Programme: School of the Spirit (SOS)
Date: Thursday, 23rd March, 2023
Transcript Summary
1. Man has the authority to protect his territory. When God told Adam to dress the garden, He meant that he should watch out for things that would not allow for the yield of the garden and drive it out; one of such was Satan in the serpent. Adam was not ignorant of the presence of Satan in the garden, but he obliged him. Jesus rebuked Satan when he was hiding behind men around him (including Peter). Jesus kept on saying, “get thee behind me, Oh Satan” (Matt. 16:23; Luke 4:8). Adam should have said or done likewise, but he allowed the occupation of Satan in the serpent. Since then, the animal that is called the serpent took on a curse.
2. Satan can enter and perpetuate evil in any house or being who gives him a room. Satan gained a stand or entrance into Eden in order to bring temptations. Satan uses temptations to gain grounds or to bargain for space. Satan tempts by diabolical means. The word “diablo” is called the devil. Satan is the diablo. Satan uses his wiles to go to places he is not welcomed. The Satanic strength is one of levelling accusations against those who are on course for God. We can see a type of this operation of accusation against Job and Zechariah.
3. “And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.” (Zech. 3:1). The satanic work, vocation or ministry is to stand against believers. That is why a believer must also learn to (with)stand. Satan was standing to stop Joshua, and this standing is the mountain before Zerubbabel. Though Zerubbabel was building a physical house, it had a connotation in the realm of the spirit. Satan was fighting against the coming of Jesus or His ministry of removing iniquity as he stood against Joshua in the days of Zechariah, Haggai, Ezra the prophet etc. Satan knew that the days of Jesus will be sure if Joshua succeeds, so he wanted to stop or kill the project of the future.
4. The Lord has angels that He sends in His stead as in the case of Joshua, the high priest (Psalm 103:20; Zech. 3:1-2). It can only take the Lord in His angels to rebuke Satan, because he also used to be an angel of the Lord. Satan is mysterious and his operations are invisible to lower cadres of angels that fell and to men. To know or discern Satan, we have to unveil the planet of those angels where he was made from and understand their operations. When we do, we would understand that there are powers that can arrest and stop Satan. One of such powers are the kinds of angels in Psalm 103:20.
5. There was an angel in the book of Revelation that single-handedly bounded Satan. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” (Rev. 20:1-3). The Lord just sent one angel not many angels, it is possible that it was the least angel in that hierarchy of angels that held Satan and bound him with chains. Such angels are not ordinary, they are not friendly. They are angels of God who take no nonsense. The angel of death that operated with Moses in Egypt was not a friendly one (Exodus 23:21). It was not a demon that God sent to Egypt but an angel. Pharaoh thought he was tough until the angel of the Lord dealt with him.
6. If one angel of the Lord bound Satan for a thousand years, it means that all along, the angels could handle him. Satan has only remained because he has a vantage position, and he is using satanic strength to keep away the forces that can get him down. Those angels of the Lord are constantly being renewed in strength, but Satan has been waxing old. Satan likes to show himself sometimes that he has strength, but he is old. The angel in Revelation 20 laid hold on Satan like a kid. Scriptures say that Jesus has been made so much better than these angels; this means that Jesus is a mysterious weapon that we must understand in order to deploy (Heb. 1:4). The Lord has sent an angel that must be swung into action at the word of His servant. The meetings of the followers of the word of righteousness have become like judgment seats; this is because it is a season where books are being opened (Daniel 7:10). We are also witnessing the practical of the judgment of the books. God has granted us mercy.
Blessings!