DECEPTION – 3
FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH TO THE PIT
Written by: Pravin Moudgill
All references are from NKJV except where specified otherwise
God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love-truth. Satan’s kingdom is kingdom of lies.
- John 8:44 “(The devil) is a liar and the father of it.”
As long as Satan is on earth He will continue to deceive through lies. He must be removed for truth to be established permanently.
- Mt 12:29 “first binds…strong man…then…plunder his house.”
Removing Satan is finished work, therefore easy.
- John 19:30 “It is finished!”
- Mt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Jesus did it through us on the cross; He will now do it through us on earth.
He paid the penalty for us.
Believers
Satan’s hold, his lies and deception, have to first be removed from the believers.
A believer who is only a hearer is still in deception. A doer, he only is free.
Note: Consider Lazarus as an illustration: He was alive, yet bound. He had to be freed before he could become functional.
John 11:43-44 “He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth…"Loose him, and let him go."”
- James 1:22-25 “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves…25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty (freedom) and continues in it (he is free)”
As a believer is discipled, as the truth is written in his mind-heart through obedience, he is freed.
- John 17:17 “Your word is truth.”
- John 8:31-32 “Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in (do) My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."”
Earth
God’s army of heaven threw Satan out from heaven to earth.
- Rev 12:7-12 “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… 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…12…the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Satan’s ‘short time on earth’ is over. He is now to be cast from earth to the bottomless pit.
God’s armies on earth comprise of both disciples and angels.
Note: We who are seated with God on His throne Rev 3:21 have greater authority than angels.
- Rev 20:1-3 “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; 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.”
Note: The casting down is ‘signified’ (i.e. represented by a sign or symbol Rev 1:1) as an event brought about by a single angel. In actuality however it is a process, brought about by the armies of God.
Overcomers
A disciple is an overcomer—he has through obedience unto death Phil 2:8 ‘laid down his life and thereby overcome the self’.
One who has overcome the self has overcome the world and Satan 1 Jn 5:4-5, Rev 12:11.
He has the word in his mind and heart; he has the keys and prevails.
- Mt 16:18-19 “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
God converts us from believers to disciples, He ‘polishes’ us through trials and tribulations.
- Isa 49:2 “He has made My mouth like a sharp sword…made Me a polished shaft (arrow).”
Through death God polishes us into becoming an ‘arrow of death’, and shoots us against Satan.
Note: “we are the smell of death leading only to more death” 2 Cor 2:16 CJB
Process
As we persevere in warfare Satan’s kingdom becomes weaker, and God’s kingdom stronger.
- 2 Sam 3:1 “there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”
Note: Satan is our food Num 14:9; fighting him is part of our daily bread. The more we fight the stronger we grow.
The war must continue a long time—till Satan is thrown out.
- 2 Kings 13:17-19 “"The arrow of the Lord's deliverance…you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them." 18…"Take the arrows…Strike the ground"; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19…"You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times."”
The king stopped half-way. He failed to destroy Syria. He failed his assignment.
Faithful
Many are called but few chosen Mt 20:16. When I war against Satan then I am faithful.
- Rev 17:14 “(The beast and his kings) will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them…those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
See below for what is bothering Jesus:
- Luke 18:8 “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Will I really be found faithful? Or would I have failed my calling, like the king above?
Note: Most of us stop warring when Satan stops bothering us. That is being selfish, not faithful.
In order for Jesus to come, Satan must go. And the time has come.
Move from defensive to offensive warfare—an unceasing offensive against Satan.
Also pray that God’s army grows: people become believers and then disciples.
Note: To obey every command includes total destruction of Satan and his works. We have the authority Mt 10:1.
