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Particulars
of Christianity:
314
End Times Prophecy (Eschatology)
Prophetic
Symbols: Daniel 9 and 10 (Part 2)
Prophetic
Symbols: Daniel 9 and 10 (Part 1)
Prophetic
Symbols: Daniel 9 and 10 (Part 2)
Prophetic Symbols: Daniel 9 and
10 (Part 3)
Prophetic Symbols: Revelation
13 (Part 1)
Prophetic Symbols: Revelation
13 (Part 2)
Prophetic Symbols: Revelation
13 (Part 3)
Articles 7-12
Articles 13-18
Articles 19-25
Articles 26-29
We have been examining what Jesus and the Gospel writers had
to say about the idea that angelic princes ruled the kingdoms
of the world, particularly the dominant world empires. Now
let's look at what Paul had to say on the matter.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.
Here in Ephesians 6, Paul speaks of the "wiles of the devil"
and Paul comments that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood."
It is interesting that Paul here uses the very same phrase
he used in 1 Corinthians 15 when he spoke in verses 44 and
51 about how "flesh and blood" human bodies cannot inherit
the kingdom of God but must first be transformed into spiritual
bodies, such as the ones possessed by Jesus Christ himself
and beings that dwell in the heavenly realms.
But who does Paul say we wrestle against? The devil as well
as principalities and powers, which are not "flesh and blood."
Paul says these "principalities" are spiritual and he also
calls them the "rulers of the darkness of this world." So,
we know that Paul understood that that spirit beings under
the authority of the chief adversary (the devil), rule over
the world.
And Paul speaks about these principalities in many places.
Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God.
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created,
that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers: all things were created
by him, and for him:
Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing
over them in it.
In Titus 3:1, Paul instructs to "be subject to principalities
and powers."
Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every
good work.
Since Paul says to be subject to them, we know that in Titus,
Paul is using this phrase to refer to human rulers, and not
angelic beings as he is in the other cases. However, the fact
that this phrase can be used either of human rulers or angelic
rulers further helps to establish the connection that the
angelic rulers have to the human rulers, who they preside
over. And we will talk more about this later.
1 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them.
In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul actually refers to the chief of these
angelic rulers as "the god of this world," which further corroborates
that the devil was speaking accurately when he told Jesus
that the kingdoms of this world were under his dominion to
give to whom he wished. Apparently, God had delegated control
over the kingdoms of the earth to the chief adversary before
he rebelled and so he retains that status now until Christ
comes and unseats him, assuming control of the kingdom for
himself.
One last passage of significant note is 1 Corinthians 2. For
comparison purposes we will look at this passage side by side
with Ephesians 3:9-10.
Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them
that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto
our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew:
for had they known it, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory.
By viewing these passages side by side, we can clearly see
that Paul has the same topic in mind. In both passages he
speaks of how the wisdom of God was not made known to the
princes of this world. In Ephesians 3:10, Paul actually clarifies
that he is referring to the angelic rulers and not the human
rulers because he refers to them as "the principalities and
powers in heavenly places." What is interesting about 1 Corinthians
2 is that it tells us that God holds these angelic princes
responsible for orchestrating the death of Jesus Christ.
And this should not be a big surprise, for in John 13:27 we
see the adversary clearly depicted as directly participating
in Judas' betrayal in order to deliver Jesus Christ to those
who would crucify him.
Before we go on, we should make note of both Job and Jude.
Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending
with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said,
The Lord rebuke thee.
In Jude, we see the angel Michael disputing with the devil
and he does take the time to say to the devil, "The Lord rebuke
thee." Clearly, Michael the archangel perceived that God still
took the time to rebuke the adversary, even though he had
already fallen.
What is also interesting is that in verse 14, Jude actually
quotes from the book of Enoch. Now, the book of Enoch does
depict a very interesting scenario in which certain fallen
angels send Enoch to speak to God on their behalf since God
was at that time no longer granting those particular angels
an audience.
Enoch 15:1 And He answered and said to me, and I heard
His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous 2 man
and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear
my voice. And go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have
sent thee to intercede for them: "You should intercede" for
men, and not men 3 for you.
The earliest copy that we have of the book of Enoch dates
from the second century BC, two centuries before Jude wrote
his epistle. And while the book of Enoch is not canonical
and should, therefore, be considered fallible, the fact that
Jude quoted from it does tell us that the mind of first century
Jews would have been acquainted with this story in which Enoch,
a man, is sent by God as a messenger to the fallen angels.
Furthermore, we find the following account recorded for us
in the book of Job.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came
also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence
comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From
going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down
in it. 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered
my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth,
a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth
evil?
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came
also among them to present himself before the LORD. 2
And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And
Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in
the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 3 And the
LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and
still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst
me against him, to destroy him without cause.
Here we see two times in Job that not only does God converse
with the adversary, but God wants to make a demonstration
to him. So, we can see from Job that God clearly continued
to speak to the adversary even after he had fallen and God
continued to try to demonstrate his wisdom to the adversary
as well.
And we have already seen from Ephesians 3 how God desires
to make known his wisdom to those principalities and powers
in heavenly places.
Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God.
So, it is clear from Jude 1:9, Job 1:6-8 and 2:1-3, as well
as Ephesians 3:9-10, that despite the fact that the adversarial
spirits are fallen indeed, God still speaks to them to rebuke
them and make known to them his wisdom. Now, that does not
mean that God was intending to allow the adversary to repent.
Rather, after the adversary had sinned, God was making plain
to him the error of his ways. The point is not that God was
trying to compel the adversary to repent or that God would
have in any way allowed the adversary to repent. The point
is that after the adversaries' fall, God was still speaking
to them and attempting to make known to them the wisdom and
righteousness of God. And from Ephesians 3:9-10, we know that
this applied to all of the angelic princes and not just to
the chief adversary.
But we should also look at what Irenaeus has to say on this
subject. Irenaeus was an orthodox early Christian writer who
lived more than a century before the Council of Nicea in 325
AD, and who had been trained by Polycarp who himself was a
disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus lived from 120-202
AD.
IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
BOOK V.
CHAP. XXVI.--JOHN AND DANIEL HAVE PREDICTED THE DISSOLUTION
AND DESOLATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, WHICH SHALL PRECEDE THE
END OF THE WORLD AND THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF CHRIST. THE GNOSTICS
ARE REFUTED, THOSE TOOLS OF SATAN, WHO INVENT ANOTHER FATHER
DIFFERENT FROM THE CREATOR.
2. "That before the Lord's appearance Satan never dared
to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own
sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories;
but that after the Lord's appearance, when he had clearly
ascertained from the words of Christ and His apostles that
eternal fire has been prepared for him as he apostatized from
God of his own free-will, and likewise for all who unrepentant
continue in the apostasy, he now blasphemes, by means of such
men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon him] as being already
condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his Maker,
not to his own voluntary disposition."
According to Irenaeus, God had written down what the sentence
was concerning the fallen angels in the parables and allegories
that were written by the prophets before the Lord Jesus Christ
came. From this passage, we can see that Irenaeus perceived
that God had used the prophets to convey things concerning
the fallen angels, and afterward, Jesus and the Apostles confirmed
and clarified what the fallen angel's sentence was.
Lastly, we should look at John 8.
John 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then
said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one
Father, even God. 44 Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
There are several things to note from Jesus' statements here
in John 8. First, in this conversation with the religious
leaders of his own day, Jesus states that "they do the will
of their father" which he clearly identifies as "the devil."
Second, Jesus states that the devil is the "father" of lies.
In saying this, Jesus makes the devil the father of those
who speak lies. Third, Jesus also calls the devil a "murderer
from the beginning," which indicates that the devil is also
the father of murder and has a long record of murder. Fourth,
and most importantly, Jesus states that when the religious
leaders of his day do what they do, they are doing the will
of the devil, their father. This means, that when they killed
Jesus, that too, was the will of their father, which they
carried out for him, whether knowingly or unknowingly. And,
in turn, this corroborates our interpretation of 1 Corinthians
2, where Paul states that the angelic principalities and powers
were responsible for crucifying Jesus Christ.
Likewise, Revelation 12 clearly depicts that even before Jesus
Christ came, the adversary was standing ready to destroy Jesus
Christ, who is the child born to rule the nations with a rod
of iron.
Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of
the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and
the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be
delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up
unto God, and to his throne...9 And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Therefore, we can clearly see that it was the adversary who
even before Jesus Christ was born, had been orchestrating
to destroy Jesus Christ, who would one day rule the nations
when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of Christ
Jesus as described in Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Daniel 8, and Revelation
11:15.
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