Ichthys' SR4 - Satan's World System

Introduction to SR4 - Satan’s World System

Video

Summary

Part 4 of the Satanic Rebellion Series on Ichthys was one of the first studies on Ichthys that I read all the way through, and I found it fascinating due to how much of the world suddenly makes sense when examined from the proper spiritual point of view, tracing the true causes and effects of things. This study introduces the idea that the world we live in is all one big illusion put on by Satan, who manipulates everything from behind the scenes for his nefarious purposes. Learning to examine things in the world critically – critiquing the illusion – can help us Christians find freedom by dispelling the illusory shadows with the light of God’s spiritual truth.

Timestamps

00:0000:00 - Introduction
00:1000:10 - Outline
01:2401:24 - Why do this study in particular?
02:4502:45 - Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
05:0005:00 - Satan the puppet-master
09:5409:54 - The outline for SR4 on Ichthys
17:0417:04 - Steven’s high-level introduction
18:1318:13 - Recap

Content

(Derived from https://ichthys.com/SR4(SWS).htm)

Why do this study in particular?

As a child, you may have heard adults talking about “the way the world really works.” For us as Christians, we believe in a spiritual dimension hidden from our physical sight, but very real nonetheless. This, in fact, is the crucial driving force behind reality, even though it is veiled from our eyes at present.

At least for me as a teenager, Christianity was kept in its nice God-shaped box. There was the world in all its complexity, and then there was church and God stuff. Maybe somewhere deep down I knew the two were fundamentally linked, but it was never something that captured my thoughts explicitly.

Then I read this study. This is one of the first things on Ichthys I read all the way through, and to borrow an idiom, it completely blew my mind. Ah, I said. So this is what is beyond the illusion.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

In his Allegory of the Cave (Republic 514a-520a), the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato speaks of an allegory for life: humans chained to face a wall where illusions of shadow play before their eyes. This is all they know, so they think it is how the world actually works.

Having never been exposed to true light, those in the cave think that the illusions of shadow are reality. In truth, these humans are enslaved, chained in a prison of their false perception. After being dragged into the light, it may take a while for these people’s eyes to adjust – they’ve been used to only seeing shadows, after all. Those in the cave will be resistant to the light, as it is bright and painful for their eyes adjusted to darkness. Moreover, things in the outside world don’t compute in terms of “cave logic” – in great irony, those chained in the cave may mock those in the light as fools.

This allegory is actually a great explanatory tool. For Plato, light served as a metaphor for philosophical truth. For us in our present study, light instead stands as a metaphor for spiritual truth. As we learn about how the world really works in this study, it will be possible to move further and further from the illusions of shadow (what Satan’s world system would have us think are the actual realities) and more towards the light of spiritual truth.

Satan the puppet-master

The illusions put before us are created with intent: to veil the truth from our eyes. We must learn to critique them and instead see things as they truly are, all so that we can achieve the freedom that the truth affords us (John 8:32).

We as Christians must deal with the harsh fact that this world system, this kosmos (Greek: κόσμος), is presently ruled over by Satan, with him pulling the strings.

Bearing this in mind is in fact crucial, as it ensures we never forget that we are strangers in a foreign land, soldiers of Jesus Christ in enemy territory.

The outline for SR4 on Ichthys

See the study directly.

Steven’s high-level introduction

Everything in this world – from art, culture, politics, the media, governments, corporations, false religions, and even some groups calling themselves Christian – are all part of Satan’s web of lies and deceit that he has set up to trap and distract us as Christians and lead us away from the truth.

If we study the tactics Satan uses in his pursuit of his objectives, we can come to see the world as it actually is, and step off the hamster wheel of illusion that keeps us away from freedom in the truth.

Video/audio transcript

00:00 - hey guys my name is Steven Tammen and
00:02 - today we are going to start a new video
00:04 - study
00:05 - of part four of the satanic rebellion
00:07 - series on ichthys
00:08 - titled satan’s world system so here are
00:11 - some of the points we’re going to go
00:12 - over today
00:13 - we’re going to start on why you might
00:15 - want to do this study in particular as
00:17 - opposed to some of the other ones that
00:18 - ichthys has
00:20 - so ichthyos for example has a complete
00:22 - systematic theology
00:24 - this series as we’re going to be doing a
00:26 - part of it which
00:28 - covers the satanic rebellion predating
00:30 - the
00:31 - history of mankind and then a series on
00:34 - eschatology titled the coming
00:35 - tribulation series
00:36 - so we’ll start out just by explaining
00:38 - why this study in particular
00:40 - and then after that we’ll go into
00:42 - plato’s allegory of the cave now this
00:44 - serves as
00:45 - a useful parallel to some of the topics
00:48 - that we’re going to be discussing in
00:49 - this study
00:50 - and i like to use this as a way of
00:52 - framing how spiritual reality interacts
00:55 - with
00:56 - the illusory world before us after this
00:58 - we’ll be talking about how satan is
01:00 - ultimately the puppet master
01:02 - pulling the strings behind this world
01:04 - and then we’ll go through the outline on
01:06 - ichthys having covered most of this
01:07 - background information
01:09 - now this week we won’t be spending too
01:11 - much time on the outline and we won’t go
01:12 - in much depth
01:13 - but in coming weeks we’ll be hitting
01:15 - sections of this at a much deeper level
01:17 - going through more point by point after
01:20 - all that i’ll just give
01:21 - a couple paragraphs of my introduction
01:23 - to this
01:24 - and why i think it’s important for us as
01:25 - christians so
01:27 - in answering this question of why this
01:29 - study in particular
01:30 - i’ve written several paragraphs here
01:32 - that i’m just going to read now
01:34 - as a child you may have heard adults
01:36 - talking about the way the world really
01:38 - works
01:38 - for us as christians we believe in a
01:40 - spiritual dimension hidden from our
01:41 - physical sight but very real nonetheless
01:44 - this in fact is the crucial driving
01:46 - force behind reality
01:47 - even though it is veiled from our eyes
01:49 - at present at least for me as a teenager
01:51 - christianity was kept in its nice
01:53 - god-shaped box
01:54 - there was the world in all its
01:55 - complexity and then there was church and
01:57 - god stuff
01:58 - maybe somewhere deep down i knew the two
02:00 - were fundamentally linked
02:01 - but it was never something that captured
02:03 - my thoughts explicitly
02:05 - then i read this study this is one of
02:07 - the first things on ichthus i read all
02:09 - the way through
02:09 - and to borrow an idiom it completely
02:11 - blew my mind
02:12 - ah i said to myself so this is what is
02:15 - beyond the illusion
02:17 - at a high level then this study helped
02:19 - me make heads and tails
02:20 - of what is actually important in life
02:22 - versus what
02:23 - people say is important in life or what
02:26 - the illusion that satan has set up for
02:28 - us says is important
02:29 - this can have a somewhat
02:30 - disproportionately large effect on our
02:32 - lives as christians
02:33 - because once we realize the driving
02:36 - spiritual realities
02:37 - behind the world around us it can become
02:39 - much easier for us
02:41 - to understand what our role in our walk
02:44 - as christians should be
02:45 - and how we should interact with the
02:46 - world after that now before we get too
02:49 - much farther in explaining this study
02:50 - itself
02:51 - i find it useful to introduce this type
02:54 - this
02:54 - concept here of plato’s allegory of the
02:57 - cave
02:58 - so in one of his works called the
03:00 - republic
03:01 - in sections 514-520 the ancient greek
03:04 - philosopher plato speaks of an allegory
03:06 - for life
03:07 - humans chain to face a wall where
03:09 - illusions of shadow play before their
03:11 - eyes
03:11 - this is all they know so they think this
03:13 - is how the world actually works
03:15 - having never been exposed to true light
03:17 - those in the cave think that the
03:18 - illusions of shadow are reality
03:20 - in truth those humans are enslaved
03:23 - chained in a prison of their false
03:24 - perception
03:25 - after being dragged into the light it
03:27 - may take a while for these people’s eyes
03:29 - to adjust
03:30 - they’ve been used to only seeing shadows
03:31 - after all those in the cave will be
03:33 - resisted to the light as it is bright
03:35 - and painful for their eyes adjusted to
03:37 - darkness
03:38 - moreover things in the outside world
03:40 - don’t compute in terms of cave logic
03:42 - so in great irony those chained in the
03:44 - cave may mock those in the light
03:46 - as fools this allegory is actually a
03:48 - great explanatory tool
03:49 - for plato light served as a metaphor for
03:52 - philosophical truth
03:53 - for us in our present study light
03:55 - instead stands as a metaphor for
03:56 - spiritual truth
03:58 - as we learn about how the world really
03:59 - works in this study it will be possible
04:01 - to move further and further from the
04:02 - illusions of shadow
04:04 - what satan’s world system would have us
04:05 - think are the actual realities
04:07 - and more towards the light of spiritual
04:08 - truth now the bible itself does use
04:12 - light and darkness as a contrast but
04:15 - what i like about the allegory of the
04:16 - cave is it introduces this idea of
04:18 - illusion
04:20 - and what i mean by that is that there
04:21 - are things in the world
04:23 - that seem to be real and present
04:24 - themselves as real
04:26 - however once you dig down deeper and you
04:28 - put on your spiritual glasses as it were
04:30 - you find out that these things are just
04:32 - pretending to be important
04:34 - and for us as christians this is very
04:36 - much the idea behind
04:38 - the fact that spiritual realities are
04:40 - veiled from our eyes so you may have
04:42 - heard the expression
04:43 - eyes of faith if we look with our eyes
04:46 - of faith
04:47 - if we put on our spiritual glasses like
04:50 - i said
04:51 - it will be possible to see the spiritual
04:53 - dimension to life
04:54 - that we as christians believe is
04:56 - actually the important dimension
04:58 - even though it is not physically before
05:00 - us in the presence
05:01 - now the one who is trying to convince us
05:04 - that
05:05 - things of this world are important uh
05:07 - sort of
05:08 - in lieu of our pursuit of spiritual
05:10 - matters
05:11 - is satan and if you’ve never had someone
05:14 - explain this
05:15 - oh i don’t know in so many words it can
05:17 - seem a little bit shocking
05:19 - that satan is actually the one in
05:21 - control of the world
05:22 - so someone might ask if god’s omnipotent
05:25 - and god could crush satan in an instant
05:27 - then why does god let satan control the
05:29 - world at present why is the devil
05:31 - and his minions the people in power how
05:34 - does that make sense
05:35 - and the final answer to this question is
05:38 - that god
05:38 - allows satan to be in present dominion
05:41 - over us
05:42 - in this world because he’s using satan
05:45 - and his minions to test us so
05:49 - satan can’t do anything that god does
05:51 - not allow him to do
05:52 - in the book of job there is mention of
05:55 - satan
05:56 - going before god in heaven to accuse job
05:59 - and
05:59 - as we’ll get to in the outline presently
06:02 - there’s
06:03 - what is called the heavenly truce so god
06:05 - allows satan
06:07 - to do his thing on earth and even
06:09 - assemble
06:10 - with the elect angels in heaven but this
06:12 - state of affairs is only temporary
06:14 - in the final reckoning of things satan
06:16 - will be completely and utterly defeated
06:18 - when jesus christ returns in glory and
06:21 - he will be thrown into the lake of fire
06:22 - forever
06:24 - and of course at that point we will live
06:26 - on
06:27 - a new perfect earth with god and there
06:29 - will be no more sin and no more
06:30 - suffering
06:31 - so i’m bringing all this up just to say
06:33 - that
06:34 - when we talk about how satan is in
06:37 - control of the world at present this is
06:38 - only going to be a temporary state of
06:40 - affairs
06:41 - nonetheless it is important for us to
06:43 - actually believe that this is the case
06:45 - and to not have any illusions or false
06:49 - views of
06:49 - how the world really works and who is
06:52 - pulling the strings in terms of
06:54 - oh i don’t know government and society
06:57 - and culture
06:58 - more generally so that we don’t try to
07:00 - make friends with the world
07:02 - and view these things as things that
07:05 - don’t affect us negatively spiritually
07:07 - or things that aren’t dangerous
07:09 - rather than as they really are so at a
07:12 - high level
07:13 - the things that satan puts before us in
07:15 - the world are
07:16 - illusions set up with intent so that is
07:19 - to say
07:19 - satan doesn’t just do things on a whim
07:22 - or with no purpose
07:23 - he acts with specific strategy and
07:26 - tactics
07:27 - and that’s something that the outline in
07:28 - the study will talk a little bit more
07:30 - about
07:30 - specifically to veil the truth from our
07:32 - eyes and by truth we’re talking about
07:34 - spiritual truth
07:35 - so the things the bible contains the
07:37 - spiritual realities
07:39 - that govern existence so to escape this
07:41 - we must learn how to critique the
07:43 - illusion around us
07:44 - so recognize it for what it is and see
07:46 - the holes in it
07:47 - and even learn how to look around it or
07:49 - through it and instead see things as
07:51 - they truly are
07:52 - so that we can achieve the freedom that
07:53 - the truth affords us so this verse in
07:56 - john
07:56 - talks about the relationship between
07:58 - truth and freedom
08:00 - this is actually a verse i like to use a
08:02 - lot because
08:03 - while we might not think of slavery
08:07 - or bondedness as often with respect to
08:10 - our minds
08:10 - i think that in a great sense
08:14 - being bound mentally is even
08:17 - more terrifying a concept than being
08:20 - bound physically
08:21 - and one of the great things that
08:23 - spiritual truth affords us
08:25 - is that no matter what our physical
08:26 - circumstances may be
08:28 - if we believe in eyes of faith we will
08:31 - be completely set free
08:33 - by that faith so we’ll be set free from
08:35 - sin and will also be set free from the
08:37 - lies of the world
08:38 - and that specifically is what we’re
08:39 - going to be talking about in this study
08:42 - how if we have faith and if we trust in
08:45 - what god has done for us
08:46 - then even despite satan’s best efforts
08:49 - and all his strategy and his tactics and
08:51 - the traps he set up before us if we
08:54 - believe we’ll be able to navigate this
08:56 - web of lies that he has
08:57 - because the truth will set us free now
09:00 - there’s this greek word here
09:02 - cosmos that kind of describes
09:05 - the world system that satan has so
09:08 - it’s not solely just the world as the
09:11 - physical entity but also all of the
09:13 - human institutions that are set up so
09:15 - societies and nations and governments
09:17 - and
09:18 - culture and all of these other things
09:20 - are all sort of set up
09:22 - stacked against us to try to distract us
09:24 - from the spiritual realities
09:26 - and all of these things are ultimately
09:28 - presided over by
09:29 - satan only at present like we mentioned
09:32 - so
09:32 - the main takeaway here is that we need
09:35 - to keep this in mind
09:36 - we need to keep in mind that the world
09:38 - is in fact enemy territory for us
09:41 - governed by our arch enemy who is
09:44 - seeking to distract us from the truth
09:46 - and if we can keep these things in mind
09:48 - that we are strangers in a foreign
09:50 - land and soldiers of jesus christ in
09:51 - enemy territory
09:53 - we will be much more effective in our
09:55 - pursuit of the truth
09:56 - okay now we are going to be going
09:58 - through the
09:59 - outline for sr4 on ichthus so this is a
10:03 - long study as you can see by the sidebar
10:05 - over here on the right
10:06 - which means it is going to take us quite
10:08 - some time to work through it
10:09 - nonetheless today we’re just going to go
10:11 - over the outline at a high level
10:13 - so this is part four of the satanic
10:16 - rebellion series on ichthus
10:18 - and in the three parts before it one of
10:20 - the things that is covered
10:21 - is satan’s rebellion and fall from grace
10:24 - so that is sort of
10:26 - a recap section but once we jump into
10:28 - this study the first
10:29 - the first big section is talking about
10:31 - how we’re strangers in the devil’s realm
10:33 - so we’re going to be sojourners in this
10:36 - world
10:37 - controlled by him so this is not our
10:39 - home
10:40 - this is not a place of comfort for us
10:42 - but a strange land
10:44 - that we’re led through we’re going to
10:45 - talk about the vanity of life
10:47 - you might compare the book of
10:48 - ecclesiastes here so the pointlessness
10:50 - and futility of chasing after things in
10:52 - this world
10:53 - we’re going to talk about the hostility
10:55 - of the world something that comes to
10:57 - mind is how jesus says that
10:59 - if the world hated and persecuted him it
11:00 - will do the same things to us
11:02 - then we’re going to talk about the
11:03 - concept of viewing life
11:05 - as a battlefield for us as christians so
11:09 - objectives and tactics and enemies who
11:11 - seek to
11:12 - harm or subvert our efforts in the truth
11:15 - and of course if we have a battlefield
11:17 - then we have an enemy that we’re
11:18 - fighting against
11:19 - so the second thing after this just
11:21 - briefly goes over satan’s position
11:23 - after the fall and then we pick up with
11:26 - satan’s order of battle so you might
11:27 - think of this
11:28 - as how satan raised his troops against
11:30 - us and against the truth in the world
11:33 - so as we sort of mentioned before right
11:35 - now god is letting satan do things
11:37 - but satan’s on a short leash he can’t do
11:40 - anything that god doesn’t let him do
11:42 - so in a manner of speaking satan and all
11:44 - his minions are being used as tools by
11:46 - god
11:47 - much in the same way as nations in
11:50 - antiquity were used to punish
11:51 - other nations so you might think of
11:54 - israel
11:55 - getting conquered by babylon or assyria
11:58 - for example
11:59 - after that the study talks about the
12:01 - kingdom of god versus the kingdom of
12:03 - satan and what their attributes are
12:05 - and then it also contrasts the
12:07 - organization of the holy angels with the
12:09 - organization of the fallen angels
12:11 - so satan and his angels sort of mimic
12:13 - the organization
12:15 - that the elect angels have but it’s sort
12:17 - of an imperfect mimicry
12:19 - after that we talk about how god is
12:20 - using evil spirits in the world for his
12:23 - purposes
12:24 - again this is the idea of god’s
12:25 - omniscience being able to use
12:28 - the actions of these of these creatures
12:31 - even despite what the creatures
12:33 - themselves would wish
12:34 - so satan is being used by god even
12:37 - though satan
12:38 - has plans and intents counter to what
12:41 - gods are god’s just smart enough and
12:43 - wise enough
12:44 - to use satan even though there’s nothing
12:46 - satan can do about it
12:48 - then we’re going to talk about angelic
12:49 - combat
12:51 - and this probably isn’t so much angels
12:53 - flying around with swords which is maybe
12:55 - what people think it is
12:56 - but more about how angels who are these
12:58 - spiritual forces
13:00 - uh help and hinder us as humans in the
13:02 - world i mean it’s probably not like i
13:04 - said in such a direct
13:06 - physical way as we think of combat but
13:09 - you might compare in scripture how there
13:11 - was a dispute over moses body
13:14 - that is the sort of things that angels
13:16 - contend with each other with
13:18 - and finally we’ll talk about unbelievers
13:19 - in satan’s order of battle
13:21 - so unbelievers may be unwittingly used
13:24 - by satan
13:25 - so they if you ask them they wouldn’t be
13:27 - yes i am a person in satan’s army
13:29 - even if that’s what they are in fact
13:32 - after this we’ll get into what we’ll
13:34 - call satan’s tactical doctrine
13:36 - so the the sort of studied
13:39 - systematic approach that satan takes to
13:41 - deceiving us as christians in this world
13:43 - um and so this section opens with three
13:46 - lies
13:47 - that are all common to accepting the
13:50 - world’s point of view
13:51 - so the first lie is i don’t need god
13:54 - so i’m captain of my own ship i’m
13:57 - capable of running my own life thank you
13:59 - very much
14:00 - and we don’t need god’s help
14:04 - that is a characteristic common to
14:07 - unbelief
14:08 - in people across history is thinking
14:10 - that
14:11 - that we are in control
14:14 - after that comes the lie that i am like
14:17 - god
14:17 - so perhaps like god in our capacity to
14:20 - choose or in our intellectual
14:21 - superiority to the animals people
14:23 - start getting a swelled head and think
14:25 - about how great we are as humans
14:27 - and then the third lie and again very
14:29 - similar to how a lot of unbelievers
14:31 - probably wouldn’t say
14:32 - oh yes i’m in satan’s army they probably
14:34 - wouldn’t say
14:35 - oh yes god needs me however how they
14:38 - live their life
14:39 - actually betrays a belief in this
14:41 - concept that people think
14:42 - somehow in their heads that god needs
14:46 - them
14:46 - that they’re an important part of this
14:48 - universe and that
14:50 - without them god’s plans couldn’t be
14:52 - accomplished and other such insane
14:54 - thoughts like this
14:55 - so these are the lies the progression of
14:58 - of slippage away from the truth
15:00 - in the hearts of man after that we
15:03 - talk briefly about how satan runs
15:06 - the world system this cosmos of ours so
15:10 - religion and the occult and by this we
15:12 - primarily mean false religion
15:14 - and how false religion turns people away
15:16 - from the truth of
15:18 - actual true spirituality for us as
15:20 - christians
15:21 - then politics and society these wider
15:24 - issues
15:24 - economics and technology and also
15:28 - amidst all of this just the wider human
15:31 - institutions
15:32 - that are set up that often lead away not
15:35 - towards the truth
15:36 - so you might think of organizations in
15:38 - society and culture more
15:40 - generally and finally in regards to
15:43 - how satan organizes systematically his
15:46 - his tactical doctrine
15:47 - we’ll talk about how our perspective is
15:50 - believers interfaces with all this
15:52 - and then the last section of the study
15:54 - and boy it will be quite some time
15:55 - before we get here
15:57 - we’ll be talking about satan’s tactical
15:58 - methodology so he has
16:00 - the organizational plan and then his
16:02 - methods for implementing it
16:04 - um this section will open by talking
16:05 - about names for the devil
16:07 - um you may have heard satan of course
16:09 - means adversary
16:10 - but he’s also called the devil the
16:12 - father of lies
16:14 - and other things you know along these
16:17 - lines and how we can
16:19 - learn from these names that the devil
16:20 - has we’ll talk about
16:22 - demonic influence so how demons interact
16:25 - with our free will and temptation
16:27 - we’ll talk about demonic attack so how
16:30 - demons
16:31 - can interfere negatively in the lives of
16:33 - believers although only
16:35 - up to the point that god allows them to
16:37 - we’ll talk about demonic possession
16:39 - now that’s not something that happens to
16:41 - believers but to unbelievers
16:43 - and then we’ll talk about accusation of
16:45 - believers by
16:46 - satan and his forces so i mentioned the
16:49 - example of job before
16:51 - that’s one example in scripture of this
16:54 - and then finally we’ll talk about
16:55 - resistance to all of this
16:56 - on our part so that’s a high level
16:59 - overview
17:00 - of the outline as we’ll go through it
17:01 - and as i mentioned it will take us quite
17:03 - some time
17:04 - because this study is quite lengthy okay
17:07 - so
17:07 - one question might be if this study’s so
17:09 - long and we have all of this depth
17:11 - then as we started out with what’s the
17:14 - point
17:15 - right so at the very beginning slide i
17:17 - mentioned that you know this study
17:19 - was very helpful for me in seeing
17:22 - through some of what the world presents
17:24 - itself as important
17:25 - towards the wider spiritual realities
17:27 - but now that we’ve gone through an
17:28 - outline i’ll be a little bit more
17:29 - specific
17:30 - so here’s what i say everything in this
17:33 - world from art culture politics the
17:35 - media governments corporations false
17:37 - religions
17:37 - and even some groups calling themselves
17:39 - christian are all part of satan’s web of
17:42 - lies and deceit that he has set up to
17:43 - trap and distract us as christians
17:45 - and lead us away from the truth if we
17:47 - study the tactics satan uses in his
17:49 - pursuit of his objectives
17:51 - we can come to see the world as it
17:52 - actually is and step off the hamster
17:54 - wheel of illusion that keeps us away
17:56 - from freedom and the truth
17:58 - so at a high level having gone through
17:59 - the introduction this
18:01 - is why i think this study is useful
18:04 - for us as christians what we get out of
18:06 - it is being able to recognize the lies
18:08 - and the illusion
18:09 - around us in the world and instead
18:12 - replace that with pursuing the truth in
18:14 - our hearts
18:15 - all right so this is what we went over
18:17 - today we started
18:19 - at a high level of why i thought this
18:21 - study is useful for us
18:23 - and then i introduced the parallel of
18:25 - plato’s allegory of the cave
18:27 - and how that can kind of be a useful uh
18:30 - useful
18:31 - thing for us to pull from when we
18:34 - discuss
18:34 - spiritual truth versus the illusions of
18:36 - the world then we talked about how satan
18:38 - is
18:39 - temporarily in control of this world but
18:41 - only insofar as god allows him
18:44 - for the purpose of testing us and
18:45 - refining our faith as christians that’s
18:47 - why we go through
18:48 - hard things and that’s why satan is
18:50 - allowed to have this control
18:51 - then we talked about the outline for sr4
18:54 - as
18:54 - on ichthus and sort of a sneak preview
18:57 - of what we’ll be doing in coming weeks
18:59 - and then finally i gave another
19:01 - introduction as to why we are doing this
19:04 - after we’ve had a little bit more
19:05 - information on it

Discussion - Level of depth; calling many deceived – too harsh?; why God allows Satan control

Video

Summary

Talking in-depth about Satan’s world system has enough practical benefit that it is worth spending time on as an area of study. Satan’s web of lies and deceit is far from unsuccessful in leading us humans away from the truth – quite to the contrary, the system is devastatingly effective at preying upon our fallen natures to turn us against the Lord. It may seem harsh to speak in terms of most humans being deceived, but the truth is the truth. God didn’t give Satan this control as some sort of gift, but Satan usurped it. God allows Satan this temporary control over the material world only because He uses the situation to test us and refine our faith; God’s plan is perfect and unswerving, and the situation in no way caught Him by surprise. God could crush Satan instantly with the smallest movement of His finger, so we have nothing to worry about – we have the Omnipotent Creator of the universe on our side. All we have to do is have faith.

Timestamps

00:0000:00 - Introduction
00:5400:54 - Is this much depth really necessary? (In talking about Satan’s web of lies and deceit in the world)
03:4003:40 - Are many Christians really so helpless? (In terms of being deceived by Satan’s lie)
10:2510:25 - Isn’t this too harsh? (Saying that many people really are deceived)
12:3812:38 - Why doesn’t God just defeat Satan already?
20:1020:10 - Did God give Satan control? Is that phrasing really appropriate?

Content

(Derived from https://ichthys.com/SR4(SWS).htm)

Is this much depth really necessary?

If we just say “Satan manipulates people and events in the world to lead us Christians away from the truth,” isn’t that alone sufficient? Why do we need to go through hundreds of pages of teaching talking about this stuff?

Well, a cardinal rule of any battle is knowing your enemy – not just a little bit, but everything about them. You may have also heard the Latin phrase scientia potentia est – “knowledge is power.”

Put simply, having a very in-depth understanding of how Satan controls and influences the world is the best way to inoculate ourselves against the illusion around us.

Are many Christians really so helpless?

Well, it does depend to some degree on how much knowledge you have coming into this study, but the answer is yes, generally.

How many Christians do you know who think that you can generally trust the media? The government? Messages from TV and other works of fiction? Do people really hold these things at arm’s length as if they were venomous snakes? Do they recognize that Satan is in complete control of all these things, manipulating them to his purposes?

Or how about this – do many Christians recognize that Satan empowers error within doctrine in the Church as well? Have you ever noticed how it is dangerous false teachings (like the prosperity gospel) that seem to take off in popularity? How the works of hardworking brothers and sisters in the church go unrecognized and largely forgotten (by the world, that is)?

In reality, many Christians are completely oblivious to the fact that this world is wholly in Satan’s clutches, and that it is set up as an illusion to deceive and distract us. This reason is why pursuing a study like SR4 is so valuable.

Isn’t this too harsh?

Someone might take issue with the wording here. We are talking in generalities, sure, but we’re still calling out lots and lots of people.

The thing is, we are these people too, at least from time to time. Do you wake up in the morning and remind yourself that this world is nothing but ashes and dust, and that it is the invisible that is eternal? (No? Me neither – most of the time).

Yet, even so – even though we are ourselves unworthy – we have to be harsh and say what needs to be said. Because Satan is all too happy too to use “niceness” as a club to beat down truth in this world.

Why doesn’t God just defeat Satan already?

God is omnipotent and outside spacetime. Satan, though far, far more powerful than us humans, is still only a finite creature. His fight against God is complete and utter madness, and God could completely obliterate him in an instant.

  • In fact, when Jesus returns in radiant glory, he will singlehandedly destroy all the armies of the antichrist. Their death warrant is signed. The end is coming for them.
  • In fact, when Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, Satan lost – totally and completely. As prophesied in Genesis 3:15, the head of the serpent was crushed by the seed of the woman.
  • In fact, no matter what Satan does to us – even up to the point of imprisonment, torture, and death – he can’t take away anything of any eternal import. God sees us. And eternity is all that matters.

It is important for us to actually believe these things, because these things are true. Even if Satan is given reign to manipulate the world’s strings today, tomorrow he will be cast into the lake of fire forever. In fact, things are only going to get worse during the tribulation that the book of Revelation describes. We better get used to the idea that this world is enemy territory, because someday in the future we are going to start getting put to death by it. Then the things that might seem hard to believe now will be clear as day. But for people who made friends with the world and all that is in it, it will be too late.

Video/audio transcript

0:00 - hey guys so today on friday we are
0:02 - picking up with the first
0:04 - questions and answers video relating to
0:06 - lesson one
0:07 - of what was posted on sr4 so
0:11 - this is the outline of the things that
0:14 - we did
0:14 - earlier in the week for that video that
0:17 - i uploaded
0:18 - and so the general format for this is
0:20 - that video
0:21 - which is pre-recorded by me will go up
0:23 - earlier in the week
0:24 - and if people have questions then they
0:27 - can post those in the google doc
0:29 - and if questions are there i can prepare
0:32 - things
0:33 - in advance and we’ll we’ll hit those
0:35 - questions but if people have questions
0:37 - as we come up here
0:38 - we will be pausing between each thing we
0:41 - talk about
0:41 - and so we can kind of steer the
0:43 - direction of the conversation that way
0:44 - as well
0:45 - now with this being said most of the
0:47 - time even if there’s no questions i come
0:49 - up with some so we’ll always have some
0:50 - things to talk about
0:52 - but that’s the general format for these
0:54 - questions and answers videos
0:57 - so the first thing that i thought we’d
0:59 - talk about today was
1:00 - this question here i may have danced
1:03 - around this a little bit
1:04 - in the actual lesson video but someone
1:07 - might ask the question
1:09 - is this much depth really necessary so
1:11 - if we were to just say
1:13 - satan manipulates people and events in
1:14 - the world to lead us christians away
1:16 - from the truth
1:17 - that really is basically the gist of
1:20 - what we talked about in the video
1:21 - earlier in the week and
1:23 - that is the main contention of the study
1:25 - that we’re going through but if we just
1:26 - say it in one sentence
1:28 - is that enough on its own why do we have
1:30 - to spend weeks and weeks
1:32 - because i’m sure that’s how long this
1:33 - will take and wade through hundreds of
1:35 - pages
1:36 - of teaching on all of this if we can
1:38 - just say it like that
1:40 - and so this second paragraph here is is
1:43 - this is really
1:43 - the reason right here um so i’m just
1:46 - going to read it
1:47 - a cardinal rule of any battle is knowing
1:49 - your enemy
1:50 - not just a little bit but everything
1:51 - about them you may have also heard the
1:53 - latin
1:54 - phrase schiente potentia este knowledge
1:57 - is power
1:58 - so if we don’t know about what satan is
2:02 - trying to do
2:03 - and the methodologies he employs the
2:05 - tactics
2:06 - and all of that we are going to be
2:08 - flying blind
2:10 - and going with that metaphor of life as
2:13 - a spiritual battlefield like we’ve spent
2:14 - so much time talking about
2:16 - in the study on peripherology that we’ve
2:19 - been doing for a long time now
2:20 - you do not want to be without
2:22 - information in a battle
2:24 - in military history actually uh people
2:27 - who study strategy and stuff will tell
2:28 - you that information on the battlefield
2:30 - is the most crucial thing
2:32 - so the element of surprise in warfare is
2:35 - absolutely huge
2:36 - and for us as christians we don’t want
2:39 - surprises in terms of what we thought
2:41 - was the case we what we thought was
2:43 - important
2:44 - to be revealed to be false on judgment
2:47 - day because we wasted all of our time
2:50 - on things that only happen to look
2:52 - important
2:53 - um so pulling all this together really
2:56 - the basic idea is that if we have an
2:58 - in-depth understanding of how satan
3:00 - actually does control and influence the
3:02 - world
3:02 - we are better able to inoculate
3:04 - ourselves against the illusion around us
3:06 - so you can kind of think of this as a
3:08 - vaccine against
3:10 - all of the lies and the deceit that
3:12 - satan peddles to try to turn us away
3:14 - from the truth
3:15 - so in medicine vaccines are you know
3:18 - a shot in the arm something that you
3:20 - take beforehand
3:21 - to prepare yourself against the disease
3:24 - that you know
3:25 - is out there around and so for us as
3:27 - christians
3:28 - if you compare the lies of satan and
3:30 - what he tries to feed us
3:32 - to a disease then if we stick ourselves
3:35 - in the arm beforehand
3:37 - we can come sort of forearmed and
3:39 - prepared to handle
3:41 - whatever satan may throw at us all right
3:44 - so another question
3:45 - that someone might ask is this one here
3:47 - so are many christians really as
3:49 - helpless as the people chained in place
3:51 - looking at shadows on the wall
3:53 - so that’s coming from plato’s allegory
3:54 - of the cave which we talked about
3:56 - as a helpful parallel for us navigating
3:59 - the web of lies that satan has before us
4:01 - in this world
4:02 - and so it’s not a very flattering
4:04 - comparison for us
4:06 - because these people as we sort of
4:08 - talked about
4:09 - have the tendency to scoff at the people
4:12 - who
4:12 - go out outside the cave into the light
4:15 - you know they think that
4:16 - those people are the ones with delusions
4:18 - um
4:19 - and so the question is if we really
4:21 - don’t want to be compared to those
4:22 - people
4:23 - well how much are we really like them
4:25 - are we really trapped
4:26 - in a cave are we really that caught up
4:29 - in the illusion that we don’t even
4:30 - recognize it
4:31 - and it certainly does depend uh to a
4:34 - degree on your spiritual growth
4:36 - and whether you’ve come across all of
4:37 - this stuff before and
4:39 - you know sort of your i guess your
4:41 - overall level of spiritual cynicism
4:43 - if that’s a thing as well uh but the
4:45 - answer is actually yes
4:47 - um and this is unfortunate for us i
4:50 - think particularly in our modern world
4:52 - where we have distractions all around us
4:54 - in terms of
4:55 - movies and books and fiction and all of
4:58 - these things that the internet lets us
4:59 - consume 24 7.
5:01 - i think a lot of people even though in
5:04 - their hearts they’re not
5:05 - setting out to turn themselves away from
5:07 - spiritual truth
5:09 - end up sort of adrift uh spending their
5:11 - time on other things
5:13 - and so the real problem is summarized by
5:15 - the second paragraph here is just that
5:17 - a lot of people don’t view things that
5:19 - they maybe ought to be a little bit
5:21 - skeptical of spiritually
5:23 - they don’t hold them at arm’s length um
5:26 - so
5:26 - if you don’t recognize that satan is in
5:29 - control of these things in the world
5:31 - so the government media messages from tv
5:34 - and works of fiction
5:36 - then you’re liable to consume them
5:40 - more than you might or trust them and
5:43 - get your ideas from them
5:44 - more than you would otherwise and even
5:47 - more than this and this is the thing
5:48 - that’s actually really scary
5:50 - is that sometimes satan saying
5:53 - most effective um weapons against us in
5:57 - the church
5:58 - aren’t necessarily things that we don’t
6:00 - look to for our spiritual nourishment
6:02 - but they’re false teachers within the
6:04 - church so
6:05 - people who we as christians look up to
6:08 - and respect
6:09 - well even if those people are well
6:11 - intentioned
6:12 - if satan empowers error as it were so he
6:17 - he sort of encourages false teaching to
6:19 - crop up in the church
6:21 - then these people even if they have good
6:23 - intentions can end up doing lots and
6:24 - lots of damage
6:26 - and not to get off on too much of a side
6:27 - tangent but this is one reason why we
6:29 - really really
6:30 - should be careful uh about who we
6:33 - respect as teachers
6:35 - um even because people generally want to
6:38 - give
6:38 - others the benefit of the doubt in terms
6:40 - of well maybe his doctrine isn’t
6:43 - full on but you know he’s a good guy
6:44 - he’s trying to do the right thing
6:46 - uh it’s not that we should necessarily
6:49 - you know
6:49 - drag down teachers and um what’s the
6:53 - right way to say this
6:54 - um i don’t know sort of victimize them
6:57 - you know like
6:58 - make them make them like uh
7:01 - gosh i’m not being very elegant here um
7:03 - i i guess just make an example of them
7:05 - or you know sort of like french
7:06 - revolution style
7:07 - down with the leaders that sort of thing
7:09 - i’m not at all saying that um
7:11 - what i’m trying to say is that the
7:13 - excuse of well he’s just doing his best
7:15 - really shouldn’t cut it and the reason
7:17 - for that is because
7:18 - satan does use teachers in the church
7:21 - who
7:22 - are off on the wrong path you know
7:24 - they’re teaching something false
7:25 - those are in many respects satan’s most
7:27 - powerful weapons
7:29 - and we should understand and respect
7:32 - that
7:32 - um in our own application of who we
7:34 - follow and and sort of vote with our
7:36 - feet
7:37 - um and so i’m bringing all this up just
7:39 - because
7:40 - it isn’t too far out there to say that
7:43 - many times the most popular teachings
7:45 - and the ones that have
7:47 - the most adherence who strongly who
7:48 - strongly stick to them
7:50 - are false teachings as unfortunate it is
7:53 - to say so
7:54 - the one that i use as an example and
7:56 - this is a pretty good example in general
7:57 - is the prosperity gospel so the idea
7:59 - that
8:00 - that god wants us to be rich and blessed
8:02 - and oh if you give me money god will
8:04 - bless you
8:05 - that sort of thing which seems to many
8:07 - of us to be very obviously false right
8:09 - at the outset
8:09 - but it’s a pretty popular teaching
8:12 - nonetheless
8:13 - and that doesn’t just happen i mean this
8:16 - particular one is something that people
8:17 - want to believe
8:18 - but to use the the words that james does
8:21 - in
8:21 - in james chapter 3 it’s set on fire by
8:24 - hell
8:24 - right so that’s talking about the tongue
8:26 - but false teaching as well
8:28 - um these things don’t just come up in
8:30 - the church by happenstance
8:31 - um satan is architecting this system of
8:35 - of lies and false teaching
8:37 - you know he’s planting these things uh
8:39 - within the church
8:40 - to try to destroy it from within all
8:42 - right so i won’t spend too much more
8:44 - time there i mean i just think that’s a
8:45 - perhaps an area in which people don’t
8:47 - recognize the risk
8:49 - as much as we should and so the main
8:51 - takeaway from this
8:52 - slide is that in truth many people
8:55 - really are oblivious to the fact that
8:57 - this world is completely within satan’s
8:59 - control
9:00 - and that it is set up to deceive and
9:02 - distract us from the things that are
9:03 - actually important spiritually
9:05 - and so all of this together is why
9:07 - pursuing something like sr4 really is
9:09 - valuable for us
9:11 - because even if we might wish to say
9:14 - that the church in general is on the
9:16 - right track or doing good the truth is
9:18 - especially in our time and place a lot
9:20 - of people aren’t as aware
9:22 - as they should be as to the fact that we
9:25 - are called to be enemies to the world so
9:27 - friendship with god
9:28 - makes us enemies of the world all right
9:30 - so we just said
9:32 - that friendship with god makes us
9:34 - enemies of the world
9:35 - and this is a good passage here in john
9:37 - chapter 15 that talks about this so i’m
9:39 - just going to go ahead and read
9:40 - picking up at verse 18 of john chapter
9:43 - 15. if the world hates you keep in mind
9:45 - that it hated me first
9:47 - if you belong to the world it would love
9:48 - you as you as its own
9:50 - as it is you do not belong to the world
9:52 - but i have chosen you out of the world
9:54 - that is why the world hates you remember
9:56 - what i told you
9:57 - a servant is not greater than his master
9:59 - if they persecuted me they will
10:00 - persecute you also
10:02 - if they obeyed my teaching they will
10:03 - obey yours also they will treat you
10:05 - this way because of my name for they do
10:07 - not know who sent me
10:09 - so this passage here is just supporting
10:12 - what we were talking about in terms of
10:14 - we really do have to pick
10:15 - one so are we on god’s side
10:18 - or do we side with the world and if we
10:20 - side with the world
10:21 - even though it may not seem like it from
10:23 - the outset siding with the world means
10:25 - reciting with satan
10:26 - against god so it might seem like we’re
10:29 - being kind of harsh here
10:30 - uh you know we’re very much calling
10:32 - people out for not recognizing the
10:34 - dangers around us
10:36 - and so even though we are talking in
10:39 - generality so we’re saying you know many
10:41 - people
10:41 - not that person right over there um it
10:44 - does seem like maybe we’re coming off as
10:46 - overly harsh
10:47 - and something that should help temper
10:48 - this a little bit is to recognize that
10:51 - we
10:51 - are these people ourselves as well at
10:53 - least from time to time
10:55 - so as i phrased it here do you wake up
10:57 - in the morning and remind yourself that
10:58 - this world is nothing but ashes and dust
11:01 - and that it is the invisible that is
11:02 - eternal well no
11:04 - i don’t either at least not most of the
11:06 - time however
11:08 - even so even though we ourselves are
11:10 - unworthy we do
11:11 - have to be harsh and say what needs to
11:13 - be said because satan is all too happy
11:15 - to use
11:16 - niceness as a club to beat down the
11:18 - truth in this world
11:19 - and so what i mean by that is that some
11:22 - people might take
11:23 - issue with sort of calling things how
11:25 - they are and for
11:26 - saying you know what people need to be
11:28 - more red-hot for the truth
11:30 - people should stop getting so caught up
11:32 - in the lies of the world even if
11:34 - even if these things aren’t out and out
11:36 - terrible all on their own
11:38 - because anything that takes our time and
11:40 - focus off god
11:41 - ultimately is leading us away from god
11:45 - so this verse in first corinthians
11:46 - chapter 10
11:48 - talks on what we just said that even if
11:52 - it is not things that are obviously evil
11:54 - in front of us
11:55 - sometimes just spending time on things
11:57 - that things that aren’t
11:59 - so dedicated to spiritual growth may not
12:02 - be the best thing for us
12:03 - so this is first corinthians chapter 10
12:06 - verse 23
12:07 - i have the right to do anything you say
12:08 - but not everything is beneficial
12:10 - i have the right to do anything but not
12:12 - everything is constructed
12:13 - so just because something is an out and
12:15 - out sin doesn’t necessarily mean that
12:17 - there isn’t opportunity cost for us
12:19 - spiritually
12:20 - in doing it because as i tried to say
12:23 - before
12:23 - any time we aren’t focused on the truth
12:26 - learning believing applying it to our
12:28 - lives
12:28 - praying for the church doing ministry
12:30 - all of these things that are very
12:32 - constructive spiritually any time we
12:34 - spend that’s not that
12:36 - arguably is time that we’re not spending
12:38 - most effectively unto the kingdom of god
12:40 - all right so another question that i
12:42 - know we did hit
12:43 - somewhat in the lesson itself but i just
12:45 - wanted to come back up and perhaps talk
12:47 - about in a little more depth
12:49 - is why god doesn’t just defeat satan
12:51 - already
12:52 - right at this point in time you know why
12:53 - why does god keep letting this go on how
12:56 - it is in the world
12:57 - um so god is omnipotent
13:00 - outside of space-time satan on the other
13:02 - hand even though he’s
13:04 - way way more powerful than we are as
13:05 - humans so you know angels are in general
13:08 - but satan
13:09 - was himself the the the preeminent angel
13:11 - right the guardian of god’s holiness
13:14 - um so even he’s more powerful than
13:16 - garden variety angels as it were
13:18 - um but even so he’s only still a finite
13:21 - creature
13:21 - so contrast that we just said god’s
13:24 - outside of space time satan is a created
13:26 - being
13:27 - within the bounds of space-time so this
13:30 - makes his
13:30 - fight against god complete madness
13:33 - because god could completely obliterate
13:34 - him in an instant
13:35 - so satan doesn’t even stand a chance as
13:38 - what we’re saying here
13:39 - and so i’ve made several points here
13:41 - that i think
13:42 - illustrate this well so i’m just going
13:44 - to go ahead and read them you know maybe
13:45 - i’ll pause in between
13:46 - but in fact when jesus returns in
13:49 - radiant glory he will
13:50 - single-handedly destroy all of the
13:52 - armies of the antichrist
13:54 - their death warrant is signed the end is
13:55 - coming for them so
13:57 - it’s just that even though god is not
14:00 - destroying
14:01 - all the forces of evil right now
14:03 - presently today
14:04 - in front of us that doesn’t mean that
14:06 - it’s not coming um this is in the book
14:08 - of revelation we’re talking about the
14:10 - battle of armageddon
14:11 - you know in perhaps pop culture
14:13 - armageddon has like two bad
14:16 - like two two armies clashing with each
14:17 - other the forces of good and the forces
14:19 - of evil
14:20 - in truth how this is gonna go down is
14:21 - that jesus is gonna come back and he’s
14:23 - single-handedly gonna obliterate all his
14:25 - enemies
14:25 - he doesn’t need our help because he’s
14:27 - god and that is how overpowered
14:30 - this this exchange is god
14:33 - it’s like a character in a video game
14:36 - who has all his skills maxed out and
14:37 - he’s facing like
14:38 - the newest person in the game that to an
14:41 - infinite degree more
14:42 - is how much more powerful god is than
14:44 - satan so
14:46 - in any instant god could do this and
14:48 - like i said
14:49 - this is already prophesied to happen
14:51 - jesus will come
14:52 - when he returns in glory and he will
14:54 - destroy all the armies of evil
14:56 - before him so the second point in fact
14:59 - when jesus paid for our sins on the
15:00 - cross
15:01 - satan lost totally and completely so as
15:04 - prophesied in genesis 3 15 the head of
15:07 - the serpent was crushed by the seat of
15:08 - the woman
15:09 - so this is after satan had tempted adam
15:12 - and eve to fall
15:14 - this is what god declares he said i will
15:15 - put enmity between you and the woman and
15:17 - between your seed and her seed
15:19 - he shall bruise you on the head and you
15:20 - shall bruise him on the heel
15:23 - so i’m taking some liberties here saying
15:24 - the head of the serpent being crushed
15:26 - um but the point is when someone gets
15:29 - bit on the heel
15:30 - it doesn’t end them when the serpent’s
15:32 - head gets crushed
15:33 - he’s completely defeated that’s what the
15:35 - cross was so
15:37 - jesus christ robbed death of its
15:40 - well he robbed death of its sting on the
15:42 - cross
15:43 - so death has no power over us anymore
15:45 - and in fact the cross
15:46 - reconciled us to god so humanity after
15:49 - the fall
15:50 - was positionally far away from god you
15:53 - know we had this
15:54 - this blood guilt upon us from our sin
15:56 - but god washed that all away with the
15:58 - blood of christ
15:59 - when he died for us on the cross so this
16:01 - is what we mean by
16:02 - satan’s already lost so you may have
16:05 - remembered
16:06 - i think it was a few weeks back on the
16:08 - shared group recording we have on
16:09 - saturdays audi and i were talking about
16:11 - this how
16:12 - positionally satan’s already lost it not
16:15 - only
16:15 - is his fight against god completely
16:17 - insane to begin with
16:18 - but he’s still fighting after he lost
16:22 - his entire army as it were after he was
16:24 - dealt a crushing defeat
16:26 - he’s still insane enough to think he can
16:27 - win right so
16:29 - not only can we put our trust in god as
16:32 - the undisputably more powerful person in
16:35 - this conflict but god has already won
16:37 - basically and in fact point number three
16:40 - no matter what satan does to us
16:41 - even up to the point of imprisonment
16:43 - torture and death he can’t take away
16:45 - anything of any eternal import
16:47 - god sees us and eternity is all that
16:49 - matters so what i mean by this
16:51 - is even if we do die you know people
16:54 - might get
16:55 - all up in arms about this even if we do
16:57 - die even if we face torture imprisonment
16:59 - and death
17:00 - it doesn’t really matter spiritually
17:02 - because we know that
17:03 - martyrs are given a cheerful reunion
17:06 - when we when we go to see god in heaven
17:08 - if we are martyred
17:09 - we’ll be held up and receive glory and
17:12 - honor for it
17:13 - it’s not something for us to necessarily
17:15 - be afraid of
17:16 - if we look with eyes of faith this runs
17:19 - very counter to the world of course who
17:20 - says that this life is all there is
17:22 - and so if you don’t go away don’t go
17:25 - away thinking that martyrdom’s a good
17:26 - thing because then it’s over
17:28 - well for us as christians we don’t
17:29 - believe that we believe that
17:31 - to live as christ and to die is gain to
17:33 - quote paul and so
17:35 - it’s actually not the end of the world
17:38 - if we die
17:39 - or if bad things happen to us because we
17:41 - know that if we hold the correct
17:43 - perspective
17:44 - it is the eternal things that are
17:45 - important not things in this life
17:47 - and so these are three points that are
17:49 - important for us to keep in mind
17:51 - and it’s important for us to actually
17:52 - believe these things because these
17:53 - things are true
17:54 - so let me repeat that again if we
17:56 - believe these things
17:57 - it’s important for us to hold them in
17:59 - our minds because they’re actually true
18:01 - spiritually um
18:02 - so it doesn’t mean we have to like them
18:04 - necessarily but
18:06 - these are the realities of how the
18:08 - spiritual world really works
18:10 - and so the correct perspective for us to
18:13 - keep in mind
18:14 - is that even if satan is given rain to
18:16 - manipulate the world strings today
18:18 - tomorrow will be cast into lake of fire
18:20 - forever so
18:21 - on the stage of eternity the span of
18:24 - human history is actually quite short
18:26 - you know satan is is only given time to
18:29 - do his thing for a very short period of
18:31 - time and after that
18:32 - he’ll be completely destroyed and we
18:35 - won’t
18:36 - have to worry about anything he could do
18:38 - to us ever again
18:39 - and in fact even on top of everything
18:41 - we’ve just talked about here
18:43 - things are only going to get worse
18:44 - during the tribulation
18:46 - and the tribulation is talked about in
18:48 - the book of revelation so
18:50 - we really better get used to the idea
18:51 - that this world is enemy territory for
18:53 - us
18:54 - because someday in the future this world
18:56 - is going to start putting us to death
18:57 - for our faith
18:58 - and so even if these things don’t seem
19:01 - so realistic now you know the
19:03 - the enmity between us and the world may
19:05 - not rear its head for us every day
19:07 - well we do need to get it through our
19:09 - heads this is actually the case
19:11 - because at some point in the future the
19:12 - world will turn on us and it will turn
19:14 - on us quickly
19:15 - we won’t have warning but perhaps even
19:17 - more frightening people who’ve made
19:18 - friends with the world
19:20 - will be too late for them the book of
19:21 - revelation talks about
19:23 - apostasy for a full third of the true
19:25 - church people
19:27 - who don’t catch the warning signs fast
19:29 - enough
19:30 - won’t recognize the spiritual things
19:32 - playing out before their eyes
19:33 - because they decided that making friends
19:36 - with the world was more important than
19:38 - holding on to their faith as christians
19:40 - and we might say oh well that won’t be
19:42 - me you know i have it all together
19:43 - spiritually
19:44 - well one of the reasons why the bible is
19:47 - so frequent in
19:48 - in telling us to to check ourselves and
19:51 - it warns us to be on guard
19:53 - is because none of us can none of us
19:56 - knows
19:57 - exactly where our hearts will lead us to
20:00 - and you know the bible is always talking
20:02 - about this principle of imminence too
20:04 - because positionally the end has been
20:05 - near for 2000 years now we
20:07 - we live in the last days as it were and
20:10 - none of us knows the time
20:11 - either all right so we had a good
20:13 - question from someone listening in this
20:15 - week
20:16 - talking about this idea of phrasing of
20:18 - how when we say that
20:20 - you know satan is in present control of
20:22 - this world it is kind of important for
20:24 - us to not just say oh well god gave it
20:26 - to him
20:27 - like god gifted satan control of this
20:29 - world as if this were
20:30 - the state of affairs that oh i don’t
20:32 - know what’s the right way to phrase this
20:34 - that that god like is the agent in this
20:36 - um so god
20:37 - lets it happen but that’s very different
20:39 - than god being the one
20:41 - who’s driving satan to do this right as
20:43 - if god’s pulling him along
20:44 - and satan has no choice in this matter
20:46 - so properly
20:48 - speaking satan usurped the throne that
20:50 - he’s sitting on of the world it’s not
20:52 - his it doesn’t belong to him
20:53 - he’s a tyrant sitting in that seat and
20:56 - that’s why he will be overthrown
20:57 - eventually
20:58 - because he’s not the rightful ruler of
21:00 - this world
21:01 - in fact in the millennium jesus christ
21:04 - will come to rule the world in person
21:06 - in the new jerusalem not in the new
21:08 - jerusalem in jerusalem new jerusalem is
21:10 - what happens after
21:11 - the heavens and the earth will be made
21:13 - but jesus will come
21:14 - bodily to rule the world and jesus
21:16 - christ
21:17 - the son of man the true morning star is
21:20 - the one who the throne of the world
21:22 - belongs to not satan
21:24 - but one thing i wanted to establish up
21:27 - front is that the bible itself does call
21:29 - satan the ruler of this world so this is
21:30 - picking up in ephesians chapter two
21:32 - verse two so it talks about
21:35 - the ruler of the kingdom of the air
21:38 - right so that’s this world it presents
21:40 - right the spirit who is now at work and
21:41 - those who are disobedient
21:44 - so satan really is called the ruler of
21:47 - the kingdom of the air right so this
21:48 - doesn’t mean
21:49 - this doesn’t mean that satan what’s the
21:52 - right way to put this
21:53 - this doesn’t mean that satan is the true
21:55 - spiritual ruler of this world
21:57 - but he is the one who is in control of
21:59 - the physical world
22:00 - presently so i just wanted to pull this
22:02 - verse up to show that we’re not just
22:04 - calling satan ruler of this world
22:05 - willy-nilly
22:06 - as if as if oh i don’t know we’re
22:08 - filling in blanks that the bible doesn’t
22:10 - actually talk about this is what the
22:12 - bible itself says in ephesians chapter
22:13 - 2.
22:14 - so i mentioned positionally how jesus
22:16 - christ is the rightful ruler of this
22:18 - world
22:19 - but it is important to talk about
22:21 - satan’s dominion over the physical world
22:23 - also in terms of man and man’s initial
22:26 - place in the world
22:27 - so i’m picking up in chapter in genesis
22:29 - chapter 1 here verse 26
22:31 - so i’m going to go ahead and read this
22:33 - verse 26 then god said let us make
22:35 - mankind in our image
22:36 - in our likeness so that they may rule
22:38 - over the fish in the sea and the birds
22:40 - in the sky over the livestock and all
22:42 - the wild animals
22:43 - and over all the creatures that move
22:45 - along the ground so god created mankind
22:47 - in his own image
22:48 - in the image of god he created them male
22:50 - and female he created them
22:52 - god blessed them and said to them be
22:54 - fruitful and increase in number
22:56 - fill the earth and subdue it rule over
22:58 - the fish in the sea
22:59 - and the birds in the sky and over every
23:00 - living creature that moves on the ground
23:02 - so this rule over bit is what i was
23:05 - going to have us
23:06 - examine here so man initially was
23:09 - written
23:10 - or not written was created as
23:13 - the creature having dominion over others
23:15 - in the world and so in genesis chapter 2
23:17 - god brings animals to adam and then
23:21 - adam gets to name animals and the names
23:24 - of adam picks stick
23:25 - right so this was man’s initial place in
23:27 - the world and in the garden of eden
23:29 - before there was conflict and sin
23:31 - you know man enjoyed his days sort of
23:33 - being
23:34 - the de facto ruler of this existence but
23:37 - then the fall happened in genesis
23:39 - chapter 3
23:40 - so satan is now somewhat in the place of
23:43 - where man was and of course positionally
23:45 - in an eternal sense we also mention how
23:48 - the person who’s thrown satan really
23:49 - stole was jesus christ
23:51 - and you know jesus christ will come to
23:53 - reclaim it but
23:54 - you know satan is an angel and the other
23:57 - angels along with him
23:58 - don’t have the same physicality that we
24:00 - do as human beings
24:02 - and so in some sense our place in the
24:04 - world as well was usurped by satan you
24:06 - know he destabilized the relationship
24:08 - between man and god
24:10 - and then men then we as man
24:13 - or not we collectively but adam and eve
24:15 - were kicked out of the garden of eden
24:17 - um and this was because of satan’s
24:19 - trickery and deceit
24:20 - so our place our rightful place in the
24:22 - universe which will be restored
24:24 - when god comes back in victory was also
24:27 - taken by satan
24:28 - so to address this question that we’re
24:30 - talking about of did god give satan
24:32 - control
24:33 - is that phrasing appropriate that
24:34 - phrasing really isn’t um and
24:37 - if we were to say things like that it’s
24:39 - just important for us to clarify that
24:41 - god let this happen that’s again
24:43 - different from god
24:44 - making it happen because satan is the
24:46 - one who’s usurping this authority
24:49 - the one who’s taking what is not
24:50 - rightfully his
24:52 - and as we did touch on in the study the
24:54 - reason why god has let this happen is
24:56 - because god’s using satan for his own
24:58 - purposes
24:59 - in fact as in the cross god is letting
25:02 - satan
25:02 - make a fool of himself so to speak just
25:05 - to prove
25:06 - to all people human and and angel kind
25:09 - alike
25:09 - that god is perfectly just and righteous
25:12 - and also perfect in his mercy
25:14 - in that he can save sinful mankind even
25:17 - despite
25:18 - satan’s best efforts to throw a wrench
25:19 - in god’s plan for doing so
25:21 - so satan is completely powerless to stop
25:24 - this
25:24 - but satan nonetheless is the one who’s
25:27 - making all of these decisions in
25:28 - opposition to god
25:29 - god’s not compelling him to do it but
25:31 - god is letting it happen
25:33 - for the purpose of testing our hearts in
25:35 - this world
25:36 - so you may have heard the phrase used of
25:39 - us as christians that life is all about
25:40 - choice
25:41 - it’s all about whether we apply our free
25:44 - will
25:44 - to follow the things that god would have
25:46 - for us or
25:48 - apply our free will to other things you
25:49 - know the things of the world which are
25:51 - all ultimately controlled by satan
25:53 - and that ultimately is why god allows
25:56 - satan
25:56 - to be here in a position of power in
25:58 - this present creation
26:00 - is to test us so we have the ability as
26:03 - humans to choose between good and evil
26:06 - and ultimately that’s why we’re here we
26:09 - have the ability god’s in fact done
26:11 - everything already for us
26:12 - by giving us a chance to be redeemed to
26:16 - accept the sacrifice that jesus made for
26:17 - us on the cross
26:18 - and all we have to do is not say no but
26:21 - this world is set up
26:22 - to force us into that choice that in
26:25 - large part is why god
26:26 - let satan do the things that he does now
26:29 - not because god couldn’t stop him
26:31 - not because god won’t stop him
26:32 - eventually but because
26:35 - in the time we call now the present god
26:38 - is setting things up
26:39 - to give us a choice to follow him or to
26:41 - follow satan who’s the present ruler of
26:43 - this world


Like Adam and Eve, we live in a broken world - as strangers in the devil’s realm

Video

Summary

This lesson we first go over why the title of the introduction to SR4 mentions Satan’s rebellion and fall: because that sequence of events kicked off the battlefield upon which creature history plays out. Bearing in mind this wider spiritual conflict can help contextualize the present set of circumstances before us in this life. After going over these points, we talk about the content of the introduction to SR4, which discusses Adam and Eve: how their circumstances changed post-fall, how God promised in the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 and through the protoevangelium to reconcile humanity back to Himself, and how the wider circumstances of our lives today have not fundamentally changed from Adam’s and Eve’s outside the garden. Finally, we make a brief outline of the next set of topics we will be covering in future lessons, dealing with the wider idea of us as stranger’s in the devil’s realm, as sojourners in this fallen world under his control.

Timestamps

00:0000:00 - Introduction and review
00:2400:24 - Outline
01:4201:42 - The title of the Introduction in SR4: Satan’s rebellion and fall
06:3906:39 - The actual introduction: Adam and Eve, and us
   08:1808:18 - The contrast between pre-fall paradise and post-fall realities
   10:4610:46 - God’s promise of deliverance
   13:2113:21 - Us now vs. them then
16:2216:22 - The first big section of SR4: We are strangers in the devil’s realm
   17:0117:01 - Sojourners in the devil’s world
   18:0218:02 - The vanity of life
   19:5219:52 - The hostility of the world
   21:1221:12 - The battlefield
   22:1322:13 - The enemy
23:3623:36 - Recap

Content

(Derived from https://ichthys.com/SR4(SWS).htm)

The Introduction’s title: Satan’s rebellion and fall

The introduction section of our present study, though not dealing explicitly with the topic of Satan’s rebellion and fall, nonetheless shares the title, as do several other introduction sections in the series.

This might seem a bit confusing inasmuch as the introduction here, as we shall see, is really more about a “then and now” comparing us to our ancient forebears (Adam and Eve) than Satan’s rebellion and fall. While I certainly can’t speak for the Professor, here’s my guess as to why: this is the wider context of the entire series… which is why it is called the Satanic Rebellion series!

Properly speaking, it is the first segment of the study (Part 1) that deals with Satan’s initial state and his fall. However, reality today – and indeed, as Part 3 discusses, the very purpose and creation of man – is very much shaped by and affected by Satan’s continuing rebellion against God. If our existence is a war on a battlefield, then creation turned into this battlefield when Satan arrogantly raised his hand against his Creator.

It is for this reason that we should keep this wider context in our minds as we start easing into our study. We are starting in medias res in this study, and likewise we are born into this world in the middle of a grand spiritual narrative that greatly transcends our own individual lives.

The beginning of this narrative – which will end with Satan’s complete and utter defeat at the end of this present creation, and the establishment of a new, glorious universe where only righteousness and uprightness dwells, God with man and angel alike – started that long time ago when Satan, once the preeminent angel, vainly thought in his mind to usurp God’s place.

That was the opening act of all creature history. Parts 1 through 3 of this study get us from there to where we are now, and Part 5 takes us even further by mapping out God’s complete and perfect plan for history, including how the rest of history will proceed (at a high level). But this part of the study – a detailed examination of how Satan exerts his control over the world – is where the rubber hits the road for us as Christians: our present reality, grim as it may be.

We will periodically turn time and again to this wider context – the echoes of Satan’s initial rebellion and fall, the grand spiritual stage of existence – as we proceed in our study, because keeping that big picture in mind is in fact one of the very best ways to see through the illusions before us in this world.

The actual introduction: Adam and Eve, and us

Well, we got all that from the title of the introductory section… but what of its content?

Dr. Luginbill opens up this present study (SR4 specifically) with some initial framing points about Adam and Eve, their post-fall situation, and our situation in the present, still to this day basically the same as their’s. In particular:

  • The contrast between pre-fall paradise and post-fall realities
  • God’s promise of deliverance
    • The prophecy of Genesis 3:15 (which was fulfilled upon the cross)
    • The protoevangelium
  • Us now vs. them then
The contrast between pre-fall paradise and post-fall realities

The world that Adam and Eve entered after their expulsion from the garden of Eden could not have been more different from the perfect environment they had so recently taken for granted.

  • Instead of abundant prosperity, ready at hand, they had entered a world of limitation, shortage and scarcity.
  • Instead of a world where all their needs were instantly provided for without any effort on their part, back-breaking toil was now necessary for survival.

Our first parents would also now experience for the first time the full gamut of destructive and sinful emotions, including fear, jealousy and hostility.

The domestic tranquility that had reigned in Eden as a matter of course would now be infected by anger, frustration, bitterness, and resentment – even to the point of murder (compare Cain and Abel).

And finally, in crowning futility, when they had lived out their now-finite years, the ground would receive them back – death would put an end to all they had worked and striven for in the sorrowful interim.

God’s promise of deliverance

But God did not leave them orphans on the earth, completely bereft of all hope and of Himself.

In the same judgment that rendered our first parents mortal and subject to death, God also promised them the Seed who would one day crush the head of the serpent who had deceived them (Genesis 3:15).

Christ’s sacrifice was also foreshadowed in coats of skin with which He graciously clothed them (the protoevangelium = “first gospel”), replacing the garments born of their own efforts with symbols of the coming One who would one day die in their place.

Thus, before they even left the garden of Eden, God had given Adam and Eve a new tree of life to replace the one they had forsaken: that is, the cross of Jesus Christ (foreshadowed in the animal skins and in the prophecy of the Seed).

It only remained for our first parents to accept our Lord’s generous offer of boundless grace, trusting in Him for their deliverance from the inevitability of the grave, the unavoidable reality which had now become life’s central issue.

Us now vs. them then

From a spiritual point of view, life remains essentially the same for us today as it was when our first parents trekked out of Eden some six thousand years ago.

The critical issue for every human being is identical now to what it was then: we must all choose whether or not to accept through faith God’s solution to the problem of sin and death (in the person of His Son Jesus Christ).

Moreover, just as Adam and Eve were left in the world beyond the point of faith, so also we today are not immediately transferred to our heavenly home after salvation, but remain here in the world to prove our faith, to grow in it, and to help others do the same.

The segue

Thus, as followers of God and believers in Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven for feeling ill at ease in this present world where we scarcely even seem to belong, for it is not a place where the knowledge of God abounds and the will of God is always done. On the contrary, this perilous world through which we pass lies largely under the influence of the evil one (1 John 5:19, and cf. Ephesians 2:2, which we talked about last time).

I. Strangers in the Devil’s Realm

Now, we move into the first overarching section of the study: how we are strangers in this world of the devil’s, persecuted as enemies.

This time, I’ll mostly introduce the subsections, and we’ll come back and hit them harder in coming weeks.

Here are the subsections we’ll go over:

  1. Sojourners in the devil’s world
  2. The vanity of life
  3. The hostility of the world
  4. The battlefield
  5. The enemy
Sojourners in the devil’s world

Like our first parents Adam and Eve before us, we have been left in this strange and alien world where the blinding reality of God is largely obscured from view, revealed almost exclusively in His Word to those who seek Him out. Until that time, we wait for something better as homeless wanderers in a world which finds our perspective and our hope worthless, even foolish and idiotic.

The vanity of life

In His judgment upon Adam and Eve, God laid down the fundamental calculus of human life outside of the garden: that we must earn our bread through sweat and toil throughout our short lives, and afterwards return to dust (Genesis 3:16-19), taking nothing with us as we pass into the grave.

The hostility of the world

From the moment we turn away from the hollow manner of life handed down from generation to generation (1 Peter 1:18), and turn instead to the living God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to Him, and at the same time alienated from the world. There can be no middle ground. Either we are friends of God, or friends of the world (James 4:4).

The battlefield

There is another dimension to be considered beyond our alienation to the world, beyond its essential futility, and beyond the enmity between it and us: the world is also a battlefield where the struggle between Satan’s present kingdom and the coming kingdom of heaven continues to be played out in deadly earnest (as has been the case since the devil’s fall).

The enemy

Having been evicted from the family of God and cast down to rule this kingdom of dust (but only for a short time, with an eternity in the lake of fire always being positionally imminent), of course Satan is going to be anything but friendly towards those of us who follow God. As we humans come to replace him and his followers in the family of God, it would in truth be quite strange if Satan did not pour out his wrath upon us, like a boxed-in animal raging against the end it knows is coming.

In fact, God soon will put down the beast forever, but in the meantime, we believers will face his wrath.

Video/audio transcript

00:00 - hey guys so today we are picking up
00:03 - in lesson two of our study of the
00:05 - satanic rebellion series
00:07 - in particular part four talking about
00:09 - satan’s world system
00:11 - so this week we are going to go through
00:13 - the introduction section of the study
00:16 - which kind of discusses adam and eve and
00:18 - their situation
00:20 - and then how we compare to them as a
00:22 - method of framing what we are going to
00:24 - be talking about for the rest of the
00:26 - study
00:27 - so here is the outline of the points
00:30 - that we are going to be going through
00:32 - today
00:32 - so first we’re going to be talking about
00:34 - the title of the introduction
00:36 - which includes this concept of satan’s
00:38 - rebellion and fall
00:40 - and perhaps why this is in the title of
00:42 - the introduction even though not much
00:44 - time is spent on it
00:45 - in the body of the introduction then
00:47 - we’re going to go through
00:48 - what the introduction to the study
00:50 - actually talks about
00:52 - which is the life that adam and eve
00:54 - lived after the fall
00:56 - and then our situation and how it is
00:58 - parallel to that
00:59 - so we’re going to talk about the
01:01 - contrast between pre-fall paradise and
01:03 - post-fall realities
01:05 - god’s promise of deliverance so that
01:07 - applies to adam and eve
01:08 - in context but also us and then talk
01:11 - about
01:12 - how we are now in our practical life
01:15 - circumstances
01:16 - versus how they were after they were
01:18 - evicted from the garden of eden
01:20 - after this we’re going to go ahead and
01:23 - outline the first big section in the
01:26 - study
01:26 - which is titled strangers in the devil’s
01:28 - realm so this week
01:30 - we will just be going over the
01:34 - points in this section at a very high
01:37 - level so we are going to introduce these
01:39 - points
01:40 - and then in future weeks we are going to
01:42 - come back and hit all of these things
01:44 - in much more depth so as i mentioned
01:47 - even though the introduction of the
01:50 - study that we are going through here in
01:51 - sr4
01:52 - doesn’t really talk too much explicitly
01:54 - about satan’s rebellion and fall
01:56 - i want to talk about why this is
01:58 - actually in the title of the
01:59 - introduction
02:00 - and perhaps why in our study here
02:04 - satan’s rebellion is mentioned even
02:06 - before we talk about anything else
02:08 - so this might seem a little bit
02:11 - confusing
02:11 - um inasmuch as the introduction itself
02:14 - as we will examine
02:16 - in the coming minutes mostly talks about
02:19 - how we compare to adam and eve then and
02:21 - now if you will
02:23 - while i certainly can’t speak for dr
02:25 - logan bill my guess as to why
02:27 - this is the leading point in the title
02:30 - of the introduction
02:31 - is just because this is the wider
02:32 - context of the whole series
02:34 - so the series that this particular study
02:36 - is in is called the satanic rebellion
02:38 - series
02:39 - and so in terms of this series it is the
02:42 - first segment of the study
02:44 - that actually talks about satan’s
02:45 - initial state and then his fall
02:48 - however today um we are going to be
02:51 - going
02:51 - through uh the outline of the first
02:55 - section in this study dealing with how
02:57 - we actually live in this present world
02:59 - um so the reason why this would be
03:02 - included then is
03:04 - for a manner of context so if
03:07 - our existence is a war on a battlefield
03:10 - then
03:11 - this creation turned into a battlefield
03:13 - at the point when satan rebelled against
03:15 - god
03:16 - at the point when he lifted his hand
03:17 - against his creator and so
03:19 - as we’ll see on the next slide it really
03:22 - is sort of
03:23 - a method of framing everything that we
03:25 - go through here
03:26 - to just keep in the back of our heads
03:28 - that
03:29 - the chain of causality leading to where
03:31 - we are today
03:33 - was kicked off in creature history by
03:35 - satan’s initial rebellion
03:37 - so just as we are sort of starting in
03:40 - mediastress here in the study so
03:42 - into the middle of things we are born
03:44 - into this world in the middle of a grand
03:46 - spiritual conflict
03:48 - that greatly transcends our own
03:49 - individual lives so what i mean by that
03:52 - is that while it may be very easy for us
03:54 - to get focused on
03:55 - our personal circumstances or the things
03:58 - in our lives
03:59 - specifically we as christians are
04:01 - actually
04:02 - born into this world being part of
04:05 - a battle raging between god and satan
04:07 - that has been going on
04:08 - ever since satan rebelled against god a
04:11 - very long time ago
04:12 - so the beginning of this narrative and
04:15 - this narrative
04:16 - this story if you will will end with
04:19 - satan’s complete and total defeat at the
04:21 - end of this present creation
04:23 - and then the establishment of a new
04:24 - glorious universe
04:26 - where only righteousness and uprightness
04:28 - dwells
04:29 - god dwelling with us as men and also
04:32 - angels in perfect unity
04:34 - so this story started all that long time
04:36 - ago
04:37 - when satan who was the preeminent
04:39 - guardian angel of god’s holiness
04:42 - vainly thought in his mind to usurp
04:44 - god’s place
04:45 - on the throne of the universe and so
04:48 - all that time ago was when the rebellion
04:51 - kicked off
04:52 - and when the universe positionally
04:54 - became broken
04:55 - this separation between perfect god and
04:58 - our present creation
05:00 - now the earlier parts in the satanic
05:03 - rebellion series so we are
05:05 - in part four right now but the earlier
05:07 - parts get us
05:08 - from there so satan’s initial fall
05:11 - to the genesis gap that’s what the
05:14 - second part talks about so god’s
05:15 - judgment
05:16 - of the fallen universe after satan’s
05:18 - rebellion and then
05:20 - the creation of man in part three
05:23 - talking about
05:24 - man’s purpose in this wider conflict and
05:27 - of course we’re in part four
05:28 - but part five will take us even further
05:30 - by outlining
05:31 - god’s plan for human history in terms of
05:34 - the seven millennial days
05:35 - and this includes how the rest of
05:38 - history
05:39 - past where we are at present will unfold
05:42 - however
05:42 - what we’re talking about right here in
05:44 - the study is an examination of how satan
05:47 - exerts his control
05:48 - over the world so this is kind of where
05:51 - the rubber hits the road for us as
05:52 - christians at present
05:54 - because we are studying what the world
05:56 - is really like for us
05:57 - now today and with all this said
06:00 - we are spending time talking about this
06:02 - up front here
06:04 - and we will continue to re-examine it
06:06 - just because this wider context
06:08 - so the echoes of satan’s initial
06:10 - rebellion and fall that
06:11 - set the world into motion how it is now
06:14 - and then also just in general this
06:16 - idea that existence is playing out on a
06:19 - grand spiritual stage
06:21 - you know there are elements in play much
06:23 - larger than us
06:24 - in the background um we as we keep these
06:27 - things in mind
06:28 - uh it can help us in the study because
06:31 - keeping that big picture in our heads
06:33 - can be one of the best way for one of
06:35 - the best ways for us
06:37 - to see through some of the illusions
06:39 - that the world puts before us
06:41 - so having now talked a little bit about
06:44 - why this might be in the title of the
06:45 - introduction
06:46 - and why we should keep the wider context
06:48 - of satan’s rebellion and fall in mind
06:51 - not only as we talk about these things
06:52 - today but also as we move forward from
06:55 - week to week
06:56 - now we’ll actually get into the section
06:59 - of what is in the introduction
07:01 - to this study so if we go there here in
07:04 - from that table of contents link you can
07:07 - see that this
07:07 - is the first part of the study and
07:10 - there’s several paragraphs here
07:11 - and i’ve broken them out into slides to
07:13 - make the content easier for us to look
07:16 - at things one at a time but the
07:18 - introduction primarily deals
07:20 - with how adam and eve lived after the
07:24 - fall
07:25 - and how that compares to the
07:26 - circumstances that we now find ourselves
07:28 - in
07:29 - so these are the points that we’re going
07:32 - to hit
07:33 - because these are the things the
07:34 - introduction mostly talks about
07:36 - so the first thing is going to be the
07:37 - contrast between pre-fall paradise in
07:40 - the garden of eden
07:41 - and post-fall realities after they were
07:44 - evicted from the garden
07:45 - god’s promise of deliverance so this is
07:48 - through the prophecy
07:49 - in genesis 3 15 which we’ll get to when
07:51 - we actually talk about this
07:53 - and then the so-called proto-evangelium
07:56 - or the first gospel
07:57 - when god gave adam and eve skins of
08:00 - animals
08:00 - to clothes themselves well this blood
08:03 - sacrifice
08:04 - foreshadows christ’s death for us on the
08:07 - cross that ultimately saves us from our
08:09 - sins
08:10 - and then finally we’re going to talk
08:11 - about how their situation
08:13 - um as the points that we make up here
08:16 - compares to how we find ourselves living
08:18 - in this broken and fallen world
08:20 - even up until this day so this first
08:23 - point
08:23 - talking about the pre-fall paradise
08:26 - versus post-fall realities
08:28 - mostly centers on the things that
08:30 - changed after adam and eve found
08:32 - themselves
08:33 - out of the perfect garden so one thing
08:36 - that changed
08:37 - is rather than having everything
08:38 - provided for them and
08:40 - living this life of leisure
08:43 - everything suddenly started requiring
08:46 - them to work
08:47 - so instead of abundant prosperity ready
08:50 - at hand
08:51 - they had entered a world of limitation
08:53 - shortage and scarcity
08:55 - and instead of a world where all their
08:57 - needs were instantly provided for
08:59 - without any effort on their part
09:01 - now back-breaking toil was necessary for
09:03 - survival
09:05 - so these are elements of the so-called
09:08 - genesis curse placed upon man after
09:11 - adam and eve disobeyed god
09:15 - and were subsequently kicked out of the
09:17 - garden of eden
09:18 - so aside from having to work and toil on
09:21 - this earth
09:23 - our ancient parents would now also
09:26 - experience for the first time
09:28 - all of the destructive and sinful
09:29 - emotions like
09:31 - fear jealousy and hostility because now
09:34 - life was suddenly no longer perfect for
09:36 - them
09:37 - and of course as early chapters in
09:39 - genesis make clear
09:41 - the domestic tranquility so the the
09:44 - peace between men
09:45 - as it were would soon become shattered
09:48 - as
09:49 - kane murdered his brother abel out of
09:51 - jealousy
09:52 - and resentment and so all of these
09:54 - things
09:55 - are coming together to show the very
09:58 - different picture
09:59 - of how life in this world operated
10:02 - after the fall as opposed to how it was
10:05 - before the fall
10:06 - and to top all of this off after
10:10 - this life of pain and toil and now all
10:13 - these other negative things
10:14 - that we face well after all this adam
10:17 - and eve would now experience physical
10:19 - death
10:20 - this is the consequence of eating that
10:22 - fruit of the sin and separation from god
10:25 - which is a form of immediate spiritual
10:28 - death for us
10:29 - but our parents would now also face
10:32 - physical death so after going through
10:35 - all of these hard things
10:36 - life sort of robs you of any meaning
10:40 - by not letting you take anything with
10:42 - you so you work for all of these things
10:45 - and then you cannot take anything out of
10:48 - this world
10:50 - all right so the second point made in
10:52 - this section
10:53 - is that even despite all of this god did
10:55 - not leave adam and eve as orphans on the
10:57 - earth
10:58 - completely bereft of all hope and
11:00 - separate from him
11:01 - so in the first judgment that rendered
11:04 - our first parents mortal
11:05 - that condemned them to die a physical
11:09 - death
11:09 - out of their separation from god god
11:12 - also promised them
11:13 - in the prophecy of genesis 3 15 the seed
11:16 - who would one day crush the head of the
11:17 - serpent who had deceit them
11:19 - so we’re going to go ahead and read
11:20 - genesis 3 15 here
11:22 - and i will put enmity between you and
11:24 - the woman and between your seed and her
11:26 - seed
11:27 - he shall bruise you on the head and you
11:28 - shall bruise him on the heel
11:31 - so this prophecy was fulfilled on the
11:33 - cross
11:34 - when jesus christ defeated death
11:38 - and redeemed us our fallen humanity
11:42 - back to god uh mending the rift
11:45 - caused by the initial fall of adam and
11:48 - eve
11:49 - so that humans have now been reconciled
11:52 - to god
11:53 - and the sacrifice here that
11:57 - god speaks of you know the the
11:58 - fulfillment of jesus crushing satan’s
12:01 - head
12:02 - actually also shows up in genesis
12:05 - foreshadowed
12:06 - by the clothes that god gave adam and
12:08 - eve after they recognize their nakedness
12:11 - and the giving of the clothes is often
12:13 - called the proto-evangelium
12:14 - which literally translates as first
12:17 - gospel
12:18 - so god gives them these clothes to
12:21 - replace their own inadequate efforts and
12:24 - this represents
12:26 - symbolically the sacrifice that jesus
12:29 - would come to make for us on the cross
12:31 - by dying in our place
12:32 - and so before adam and eve even left
12:34 - eden so even though
12:36 - they had sinned and were now subject to
12:38 - god’s judgment upon them
12:40 - and faced these these curses of
12:43 - toil and physical death god had already
12:46 - given them
12:47 - a new tree of life as it were to replace
12:49 - the one that they had
12:51 - voluntarily forsaken and so that would
12:53 - be
12:54 - the cross of jesus christ foreshadowed
12:56 - in the two ways that we’ve just talked
12:58 - about
12:58 - that will or not will already has
13:02 - given us humans the chance for eternal
13:04 - life if we just accept
13:06 - what god has already done for us and so
13:09 - adam and eve only had to accept god’s
13:12 - generous offer of grace
13:14 - trusting him for their deliverance after
13:17 - they would face physical death because
13:20 - physical death is now the reality after
13:21 - the fall
13:23 - that cannot be avoided in this world so
13:26 - this was the state that adam and eve
13:29 - found themselves in
13:30 - after the fall but for us life hasn’t
13:32 - actually changed all that much
13:34 - in the 6 000 years or so since then um
13:37 - the critical issue for every human being
13:40 - is identical now to what it was
13:41 - then we must all choose whether or not
13:44 - to accept through faith
13:45 - god’s solution to the problem of sin and
13:47 - death
13:48 - in the person of jesus christ and what
13:50 - he’s done for us on the cross
13:52 - moreover just as adam and eve were left
13:55 - in the world beyond the point of faith
13:58 - so also we today are not immediately
14:00 - transferred
14:01 - to our heavenly home after salvation but
14:03 - remain here in the world to prove our
14:05 - faith
14:05 - to grow in it and to help others do the
14:07 - same and so that is to say
14:10 - after being kicked out of eden adam and
14:12 - eve
14:13 - were not immediately taken up to heaven
14:15 - after believing nor were they
14:16 - immediately killed on the spot
14:18 - but they were given a chance to live out
14:21 - the remainder of their lives
14:23 - trusting god in faith to demonstrate
14:25 - that they did trust him
14:27 - to that they did trust the promises that
14:30 - he had given them
14:31 - and so this is kind of going to tie us
14:34 - all of this discussion that we’ve
14:36 - talked about adam and eve and their
14:37 - situation and how our situation today
14:40 - is still actually really parallel
14:42 - because we still live in the same broken
14:44 - world
14:46 - now we’re now going to kind of tie that
14:47 - into where we’re going to be going
14:49 - for the next few weeks in the study so
14:51 - i’m just going to go ahead and read this
14:53 - um this paragraph here which kind of
14:55 - comes at the end of the introduction
14:57 - so thus as followers of god and
15:00 - believers in jesus christ
15:01 - we can be forgiven for feeling ill at
15:04 - ease in this present world where we are
15:05 - scarcely even seen to be long
15:07 - for it is not a place where the
15:09 - knowledge of god abounds and the will of
15:10 - god is always done
15:12 - on the contrary this perilous world
15:14 - through which we pass
15:15 - lies largely under the influence of the
15:17 - evil one
15:18 - and so last week i had brought up this
15:21 - uh verse in ephesians chapter two in the
15:24 - questions and answers video
15:26 - um as support that satan really is the
15:29 - ruler of this world
15:30 - um and this section actually mentions
15:32 - first john
15:33 - chapter 5 verse 19 which actually states
15:35 - it even more explicitly um this was just
15:37 - the cross reference i happen to remember
15:39 - off the top of my
15:40 - head but we know that the whole world
15:43 - lies in the power of the evil one so
15:44 - it’s not just
15:45 - bits of the world it’s the whole world
15:48 - and so with this in mind
15:50 - just how adam and eve found themselves
15:53 - in this fallen broken world after they
15:56 - were evicted from the garden
15:57 - this world now under the control of
15:59 - satan so too do we find ourselves there
16:02 - and just as adam and eve no doubt
16:06 - felt alienated from this world as if
16:08 - they did not belong in it because
16:10 - it is only our temporary home until we
16:13 - go to be with our creator
16:15 - so too will we now find ourselves as
16:17 - strangers in this land
16:19 - and that’s what we’re going to talk
16:20 - about in the next section
16:22 - and probably for the next few weeks in
16:24 - the study
16:25 - all right so as i mentioned this is the
16:27 - first big point
16:28 - that we are going to be going through in
16:30 - the study this idea that we as
16:31 - christians are strangers
16:33 - in the devil’s realm um and so as you
16:35 - can see here
16:36 - we have some sub points to this section
16:38 - and so these
16:39 - are the things that we are going to be
16:41 - going over now this week
16:43 - just due to time constraints and just
16:45 - because this is going to be an
16:46 - introduction
16:47 - i’m just going to go over the
16:49 - subsections at a high level
16:50 - so the things that we’re going to go
16:51 - over are how we are soldiers in the
16:53 - devil’s world
16:55 - uh the vanity of life the hostility of
16:57 - the world
16:58 - the battlefield we now find ourselves on
17:00 - spiritually and then the enemy
17:02 - which is to say satan so the first of
17:05 - these sub-sections
17:06 - is talking about the concept of us as
17:08 - sojourners in the devil’s world
17:10 - so just like adam and eve before us as
17:12 - we just talked about
17:14 - we’ve been left in this strange and
17:16 - alien world
17:17 - where the blinding reality of god is
17:19 - largely obscured from view
17:21 - revealed almost exclusively in his word
17:23 - to those who seek him out
17:25 - so until the time that god comes again
17:29 - and redeems us in the world in total
17:31 - victory over satan
17:33 - we wait for something better as homeless
17:35 - wanderers in a world which finds our
17:37 - perspective and our hope worthless
17:39 - even foolish or idiotic so the belief we
17:42 - have in jesus christ
17:44 - what sets us apart from unbelievers may
17:46 - seem to all the world
17:47 - badness but nonetheless the world will
17:50 - not accept us as its own
17:52 - because we truly do not belong here our
17:54 - hearts
17:55 - are with the kingdom of god which is not
17:58 - of this present world
17:59 - so we will always find ourselves
18:01 - alienated from the world
18:02 - and living as strangers and foreigners
18:04 - here right second high level point in
18:06 - this section is talking about the vanity
18:08 - of life
18:09 - um and so we mentioned when talking
18:12 - about the effects of the curse that
18:14 - we now toil because of the the genesis
18:17 - curse we now
18:18 - have to break our our backs to earn our
18:20 - bread
18:21 - so to speak but even after all that
18:24 - at the end of our lives no man can
18:27 - escape death
18:28 - so we work and we work for what
18:32 - to face physical death at the end of our
18:34 - lives as an unavoidable reality
18:36 - and so this this existential
18:39 - pointlessness if you will
18:41 - is something that we now face in life
18:44 - because we can’t escape our own
18:46 - sinfulness and we can’t escape
18:48 - death and so this is
18:51 - the effect here um in the verse that
18:54 - comes right after the promise that god
18:55 - gave
18:56 - god lays down the effects
18:59 - that are going to come from the fall and
19:02 - so it is just as we’ve said here
19:04 - that we now must work and that our lives
19:07 - will be
19:08 - difficult and short and then we perish
19:10 - after that
19:12 - facing a perfect god with our own
19:13 - sinfulness and so this idea
19:16 - of a difficult life upon which you can’t
19:19 - escape death this
19:20 - is the vanity of life that is under
19:23 - discussion in this point
19:24 - and there’s there’s more as well of
19:26 - course the book of ecclesiastes talks
19:28 - about
19:28 - other pointlessness in the world such as
19:31 - when you die
19:32 - you don’t necessarily choose whom your
19:34 - wealth goes to or
19:36 - maybe not everything goes how you want
19:38 - in life there are uncontrollable things
19:39 - out of your control but
19:41 - primarily here we have our focus on
19:44 - the effects of the fall and what that
19:46 - means for us
19:48 - in terms of life being essentially vain
19:51 - and pointless
19:52 - because all of us will eventually face
19:56 - physical death all right so the third
19:58 - point here so we talked about
20:00 - how we are essentially sojourners and
20:02 - aliens in this strange
20:04 - world controlled by the devil and the
20:06 - essential vanity of life
20:07 - because we all face death as an
20:10 - unavoidable reality
20:11 - so the third point is talking about the
20:13 - hostility of the world
20:14 - and so anyone who’s been watching the
20:16 - other series we have going on
20:18 - peripoteology will know that we’ve been
20:20 - talking about life as a
20:22 - spiritual battlefield and basically the
20:24 - world treating us as enemies but we’ve
20:26 - been on that subject for a long time in
20:28 - that study
20:29 - um but if we but turn towards god
20:34 - having been reconciled to him through
20:36 - jesus christ
20:39 - we will unavoidably be alienated from
20:41 - the world
20:42 - and we cannot in any way serve two
20:45 - masters
20:46 - so either we are friends of god or
20:48 - friends of the world and this verse from
20:50 - james chapter 4 so james 4 4 says this
20:53 - very explicitly that friendship with the
20:54 - world is hostility towards god
20:56 - therefore whoever wishes to be a friend
20:58 - of the world makes himself an enemy of
21:00 - god
21:00 - it truly is that black and white and on
21:03 - the flip side
21:04 - if we consider ourselves friends of god
21:06 - we will earn the world’s hostility
21:09 - um jesus talks about this in john
21:11 - chapter 15.
21:12 - i believe it picks up in verse 18 that
21:14 - talks about this as
21:16 - just previously mentioned in that other
21:18 - study we’ve been talking about
21:19 - this point very specifically as well
21:21 - life for us as christians
21:23 - as a spiritual battlefield and so beyond
21:27 - our alienation from the world beyond its
21:29 - essential futility
21:30 - and even beyond the enmity that is
21:32 - between
21:33 - the world and us this world is also a
21:36 - battlefield where the struggle between
21:38 - satan’s present kingdom
21:40 - and the coming kingdom of heaven
21:41 - continues to be played out in deadly
21:43 - earnest
21:44 - so this is the wider spiritual conflict
21:47 - behind everything that happens in this
21:49 - world
21:50 - and we would do well to remember that
21:52 - this is the case that we
21:54 - are in a fight in this life we are in a
21:58 - constant struggle
21:59 - and that that is actually
22:02 - the sort of mindset that we should adopt
22:05 - as we move forward
22:06 - so we have no chance to catch our breath
22:09 - no time to rest because we are fighting
22:12 - for
22:13 - our spiritual lives as christians in
22:15 - this world
22:17 - okay so last high level point that we’re
22:19 - going to go over here introducing
22:21 - the points that we will be talking about
22:23 - in this section on
22:24 - us as strangers in the devil’s realm is
22:27 - the idea of satan
22:28 - as our enemy so having been evicted from
22:31 - the family of god and cast down to rule
22:33 - this kingdom of dust
22:34 - but only for a short time because the
22:37 - lake of fire is always positionally
22:39 - imminent
22:40 - for satan well given all of this of
22:42 - course satan is going to be anything but
22:44 - friendly towards those of us who follow
22:46 - god
22:47 - so as we humans continue to replace him
22:50 - and his followers in the family of god
22:52 - it actually would be quite strange if
22:55 - satan did not pour out his wrath upon us
22:57 - like a boxton animal raging against the
22:59 - end it knows is coming
23:01 - so satan knows that his end is sealed
23:04 - and the time is short for him and so
23:07 - just as cornered animals
23:09 - become all the more vicious in that so
23:12 - too does satan
23:13 - pour out his wrath upon us in the world
23:15 - and so in fact
23:17 - in the not so distant future god will
23:19 - put down
23:20 - satan before or forever
23:23 - but in the meantime we as believers in
23:25 - this world will face his wrath
23:27 - and this is actually completely
23:28 - unavoidable because we are a target that
23:31 - satan can actually
23:32 - touch in this world although not without
23:35 - god limiting
23:36 - what he can do to us substantially
23:39 - all right so that is our high level
23:42 - introduction
23:42 - to what we will be talking about in the
23:44 - coming weeks this section on how we are
23:46 - strangers in the devil’s world
23:48 - so we will come back and talk about all
23:49 - these points in more depth
23:51 - but today we just gave just a a couple
23:54 - sentences overview for each of these
23:57 - about
23:57 - the points that we will be going over in
24:00 - the time to come
24:02 - so today we started by talking about how
24:05 - it is good and useful for us to keep
24:07 - satan’s rebellion and fall
24:08 - in the back of our head as we talk only
24:11 - not about this section but just most of
24:13 - the
24:13 - satanic rebellion series in general
24:15 - because that is the wider context
24:18 - the thing that’s set in motion the
24:20 - present state of the universe
24:22 - after that we talked about the actual
24:24 - introduction to this study
24:25 - which dealt with using the example of
24:28 - adam and eve
24:30 - in their state after being kicked out of
24:32 - the garden
24:33 - as a framing example for us in our own
24:36 - lives and how we face the same things
24:38 - that they faced after being kicked out
24:40 - of paradise so
24:42 - specifically we talked about all of the
24:44 - realities
24:45 - and the negative things that adam and
24:46 - eve faced after the fall
24:49 - we talked about god’s promise of
24:50 - deliverance as
24:52 - given in the prophecy in genesis 3 15
24:55 - and also as foreshadowed by the robes of
24:58 - animals
24:59 - that god gave to adam and eve the
25:01 - so-called proto-evangelium
25:03 - and then we talked about how we are sort
25:06 - of in
25:07 - the same parallel situation that they
25:09 - found themselves in so the same
25:10 - spiritual realities that held back then
25:13 - namely that we face a life of sin and
25:15 - then inevitable death
25:17 - bringing us face to face with the
25:18 - creator well that still holds for us
25:21 - to this day and then after all this we
25:24 - went through
25:25 - the high level points in the
25:28 - first section in the study talking about
25:31 - our identity as strangers in the devil’s
25:32 - world
25:33 - so that is what we did today and next
25:36 - time we will pick up
25:37 - talking about this first point
25:39 - sojourners in the devil
25:40 - devil’s world in a great deal more depth


Purpose in This Dark World Only Comes by Faith, Which Makes Us Outcasts Here but Chosen by God

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Summary

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(Derived from https://ichthys.com/SR4(SWS).htm)

The fallen world

Though no doubt relieved that the Lord God had not visited upon them a swift and fiery judgment, Adam and Eve would have been anything but comforted by the harsh realities of the new world east of Eden into which they were forced following their eviction from the garden. This, assuredly, was no paradise.

Life was no longer wonderful, especially in contrast to the bounty so recently lost. Everything was now flawed, and strangely unsatisfying. The pain, the privation, the decay and corruption – and more than the anything else the absence of God – must have driven home the contrast to Eden.

We may not have as heartrending a point of comparison as Adam and Eve, but this world’s brokenness can and will pierce us anyway

Unlike our first parents, we do not possess the experience of a perfect Eden as a vivid point of comparison to this imperfect world we now inhabit.

Nonetheless, despite the fact that familiarity tends to inure one to hardships, this unforgiving world of trouble and tears has a tendency from time to time to slice through even the most deep-rooted Stoicism, and through even the most fortunate circumstances, reminding us all that this is not a paradise designed by God for our happiness and pleasure. On the contrary, this is the devil’s world.

The darkness all around us in the world

That Satan’s world of deep unhappiness is essentially corrupt is a truism evident at life’s every turn. Everything decays. Nothing good lasts. Sin and evil are ubiquitous.

War, genocide, rape, slavery, human trafficking, child abuse… whoever thinks that this world is not fully snared in darkness needs to widen their perspective a bit. It is impossible to pretend otherwise if you are truly honest with yourself.

On top of all this, not too far down the road in every individual life lies the grave, the reward and legacy awaiting us all, no matter how blissful or disappointing our lives have been in the interim. We will talk more about this unavoidable fact (and the mockery it makes of all human effort) starting next time.

True meaning in this life only comes through faith

Only by our faith can we live with purpose:

  • Only God is truly meaningful here on earth, if only we would search for Him.
  • Only Jesus Christ offers a solution to the futility of life and the inevitability of death, if only we would believe in Him.
  • Only on the other side of this life is there true meaning, true fulfillment, true and lasting happiness, if only we have chosen God in this present life over the deceptive vanities of the devil’s world.

We will find this meaning, fulfillment, and happiness when we are at last re-united with the God who loved us enough to sacrifice His Son on our behalf. Until that time, like our first parents Adam and Eve before us, we have been left in this strange and alien world where the blinding reality of God is largely obscured from view, revealed almost exclusively in His Word to those who seek Him out.

Until that time, we wait for something better as homeless wanderers in a world which finds our perspective and our hope worthless, even idiotic.

Though strangers and outcasts in this world, our faith marks us out as God’s chosen people

But by our faith and the actions that faith produces, we show the world that we are not of it, do not love it, and acknowledge that we have no true part in it – except for the God who is the focus and the object of our love all the days of our sojourning here in the devil’s inhospitable desert (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalm 23:1-6; 39:12; 63:1; 84:5-7; 119:19; Hebrews 11:37-38; 11:13-16; 13:13-14; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11).

Parallel discussion from Peter #3 on Ichthys

1 Peter 1:1-2 | translation from Ichthys

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who, though outcasts dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, were yet selected in the foreknowledge of God the Father, by means of the Holy Spirit’s consecration, for the obedience in and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you!

Quote from Peter #3 on Ichthys

To those though outcasts dispersed . . . yet selected: We have already considered the ostracism and outright persecution which these early Christians endured for their beliefs [earlier in the Peter Series]. Instead of down-playing the problems his audience was experiencing, Peter acknowledges their sufferings. He calls them parepidemoi (outcasts), a Greek word meaning someone who is only visiting as a stranger or an exile (cf. Hebrews 11:13-16), and goes on to compare them to a scattered nation, using the Greek word diaspora (i.e., dispersion; often transliterated and used of scattered Israel).

Yes, says Peter, we Christians do live as strangers on this earth, scattered and dispersed. From the world’s point of view this is indeed a pitiable state. To the world, we are outcasts, even rejects.

However, to God we are special, selected as holy from out of a profane world. The Greek word used here, eklektos (select, elect), means that as Christians we have been “chosen out” of the world, that we have been expressly selected by God as His special possessions forever, so that while we may still be in the world, we are no longer truly of the world.

For this reason, we can expect the world’s hostility, as our Lord warned us (John 15:18-19).

Video/audio transcript