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Our Mission: Revelation 14:6-12
If I Were Told the Future - Lesson 63
The
Great Dragon and His Angels
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Let's pray together:
Our Father,
In our last section, we identified Your servants and the role they play in Bible prophecy.
Now, we need to know who are Your enemies, and therefore our enemies.
Please help us to discover their aims and strategies, so that we may better prepare
ourselves, to avoid becoming their victims.
In Jesus Christ our Savior we pray.
Amen.
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Revelation 12:3,9
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red
dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. (...)
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.
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The first servant of evil whom we will study is the great dragon,
who is none other than Satan.
Where does Satan come from? What is his role in prophecy?
We will discover the answers to these questions in this lesson.
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Ezekiel 28:12-14
Thus says the Lord God:
«You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden,
the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering (...).
You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain
of God.»
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Let's begin our search in this passage from the book of Ezekiel.
Here, God is speaking to a cherub, that is, a mighty angel, who was already living in the
garden of Eden. God had entrusted him with great responsibilities from the very beginning.
Who is this angel?
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Ezekiel 28:15-17
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till
iniquity was found in you.
By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.
(...)
Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of
your splendor.
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This angel called Lucifer, which means «light bearer», was
created perfect.
Let's note that God did not create a demon.
But, one day, for an inexplicable reason, Lucifer let pride seize him, and a mad ambition
rushed to his mind: to take the place of God Himself!
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Isaiah 14:12-14
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
«I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also
sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.»
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Lucifer began to covet God's place.
As rebellion invaded his heart, he became Satan, a name which means «Adversary».
Then, gradually, He succeeded in turning a third of the angels against God.
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Revelation 12:7-9
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor
was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
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.
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Declaring open war on God, Satan was cast out from heaven, with
the angels he had deceived.
But what happened to them on the earth?
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Isaiah 14:12
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
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Luke 10:18
[Jesus] said to them: «I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.»
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Revelation 12:12
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.
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In our lesson on the third trumpet, «The Great Star Fallen from Heaven», we have seen that Satan's fall to the earth was not a blessing for men...
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Genesis 3:1-5
[The serpent] said to the woman, «Has God indeed said, "You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?»
And the woman said to the serpent, «We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but
of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You
shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die."»
And the serpent said to the woman, «You will not surely die. For God knows that in the
day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.»
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As soon as he reached earth, Satan undertook to deceive the human race.
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Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and
ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
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Man's happiness was closely linked to his obedience to God.
But God did not want a forced obedience: so He allowed man the freedom to follow the way
he preferred. However, He seriously warned him about the consequences of his choices.
Alas! Satan deceived him in spite of this warning, and got him to disobey.
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Satan is always trying to hide the truth leading to salvation:
«But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light
of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.» (2
CORINTHIANS 4:3,4)
«Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.» (1 PETER 5:8)
«(...) to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan to God.» (ACTS 26:18)
«The serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die."» (GENESIS 3:4)
«But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds
may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.» (2 CORINTHIANS 11:3)
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John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father
you want to do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no
truth in him.
When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of
it.
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Let's remember that Satan promised Eve that, by disobeying God,
she would not die but on the contrary she would become as a god.
The first couple chose to believe Satan.
And what were the consequences of such a choice for the whole human race?
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Genesis 3:22,23
Then the Lord God said, «Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever» - therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground.
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1 John 3:4
Sin is lawlessness.
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Stained by sin, that is transgression of the divine law, man lost
the privilege of living in God's presence.
And since God is the only source of life, man also lost the right to eternal life.
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Isaiah 59:1,2
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face
from you, so that He will not hear.
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Sin's most serious consequence is the end of the intimate
relationship that existed between God and man before the Fall.
Sin, by staining man, made him unable to bear God's glory, and therefore to survive in His
presence.
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Isaiah 1:4-6
Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of
evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to
anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.
Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the
head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.
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To choose sin also meant to choose suffering in all its forms: physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual.
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Job 2:7
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
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Luke 13:16
The Lord said, «So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound - think of it - for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?»
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In addition to suffering all the effects of sin, men must also face the incessant attacks of Satan and his angels.
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Satan and his angels are behind a lot of diseases:
«A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to
buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.» (2 CORINTHIANS 12:7)
«And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent
over and could in no way raise herself up.» (LUKE 13:11)
«They brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a
word, and healed all who were sick.» (MATTHEW 8:16)
«Handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left
them and the evil spirits went out of them.» (ACTS 19:12)
«When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit,
saying to him, "You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter
him no more!"» (MARK 9:25)
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Deuteronomy 32:4-6
[God] is the rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are
justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.
They have corrupted themselves; they are not His children, because of their blemish: a
perverse and crooked generation.
Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who
bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
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God is our Creator, our Father, and our Friend.
If everything in the world is going so wrong, we cannot and must not blame Him for this
sad situation.
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Proverbs 19:3
The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart frets against the Lord.
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Job 34:12
Surely God will never do wickedly.
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Satan is really wily: not only did he plunge mankind into a world of darkness, suffering and death, but he also succeeded in making millions of people believe that God, rather than he, is responsible for their affliction and misfortunes.
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Revelation 12:4,13,17
The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to
devour her Child as soon as it was born. (...)
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who
gave birth to the male Child. (...)
And the dragon 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.
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Our lesson «The Pure Woman» showed us how Satan tried to destroy first Jesus, then the Church proclaiming the gospel, and finally the rest of this faithful Church, shortly before the second coming of Jesus.
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Revelation 13:2,4
The beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the
feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.
And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. (...)
[The world] worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast.
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In future lessons, we will see how Satan uses political and
religious powers, not only to attack the Church of God, but also to lead men to perdition.
Among all his snares and deceptions, he has a very effective weapon...
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Leviticus 19:31
Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
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Leviticus 20:6
And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
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Spiritualism, that is, trying to communicate with the dead, a
practice which God positively forbids, is one of Satan's favorite weapons.
Why?
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Psalm 115:17
The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence.
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Ecclesiastes 9:5,10
The dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the
memory of them is forgotten. (...)
There is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
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The Bible is very clear: when a man dies, he falls into a state
of total unconsciousness, comparable to a sleep, until the day of his resurrection.
Since he cannot hear us, it is useless to try to communicate with him.
So, what happens when we try, in spite of God's warnings, to communicate with the dead?
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1 Corinthians 10:20
I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
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2 Corinthians 11:14
And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
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Believing that it is possible to communicate with the dead makes
men very vulnerable to the dragon's deceptions.
In fact, Satan and his angels can easily imitate a deceased person, and then pass on a
message which will bring people along the path leading to death and loss.
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1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
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Matthew 24:4
Jesus answered and said to them, «Take heed that no one deceives you.»
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As the end of the world draws very near, Satan will redouble his
efforts to deceive as many people as possible.
Spiritualism and occultism (astrology, clairvoyance, divination, etc.) are some of his
most destructive weapons.
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Satan's deceptions, before the return of Jesus, will be very powerful:
«The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of
Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among
those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be
saved.» (2 THESSALONIANS 2:9,10)
«Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was
dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw three
unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the
beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons,
performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.» (REVELATION 16:12-14)
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Ephesians 6:11,14-17
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. (...)
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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Only this armor will give us the victory over Satan and his wiles.
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1 John 4:8
God is love.
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As this lesson draws to its close, we may ask ourselves: «Why
didn't God destroy Satan in the beginning, in order to prevent sin from invading the
world?»
The answer is simple. The basis of God's government is love.
If God had immediately destroyed Satan, His creation would then have served Him out of
fear. So He chose to give everyone time to measure the consequences of Satan's rebellion.
Fortunately, the experiment will soon come to a conclusion...
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Romans 16:20
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.
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Nahum 1:9
Affliction will not rise up a second time.
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The experiment is conclusive: sin results only in desolation,
suffering and death.
So it is with the whole universe's consent that God will soon destroy every trace of sin,
as well as Satan and his angels.
This will have been a painful experience for each of us, especially for God, but necessary
in order to make sure that evil will not appear a second time.
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Ezekiel 28:17-19
Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted
your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before
kings, that they might gaze at you. (...)
I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth
in the sight of all who saw you.
All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and
shall be no more forever.
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But is it possible to destroy Satan? Some people teach that,
since Satan is an angel, God will not be able to destroy him.
Yet, the Word of God tells us the exact opposite: Satan will really be destroyed at the
end of time.
Let's look at some passages of Scripture which confirm this.
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Satan, the great dragon, will be destroyed at the end of times:
«(...) that through death [Jesus] might destroy him who had the
power of death, that is, the devil.» (HEBREWS 2:14)
«And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.» (ROMANS 16:20)
«In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the
fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in
the sea.» (ISAIAH 27:1)
«The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan.»
(REVELATION 12:9)
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1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
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God is not our enemy, and Satan is not our friend.
Satan knows that he has a very short time, and his only goal is to lead as many as
possible to perdition.
We can be sure of this: he has a specially designed trap to spring on each one of us, a
trap aimed at our own individual weaknesses, which is able to keep us away from God until
it is too late.
If we do not discern this, Satan will definitely overcome us.
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Ezekiel 18:23,32
«Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?»
says the Lord God, «and not that he should turn from his ways and live?» (...)
«I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies», says the Lord God. «Therefore turn
and live!»
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God sincerely deplores man's choice to believe Satan's lies
rather than follow the path He showed him, leading to eternal life.
But God still loves each one of us, and still invites us today to accept His offer of
salvation in Jesus Christ, so that we may find the path leading to eternal life.
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Let's pray together:
Father,
We cannot by ourselves overcome the powerful enemies Satan and his angels are.
But it is written: «[Satan] was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
(...) The accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been
cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.» (Revelation 12:9-11)
May the victory of Jesus, the Lamb of God, over Satan, the great dragon, also be ours.
In the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord, we pray.
Amen.
The test of Lesson 63 is waiting for you!