am

generous?” (Matthew 20:15 NET).

Jesus told a story about day laborers, hired to work in a vineyard. It is important not to abuse the stories that Jesus told by making them “walk on all fours” – that is, making them say more than they were intended to say. So, it is important to establish that the reason Jesus told this story was to illustrate God’s sovereign choice in saving people. The act of working in the vineyard was not what Jesus was emphasizing. It was the choice of the owner to decide who works, and how much each is paid. The fact that the owner chooses to pay each worker the same indicates that the payment is a result of grace, not was is deserved. So, eternal salvation is the issue.

God’s sovereign choice is seen in the fact that the owner of the vineyard asks the question “Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me?” – a question that we must all consider when debating this issue of election. Often election is rejected on the grounds that it does not seem fair for God to decide who gets paid long before the work is done. But that is the picture we see here. Of course, there is also human choice involved. The workers were not coerced into their toil. Each was willing to work. But the point of Jesus’ parable did not relate to that. His objective was to defend the free will of the owner, not the workers.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent

me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last

day”(John 6:44 ESV).

Jesus had been explaining that he was the bread, the manna sent from heaven: he was the solution to the spiritual hunger in all of us. Yet God did not send manna to everyone, only to the Israelites. Likewise, as the new era of salvation dawns, not everyone will come to Christ and be saved. The door to salvation opens wider when Christ is revealed, but it does not open for everyone. Those who come to Christ are drawn to him by the Father. It is these who have been drawn (the elect) who will be raised up to eternal life on the last day.

To further stretch the manna analogy, the Father’s drawing is like giving us an appetite for the bread of life. We might think that we have complete control over our destiny, but our control (our free will – if you will) is limited to the fact that we are free to choose what we want. But who controls our wants? Jesus speaks here of the Father drawing us to Christ. The fact that we wanted to be saved suggests that this drawing had taken place.

“So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some,

and he chooses to harden the hearts of others

so they refuse to listen. 19 Well then, you might

say, “Why does God blame people for not responding?

Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human

being, to argue with God? Should the thing that

was created say to the one who created it, “Why

have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter

makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right

to use the same lump of clay to make one jar

for decoration and another to throw garbage

into?” (Romans 9:18-21 NLT).

This text deals with another possible objection to election on the grounds that it is not fair. The issue here is the opposite of that which Jesus dealt in his story of the vineyard. It has to do with the perceived unfairness of God judging those who do not believe. If salvation is based on God’s electing grace, why would he punish those whom he chooses not to elect?

If Paul had merely wanted to say “You misunderstand, God chooses fairly based on the obedience he sees in our future” he could have said that. Instead, he uses this potter and clay analogy, which suggests that salvation is entirely the result of God’s electing grace. Paul argued that we are the results of God’s artistic choice. He decides which jar gets used for which purpose. The choice is entirely his.

When it comes to the issue of fairness, we seem to forget that our very existence in the first place is not fair. When our ancestors rejected God’s way in Eden, he should have destroyed our species entirely. That would have been fair, because we violated his prohibition, and the penalty was death. We deserve non-existence. But God in his grace gives us life. He also, by his grace, has chosen to redeem some of us through the substitutionary death of Christ.

Our real problem with election is with that word some. It seems entirely unfair that God would only choose some as recipients of his grace. There is even a significant movement within Christianity which suggests that all will eventually be saved. Rob Bell’s book Love Wins explains how he and others can come to such a conclusion. [11] He argues that God has to win ultimately, and that means that eventually all those suffering in hell will repent, and so all will be saved. Of course, the problem is that hell is the second death. Those thrown into the lake of fire will suffer, but even hell will end. It will be emptied not by people repenting, but by their being destroyed.

Paul’s argument in Romans 9 is that God is fair in destroying and discarding those whom he chooses not to save. God is right in creating the jar destined to be used to hold garbage. His glory is not diminished because everyone does not become an eternal masterpiece. That is fair because both the decorative art and the garbage pail are creations of the same artist.

“All inhabitants of the earth will worship

the beast– all whose names have not been

written in the book of life belonging to the

Lamb that was slain from the creation of

the world” (Revelation 13:8 NIV).

The picture of the elect that presents itself in Revelation 13 is that of a book with people’s names written in it. It is a registry, a divine database. There may or may not be an actual book. The point is that salvation is limited. If John saw a book with names in it, he perhaps saw your name or mine. This was thousands of years before we were born, yet the record of the saved was there – and complete at that time. It is comforting to think of one’s name being written there, but what about those whose names are missing. Is it unfair for God to do that? No, because those whose names are not written in the book of life will worship the beast. No one will die in hell who does not deserve death because of his or her own sins. There is fairness in God’s judgment.

The Starting Point

God’s sovereign choice in election is the logical starting point in discussing salvation. Yet many get so hung up on that issue that they can scarcely go any further. The Bible has so much more to say about the process of salvation. In order to understand salvation, one needs to accept the fact that by grace he has been saved, and then ask more questions. It is to these further questions that this study will now turn.

[1] see chapter 50. The Sacrifice.

[2] see chapter 51. The Regenerator.

[3] see chapter 52. The Change.

[4] see chapter 53. The Testimony.

[5] see chapter 54. The Life.

[6] Ephesians 1:3-14.

[7] Matthew 6:33.

[8] Ephesians 2:10.

[9] Ephesians 3:10.

[10] Ephesians 4:22-24.

[11] Rob Bell, LOVE WINS: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. (Robert H. Bell, Jr. Trust, 2011).

ACST 48: The Intimidators

When all else fails, Satan and his demons are prepared to manifest themselves visibly, or through some display of power, in order to prevent people from learning and living the truth. They prey upon the fears of believers and unbelievers alike. Paul told Timothy that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control..”[1] The demons are uncomfortable around people that they cannot control through fear. For that reason, when people are close to the gospel as unbelievers, or close to living the victory that they have in Christ as believers, demons will manifest.

This fact is a condemnation upon modern western society. The very fact that one does not see evidence of demonic manifestation on a regular basis in the modern world tells against our claim to spiritual superiority. It does not mean that we have the spirit world under control. It means that the demonic realm has us under control. Manifestation reveals the truth of demons’ existence. They do not want to do that because they are more comfortable working in the background, and convincing people that evil is inherent within them, and that there is no remedy for the suffering it causes.

The Christ of the Gospels

When Jesus appeared on the scene in the Gospels, he came in complete awareness of the demonic presence, and with power to overpower it. When people saw that someone was capable of dealing with demonic oppression and possession, they “brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word”[2] These were not people with merely psychological problems, or brain illnesses. They were people under the control of spirit-beings. Jesus did not counsel them, or hold therapy sessions. He cast the demons out. In a society where demonic oppression and possession is denied a priori, such victims have to be put away because modern science cannot treat them. Jesus was under no such restriction. He was able to properly diagnose and treat the cause of these people’s suffering.

The church in the west today must rediscover this gift. In fact, it is part of what makes us distinctive as a religious body. Christ called his disciples together “and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out.”[3] That authority has never been rescinded. We do our society and our planet an injustice when we disregard this fundamental aspect of our existence. Christ was known as one who had power over demons, and he intended for us to be known for that as well. Across the world today, in cultures deep in the depression of demonic bondage, some believers stand out as rays of hope because they do not fear the Intimidators. The Church in the west is not seen as the solution to this kind of problem, but we can be.

In Jesus’ day, the people took note of his teaching because it was more than just ideas. He backed up his words with power, so “they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.””[4] His acts of deliverance drew the people to his words. When he said that God loved them, they could believe it, because they had seen him manifest God’s love by healing and delivering people from demons. That is what deliverance ministry is for. It is not intended to promote the minister but to verify the message. Sometimes today, people get involved in deliverance ministries for the wrong reason. Deliverance is intended to advance the gospel, not to overshadow it.

Deliverance is designed to reveal who Christ is. When the demons encountered Christ in the Gospels, they recognized who he was. The Bible says, “whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.””[5] That is the essence of the church’s authority against demons today. It is not a magical power invested in us. It is the reality of who our Savior is that makes the demons afraid. For that reason, any born-again believer can oppose a demon. One does not have to be properly taught and pre-conditioned. All one really has to know is who Jesus is.

Deliverance overcomes bondage and frees people for productive ministry. Many of the women who supported Jesus’ public ministry were free to do so because he had freed them from demonic bondage. Demons do not really want to kill us as much as they want to keep us in bondage to worldliness so that we are unproductive in kingdom living. If worldliness loses its charm, the demons will seek to keep us distracted with fear by physically manifesting. The only thing that prevents them from doing so more often is the knowledge that manifesting removes them from the category of things that do not really exist.

How a demon can manifest.

Demons manifest as departed human spirits regularly. That explains why practically everybody had a ghost story. These ghosts are not really the spirits of dead people. They merely pretend to be. They can do a convincing job because they have observed those they choose to imitate prior to their deaths. Christians who are aware of this tactic can immediately dismiss these visitations and send the demons back where they came from with a failed mission.

Demons can also manifest as monsters that exist in public imagination. They take advantage of fear and seek to maintain an atmosphere of fear. There are remedies against any such paralyzing fear: often merely mentioning the name of Christ, or the power of his blood will send the demons away with a taste of their own medicine. Demons fear Jesus more than anything. They are aware that he will bring about their destruction at the end of the age.

Dabbling in the occult.

Some people open themselves up to demonic attack by dabbling in the occult or getting too interested in paranormal phenomena. Even Christians can do this. Some have argued that it is impossible for a true Christian to become oppressed by a demon because he has the Holy Spirit within. This is faulty reasoning. True Christians are attacked by spirits all the time; the presence of the Holy Spirit does not prevent it. Also, these demons are persons. Believers are free to communicate with these persons, although doing so is not wise.

Levels of influence

There are levels of influence for demons, from the lowest (the attack) to the highest (possession). Giving in to fear (or curiosity) leads to more loss of control, until one is completely under the demon’s control. At any point up until complete possession, a person may get freedom by professing Christ. The higher the level of influence, the more likely a person may need the help of others in breaking away.

The Reality of the spirit realm

Some general conclusions are in order before leaving the subject of the spirit realm.

1. Angels and demons do exist. They are not figments of the imagination.

2. Angels have been commissioned to serve humanity, particularly those who will inherit eternal life.

3. Demons have a variety of functions and manifestations. Their attacks can be categorized as follows:

TEMPTATION

DECEPTION

ACCUSATION

INTIMIDATION

4. Demons do most of their work in darkness. That is, they function without the awareness of those on whom they are working.

5. Demons can manifest, but seek to work usually without doing so. Manifesting removes the illusion that they do not exist.

[1] 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV.

[2] Matthew 8:16 ESV.

[3] Matthew 10:1 ESV.

[4] Mark 1:27 ESV.

[5] Mark 3:11 ESV.

ACST 47: The Accusers

An interesting picture of Satan’s activity is revealed in the last book of the Bible:

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”[1]

The enemy of our souls is depicted as a great dragon, doing warfare against believers. He and his angels (the demons) have been thrown down to earth, and are in their final battle against their great enemy (God). The dragon is enraged because his time is short and he knows it. He is described not as a tempter or a deceiver, but as an accuser. He does battle by accusing the brothers day and night before God.

Satan’s accusations in Job.

The book of Job describes Satan in his work of accusation. He came before God and accused Job of being faithful only because he was being protected and blessed. He told the LORD “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”[2] Whomever God commends, the accusers condemn. Charles Swindoll paraphrases this text as “Look, God, talk about kid glove treatment! The man gets penthouse perks.”[3] The enemy of our souls has an extremely negative attitude about human beings. He does not believe in human potential, and explains away all human accomplishment.

Satan challenged the LORD to “stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”[4] Satan was actually asking the LORD to inflict Job in order to reveal what he was sure would be his true character. “Because the believer belongs to God, Satan must operate within God’s sovereignty and cannot function beyond what God allows.”[5] The book of Job partly answers the questions we all have about why the innocent suffer. Sometimes the reasons for suffering have nothing to do with personal sin. Sometimes suffering is allowed in order for the LORD to prove to Satan and his demons that their accusations are false.

Joshua, the High Priest

One of Zechariah’s prophetic visions begins this way:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”[6]

Here again Satan is shown to believe the worst about a man of God. The vision goes on to describe Joshua as a man clothed with filthy garments, but God proceeds to clothe him in purified ones. This reveals a very important thing about demonic accusation. The demons are often partly right. The difference is that they do not see us after grace.

Whenever the unseen accusers target us, our best defense is not to try to prove them wrong with a history lesson. We fail too often for that to be an effective strategy. Our best defenses against accusations that we are not who we should be are the following:

1. Remind the accusers that our relationship with God is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is our atoning sacrifice. Even the most filthy sin can be washed clean by means of the blood of Christ.

2. Remind the accusers that the Holy Spirit chooses to reside in us. In spite of the fact that our actions sometimes grieve him, he is faithful. It is his faithfulness that is the key to our complete sanctification and ultimate glorification.

3. Remind the accusers that God is infinite. He already sees our future, and so he relates to us on the basis of that future. It will do no good to tell God about our present shortcomings when he already foresees us living in holiness for billions of years. Our destiny is already settled in God’s mind.

Jesus’ Prayer for Peter

Jesus had told Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”[7] Jesus was aware that a battle was going to ensue in which Peter’s commitment was going to be challenged. Peter was going to fail, and deny even knowing Christ. But Jesus promised to bring Peter through that time, and use him afterword. Often, believers are convinced that once they fail in a particular area that their witness is forever marred in that area. This incident shows that times of failure need not weaken our faith. Grace operates in a person’s life when she allows God to rescue her.

Paul on Condemnation

Probably the most famous passage relating to the issue of demonic accusation is from Paul’s letter to the Romans:

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[8]

The reference to “angels or rulers” shows that the demonic realm will surely seek to condemn believers. But Paul reveals that believers have a sure-fire remedy to any accusation coming from that realm. God’s love in Christ Jesus was demonstrated on Calvary. It is an event that is settled historically. It forever shows that God has decided in the believer’s favor. Earlier, Paul had said “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”[9] Although bad things may happen to us, none of those bad things should be interpreted as condemnation from God.

The practical result of this truth is that believers can be assured that if they are being accused or condemned, it is not coming from heaven. Heaven’s forces are mustered for our defense, not our condemnation.

When Satan begins to accuse believers of wrongdoing, lack of integrity, or falsehood, the believer’s often feel like God is watching from a distance, judging them. He does not do that. He is present at every accusation, and our Advocate, the Holy Spirit, always takes our side. Even when the believer sins, God stands for her, and not with her accusers. Even when there are consequences that come from that sin, God is ready to restore and heal.

In the end, all personal sins must be punished. But for believers, that punishment has already happened. The Bible says that Jesus Christ “was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”[10]

The Eternal Truth

The best way to overcome accusations is to counter them with the eternal truth. The eternal truth is not the mess a person might be in at this moment. The eternal truth is what God has decreed about believers for all eternity. The Bible tells believers to stand on this truth, and believe what God sees in them.

He Sees…

“the salt of the earth”[11]
“the light of the world”[12]
people of value to him[13]
people he has blessed and heirs of his kingdom[14]
branches of the Vine[15]
people “not of the world”[16]
“God’s fellow workers… God’s field, God’s building.”[17]
“God’s temple”[18]
“the body of Christ”[19]
“sons of God, through faith”[20]
“Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise”[21]
“no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God”[22]
“no longer strangers and aliens, but … fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”[23]

One More Strategy

The enemy has one more method that he uses, but it is a “when all else fails” method. He usually has no problem enslaving people through temptation. When that method needs a little help, he resorts to deception. If people learn to discern between truth and his lies, he falls back on accusation and condemnation. But when even that strategy is defeated, Satan and his demons try to enslave people through fear. His final method – which will be discussed in chapter 48, is intimidation.

[1] Revelation 12:7-12 (ESV).

[2] Job 1:9-11 (ESV).

[3] Charles R. Swindoll, Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009) 10.

[4] Job 2:5 (ESV).

[5] John MacArthur, 1, 2, 3, John Jude (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005) 75.

[6] Zechariah 3:1-2 (ESV).

[7] Luke 22:31-32 (ESV).

[8] Romans 8:33-39 (ESV).

[9] Romans 8:1 (ESV).

[10] Isaiah 53:5 (ESV).

[11] Matthew 5:13.

[12] Matthew 5:14; Ephesians 5:8.

[13] Matthew 6:26, 10:31.

[14] Matthew 25:34.

[15] John 15:5.

[16] John 15:19.

[17] 1 Corinthians 3:9.

[18] 1 Corinthians 3:16,17.

[19] 1 Corinthians 12:27.

[20] Galatians 3:26.

[21] Galatians 3:29.

[22] Galatians 4:7.

[23] Ephesians 2:19.

ACST 46: The Deceivers

Eden

Another look at the story of the fall in Genesis 3 shows that there was more to Eve’s temptation than luring her with thoughts of a delicious apple (or whatever it was). The serpent entered the picture, and we are told that he is more crafty than any other beast of the field. His capacity for speech seemed a good clue for that observation.

He uses his craftiness to introduce himself with a curious question. “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”[1] This is what the rhetoricians call a loaded question. It ranks right up there with “have you stopped beating your wife?” There is no good answer to the question because any attempt at answering it could have sprung back in Eve’s face.

For example, what if Eve had pointed out that she had never actually heard God give the prohibition? She, after all, was still part of the body of Adam when God told him “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[2] So, she could have said “no,” but that would not have been exactly honest. No doubt Adam had briefed his wife on the importance of avoiding the tree. This is clear from the answer she did give.

But she could not precisely answer “yes” either. God had not prohibited any of the trees of the garden, as the serpent’s question suggested. In fact, of the multitude of beautiful and delicious fruits available, it was only one that was taboo. So, answering the serpent’s question with a “yes” would be uncalled-for.

Eve tried to respond to the serpent as best as she knew how. Her answers seem to have added a bit more to the prohibition than what was originally there: “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'””[3]

Scripture does not record God saying that the humans could not touch the tree or its fruit. His prohibitions appears to have been strictly against eating it. Either Eve is stretching the command here, or she may be reflecting the command as she heard it from Adam. Either way, the serpent senses that this half-truth can be very useful to him.

Notice the bait that the serpent presents to Eve to get her to simply take the fruit into her hand: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”[4] The serpent suggests not that the prohibition is untrue, but that there is another reason why God would not want humans eating of this special fruit.

Look at what Eve sees in the forbidden fruit now:

1. It is “good for food.” Perhaps Eve was hungry. It makes sense that the serpent would look for an opportune time to tempt Eve. Hunger is not a temptation, but it is an incubator in which temptation can grow and become strong. Undoubtedly she had not been fasting for over a month as Jesus had been when the tempter came to him, but she was probably just hungry enough for her stomach to allow deception to overrule her mind.

There was nothing wrong with Eve’s desire for food, or with her awareness that this fruit could appease that hunger. Her problem was that she had taken her eyes off of all the rest of the garden, and focused her hunger on the one fruit that was forbidden. Her hunger alone would never have driven her to take of that tree. She was being deceived.

2. It is “a delight to the eyes.” Eve, like most women, appreciates beautiful things. She has an appreciation for the glory of God reflected in the things he has created. She sees that glory there in that fruit. She sees it because it is really there. The Bible does not say that the forbidden fruit was a hideous warped thing. It was really beautiful, and Eve enjoyed staring at it.

Again, God had apparently not prohibited looking at the fruit. But Eve’s problem was that as she looked, the appeal of this fruit became an obsession. The beauty of this one thing seems to have clouded her mind to all the beautiful things in all of Eden that the LORD had not forbidden.

The sons of Eve follow in her footsteps. God grants most of us the joy of beautiful possessions, and the thrill of a beautiful partner to share life with. How do we respond to these acts of grace? We covet other people’s stuff, and desire other people’s wives. We are deceived by the same deception that our mother faced in Eden. But, unlike her, we cannot claim ignorance of the outcome. We know that coveting what does not belong to us will lead to loss of what does – but we do it anyway. Stupid.

Back to Eve – the desire to see something beautiful and to eat something scrumptious was apparently not enough to convince her. But she kept looking, and kept listening to the serpent’s words. Those words rolled around in her head. Suddenly, this fruit is something more:

3. It is “to be desired to make one wise.” She and Adam had an entire garden filled with discoveries. God had designed them to rule over all his domains. He had given Adam the work of cultivating the garden and keeping it. Adam had also enjoyed learning about all the different kinds of animals, and perhaps the plants as well. But this particular plant offered a short-cut to the possession of immediate wisdom. The serpent had said “that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”[5]

What a tremendous temptation that was! To go from creature status to like-the creator status in just one bite – now that is discovery. Eve knew that God’s goal was for the two of them to rule over God’s creation. She reasoned “Who is better able to rule God’s creation than someone like him?”

She had convinced herself to take the fruit in her hands. Now what? Well – first of all, she did not turn into a pillar of salt. She did not die right there on the spot. So, it must not have been true that God had prohibited merely touching the tree. If he had, Eve would have gone “poof” and God would have had to go back and do more surgery to give Adam wife #2.

Well, Eve lets this roll around in her brain also. She has not been struck dead, so she figures she might as well go ahead and take a nibble. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” Well, she ate it, and she did not immediately die. Didn’t God say that she would?

Not exactly. What God had said to Adam was that “in the day that you (as humanity’s representative) eat of it you shall surely die.” Those words shall surely die in Hebrew are a combination of two words from the same root. The words literally are “dying, you shall die.” What God had warned Adam of is that from the very moment that he ate of the tree, he, and all of those in him (including Eve) would become dying – mortal. That mortality would mean that each person in Adam would eventually die. That was the “you shall die” part.

I am sure that Eve did not understand the subtleties of Proto-Semitic Grammar, and did not think much about what might happen later. All she knew was that she had eaten of the forbidden fruit and had lived to tell about it. That was enough for her to believe what the serpent had told her.

From that moment, she became in league with the devil. The very next thing she did was grab her husband and tell him “eat this” and he did. Before either of them had finished digesting their snack, they both knew what it meant to be on the wrong side of God. The wisdom that they had sought – knowing good and evil – did not turn out to be such a good thing after all.

They looked at each other and both realized that they were naked. They had been naked before, and were not ashamed.[6] Now they were naked and felt shame. Why? They had lost the glory of innocence.

This story from ancient history reminds us that when temptation is not enough, the tempters will use deception to enslave us. They organize humans with political and religious systems the perpetuate shared deceptions. They cleverly mix lies with truth. Just a few lies are enough to do damage to a society, and with it.

the father of lies

Jesus called Satan “the father of lies.” He said that the devil “has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”[7] It should be no surprise, then, that deception is one of the major means that Satan uses to manipulate the nations. The kinds of lies that he uses are like the proverbial “bad apple.” They are mixed with entire barrels of truth, and turn the entire societies that fall for them into rottenness. Unlike God, who never lies,[8] the devil only tells the truth when doing so helps to prop up one of his lies.

Early in Acts, Luke records that Satan had “filled the heart” of Ananias to lie about some money that he gave.[9] Satan did not object to Ananias giving to the ministry, because he could gain supremacy in the lives of Ananias and his wife Sapphira by deceiving them into thinking that Jesus would not mind them holding back some of the money. The Holy Spirit (who does not like to be lied to) made this deception backfire by exposing it, and killing the two who had been partners with the devil in the conspiracy.

Paul

The devil has deceived a great multitude of people into worshipping and serving “the creature rather than the Creator.”[10] In some cultures. this involves the veneration or manipulation of carved, printed or fashioned images. In other cultures, people worship themselves and pretend that the creature has the same status as the creator. Either way, deception has occurred, and it has caused the deceived to exchange “the truth about God for a lie.”[11]

The apostle Paul had warned the Corinthians of this tendency by saying that he was “afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”[12] He wrote to his partner, Timothy, that “evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”[13]

Another significant text is where Paul warns the Colossians against the heresy that seeks to turn them away from the true faith. He tells them “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”[14] It is these deceiving elemental spirits (demons) who are the author of human tradition, particularly when it conflicts with the gospel of Christ.

Only a small percentage of humanity would knowingly follow the teachings and ways of Satan and the demons. For that reason, they must deceive in the darkness of anonymity. They must influence people to do their will, while at the same time convincing them that they are doing their own will.

John

The apostle John speaks of “many deceivers” who “have gone into the world.”[15] He is speaking of false prophets, but perhaps also referring to the spirit beings who influence them. He goes on to say that “Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”[16] He warns against those who go ahead and do not “abide in the teaching of Christ.”[17]

Doctrine mattered to John. He ministered during a time when pagan doctrine was seeping into the church – doctrine that would eventually turn the church into a formal, ritualistic shell of its former self. It would take centuries of reform and revival for the church to thrive again. Satan and the demons did this, not by turning people from Christ, but by deceiving them into believing wrong things about him.

When John wrote Revelation, he recorded the fate of Satan. The deceiver will be thrown into the bottomless pit, or abyss. The purpose of this punishment is so that he is out of the way while you and I have the chance to reign with Christ. John saw a mighty angel throw “him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.”[18] This incarceration will take place after Christ returns, and before judgment day. It will last for 1000 years. After that period of time, Satan will be released “and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle.”[19] He will be utterly defeated at that battle, but he will have managed to deceive many again – even after a 1000 year reign of righteousness on earth without his influence.

deliverance

To be “taken captive” is to be in bondage, and need deliverance. There is just as much potential for a person to be taken captive by a false teaching as there is for her to be in bondage due to giving in to temptation. The bondage will progress naturally if it is never challenged by someone ministering deliverance by God’s grace.

Some can be in a slight state of bondage for years – as long as there is no effort from an intercessor to set her free. The longer a person is in bondage, the harder it will be to set her free. Usually arguments – even biblical arguments – have little affect. The reason is that deception permeates the heart as well as the head.

If you seek to minister deliverance to someone who has been deceived by demons, it is probably best not to try to reason with her – at least not in the sense of a debate on the issues. Proclaim the gospel of salvation by grace bought by the blood of Christ. Use this teaching as an anchor, and you will find that the demonically deceived will be less liable to drift away into the depths of her own deception. Patience is also called for, because those who are enslaved through deception cannot be set free easily.

resistance

The apostles James[20] and Peter[21] both encourage believers to resist the devil. Resistance – when having to do with deception – means having a firm grasp on the truth. This suggests that the best way to fight bondage in this area on a personal level is to get a good strong and comprehensive understanding of what God says in his word.

Paul mentioned to the Colossians that he rejoiced to see the “the firmness of (their) faith in Christ.”[22] That firm faith can only come with time spent learning and applying God’s word.

Learning to resist in the particular areas where demons seek to deceive you will require specific attention to your own personal history. You must remember the specific areas in your life where you have allowed yourself to be deceived. You must spend time building up your faith and making it more firm in those specific areas. The battlefield of your mind requires shoring up in the places where the defenses have proven weak in the past. Otherwise, the Adversary will simply keep attacking where he knows the resistance is low.

darkness

Remember that the easiest way for demons to continue winning the battles they fight with you is for you to ignore their existence. As long as you are convinced that every challenge you face in your spiritual life is due to your own desires or sinful nature, you are in danger of falling for deceptions that keep you sinning. The demons are creatures of darkness. They will not expose themselves to the light unless they feel doing so will give them an advantage. Their usual modus operandi is to remain in the background – the darkness.

A particularly effective way of deceiving that the demons often utilize is accusation. Dealing with this demonic strategy will require a separate chapter.

[1] Genesis 3:1.

[2] Genesis 2:17.

[3] Genesis 3:2-3.

[4] Genesis 3:4-5.

[5] Genesis 3:5.

[6] Genesis 2:25.

[7] John 8:44.

[8] Titus 1:2.

[9] Acts 5:3.

[10] Romans 1:25.

[11] Romans 1:25.

[12] 2 Corinthians 11:3.

[13] 2 Timothy 3:13.

[14] Colossians 2:8

[15] 2 John 1:7.

[16] 2 John 1:7.

[17] 2 John 1:9.

[18] Revelation 20:3.

[19] Revelation 20:8.

[20] James 4:7.

[21] 1 Peter 5:9.

[22] Colossians 2:5.