Scripture reading: Genesis 3:14-19
In Genesis 3:19, God, speaking to Adam, said, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART, and unto DUST shalt thou return.” In Genesis 3:14, God placed a curse on the serpent. “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and DUST shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” God is saying that the serpent is going to use man to get his life and his energy.
This thought is confirmed in Isaiah 14:12-14, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” We should change this word “Lucifer” to the proper Hebrew word “Heylel.” There was no such word “Lucifer” when this passage was written by Isaiah. “Lucifer” is a Latin word and it means “shining, bright one.” Why translators used Latin, I do not know. We are comfortable with the name in Hebrew, therefore the word is “Heylel.” “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Heylel, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
This egotistic boast was made by Satan himself who thought that even though God had an Elect company, even though God had planned a people to destroy him, that he, Satan, was going to overthrow them and he was going “to sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.” Psalm 48:1 and 2 tells us who this “mount of the congregation” is. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is MOUNT ZION, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” What God calls “mount Zion” is what Satan said he was going to take and rule over.
Zion was the fortress in Jerusalem which David took from the Jebusites and built as his stronghold. It is where David and his mighty men lived. The word “Zion” is the seventh letter in the Hebrew language, whose value is SEVEN. God uses “Zion” to symbolically mean His strong ones, His mighty ones.
Satan looks at us and thinks that we are puny and wretched. He challenged God concerning Job. He scorned Job. He said that Job would curse God to His face, if He just touched his skin. He said, “Skin for skin” meaning that the guy is nothing but skin and bones and he could get him to curse God. God withdrew His presence from Job and allowed Satan to touch him. When Satan had tried the man for three years, had him down in sackcloth and ashes, sores all over his body, pain and suffering, without any word or promise from God, and the man did not curse God, SATAN LOST.
Satan lost against a natural man. Job was not filled with the Holy Ghost. He did not have the Blood of Jesus Christ. He only had FAITH IN GOD! He said, “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God,” Job 19:26. Against such faith Satan has no power.
We now come back to that word in Colossians 1:13-18 which says that God alone has all the power. All principalities and all powers can only consist upon His allowing them to have food and energy and life. We see a problem here, but GOD HAS A SOLUTION. We are given animals as our food – the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beasts – from whom we get our life in the natural. If Satan is allowed to eat our energy and take the energy from our world to run his kingdom, then we seem to be in bad shape. But one of the greatest things God has ever done for us is that He allowed us to be the food of Satan, because when we rise up and stop him from feasting on us, we will destroy him by the Blood of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost. He will not be able to survive without food.
(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 194-195)
Thought for today: When we rise up and stop Satan from feasting on us, we will destroy him by the Blood of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Sonlight Devotional 