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Last week we covered some recent developments in the Spiritual War; this week we’ll look at the beginning of the problem.

Going Back to a Time Before Time

The problem with sin did not begin with Adam’s direct disobedience to a command from God, but at a time, possibly before the creation of time, in eternity past. There are a number of brief references to this event given in the Bible. Let us start with what appears to be an account of the earliest recorded incident which is described in Ezekiel 28:12b-17; the following is believed to describe Lucifer who is later known as Satan:

“‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. ¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. ¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. ¹⁶ Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. ¹⁷ Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.”

We are given further information in Isaiah 14:12-15 where the infamous five I wills of Satan are recorded:

¹² How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! ¹³ You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. ¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” ¹⁵ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.”

At this point Lucifer/Satan had lost his position in heaven but still had access to heaven; we encounter Satan in heaven speaking with God in Job 1:6-7:

^“6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Notice how Satan brags of his authority over the earth; when Adam sinned, the human race died spiritually and forfeited its position of authority over the earth to Satan, Satan became the “Prince of the Power of the Air” and mankind became spiritually dead slaves to sin as described in Ephesians 2.

“2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Ephesians 2:2-3

The World and God’s Plan Put in Danger

If this was not enough, a Satanic plan was put into effect to try and eliminate any possibility of one who would be the seed of the woman and crush the head of the serpent as described in Genesis 3:15:

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The reference to the offspring of the woman is seen as the first promise of the Messiah and the victory that would someday be won at the cross when Christ would spiritually crush Satan’s head. The striking of his heel is seen as the death of Christ on the cross, a short lived victory as Christ rose from the dead three days later.

Satan’s plan involved a corruption of human DNA that would prevent the promised redeemer from ever being born; a dangerous plan that required extreme measures to defeat it, the death of billions of human beings by a world-wide flood. This event is described in Genesis 6 and has been covered in some detail in other articles. It is sufficient to point out Satan’s plan was defeated and those most directly responsible, the sons of God who kept not their first estate, are being severely punished.

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly” 2 Peter 2:4-5

⁶ And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” Jude 6

Next time, “The Flood Changes the World”