Satan’s Foiled Plans. (God’s Providence in History).
Ever since the appearance of Satan in the garden of Eden, He has tried to overturn Gods plans.
Initially Lucifer ( Satan) (The Devil) attempted to usurp Gods sovereignty. Pride entered the heart of Lucifer and he desired to be like God. God cast him down to the earth.
Eze 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
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Isa 14:12 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!
Isa 14:13 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:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
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Satan was found in the garden of Eden. Gen:3. He begins his deconstruction of the Word of God. “Did God say?” Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Satan instigated the fall into sin and death entered the world.
God cursed Satan and declared that there would be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan. God also declared that the seed of the woman would bruise his head.
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
God put into operation His plan of redemption. To bring forth a Saviour, from the seed of David.
Satan from then on would attempt to thwart the plan of God.
Gods plan was to raise a Saviour from the house of David. Satan attempted to stop this plan and time and time again God would deliver His people.
The whole Bible is a series of accounts of Satan’s attempts to thwart Gods plan and of Gods preservation of the promised seed, from which would come a Saviour.
Cain killed Abel because Abel’s offering was accepted by God.
Gen 4:8 And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
God responded by giving a third son to Eve named Seth.
Seth, Hebrew meaning. appointed; a substitute, the third son of Adam and Eve ( Genesis 4:25 ; 5:3 ). His mother gave him this name, "for God," said she, "hath appointed me [i.e., compensated me with] another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."
Genesis 6. Satan attempts to corrupt the seed of the woman by the copulation between Angels and human women, bringing forth a race of giant hybrids called (Nephilim).
Gen 6: 1 – 8 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.
Gods destroys the Nephilim by the flood, preserving Noah a righteous man and his family.
God calls Abram and promises him a son from his own loins – Satan tries to thwart Gods plan by the barren Sara offering Hagar her maid to Abram. Ishmael is born but Ishmael was not the son of the promise - God gives Sara a promised son in her old age. ( a miraculous event) Isaac. Gen 12: 20 – 50, the true son of promise.
God continues to preserve the seed through Jacob.
Satan continues to attempt to marr the plan of God.
We see Satan’s plan to wipe out the Hebrew race through Pharaoh with the killing of all the first born in Egypt. God again steps in with the preservation of Moses in the basket. Exodus 2.
Next through a series of miracles, God sets the children of Israel free from bondage in Egypt and we see the pursuit to the Red sea.
Yet another miraculous event, the parting of the Red sea and Israel’s deliverance. Exodus 14.
God’s redeemer was to come through the seed of David.
On one occasion, God allows Satan to use an evil spirit to torment King Saul and to try to get him to kill David with a javelin.
1 Sam 18: 10,11 Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a spear was in Saul's hand.
11 Saul hurled the spear for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David escaped from his presence twice.
Throughout the Bible we see time and again, Satan attempting to destroy the people from which the Messiah would come and time and time again God would deliver them out of the hand of the enemy.
Many times this deliverance would come through obvious miraculous means.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Satan tried to kill Jesus by using Herod to slaughter the infants at Bethlehem but God told Joseph and Mary to take Jesus to Egypt.
Then of course Satan entered the heart of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the Jews. Satan’s master stroke was dashed when God raised Jesus from the dead.
We read in the earliest book in the Bible in Job 42:2 that Gods plan cannot be thwarted.
Job 42:1,2 Then Job answered the LORD and said, 2"I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
Even in modern times we have seen Satan continue to try and destroy the people of God. When his plans to prevent the Messiah coming the first time. He set his sights on trying to prevent the second coming of Jesus.
We have seen this satanic attack in the persecution of Israel down through the ages, even up to our day. We have seen nation after nation try to annihilate the Jews all over the world.
And yet God through His providence, has preserved them.
We are told in scripture that certain things need to happen before the Lord returns.
2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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Zechariah 14:1-4. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming . . . For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity . . . Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south”
Further in this same chapter we read of how those nations that came against Jerusalem will have to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jesus Christ (Zechariah 14:16).
Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The words of Jesus in Luke.
Luke 21: 20 – 22 And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the middle of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
These chapters of Zechariah are a prophecy about the events that precede and include the second coming of Jesus. A Jewish-controlled Jerusalem is notice-ably the central focus.
Israel needs to be back in Jerusalem for the Second Coming to happen and another sign of the end is a great falling away in the Christian church (an apostasy).
The Antichrist must set himself up as God in a temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus told us all that must happen before He returns in Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
The Abomination of Desolation
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
The Coming of the Son of Man
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The Lesson of the Fig Tree
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
No One Knows That Day and Hour
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
These are prophecies that need to be fulfilled before the second coming of Jesus.
There is no doubt that there have been many Old Testament prophecies that are being fulfilled in our day.
Since 70AD the land of Israel has been desolate and has not been able to flourish. It has been like a wasteland and nothing has been able to grow.
Lev 26:32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
Deu 28:23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
Deu 28:24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
For 1800 years no nation has been able to survive in this land. However there has always been a remnant of bible believing Jews in the land.
It has been occupied many times by other nations. The Crusaders, The Muslims, The Otterman Turks and Mamaluks. The Turks tried to live there in the 1500s but what happened. A series of earthquakes and swarms of locusts devastated the land. All crops were destroyed and the land was again left desolate.
Mamluk Rule (1291-1516) The Land under the Mamluks became a backwater province ruled from Damascus. Acre, Jaffa, and other ports were destroyed for fear of new crusades, and maritime as well as overland commerce was interrupted. By the end of the Middle Ages, the country's towns were virtually in ruins, most of Jerusalem was abandoned, and the small Jewish community was poverty-stricken.The period of Mamluk decline was darkened by political and economic upheavals, plagues, locusts, and devastating earthquakes.
It was as if God would not allow anyone to settle in the land.
Travellers to Palestine from the Western world left records of what they saw there. The theme throughout their reports is dismal: The land was empty, neglected, abandoned, desolate, fallen into ruins.
Nothing there [Jerusalem] to be seen but a little of the old walls which is yet remaining and all the rest is grass, moss and weeds. — English pilgrim in 1590
The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population — British consul in 1857
There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] — not for 30 miles in either direction. . . . One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings.
For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee . . . Nazareth is forlorn . . . Jericho lies a moldering ruin . . . Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation . . . untenanted by any living creature . . . .
A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds . . a silent, mournful expanse . . . a desolation . . . . We never saw a human being on the whole route . . . . Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country . . . .
Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes . . . desolate and unlovely . . . . — Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867
Then in the late 1800s, eleven Russian Jews settled in Israel and things changed.
Eze 36:8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
Eze 36:9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:
Eze 36:10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:
Eze 36:11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Why is this happening?
Because the people of Israel are returning.
Isa 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Reborn in a day
Israel, a nation that had not really existed as a separate nation for nearly 2,500 years, was declared a new sovereign state by an act of the United Nations on May 14, 1948. The nation was born in a day.
Isa 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
From desolation to productivity
The restoration of the agriculture and of the trees and forests of Israel has been another remarkable miracle. Scarcely 75 years ago, the land was a desolate waste, full of malarial swamps and deserts. Today the replanted forests are flourishing and the Israeli agricultural production is one of the great wonders of the world. This tiny country exports quality produce around the world. Should we say, "Again, just as predicted!"
Isa 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isa 35:2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
All the trees in the land are under 120 years old. All planted since 1900.
Jews began to return to the land and the rains returned and the land began to prosper.
The desert bloomed and Israel is now a supplier of Fruit and produce to other nations.
In 1948, Israel was a nation again. Against all odds Israel survived the six day war.
Every assault of Satan has and will continue to be thwarted.
Whether it be through obvious miraculous events or the “apparent coincident that seem to happen”.
It has been said that a coincident is “God working behind the scenes”.
It is what the Bible calls Providence.
A wonderful example of Gods providence is the book of Esther in the Bible.
A story of Gods deliverance of the Jews, from the hand of Haman.
However, nowhere is the name of God mentioned in the book of Esther.
Whilst God is not mentioned in the text, He was obviously at work behind the scenes.
We know from scripture that God is Sovereign and that nothing comes about without His knowledge or permission.
(Proverbs 16:4). "The LORD works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster"
(Job 42:2). “'I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted'"
(Psalm 135:6). "The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths"
Satan will never succeed in his attempts to usurp the Sovereignty of God.
In fact his end is certain.
Rev 20:10 And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
