UNSEATING SATAN
First Read
Revelation 12. It has been said that if you get Revelation 12 right, you will
get the rest of it right. It is pivotal. When reading ‘in heaven,’ think ‘in
the realm of the Spirit.’ This will give you a better understanding of what is
happening. Revelation is a drama being played out in the spiritual realm.
Remember that Revelation is symbolic. People make the mistake of trying to take
it too literal. Symbols allow for a much larger interpretation.
………………………………………………..
God is in control! So
says just about every Christian preacher or teacher that I’ve heard. It must follow then that everything that
happens is the will of God – all the horrible tragedies that we witness day by
day on our television screen, radio, and in our own lives; sicknesses of soul
and body and mind rampant in the Earth. God lets these things happen to teach
us patience and faith etc. so the story goes.
Jesus taught us to
pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Are these things
happening in heaven? The answer to that is ‘No.’ God’s will for Man is seen in
Eden before the Fall –No sickness, no poverty, no wars, no death or any of the
things that plague us now. The Earth was an extension of Heaven. The ultimate
end of the Cross is that the Kingdom of God reigns in the earth again. THEN
God’s will, will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. In the meantime we are to look for and pray
for the Kingdom to come in its fullness; and yes, God does walk with us through
all of life’s happenings and He does continue to mould us into Christ’s image.
God IS in control;
but that statement needs to be qualified or at least explained. God is the just
Judge and all the legals have to be settled. The Cross was a legal transaction
which legally changed everything, but that change has yet to be brought into
manifestation.
In the beginning God gave Man dominion over
the Earth.
“The heavens, even the heavens, are the Lord’s, but the earth He has
given to the children of men.” Psalm 115:16
When God gives
something, he doesn’t take it back; that is unless it is a conditional gift or
promise.
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” Romans 11:29
It is like “the law of the Medes and the Persians, which
does not alter.” [Daniel 6:8] It cannot be changed.
So the deeds of the
earth were given to Man. Satan gained
authority over the Earth when mankind yielded allegiance to him. Satan showed
Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and boasted, “All this authority I will give you, and their glory; for this has been
delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” Luke 4:6. Jesus didn’t
argue with that; He knew it was true; but He came to change things.
The sin of Man gave
Satan the authority he exercises over the Earth. At the Cross Jesus paid for
the sins of all Mankind. The trial of Jesus was much more than an earthly
trial; the Courts of Heaven were in session. God was the Judge, Satan [the
Accuser], was the Prosecutor; Jesus was the Accused; He stood in the dock on
behalf of all Mankind. The verdict was
‘Guilty’ and the punishment carried out. The Cross removed Satan’s legal hold
on the earth. Satan had no legal right to accuse us anymore. However man has to
come into the knowledge of this in order to be really free. Jesus rose as the new Man, head of all the
redeemed, and as the representative Man, He regained the authority Man had lost.
He said,
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on the earth. Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations….” Matthew 28: 18, 19
Authority over the
earth has been restored to redeemed Man, to exercise in Jesus’ name. Satan no
longer has any legal hold over the Earth, however he retains his grip on the Earth
by the only two powers he has left; - deceit and accusation. [See Revelation
12:9, 10]. By these two powers he continues to operate in the Earth and still ‘the whole world lies under the sway of the
wicked one.’ 1 John 5:19
That is why the world
continues to be in such a mess. The Cross is about much more than going to Heaven
when we die; it’s about removing Satan’s grip on the Earth and restoring the
Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven. The Earth has been given to
redeemed Man [Romans 4:13] but Man has to possess it. The Types of the Old Testament
are there to show us how it can be done. The principle of Typology is ‘First
the natural, then the spiritual.’ God did in Israel in the physical, what He
intended to do in the spiritual through the Church. You might say He did a ‘dry
run’ to show us how to reclaim the Earth and bring in the Kingdom. As Israel
was set free from bondage by the blood of the Passover Lamb, to repossess their
lost inheritance; so we are set free from bondage by the Blood of the Lamb of
God in order to reclaim ours. Our Promised Land is the Earth – a good Land
flowing with milk and honey, but spoilt because it is overrun by ‘giants’ of
evil with their demonic strongholds. Moreover the spiritual dimension which
Creation had, has to be restored. All Creation is waiting for this. [Romans
:19-21]
The Bible says that
unredeemed Man is in a state of spiritual blindness. The Church moves forward
by Truth. We are a people still coming out of blindness. [2 Corinthians 4:3,4].
God leads His people on into the fullness of Truth, building ‘precept upon
precept, line upon line’ by the Holy Spirit who leads and guides us into all
truth. The Holy Spirit is symbolised by the Pillar of Cloud and Fire which led
Israel to the Promised Land. The end result of this journey into Truth, will be
a Church which has come into the revelation of the finished work of Christ,
i.e. they will have come into the knowledge of all that the Cross has purchased.
They are not deceived anymore by the lies of the Devil and they cannot be
intimidated by the ‘Accuser of the brethren,’ because they know that all grounds
of accusation have been removed. They will have come into the fullness of
Grace. Those who do not have this revelation will oppose, calling it
‘hyper-Grace’ but Truth will prevail. Satan has been dreading the rise of this
End Time Army, ever since the promise in Eden that the Seed of the Woman would
cause his demise.
The unseating of
Satan from his position of authority is pictured in Revelation 12 when the
Manchild is ‘caught up to God and to His throne.’ To be ‘raised up and made to
sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ has been legally his since the
Resurrection, it is his birthright. Now finally a generation is birthed into
the Earth which will take up that position. This is the catalyst for warfare in
the heavenlies, with Michael and his angels defeating Satan and his angels and
casting them to the Earth. Why did Michael and his angels have to wait for the
Manchild to rise? Because in matters to do with the Earth, angels do not have
the authority; Man does. The Old Testament type of this is when Joshua and his
army crossed Jordan to be met by the Captain of the hosts of heaven. They had
to wait for Israel to come in order to do battle.
ast
That the Manchild of
Revelation 12 is the End Time Overcomers is confirmed by vs 11:-
1. The
Manchild is a ‘they.’ They overcame. Galatians 3 vs 16 and 29 show that
the promised Seed is one but many. Vs16 says that Jesus is the promised Seed
and vs 29 says that if we are Christ’s then WE are Abraham’s Seed and heirs
according to the promise. The promised Seed is One but many.
2. ‘They’ overcame Satan by the blood of the
Lamb, the Word of their testimony and they loved not their lives to the death.
This could only be said of the Redeemed; certainly not of the angels.
The Manchild is
destined to rule all nations with a rod of iron [Revelation 12:5] c/f Rev 2:26,27
–
“And he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will
give power over the nations –‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;…’ “
The Woman in
Revelation 12 is the people of faith of all ages. Since the fall she has been
travailing to bring forth the Seed that will cause Satan’s downfall. Now the
great moment has come. The glad cry goes up:-
“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. Revelation 12:10
An incident in the
history of Israel gives a strong clue that this event is about to happen very
soon. The Manchild is about to be born!
[Watch for the next
exciting instalment of this drama of the ages!]
