Last week began a new series titled: Enthroning The Most High God Vs Enthroning Satan, and one of the things we want to consider is to look at the Principles, the Practices and Prophesies. Today we will continue that series, and we are going to conclude it today. Enthroning The Most High God Vs Enthroning Satan, and we are still considering: The Principles, The Practices and Prophesies. So, some of the Scriptures we will be considering and some of the examples we will be looking at are going to be showing us Principles, some will be showing us Practices; how some do it and we are also going to be looking at Prophecies, the things that have been spoken aforetime, about events that will take place, either in our lives or on the earth in time to come.
Listen To Podcast: ENTHRONING THE MOST HIGH GOD VS ENTHRONING SATAN PT. 2
So, we are considering Enthroning The Most High God Vs Enthroning Satan under the subheading: Principles, Practices and Prophesies, and this is the part two of it. Last week, we began by looking at Genesis chapter 3, we saw how man who was enthroning God hitherto began to enthrone Satan by disobeying God and obeying Satan. And in chapter of Genesis, we saw how Cain, who was initially someone we could say was a man of God, a man who wanted to please God, began to enthrone Satan in his own affairs. For God said to him "Sin lies at your door, and its desires is for you. It wants to possess you, and take hold of you, but you should rule over it." But he refused to rule over it and so, he became a servant of sin, a slave of sin; what we could call "a slave of unrighteousness."
And so, we also went to Genesis chapter 6, we read from verse 1-8 and saw certain sons of God, whom the Bible called "the watchers" in certain instances; certain angels, saw the daughters of men and they took some of them as wives and children were born unto them, giants were born, and through these fallen angels, their sons and their wives, evil were perpetrated on the earth. So, the earth that was okay until that moment began to also experience a division and a kind of war, a battle between those who belong to the Most High God and those who are again Him, the rebels; those who have the spirit of rebellion rooted in them. And so, when that became clear to God, we saw in Genesis 6:1-8 that God decided to destroy the whole earth and every living on the earth, saving a man called Noah, who was righteous and whom He showed grace. And so, Nah found grace and he was preserved.
And so, through Noah, God decided to start a new generation of people. And you must understand, if you are a child, and you are building blocks, and you scatter it, the reason why you scatter it is because there is something not perfect with the present that you want to start afresh and you want to perfect. So, when God destroyed the earth and the inhabitants of the earth; God wanted to eliminate a breed of people, and God wanted to start a new breed of people. So, God is looking for a new people, a people who will not enthrone Satan in their own affairs but God. Now, even though God did that; Satan did not go back to sleep. Each time God wants to start a new things, Satan seems to want to find a way and bring his own old traits to bear in the new thing that God is doing. And so, maybe this is an instruction for some people. There are some instances where a church or a group of believers will break away, and so they want to start a new thing, and there is a chance or possibility of Satan coming to the new with the old.
And when he does that, he wants to keep the new, he wants to make the new from being new, he wants to make sure he introduces the old traits into the new, that is what the devil always does. And when he does that, he wants to destabilize the new so that the failures of the old will be perpetrated in the new. But if God can succeed perhaps with our generation, God can have a people who are new and who do not have the old habits, old allegiance to the old gods and goddess of their forefathers, but who would rather enthrone God, the living God in their own affairs. So, in Genesis chapter 11, we saw how the children of men decided to build a tower, they wanted the top of it to reach the heavens. But you must see, even though it looked like a good plan, you must ask yourself; from where did the plan come from?
Now, ask yourself; if God was the one who instructed them to build a tower, would He then come again to scatter it? So, it means, God was not the one who commanded the construction of the tower. They were not doing it unto God, and if you don't do something for God, you are doing something against God. That is very defined. And so, when God saw what they were doing, God said "these people are one, and this that they have imagined and began to do, there is nothing that they imagine that will be withheld from them." So, anytime one of them that is ruled by Satan comes up with an idea, since they are one, they will do it. All of them will do the instruction of one of them. So, what God did was to scatter their language. So, it became difficult for the devil from that time to coordinate the entire earth, since we have always been speaking different languages since.
Even though, the devil can find a way to connect with people as a tribe, as a nation, he has not been able to connect the tribes and the nations together. Do we understand? And we saw how he intended for them to form oneness, one religion, one everything so that he can seat above them and rule all of them, that is the grand plan. Do we understand that? He needed one language so that he can rule over them, since he cannot be in everyplace at the same time. That is the primary reason. He wanted to be the one ruling all of them.
So now, we want to go to Genesis chapter 12; that is where we are starting with today. As soon as God scattered them in Genesis chapter 11, we want to see what God then decided to do afterwards. Genesis 12 from verse 1.
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
And I want us to understand what God is also doing here. God had began a new thing, He had scattered them. Now, He went to one of them and from one of them, He intend to bless all of them, do we understand? Telling us that God has a pattern of picking a few people, working on them, training them, so that He can train the whole with the few. Isn't that what Jesus did when He came on the earth? He selected twelve people, primarily twelve, later He had seventy, and then they increased to one hundred and twenty at the Pentecost, do we still remember? So, Jesus poured Himself into a few people, twelve; and these twelve He appointed apostles, and through them, He has been reaching out to nations. Do we understand? Alright!
So, at a point in time when the world was scattered, God found a man called Abraham and from him God intended to spread His own authority on the earth through that man. So, if you want to talk about the relationships of the sons of men with God, you will draw a link between those people and Abraham. Today we sing "Abraham blessings are mine", don't we? We also say "Abraham is the father of faith." As long as you are talking about relationship between a man and His God, you will always remember Abraham. In fact, God said in Isaiah; "Look to the rock from which you were hewn, look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you." So, God have agenda of selecting the few. So, if you think you are the only one who is thinking correctly, don't get afraid, God has a way of picking somebody like you, working on you, so that through you; you can reach out to more people.
If God can succeed with you, then He can succeed with anybody under your influence. So, when God wanted to start afresh, He picked a man called Abraham and said "get out of where you are." You have been following your father, even though you are a good man, you are still following your father, the god of your father you have been worshipping; the gods that you don't even know, that don't have your good intentions at heart you have been worshipping them. Now, get out of your father's house. And you know, this is deep! It was not just a physical relocation. It was a transitioning from loyalty to loyalty. Hitherto you think these gods have been the one surviving you, no! Start a relationship with me God said. That is why in Genesis chapter 17:1; God said to Abraham; "walk before me and be perfect." This thing that we have started is not going to be a fluke, it is a relationship. And this is how it will be: "You will walk before me, you will walk with me, you will learn from me, you will make me your mirror, so that anytime you want to know yourself, you will look at me, anytime you want to learn more about yourself, you will look at me and then you will follow my pattern."
Now, what happens when a man decided to make God his pattern? That man will become like God. Then what happens to the people that are submissive to Him or learning from Him? Then all of them will submit to God. That is why God said "He trusted Abraham that he will command his children after Him to obey the Lord." So, what is that? God is already starting a pattern, He wanted to make a man right, believing that everyone that will follow this man will become right. And so, we say "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Even though God wanted to speak to the children of Israel afterwards, thousands of years afterwards, He was still referring to Himself as the "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." and even Jesus Himself said it, He said "God is the God of the living and the God of the dead." He is "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob", even Jesus said that.
And so, we can see that when the whole world was in error, and then at a point God scattered them, even though God scattered them; He had plans to walk with one of them. You know, one of things that really become confusing for us is when God is working on us and it looks as if we are isolated. It becomes confusing. Now, usually when God wants to work on a man, and really produce His true life in the man, He isolates the man from the public glare. When he wanted to work on Moses, a man who had been a prince in Egypt, who had been enjoying big life, God took him to the wilderness for forty years he had to stay there, learning from God. And if you look at the man called John the Baptist, Bible says in Luke 1:80 "So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” So, he was there until the time God wanted to use him to bless the people. So, what was he doing there? He was learning from God.
When Paul became a follower of Jesus Christ, shortly after that, he said "I went to Arabia." He was in Arabia for at least three years. And Arabia is another word for 'desert', which means he was in the desert for three years, he was learning. So, there are certain things he shares in the Bible that we cannot fathom how a man could know these. He did not know it in the crowd, but in seclusion. So, don't be afraid when God separates you. Usually when God wants to sue people, He gets them out of the crowd, He separates them unto Himself. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus went to the mountain and He called to Himself some people and He said, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out. So, usually what starts is a calling by Jesus unto Himself that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out. You can't be with Him and be with the world at that time.
When you are with Him at such, you are enthroning Him in your affairs. And so, when you appear again on the scene, you are a man who has Christ as His king, a woman who has Christ as her king, and so, people don't see you as the old you that they used to know, they now see a man who has began a relationship with God and who is an ambassador of God wherever he is or she is. But usually, it begins with a seclusion. When God wanted to start with Abraham, He told him to get out to a land He was going to show him. Even though he was taken to the land, he did not become the owner of the land in his own time. So, God showed him the land. DO we still remember the story of Laban, Jacob and Rachael? You know they were together, and when Jacob wanted to go, he did not even know that his wife left her father's house with one of the gods of her father. So, we must not also forget that when people are getting out of their father's house; usually, it could be a matter of separating them from the gods of their fathers.
If you have been following a strange god, and God wants to start a relationship with you, He will tell you to get out. You are not just getting out physically, so, don't fix your mind on geographical relocation. There is something that has to do with your soul here. Hitherto, you have been loyal to the gods of your forefathers; but God is saying "Get out of that" and start a new relationship with the true God, the Most High God, because one thing you must note is: irrespective of your village and the gods of your village; all those gods are submissive to Satan. Do we understand? So, when God is telling you to get out, don't just fix your mind on the physical location, you must ask yourself these questions: What is it that I have been associated with, what is it that has gotten my attention, my heart for years that God is separating me from? So, if you relocate physically and you do not relocate the one that is enthroned or you do not shift or dethrone the one that in charge of the affairs of your life, you life will still not change.
So, when God wanted to start with Abraham, He didn't tell him to get out just physically, God begin to mention everything in details: get out of your father's house, get out of your country; and we must note that the father's house God was talking about is beyond just the physical building. Those that your father have been submitting to, get out of them. There is a place we will read in Jeremiah very soon so that we will see how God perceive these things. If God can show you His heart over this matter, we will not be playing games with God. Because you cannot play games with God. So, can we see what we read in that Genesis 12, that God, after scattering them; in the tower of Babel, He began a relationship with a family, and He said all the families in the earth will be blessed in them. Do we understand? If God said "all the families", that also talks about how God is particular about families, because everything has their roots in families. All families on the earth shall be blessed through this family.
And so, God didn't pamper that family. In fact at a point, when God wanted to be sure about this man that He wants to use as a foundation for a relationship with men is correct, He told Abraham "that child that you have been trusting me for, and I have now gave him to you, come and sacrifice him unto me; come and give him back to me. Let me know whether your loyalty is to me or towards this child." That is for us to know that our gods can be as basic as our children. Some people can be submitting to their children as gods. They will rather obey their children than obey God, it is that bad. Some people can have gold, cups and other materials as gods; they can bow to stones. I discover that in Japan, their gods are as many perhaps as the people there. My village for instance, they said they have over 360 different gods, and every day is for a god. Even their king, they also believe that their king is a god, or one of the gods. Do we understand? But that is what they believe. So, even though they have 364 gods, their king is like the 365th. But the gods in Japan far surpassed the gods of my village. They in Japan worship water, they worship anything, they worship sun, flower, anything they can see and hear, they worship.
So, God wanted things to be clear between Him and Abraham: Do you want to worship me or you want to worship Isaac? So God told him, go and sacrifice him. It was when he was about to kill him and it was so clear to God that He asked him to stop and said to him "Now I know." And this exercise became the foundation of the Christian faith or faith in God. The foundation of our faith is our obedience to God. You say you believe in God, how much of obedience or how often do you obey Him? Do you obey Him in every matters or do you obey Him in one or two of the matters? Your obedience is what shows that God is your God, because if you disobey Him, you have only said other things are your gods. That is very important for us to remember. So, we saw how that family began on the foundation of obedience to God. So, God was enthroned on their affairs because they obeyed God.
Genesis chapter 15, 26, 27, 28 shows us how Abraham was obeying God and his relationship with God was further established. I want us to read some places in Genesis chapter 18. When God separated Abraham from the gods of his fathers, Lot, the son of his elder brother followed him. He was a grown man. So, at some point they separated, due to expansion and perhaps some attitudes of Lot. And so, the place that Lot went to, Sodom and Gomorrah, was a place that was given to corruption, was given to evil and all manners of things. There is no sin that you think of today in Nigeria that was not happening at the time in Sodom and Gomorrah. And so, God was angry with them and came to Abraham to tell him, telling us that Abraham was his friend. At some point God was even saying "is there anything that I will want to do that I will not reveal to my friend Abraham?" The question is: Was he God's friend in those days when he was in his father's house and land, No! But he became God's friend when he left.
And so, God wanted to destroy a whole land of Sodom and Gomorrah. Till today, there is still no land that is called Sodom and Gomorrah that have building and houses. The place is destroyed till today. You know, when you burn things and the ashes is still on the ground, the remnant of the things that were burnt; is still showing on the ground. The Sodom and Gomorrah are separated but they were close. So, as evil was in Sodom, evil was in Gomorrah as well. So, God wanted to judge the two of them together and Abraham interceded for them but still, God still came to punish them. So, if you read in Genesis chapter 19, you will discover how Lot escaped from the destruction and how the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
The question we should ask is: When God was destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, where were the gods of Sodom and Gomorrah? These are questions we must ask. When it is time for the people who are against God to be punished, where does their gods go to? You know there was a time, Elijah was saying the 400 prophets of Baal, Baal was a demon that they were worshipping and was their god, 400 of its prophets, they gathered together and they wanted to proof who the true God was, whether it was the God of Israel, the Most High God, or Baal. And so, they made a confrontation. Elijah told them to gather stones, build an altar and pour water on it. And any God that is able to send fire down to burn the altar and the things on it, let it be God. So the prophets of bal started first, and called upon Baal, but the bal didn't show up. They cut themselves, blood was coming out, but Baal didn't show up. Ball couldn't show up because God was around. The Bible says Light shines in darkness and darkness could not understand it. Baal cannot show up because God who is light, was in the camp.
Now, they did all these things for several hours, their god didn't show up. When it was clear, Elijah told to relax. And they rearranged the altar, and Elijah asked them to pour more water on it, overwhelmed the altar with water, and then called upon the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and fire came down, burnt the stone, licked the water and everything was burnt. That is why it is foolishness to abandon God and side with gods. Let me show you why people side with gods. You know we said, for them to be calling Baal passionately, it means Baal was responding to them before. Those gods, whether you are corrupt, you lie, which is natural and easy, imagine a god, a demon telling you, if only you can worship me, even though you are a sinner, I will make you rich. You know, when people begin to have their needs met in their corruption, so they feel cool and comfortable. Baal had been showing up, every time they needed money he gives them money, in their sin, he helps them. Do we understand?
So, they assume that since he has been helping them in those days, when it was time for confrontation with the living God, he will still help them. That is why you see some demon possessed people, in their demon they will still come to the house of God, thinking that as their gods helped them in those days, he will still help them in the presence of God. It does not always work. That is why when you see demons cast out of people, the demon possessed people didn't come thinking that their demons will be cast out; no! They were still hoping that the usual way they had been helping them, they will still help them, not knowing that they are in the presence of the living God. Do we understand?
Why submit to someone who will never show up in light? This is what we are talking about. Will there be darkness forever? Will there be corruption every time? When it is time to examine you, can your god show up in the days of your examination? That is what we are talking about. Can you still walk in authority in the open? Do you side with a god who cannot show up in the open? Who cannot help you in the public? That is the issue. Now, if we look at Genesis 16, we will see how Sarah advised her husband to take Hagar as a wife because they were looking for that Isaac. And what happened was that even though God wanted to start a new family with Abraham, the devil also has his own way of starting a family with Abraham. That is why the more God loves you, the more the devil also focuses his attention on you. He wants to always do something around what God is doing in your life.
If God is shinning His spotlight on you, devil believes there is something important in your life for God to shine light. So, don't tell yourself "I am a child of God, devil should not come around you." It is because you are even a child of God that he begins to think there is something about your life. So, be at watch! And so, we now have a child called Ishmael and then we have another one called Isaac. One is called the product of the bond woman, the other is called the product of the promise. God had promised them that they will have a child and that child that was promised was Isaac. But the one that they made happen for themselves is called Ishmael. And so, from then till date, Ishmael and his descendants have been contending against the children of Isaac and his descendants. Do you understand? So, from there, we then have again a mixed breed of families. When God wanted to start a new people with a family, then that family became divided again. So, from that division, we now have two parties, two forces working against themselves.
And if you read your Bible, usually when you see God sending the children of Israel to go destroy a people, they have a roots very close to this. Now, Lot that we know, at a point and unknowingly to him, he impregnated his two daughters and then became the father of the Moabites and Ammonites. So, when you hear the Moabites in the Bible and the Ammonites, they are children of lot and they are linked again to Abraham. But we still noticed that because they continued and sin and not righteousness, because they worship gods that God had warned them not to worship, usually too, when there is a confrontation, God permits the children of Israel to destroy them. Then you ask: Why are they been destroyed? It is to eliminate the breed. Because another thing that is being done is that instead of destroying them now, unlike then, there is now preaching of the gospel and evangelism, because Christ has come and the Holy Spirit is now on ground, you don't need to kill them now, you can win them over to God. Do we understand? You can get them out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
So, if God can succeed with that, then there is no need to wipe them out, you can have a new breed of people from the old. But then, the only option was for them to be destroyed. But now, you can see, why God is trying to build or start a generation that will enthrone Him, Satan also wants to be enthroned where God wants to be enthroned. If you read Genesis chapter 46 and you read Exodus, you will see how the children of Israel Jacob, Jacob was the son of Isaac, how they left where they were and came to Egypt and in Egypt, they became a nation. So, even though God started a family then through Abraham, it grew until it became a nation in Egypt. And that nation again was in bondage, that nation was under a foreign god. Do we notice that Pharaoh did not know God, the Most High God? It means Pharaoh did not enthrone The Most High God in his own affairs. Pharaoh was even saying "Who is that your God that wants to deliver you from my hands?" Do we understand?
So that we can see that the thing did not stop, it continued. It is always a matter of the Most High God and those gods. So, when God wanted to take them out, it was not just all about given them a physical relocation; it is not so that they can leave the society called Egypt; and then come to a new land. It is not just about a geographical relocation, but about a shift in allegiance, a shift in loyalty. Do you know there was a time they were telling Moses that "the Cucumbers of Egypt, we loved it." Do you think it was just cucumber? To show you that even in their hearts, they seems to have loyalty to Egypt, even though they have been brought out by God. They were crying to God, God came to rescue them. God said "let my people go that they may serve me and enthrone me in their affairs and that I may be their God and demonstrate my power through them."
In fact, we discovered later on that when God destroyed Pharaoh and his armies in the read se, what God did was to bring judgment on the gods of Egypt. Do you know? Egypt was the world power in those days, and the gods that was ruling in Egypt was ruling the world. But when God destroyed Pharaoh that day, He also destroyed their gods. They have not been able to rise since then. The judgment of God came on their gods. So, when you are seen God acts and relating with nations, He is not just dealing with a people there, He is also addressing the gods of the people. Because the gods of the people have turned the hearts of the people away from the living God unto them. When an angel is sent from God to bring a message to anybody, he does not accept worship. The angel will tell you "I am just your fellow servant. You are a servant of God, I am a servant of God as well, don't worship me, worship God."
When a demon comes into a village, it says "everybody should stop worshipping God, they should all worship him, the demon." Do you understand? That is the issue. They are rebellious, they don't want worship to go to God, they will rather want people to live and die for them, than to live and die for God. Now, let us quickly see Exodus 32 before we start seeing New Testaments as we are concluding. God has taken them out of the land of Egypt, the enemies who were pursuing them, God had destroyed and their gods, and so, when they were trying to be comfortable again, something happened. Let us read it in Exodus 32 from verse 1:
"Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. "
That "he fashioned it" was where Aaron missed when he was reporting the matter. He didn't tell Moses he fashioned it, he simply said they gave him the gold and he threw them into the fire. But the Bible says "he fashioned it with an engraving tool…" He even used a lot of tools, he did a lot of work, perhaps he spent days in calving the god, days of shifting in loyalty. Even Aaron himself must have shifted in loyalty before he could do it. "Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” Is this even true? How could that golden calf, something that looks like a cow; that the herdsmen raise, be their god?
5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” 6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
Please, was God happy with what they did? So, even though God brought them out of bondage; God wanted to make them a nation that will become a pattern for other nations, initially, it was supposed to be a family that will become a model for other families in Abraham, then they became a nation, and God wanted to make them a model for other nations, so that through them, other nations will know about God. And then, they now decided to worship the work of their hands. You see, once you shift your attention from the living God, don't just say they were just worshipping ordinary gold, No! There was a spirit that produces that, and there is a spirit behind their worship. They were worshipping a demon!
So, you ask yourself, you are a human being just like many of them, as it been rosy for you in your relationship with God? Have you always been having God enthroned in your life, from when you were a child till date? Or would you say it has been back and forth. Sometimes, you stand for God, sometimes you stand for Satan. Has it been like that or you have been for God? Perhaps, you have not been standing for God, maybe they happen in the days of your own ignorance, you cannot perpetuate your corruption in your knowledge. The days of ignorance God has overlooked. But what about this time that you have knowledge, are you still drawing back unto corruption? Are you siding with the gods that you have made with your hands? In fact, you cannot begin to worship the things that have been given to you by the Lord, whether they are children or anything.
Even Satan and his demons are made by God; you cannot worship them but rather, worship the one who made them. That is the normal thing. Let us quickly go through Revelation chapters 12 and 20. Revelations 12 from verse 1, the Bible says:
"Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born."
Let us jump to verse 7:
"And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
See, those angels cast out with him are the ones villages, cities, countries and people are worshipping. When you see people bowing to gods, and worshipping gods, they are worshipping those angels, and indirectly, Satan who is their god. Now, the Bible says in verse 10:
"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 accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Now, I want to jump to verse 17, something happened again and in verse 17 Bible says: "And the dragon (talking about the old serpent, talking about Satan and the devil) 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." So, if Satan is enraged and making war with you, how then do you think you are not in a warfare? If Satan is enraged and his purpose is to attack you because of your relationship with the Most High God and His Christ Jesus, why do you think Satan will pamper and leave you alone? So, don't think you are just on this earth and just living, you are actually in a warfare. And your adversary, Bible even calls him the one who accuse the brethren in verse 10, an accuser of the brethren, he has been thrown into the earth. Because of his rebellion, he was chased out of heaven and since he came to this earth, he has been seeking worship from men. He and his angels seek worship, they seek to be enthroned. They don't want God to rule in the hearts of men, they want to be the one ruling. And when they rule, you will see corruption.
Righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to any people. So when they are ruling, they make sin to prevail, and when sin prevails, there is problem in the lives of the people. But when God is enthroned in the lives of the people, righteousness is enthroned. You see justice, the voices of the people are heard, you don't see oppression where Christ is reigning. When God is ruling in the affairs of men, you don't find oppression. Nobody is trying to bring down or destroy somebody, you won't see gossip, all manners of fornication and lying, pride, envy, you don't find it when Christ is enthroned. And so, they want Christ not to be enthroned in your heart so that you commit fornication, you drink, so that you do all manner of things. And when you do this, you then have a destiny that is the same with your master, the devil. And that is where we are going.
The devil has an end, even though he is seeking people to worship him the way people worship God, he has an end that is different from God's end. And I want us to go to Revelation chapter 20 so that we can see the future of Satan and anyone who enthrones Satan. Hell is a prison and it is a spiritual prison for spirits. But those who submit to those spirits will end where they will end. Because the same spirit that is ending in hell is also in them. Do you understand? By the spirit of rebellion, they have sinned, and where the spirit of rebellion will go to, they will go. Why? Because they also share in the same spirit of rebellion. So, the things that the spirit wants to achieve on the earth they do, and where they end, they end together. So, let us see it.
Revelation 20 from verse 1, and this is something that the Holy Spirit showed me some time ago and I started getting excited.
"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Is it not interesting, that Satan that have been claiming to be somebody, even God did not come down to lay hold of him. It is an angel, not even an arch angel. In fact, Bible gave us all his names to know it was Satan; the serpent of old, the devil, Satan and bound in prison. The angel laid hold of Satan like he is nothing. All the things he has been doing is because God allowed him. So, when the time for him to be judged comes, it is not God who would do it, an angel like him will lay hold on him and put him where he belongs. So, let us see his experience.
3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
After the thousand years has finished, he will be released, and so, let us go to verse 7.
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
So, when he is released after one thousand years, he goes to deceive again. Sometimes we see him as if he is very strong, moving everywhere, there is so much problem happening in different places is just because he is just released. Now, let us see it again, verse 9-10.
9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Now, see what happens. Satan was arrested, thrown into prison alone, he was released afterwards? What did he do? He came out and went to gather a mob of people to fight against God. You know before, he was the only one being punished. So, he is released thinking he was free. But it is actually a strategy from God. God wanted to know who are the people on His own side, and who are on Satan side, then that was the time God will now destroy all of them that not on his side. Do we see what is happening? "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
This is not even a matter of one thousand years anymore. They will be tormented forever, anyone that submits to Satan, anyone who enthrones Satan, let us see what happens to them, let us continue reading.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, (you know some people died inside the sea) and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Can we see this? Sometimes, when some people disobey God and then they die, we say death as killed them. Now, Bible says even death that killed people, will also be sent into the lake of fire. Satan, who deceives nations, will be sent into the lake of fire. All those that have been deceived by Satan, who have been enthroning Satan in their affairs; they will also go. So, those who have died before we were even born, they will come back to life, they will come to God, those who have died inside the sea, they will come, those who had died and long buried on the ground, they will rise up. Those that death and Hades have been keeping in custody, they will be delivered up and then they will be sent into the prison, eternal fire. And those whose name have not been found in the book of life, will also be sent there.
So, the joyful thing for me is that even Satan and his demons, they have an end in the lake of fire. Do you want to end there? If you don't want to end in the lake of fire, then you must never enthrone Satan. You cannot enthrone one who would end in destruction. Even though he is making you look good, so that he can use you to win souls into his kingdom; will end in hell. So, you must pitch your tent with the true God, the Most High God. Please I want us to write Jeremiah in our notes, we will read it in our houses. When the children of Israel started worshipping idols, in fact, God said they were worshipping the queen of heaven; and gods, when, this happened, the judgment of God came upon them. In fact, God said He will fling them across the world, He said their land will become a desolate land.
You know, when you begin to talk like that to a love one, it is because the person has disappointed you millions of times. You don't want to be a disappointment to God. Let God be true and every man a liar. It is like me giving you a jotter, and you now loved the jotter more than me, does it make sense? You can't love those things that God create more than God. When God is speaking to you, then God must matter to you, not them. You cannot exalt any man on earth, or any woman on earth above God, or with God. You cannot match any human with God. So, you must be careful in how you worship, you must be careful in how you submit. You must be careful about your loyalty. You must side with God, the living God, the Most High. And when you do that, you have peace, you have prosperity.
Go and ask those who are enthroning Satan, they don't have peace. They may have prosperity, but they don't have peace, because their god has nothing to do with peace. It is Jesus that is the Prince of Peace. Do we remember that? So, if you want peace, you side with God.
Amen!
