Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, a time when we remember the coming or the arrival of Christ into this world. And we have been trying to refocus our attention on some of the truths involved in Advent. We began w/ asking whether there was a genuine need for Advent. That is the problem w/ modern man. He doesn’t really see the need for Advent. Why do you need a Savior to save you from sin when all that is needed is just to educate people better? For since they are really good at heart, if we will just educate them to the dangers of something, naturally they will choose to do right. Of course, 1 of the problems is no one knows what is right anymore, but that is beside the ptn. And so I tried to establish the fact that yes, there was a genuine need for Advent for as we saw in Romans 3, everything about man, his character, his speech, his conduct, his nature is inherently sinful.
Spurgeon was once staying at the inn in one of the valleys of northern Italy where the floor was dreadfully dirty. "I had it in my mind to advise the lady to scrub it," said Spurgeon, "but when I perceived it was made of mud, I reflected that the more she scrubbed the worse it would be." Just so God knew that there could be no improvement of the corrupt nature of man except through faith in His Son. No amount of education & sensitivity training will clean up man’s sinful nature. It has to be made new by the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. And so yes, there was a need for Advent.
Last wk, we looked at the Promise of Advent. And we saw that the Promise of Advent goes much further back than Gen.3 when Adam & Eve 1st sinned. The Promise of Advent goes back before the creation of anything. It goes back to when there was just God. And it was back then that He purposed to choose you so that you might know Him & have a rel. w/ Him. But in choosing you, He also committed Himself at that ptn. to coming into this world to be despised & rejected & to be put to death on a cross. Before He created the very first thing, He declared to Himself, “Yes, it is worth the effort. Yes, it is worth the cost.”
So we have established there was a need for Advent & that God promised to meet that need. In fact, promised to meet the need before even there was a need. Today I would like for us to consider the fact that not everyone was enthralled about the Promise that God had made. In fact, there was 1 who was so against it, that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure God did not keep that promise. I am speaking of God’s archenemy, the devil - Satan. And so our topic for today is the Battle Against Advent.
Is good news always welcomed? You would think if something was truly good news that everyone would welcome it, everyone would want it to be told. But such is not the case, as you fully know.
Many times what is good news to one person is bad news to another person. As a country, we celebrated this year the 55th anniversary of the end of WWII. What a tremendous day of good news that was when victory was announced. But what was great news to us in the US, was bad news to the people of Japan & Germany. This past week Al Gore conceded to G. Bush. What was good news to Bush & his supporters was bad news to Gore & his supporters.
Adam & Eve destroyed the goodness of God’s creation when they sinned in the Garden. But in the midst of a series of curses God pronounced because of their sin, He also announced some good news. One day, 1 would come that would destroy the one who had tempted Adam & Eve & make right what had been made wrong. That was great news to Adam & Eve & all mankind, but it was bad news to Satan. And so ever since that day, Satan has tried to overthrow God’s plan - 1st by trying to keep Christ’s 1st Advent from happening; 2nd after Christ did come, Satan tried to have him killed & eventually succeeded in the crucifixion; 3rd by trying to keep anyone from pledging their allegiance to Christ now; & 4th by, sometime in the future gathering all the forces of hell to do battle against Christ again in that final battle.
Today we just want to concern ourselves w/ the 1st strategy of Satan - his attempt to keep Christ’s coming from happening & thus causing God’s promise of Gen.3:15 to be broken. Satan, as we will see, is going to do everything in his power to keep God from keeping his promise.
Before we get going though, I just want to note something that struck me as I was thinking about Satan’s battle against Advent, his fighting against God. You know why it is so critical for you to keep away from sin? We could list a lot of reasons. But 1 of the ones that struck me in thinking about our subject today & you might have to think about this & I’m not trying to be cute here - but 1 of the reasons why you should stay away from sin is because it will make you crazy.
Stop & think for a moment about Satan. He was at 1 time the highest angelic being. He lived w/ God. He saw God. He knew of the mighty wisdom & power of God. Depending on when you believe God created the angels, he either witnessed or at least knew about God’s great power in creating the universe. Think about all that Satan knew & had witnessed about God. And yet he fights against Him & maybe he even thinks he can actually win. Yet knowing all that he does about God, he fights against Him. See, sin will make you literally crazy. You will lose all rational & logical thinking. You think I’m being cute here, but how often have you known someone who got involved in sin & your response was "what were they thinking of, have they lost their mind!" So I’m serious when I say this - sin will make you crazy.
All right, let’s turn our attention to the Battle Against Advent. There are a lot of diff. perspectives you can read the OT from. You can approach it from the perspective of the story of redemption & note how God is preparing the scene for the coming of His Son. Or from the perspective of man’s repeated failure against God or from the perspective of God’s infinite mercy in light of man’s repeated failure. But there is another way you can approach the events of the OT. And I doubt very few of us approach it from this perspective, read it from this perspective. It is from the perspective of Satan’s continued attempts to keep the Christ from ever coming - to prevent Gen.3:15 from ever coming true. You know I am not 1 who looks for a demon behind every bush. I don’t blame everything on some demon, but if you will read the OT w/ this truth we are talking about today in mind, you will see how Satan was continually trying to wipe out Israel for he knew God had predicted that this one that would bruise the head of the serpent would come from Israel. And that is why, I believe you see such a fierce attack of Israel throughout OT history.
I don’t think we comprehend how much Satan hates God & how badly he wants to overthrow God. Sometimes in sports we speak of a person or a team really wanting the victory. And sometimes you see a much weaker team defeating a stronger team because they come in really pumped up & wanting the victory. Maybe it is 1 of those fierce rivalries.
I don’t think we comprehend how badly Satan wants to "defeat" God. If you do comprehend it, then nothing in the Bible or in human history will surprise you. Also, if you comprehend it, it will cause you to constantly be on guard against the schemes of the devil because tempting you to stumble is part of his attempt at defeating God.
Now obviously we don’t have time to go through the entire OT in order for me to show you how Satan attempted to defeat the promise of Gen.3:15 - so I will just highlight some.
-Gen.6 - Satan has succeeded in getting man to sin. He then succeeded in having Cain kill his brother Abel. Who knows, maybe he thought he had thwarted the promise at that ptn. But God blessed Adam & Eve w/ another son, Seth. But now we are several generations removed from that period. This is the time of Noah.
-6:1-6 - v.2 - Now I’m not trying to open a can of worms here for there is much debate over who were the "sons of God". Some same they were fallen angels; some men who were, to use a NT phrase, demon possessed; some say they were the descendants of Seth & the daughters of man were the descendants of Cain. We don’t have time to discuss it. And it really doesn’t matter, in terms of what we are looking at today, for all I want you to do is see the results of what happened here. The results were a world full of corrupt, wicked, vile, sinful people - 6:5.
Satan had not forgotten God’s prophecy that a promise Seed of the woman would 1 day destroy him. He had implanted his own spiritual seed in Cain & his descendants, but God had preserved the line of the true Seed through Seth. When Noah was born & Lamech was led to prophesy that "comfort" concerning the Curse would come through him, Satan & his angels must have feared that their opportunities for victory in this cosmic conflict were in imminent danger. Therefore desiring reinforcements for a coming battle against the hosts of heaven & also desiring, if possible, to completely corrupt mankind before the Promised Seed could accomplish Satan’s defeat we see the events of Gen.6 taking place. This is really the 1st place where we see an all out assault by Satan. Yet at the same time we see God’s response by sending the Flood.
But please understand that when a person is impassioned w/ a purpose, they will not let anything stand in the way of them achieving their purpose. They do not give up easily. Satan is such a being. The Flood must have been a devastating blow to his plan, but I want you to take note of the tenacity of Satan. For in just a short time he has his hook in Noah & 1 of his sons. Noah gets drunk & Ham shames his father to the ptn. that Noah pronounces a curse on him & his descendants.
If you skip over a couple of chapters to Gen.11, we will see again Satan’s attempt to totally corrupt & control mankind before the Promised Seed could come. Here we have the story of the tower of Babel. And once again, it appears he has won over the people of the world. They refuse to go forth & populate the earth as God commanded after the Flood. Once again it appears Satan is getting the upper hand but then God moves again. He confuses the languages & I’ll tell you what, he did a masterful job of it.
I hope I am not losing you in this survey. My concern is that we can read these accounts & just view them as separate incidents in the history of mankind & the history of Israel instead of viewing them for what I believe they are - an ongoing attempt by Satan to keep the Promise One of Gen.3:15 from coming & therefore from destroying him. We could lk at a host of other attempts in the OT but I would like to call your attention to a few more examples where you see an all out attempt to destroy Israel so that the Promise One could not be born.
-Exodus 1:8-10,15-16,22 - Now you may read this & just think it is the act of an evil, insecure, immoral king. But please understand it is so much more than that. Down through the centuries, God has become a little more specific in His prophecy about the coming of the Promised One. Before we just knew he would be a descendant of Eve & then of Seth. But now we know that he would come through the descendants of Abraham, which were the Israelites. And that is why you have seen such fierce attacks & hatred against the Jews down through history. It is satanic in origin.
And so this action by Pharaoh is not just the actions of 1 individual king. It is another attempt by Satan to destroy the line leading to the Promised One.
-2 Kings 11:1-3 - As we noted in Exodus, down through the centuries God continued to get more specific in His prophecies of the coming Messiah. At this ptn. in 2 Kings we now know he will come through the tribe of Judah & even more specifically through the kingly line of David. Thus what we see in 2 Kings 11 is another attack by Satan. This time it is not against every Jewish male. In fact, in proportion it is against a very small number but a very critical number in terms of fulfilling the promise of Gen.3:15.
In 2 Kings 11, we discover that Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who was one of David’s descendants, has been killed. Although Ahaziah has been the king the real power has been his mother, Athaliah. And so word reaches the king’s mother that the king has been killed.
Now watch what she does. Can you imagine a grandmother killing her grandchildren? I’m not sure even the trash TV talk shows have had something that bizarre on.
It’s usually the other way around, isn’t it? McGee said, "I know why they call them grandchildren - they are grand. The fact of the matter is, I thing grandchildren are more wonderful than children. If I had known how wonderful they were, I’d have had my grandchildren before I had my children."
When a 120 pound mtn. lion leaped through a partially opened window of a motor home parked in a tourist area of South Dakota called Bear Country, & began mauling 18 month old Jason Cowden, the boy’s grandmother killed it w/ a butcher knife. "All I kept saying was, ’Bring me a knife. Bring me a knife.’ Finally, my husband handed me a butcher knife & I jammed it in & twisted it & the lion went slack, & I knew I had pierced the heart. I said a prayer that the good Lord would give me the strength & the right spot, & He did.
How unnatural for a grandmother to kill her grandchildren, but that is exactly what Athaliah did. She got all the royal line except 1 - Joash, who was 1 yr. old but was taken by his aunt & hid for 6 yrs. This was simply another attempt by Satan to destroy the line that the Messiah was to come from. And the line of David was destroyed except for this 1 survivor.
Do you realize that w/ just the slightest change in history, you very well could have never been born? If just 1 person somewhere in previous generations had died before they did or some other "chance" happening did or did not occur - you may not be here today.
Satan got to w/in 1 person of keeping God from fulfilling His promise in Gen.3:15. Humanly speaking, it was that close. Maybe he thought he had got them all. If so, I can’t imagine his devilish delight at that moment nor his rage when 6 yrs. later this 1 is brought forth & proclaimed king.
-Esther 3:13 - Here is the story of Esther, Mordecai & Haman. And you know the storyline of how Haman got the king’s permission to totally destroy every Jew alive. He was able to get it written according to the law of the Medes & Persians, which means it could not be changed once issued. [3:15] Folks, maybe you are beginning to discover that Satan doesn’t give up. But God moves again to protect His people & to keep His promise.
-Matt.2:16 - Please understand that Satan doesn’t give up. He has been working feverishly to keep the birth of Christ from happening. But it happens anyway, despite his best efforts. It happened because God promised it would. And so now the battle takes on a new strategy. He could not keep him from being born, but maybe he can keep him from growing up. And so he sets into motion, through Herod, the plan to kill all the baby boys around Bethlehem, 2 yrs. old & younger. But God intervenes again & Joseph & Mary & Jesus are protected.
But the day is going to come in 30 yrs. when Satan will get his wish. Jesus will be put to death, but it is not because Satan in his persistence has finally got the victory, it is because God, as at every other ptn. in history is in complete control. Satan had thought he had finally won but how wrong he was.
When my children were little I liked wrestling w/ them. On occasion I would let them get on top of me or put me in some hold. But while it appeared that they were in command & were winning, I knew that I was completely in control of the situation.
Satan thought he had finally won, but God was in complete control. And thus Satan was defeated again.
Know today, on this side of the birth of Christ & the death of Christ, Satan is working just as feverishly as ever in preparation for the 2nd Advent of Christ. And you are part of that for he is after your heart. He is attempting to conqueror as many souls as he can, just like in the time of Noah & the tower of Babel. But our God, who is in complete control, will come again & forever defeat Satan & cast him into hell where he will be for eternity.
People in diff. ages have asked why did God allow Satan’s rebellion to continue. Why didn’t God destroy Satan way back then?
Why did he give Satan an opportunity to exploit every avenue of his power to its limits - from Gen.3:1 until the establishment of God’s final kingdom? Why did God allow that? The Bible doesn’t explicitly say. But I believe one reason was to let rebellion run its course as an illustration to all creation that nothing & no one can dethrone God. When Satan’s rebellion is finally put to rest, no one will ever wonder if God’s authority can be usurped.
Today, I have shown you a small small history of Satan’s battle against the promise of Advent. And this promise of advent, which led to the battle against advent, has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people down through the centuries. It has been the source of untold pain & heartache. The battle has not stopped, by the way just because Christ came on that 1st Christmas. It still goes on today. And if you are not vigilant, truly vigilant you can become 1 of those that experiences pain & heartache. It will require vigilance on your part to keep your relationship w/ Christ strong & pure, for as we have seen, Satan is persistent. He does not give up. He may get defeated today, but he will be back tomorrow or the next day, but he will attack again.
I don’t want that to discourage you or scare you because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. And folks, you can rest in the strength & might of your God. It may appear in this world, in our country, in some situation you are facing that the enemy is winning the wrestling match. God says, in the Psalms, Be still & know that I am God - not Satan, not you or any other being. He says, I am God. And you can put your complete confidence & trust in Him for whatever situation you are facing. And whatever promise God has made to you, you can rely on it no matter how feverishly Satan tries to fight against it. Advent proves that.
