Who is the Enemy at the gates - Part 1

“If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Sun Tzu

Know your Enemy - EPH 5:11
Lucifer
/ˈluːsɪfə/
noun

1. the leader of the rebellion of the angels: usually identified with Satan
2. the planet Venus when it rises as the morning star
   Word Origin
   Old English, from Latin Lūcifer, light-bearer, from lūx light + ferre to bear

What does he look like?

Our Enemy undoubtedly is Satan and therefore this is where we will start.

He is the dark being known as the father of light, rebellion, disobedience and chaos. He is the source of all evil but this was not always the case. In Isaiah 14 we are informed that Satan was once a radiant Archangel called Lucifer. In its Latin root the word Lucifer means "The one who brings light" and in Hebrew it means the "The Morning Star". In 2 Corinthians 11:4 we are told that even today Satan disguises himself as an Angel of Light. This is an important point to kick off with as we tend to think that if we saw Satan he would have an obviously evil appearance and would be easily recognizable. When you hear the name you are probably thinking of a demonic figure with red skin, a trident horns and a tail.

The truth is that if we saw Satan he would at the very least have a neutral appearance and if we can go even further it is far more likely that he would appear strangely attractive to human eyes. There is further evidence for this when we consider that in the last days when the Anti-Christ appears on the world stage the bible suggests that he will have a handsome appearance that will be part of the charm that draws people to him. His physical appearance will be part of his deception. In Ezekiel 28:12-13 we get an insight into the physical beauty that Lucifer possessed - "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx, and sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created."

The Hebrew meaning of timbrels and pipes is not certain but it is widely accepted by Biblical scholars that Lucifer was probably responsible for orchestrating the worship of heaven and hence this apparent reference to musical instruments. He was a musical genius. Later we will discover that he continues to use his skill in this area as a means of captivating people to this day.

It was Satan’s beauty that caused him to fall to pride. We are told that at some point he became so taken with his own glory that he sought to make himself equal with God and turned in rebellion against his creator. "You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the most high.” Isaiah 14:13-14.

Key Point: It is sometimes easy to fall into the trap of thinking that Satan is some kind of equal but opposite force to God. Certainly he would like to portray himself in this way and equality with God is his ambition, but in fact as a created being he is at the very most on a level with the Archangels.

Scripture suggest that when Lucifer rebelled and fell from heaven he undermined the loyalty of one third of Gods Angels and they fell with him. We call these fallen angels demons and the makeup Satan's spiritual army around the world. How did he manage to persuade some angels to follow him? Ezekiel 28 gives the answer. "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. 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. Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, o covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones." Ezekiel 28:14-16.

He won them around by the abundance of his trading. This is often mistranslated with something to do with commercial activity, buying and selling. The word trading actually comes from the Hebrew that means to go up and down as a talebearer or secret agitator, today we call it campaigning or lobbying. That is how Lucifer alienated the loyalty of the Angels, by going back and forth amongst them whispering in their ears and sowing seeds of disaffection. He portrayed God as a tyrant and offered the angels a higher place in his kingdom if they agreed to join him in rebellion. The same word "trading" is used in other parts of the Bible and it gives us further insight into his methods.

In Leviticus 19:16 we read "You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people".

This verse describes a slanderer, a person who brings false accusations and insinuations. Lucifer falsely accused God of being a despot, a tyrant who only cared for his own grandeur and glory, with no appreciation of these Angels who are faithfully serving Him. In Proverbs 20:19 there is another instance of the same word "He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with the one who flatters with his lips."

This verse closely associated tale bearing with flattery. Lucifer used flattery amongst the angles in order to convert them to his cause. In Jeremiah 6:28 and Ezekiel 22:9 the word is translated as slanderer, he slandered God's name, it is the same Hebrew word, a person who goes to and fro sowing disaffection and disloyalty by using flattery and misrepresenting authority.

Lucifer

Where is Satan now?

So God cast Satan out of heaven along with a third of the Angels, where are they now?

Another misconception here is that he now resides in hell, however the bible makes it clear that his not yet there and that he is still operating here on earth. Satan is currently the ruler with authority in the region of the air. Now there are two Greek words for air, one of them gives us the English word "Ether" and the other gives us the English word "Air" (Aer). Ether is the higher rarer atmosphere. Air or Aer is the lower atmosphere contiguous with the earth's surface. Satan operates in the Aer; he is the ruler of the realm of authority contiguous with the surface of the earth. Ephesians states that from this position he is the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

Satan is at work in all those who are disobedient to God. We have only two options in this life, we can either be in God's territory or in Satan’s territory, there is no third option. If you are submitted to God's appointed ruler Jesus, we have the right to be in God's kingdom. If we have rejected or not accepted Jesus we are in Satan's kingdom because we are sons of disobedience. Satan has legitimate authority over all those who are in rebellion against God. He rules over rebels!

Lucifer

The fall of man.

That brings us to Satan's influence with human beings. Since pride had been the root of Lucifer's rebellion, God's response was to make a different kind of creature, Adam or a man. Man was made from the dust of the earth but also in God's image, therefore the lowest and the highest things were combined in him. The fallen Lucifer, now renamed Satan, had particular enmity against man for several reasons, but highlighting only a couple of them:

Firstly, man visibly represented God to the rest of creation; he was made in God's image. Satan could not touch God himself but he could make war with the very image of God within man. He delights in defiling that image, destroying it, humiliating it and to that end he works tirelessly.

A second reason is that man was destined to take Satan’s place of dominion, and so from the moment of his creation Satan saw him as a rival who he needed to eliminate. Satan procured man’s downfall through the same motivation that caused his own, the same motivation that he gave to the Angels who fell with him and became his army of demons.

The process is described in Genesis 3.

In the form of the serpent Satan came into the garden where God had placed Adam and Eve, and tempted them into disobedience and rebellion. This is the record of that temptation and downfall. "The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?" "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden" the woman replied. "It is only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'" "You won’t die!" The serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and the suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So the sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves." - Genesis 3:1-6.

Key Point: Satan offered them equality with God, but noticed how he promised it to them, he said godhood could be obtained through knowledge, it is incredibly important that we notice that. In effect he was saying once you have knowledge you won’t need to depend on God any longer. Once you know what He knows you will be equal to him. This position of subjection and dependence that you are in isn't worthy of you, you are capable of a higher destiny, reach up and reach out for knowledge that will set you free from this slavish dependence of your creator, become a god yourself!

This flattery and deception caused man to fall, that which caused Satan’s own fall, that which caused a third of the Angels to fall also caused man to fall. From this we should gather that this lie is powerful, the trading, the tale bearing, the flattery the slander actually works. As we will discover it still brings people down to this day. We should also gather from this that Satan has no new tricks but that he doesn't need any, the old tricks keep working against those who don’t have the knowledge of the truth to discern against the deception.

Lucifer

How does he operate today?

Ezekiel 28 also gives us a picture of how Satan operates and it is important we grasp this as it will underpin everything that follows. Ezekiel 28 is divided into two sections, each a lamentation or pronouncement of woe. The first section centres on the prince of Tyre (Human), the second is about the king of Tyre (Satan). On close inspection we find that the prince of Tyre was a human being, it is clearly stated that he was a man even though he claimed to be a god. On the other hand is equally obvious that the king of Tyre was no human being, his description is clearly that of Satan.

And there is the insight: We have a human ruler, the prince of Tyre, and behind him in the unseen realm we have the satanic ruler, the king of Tyre.

The human ruler is not much more than a puppet who performs as the strings from the unseen realm dictates his moves. When you apply this idea to human history, the idea that there are spiritual beings behind the physical rulers and that the spiritual world actually dictates the physical world, history and politics take on a different meaning. As we examine many of the great and infamous men of history, we begin to see evidence of the strings that guided their movements.

The Bible says "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" - Ephesians 6:12

Key Point: In other words our war is not with the princes of Tyre the human beings it is with the king of tyre, the demonic rulers of the AER (Air). We are in a war against a very powerful and highly organised spiritual kingdom which rulers, sub rulers and sub sub rulers. Each ruler is responsible to Satan for a certain area under his authority. Satan has the whole world divided up into areas that he seeks to dominate through these demonic rulers. Never the less there have been, are and will be powerful human princes in this world that we should be aware off. These are merely puppets of Satan who deliberately and effectively work towards his ends.
In 1 John 2:18 we read "You have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come" This is a reference to occultist who knowingly or otherwise further Satan’s agenda on the earth. We will discover more about them later.

Lucifer

What is the end goal?

Finally what is the end goal for Satan? Well quite simply he is steadily and consistently pursuing world domination. One place we see this clearly is in reference to end times, if prophecy pertaining to this time is understood correctly, there will be a very short period right before the end of the age where Satan will temporarily succeed in having the whole world under his spell. He will do so through a certain man whom he will raise up called the antichrist that will be empowered by Satan. Satan will persuade much of the world to worship this antichrist and in doing so they will actually be worshipping Satan himself, just as worship of Jesus Christ is worship of God the Father.

Why does Satan above all things want to be worshiped by the world? Again because he wants equality with God, worship is the one activity that belongs by right to God Himself. If Satan can receive worship from mankind it affirms his claim for equality.

When we become truly aware of the conflict of kingdoms we find that Satan's supreme ambition is to be worshipped. It is also important to realise that what we worship is what has power over us.

Now that we have been given a cursory introduction to our adversary we need to whisk ourselves back through the mists of time to the very beginning of all history, to the Garden of Eden, the place where it all begins.

Credit for this piece of work must be given to the fuel project.

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