Who They Are

"Some in the church have latched onto our authority (exousia) as stated by Jesus in Luke 10:19 without realizing the Spirit is our Power (dunamis)."

JESUS SAW Satan fall like lightning. These are His words in Luke 10:18. We have assumed Satan fell to earth, as if it was God’s intention, but nothing in the Word of God tells us this. Except we find him in the garden, speaking to Eve, so he ended up here. He wasn’t meant to be here, nor supposed to inhabit an animal of any kind, and definitely not to destroy humans. He was created by God to serve the heirs of salvation. We read this in Hebrews 1:14.

What happened then? Most of it is our conjecture. We know he said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13-14).” God’s response was as Jesus said: “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” God cast him out. Hell or Hades in the Old Testament is punishment for him and is not his throne. This is evident throughout the Word of God. Clearly, though God placed him there, in hell, and I word it that way deliberately. Nothing God does is on a whim. And we know he (Satan) didn’t stay put, because Genesis and the garden.

Here’s where the church gets into disagreement because we see his effect all around us. He sinned, he caused man to sin, sin brought sickness and death. Now, I have pointed out before the two Scriptures that tell us what Jesus did to him. Hebrews 2:14 says he has been destroyed. That word “destroy” means “rendered useless.” 1 John 3:8 tells us Jesus also destroyed his works, and there, “destroy” means to dissolve. There’s nothing left of him. Returning to the subject, we have the devil on the earth, where he isn’t supposed to be. Nothing tells us why except the words of Scripture about his nature.

Jesus called him a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). There is no truth, n-o-n-e, in him. Jesus also called him a thief who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). Now, much is made of the order of these words, and it matters in that Jesus spoke them that way. It matters not in how he (the devil) goes about it. I refrain from giving him more stature than that. He is only effective, in the sense of destruction he wishes to cause, because men join hands with him. We, the church, have been removed from his capture.

Again, to quote Jesus, our beloved Savior says in Revelation 1:18, He has the keys of death and hell. In Matthew 16;19, He gives us the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Notice, we have, through Jesus, both sets of keys. Now, going back in Matthew 16, to the previous verse, Jesus says “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against us, the church (Matthew 16:18). And they won’t, Hebrews 2:14 and 1 John 3:8, tells us the work has been done.

Then what happened, and why is the devil here on earth? As I said, he didn’t stay where God put him, but chose to rebel. He is in rebellion. He was told to work for the heirs of salvation. He chose to make himself god, small g. Our God, Big G, saw it coming, of course, and was not worried. Our loving Father doesn’t worry. He’s never caught off guard, He knows every thought in the head of every being and can tell you who every fallen angel is by name, and where they worked in the kingdom of Light. He knows why they sinned and everywhere they’ve been and everyone they’ve murdered or harmed. Many, many have refused them. We must know this Truth. Point is, the Spirit knows who they are.

We are never at a loss for Truth nor for wisdom nor Power. Some in the church have latched onto our authority (exousia) as stated by Jesus in Luke 10:19 without realizing the Spirit is our Power (dunamis). The devil and devils do not have the right to be here, doing what evil causes them to do. They don’t have more power than God in us. This is what we must see. We don’t cause devil to leave by being loud, nor by singing songs about his defeat, nor even quoting Scriptures emphatically. It is God in us, our dependency upon our Father, upon His Son, our Savior, Jesus, and on the Spirit of God that sets people free. We are His temple, where His Presence, the Holy Spirit abides. But until we realize it and know how to live continually in His presence, what we don’t know will overwhelm us.

And God has not given us a spirit of fear, but His Holy Spirit who is love that rescues, power that protects and saves, and a sound self-controlled mind (2 Timothy 1:7). He filles us with God’s peace and well-being and His infinite knowledge so that in all we come up against, spiritual, mental or physical, we win. Psalm 91 promises us that wherever we walk, all evil we encounter is beneath our feet. Ephesians 1:22 tells us it is because Jesus is King, and we are His.

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,” (Ephesians 1:22)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com