Conflicting Kingdoms: The Spiritual Realm
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The Second Heaven
The Second Heaven
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
The Battle in the Second Heaven
The Battle in the Second Heaven
But first, lets look at Revelation 8:13 in the MEV.
Revelation 8:13 (MEV) - Then I watched, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the other trumpet blasts of the three angels, who are yet to sound!”
The first detailed account of the battle of heavenly hosts in found in Daniel 10:12-13.
12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.
13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,
Exposure
Exposure
I was exposed to the spiritual realm in the fall of 2015.
When the devil comes after you he exposes himself.
Sometimes God uses the devil to launch you into your destiny.
It’s strange to think of this, but sometimes it’s a great thing that the devil is attacking you, because if the devil never unleashed an attack against you. You would've never grew in strength, maturity and authority.
The greater the calling the greater the resistance.
Spiritual warfare is the conflict between two kingdoms.
THE CLASH OF TWO KINGDOMS
THE CLASH OF TWO KINGDOMS
There is at this moment a war going on in the spiritual realm that affects every person on the face of the earth. It is the clash of two Kingdoms. One Kingdom is under the command of Almighty God, the Prince of Peace (Psalm 103:19; Isaiah 9:6); the other Kingdom is under the command of Satan, the Prince of the Power of Darkness (Matthew 12:26; Colossians 1:13).
There are two Kingdoms: one belonging to God, and the other to His great adversary, Satan.
One stands for good and the other for evil.
One stands for light and the other for darkness. One stands for blessings and the other for curses.
One stands for life and the other for death.
These two opposing Kingdoms cannot coexist; they are at war!
The driving force of this epic clash is the same as in any war: It is a struggle for power. A struggle to attain what rightfully belongs to someone else. And the only way to achieve this objective is to take that power by force.
Lightening
Lightening
Satan was cast from the Third Heaven as a result of his rebellious pride. Once he entered the Second Heaven, Satan established his Kingdom for the sole purpose of coming against the Kingdom of God.
“Lucifer’s heart was lifted up in pride because of his beauty and this was the reason . . . he was cast out of the Mountain of God [the Third Heaven] . . . It is vitally important for all of us to realize that the first sin in the universe was not murder, nor adultery, but . . . pride. It was pride that produced rebellion. It was God who gave Lucifer his power, his authority, his beauty, his wisdom; all those were gifts from God. Yet Lucifer’s wrong attitude turned them into instruments of his own destruction.” - Derek Prince
18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Jesus made this statement not as a reference to the fall of Satan and his angels, but as declaration of the Kingdom of God invading earth.
In other words, Jesus was saying the Kingdom of God is here and Satan was not able to withstand it. He Fell...
I don’t have to hit the devil back to be effective, I just have to hit an aspect of his kingdom.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The kingdom of heaven is an offense structure.
The gates of hell cannot withstand it.
The God of This World?
The God of This World?
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Fallen World.
It’s already past into eternity.
God is in all times at the same time!
The ancient scholars in their day knew this.
God is not bound by space and time.
Lucifer is not the god of hell, cosmos and and the earth.
The bible teaches us that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.
He’s the prince and the power of the air.
Authority
Authority
8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
The demonic realm serves Lucifer because of the rank that he had in heaven.
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
Jesus said now! Not later...
Satan and his cohorts are ruling or attempting to rule this world illegally.
Satan
Satan
Satan in Hebrew can be translated as adversary and accuser.
Satan is the adversary of God.
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Satan is also known in the Bible as the deceiver of the nations. (Rev. 20:8)
“It is well known that in the demonology of the New Testament one finds a powerful chief demon named Satan.… As many studies have shown, the notion of Satan as a chief demon does not exist in the Hebrew Bible.… Instead, one finds more generic conceptions of an adversary or accuser, who in some cases functions as an official or servant of the deity.” - Bennie Reynolds
The term Satan is not a name, but rather a title.
The Satan in the old testament is different than the Satan in the new testament.
The śāṭān was, rather, a divine officer tasked with reporting disobedience to God (Job 1–2).
Talk about the indefinite article.
Ha Satan (Hebrew)
It’s not necessarily a good title it just represents a role that was played.
The Satan in the old testament played the role as a prosecutor attorney within the divine council.
The Serpent in the old testament was not the Satan in the old testament, but was identified by the Apostle John as Satan (no the) in the new testament.
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Who Said You Were Naked?
Who Said You Were Naked?
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
“The curse upon the Serpent included a bit of prophecy. God said Eve’s offspring and that of the Serpent would be at odds: “Then Yahweh God said to the serpent … I will put hostility between you and between the woman, and between your offspring and between her offspring” (Gen. 3:14–15 LEB). Who are Eve’s offspring? Humanity. And who are the Serpent’s offspring? Well, that’s more abstract. The apostle John gives us examples—like the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus. “You are of your father the devil,” Jesus told them (John 8:44). Jesus called his betrayer, Judas, a devil (John 6:70). The Serpent’s offspring is anyone who stands against God’s plan, just as he did.” - Dr. Michael Heiser
The Serpent is referring to the deceptive nature of Lucifer.
He is the deceiver and the father of all lies!
Are We Still Under A Curse?
Are We Still Under A Curse?
Galatians 3:13-14 (ESV) - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
The divine curse is the result of disobedience.
The divine curse is God’s curse that God put on creation after the fall of man in Genesis 3.
After the resurrection of Christ, the burden of the curse has been lifted by Christ’s work on the cross.
But we have to come into agreement with it!
If you are not under the blood, you are under the curse of the law.
The law was never abolished it was fulfilled.
Meaning if you’re not in Christ you are under the law.
There are two primary types of curses:
(1) implicit or unintentional curses.
(2) explicit or intentional curses are invoked specifically to bring evil upon a person or community, region, etc.
Implicit Curses - Are initiated by conduct and communication.
Ways to spot them. - Name Calling, bullying, mocking, speaking to someone when you are hurt and angry.
Explicit Curses - Once again originate from an intentional act. In other words they are purposeful.
Ways to spot them. - Covenants, witchcraft, voodoo, rituals and occult related activities.
There are also generational curses that pass through the bloodline and demonic curses that the devil uses to trap and ensnare people. (Explain.)
The Devil
The Devil
The term devil in the greek is translated as “the accuser of the brethren.”
The different terms regarding to Lucifer is significant.
It’s not a play on words.
Although the term Satan can be defined as accuser. The devil is strictly an evil term that rightly defines the nature of this spiritual being.
In other words, the term devil is not as broad of a term as Satan.
Let’s look at these to verses:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
It’s referring to the nature of the enemy as liar and accuser.
Rebuke the Devil!
Rebuke the Devil!
Stop going to war with him!
There’s a time for that!
But you need to learn how to rest and recover!
We have to trust God!
Jesus was even asleep in the boat when the storms came!
Then he awoke and did what???
He rebuked the winds in the waves!
The Old Saints Got it Right.
Zechariah 3:2 (ESV) - And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”
Jude 1:9 (ESV) - But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Matthew 16:23 (ESV) - But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Matthew 4:10 (ESV) - Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Conclusion: You are children of God.
Conclusion: You are children of God.
1 John 4:4 (ESV) - Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
You become children of the devil when you believe his lies and walk in his lies!
You are children of God when you believe his truth and walk in His truth!
20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
This is the conflict!
Lies vs. Truth!
Believe truth today!
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Preach the gospel!