The Crown Of Life Awaits

Some say the Greek word for myrrh (smyrna - Matt. 2:11) supplied the name for the second city to which John's Revelation is addressed. In ancient times myrrh was the chief export of that city.  It had been around for hundreds of years, first as a Greek city and later as one of the principal cities of the Roman province of Asia. To the believers in Smyrna, John writes in the name of Christ,

"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 'The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. "'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.' - Rev 2:8-11 ESV

The believers in Smyrna suffered tribulation, poverty and blasphemy. Jesus warned that believers will ever face such trials. He calls wars, famines and earthquakes the beginning of the birth pains. Added to them, He says, will be people falling from the faith, betraying and even hating one another. False prophets will also arise to lead many astray. Lawlessness, the rejection of God's revealed way of life, and a cold, calloused attitude toward believers will be part of the last days. But these are birth pains. Painful as they are, they are signs that Christ's return is imminent (Matt. 24:3-25). When He returns to judge all mankind the true children of God will be revealed and all will be made new forever (Rev. 21:5).

Already even now the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of believers, renewing them in the image and likeness of the Lord Himself. Paul writes,

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2Co 5:14-17 ESV

This is what we still observe. Wherever the Gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit re-creates men and women. They are literally new creations. They are no longer controlled by their sinful flesh, but begin to live for him who died and was raised. This Gospel is God's means of bringing His undeserved grace into the lives of believers.

Jesus Himself is called here the first and the last, a name already coined by John in the first chapter when he used the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet to describe Jesus as the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come (Rev. 1:8, 17-18). So we are all comforted as we remember that all is in His hands. When Israel was released by Pharaoh in the days of the Exodus, the Egyptian king changed his mind and sent his army after them. To calm Israel's fears Moses said,

"Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again." - Exo 14:13 ESV

We all need such strong words of comfort as we are persecuted. The LORD permits such trials so that our faith may be tested (Rom.5:3).

In turn, those persecuting the believers in Smyrna were called those who say that they are Jews and are not, but a synagogue of Satan. The Apostle Paul spoke also of false Jews, those who failed to see circumcision as a matter of the heart, but merely as an outward ritual. They relied upon their outward keeping of the Law. True believers, true Jews, always see circumcision as a "putting off of the body of the flesh," as being buried with Christ in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the God who also raised Jesus from the dead (Col. 2:12; Rom 6:3-5).

Moses admonished Israel in the same way in his final words. In days to come, he said, if they again abandoned their faith in the LORD who graciously brought them to the promised land. When they fell again into such a religion, based upon outward rituals, the LORD would again have to bring upon them the curses described earlier, curses like those that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah when "the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing" and no plant could sprout (Deut 29:23 ESV).

In the same way the LORD speaks to all believers in these final days, not only those in Smyrna. The LORD will permit Satan to throw them into prison and even to kill them. They will be tested. Do they trust only in the LORD? Do they understand that ultimately the devil cannot harm them? Do they realize that tribulation will only be for ten days? All of God's commands are summarized in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1-17). Ten plagues came upon Egypt before Pharaoh set Israel free (Exod 7-11). Ten nations conspired against Israel, laying crafty plans against God's people (Ps. 83:3-8).  But this is the constant message: the LORD is in control. The nations cannot prevail against Him. The LORD laughs at them as He puts limits on the devil and those who serve him.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. - Psa 2:1-4 ESV

So the Spirit, through John, concludes with added words of comfort. Their enemies may destroy their bodies, but they will not be hurt by the second death, the lake of fire that has no power over those who have died and risen again with Christ (Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8).  They have already died spiritually and risen again. They cannot therefore ever die again. What awaits them is the crown of life, life that has already begun in them when they were raised with Christ to newness of life. The crown of that life is the resurrection of the body (1 Cor 15:19-26). So the final word to the believers in Smyrna and to all believers in all places and all times:

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.' - Rev 2:10-11 ESV

Do You Really Believe In demons?

Comedian Bill Cosby has recently been in the news, because of alleged rape allegations.

"As Mark Whitaker’s recent Cosby biography makes clear, the man has his demons. He had affairs while on the road and there have been bumps in his long marriage to his wife, Camille."

When I read that article I wondered how literally Mark Whitaker means for us to take the phrase "the man has his demons." It is quite common actually. Australian columnist Tim Boyle writes of tennis player Andy Murray,

'To care for Andy the performer, you have to first look past his manifest demons on the court, his tireless and inexplicable companies."

This is, after all, merely a way of talking, is it not? It is symbolic in nature. It refers to strange and inexplicable actions and lifestyles, not actual influence by real, but unseen spirits.

Very few Americans believe in any way that demons and Satan are real. In a 2009 nationwide survey of adults' spiritual beliefs conducted by the Barna Group four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan "is not a living being but a symbol of evil. An additional two out of ten (19%) said they "agree somewhat with that perspective. Only a minority of Christians believe that Satan is real (26%).  And, for that matter, most Christians do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force, either.

It appears that we Americans have come a long way from the New Testament view of life. From the perspective of the Gospel writers and the letters of the Apostles demons are everywhere. Before Jesus began his public ministry, after 40 days of fasting, we read of his struggle with the Prince of Darkness himself:

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. - Matt. 4:1-11 ESV

As his ministry began, Jesus set up his headquarters in Capernaum, a fishing village on the shore of the inland sea of Galilee. As was his custom, he went to the synagogue there on the Sabbath. The people were impressed. He taught them "as one who had authority, and not as the scribes" - Mark 1:22.  But one among them was definitely not impressed. As soon as Jesus started teaching he leaped to his feet and began shouting at Jesus,

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God." - Mark 1:24 ESV

Evidently the members of that synagogue had been putting up with this guy for some time. I'm guessing they didn't know what to do with him or how to shut him up. Mark records, however, that Jesus saw at once that what was happening was more than a man out of control. He addressed the demon within, rather than the man himself.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. - Mark 1:25-26 ESV

Unclean spirit? What's that? In nearly a hundred times the Bible speaks of unclean things. In particular Moses wrote about (1) certain foods, (2) contact with human or certain animal dead bodies, and (3) various bodily conditions and diseases. The concept pointed to how sin pervades this material world and prevents one from being completely and totally committed to God—the idea included in the command,

"You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine." - Lev 20:26 ESV

Jesus' encounter with the man possessed by an unclean spirit and his successful resistance of the devil himself is a stark reminder that there are indeed unseen spiritual forces at work in our midst and often in the dark corners of our hearts. They oppose all that Jesus' teaches and does. And they are hard at work to lead us to adopt their views and ways. We all are therefore strongly advised to be prepared for such encounters, as the Apostle Paul wrote,

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. - Eph 6:12-13 ESV

Make No Mistake, The Devil Is Real

The final petition in our LORD's prayer asks not merely for deliverance from some vague general evil in this world, but specifically for deliverance from the evil one. So we read in the NKJV, NLT, NIV, ASV and HNV.

And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.

Of course there are those who reject the very thought of the evil one or the Devil. For instance, Dherbs.com confidently announces,

The Devil really only exists in the mind, the mind of man. The Devil is the concept and construct of man. That's who made the Devil. The mind of man made the Devil (idea and image) just as the mind of man made God (idea and image of).

And again Kevin Williams  webmaster of Near-Death.com, writes,

Evil and the devil do not exist. What people consider evil is really ignorance. Hitler was not an evil man. He was just so incredibly ignorant that he was practically retarded at a spiritual level. Such people are to be pitied and our unconditional love should extended even to him, because it is hard to hate a retarded person. 

Of course, to maintain that position you will have to argue with most of the authors of the Bible as well as the LORD Jesus Himself. Repeatedly Jesus referred to the devil as a real being. Matthew records what Jesus surely shared about what happened at the beginning of his ministry when he "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil "(Matt. 4:1-11).

At the end of Jesus' ministry, the devil tempted Judas to betray Jesus. Jesus knew it was Judas and said as much to John, who had been urged by Peter to ask Jesus to whom he had referred.

Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." - Jhn 13:26-27 ESV

Judas then went off to tell the plotting priests and Jewish Sanhedrin where Jesus would be found.

This powerful being is the leader of the rebel spirits that seek to control this world. You may find more about Satan and his demonic host in earlier posts and links under The God Of This World. In my post about Lucifer I wrote,

One thing is certain. The devil is real. He is truly the "ruler of this world" and the source of evil, death and rebellion against God. Jesus met him head on when the henchmen of the Sanhedrin captured Jesus and dragged him to their mock trial. He said, "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness"(Luke 22:53). The ruler of this world had no claim on Jesus, of course (John 14:30). In that hour that same ruler was defeated on the cross. And now we who have been called to faith in Jesus are delivered "from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Father's beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). 

As we await our final deliverance, freedom and resurrection, we continue to pray, "Our Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

Join The Angel Choirs To Praise The NAME

Currently I am reading Dr Michael Ward's The Narnia Code, his fascinating book about the secret third level meaning of C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia. He explains his discovery in even more detail in his original work, Planet Narnia. I highly recommend that you read at least his FAQ on his website even if you do not read either of his two books. 

One of the things—among many others—that fascinated me was this quote, 

In pre-coperican times, Christians believed (as we still believe) that God ruled the universe. But as Lewis explains in The Discarded Image, medieval Christians believed that, in addition to man, God has made spirits of various kinds, sometimes called gods, deities, intelligences, or angels, to have authority under Him. Today, Christians often talk about angels but tend to avoid using the word gods,  assuming that it can refer only to "pagan gods." However, the Bible itself sometimes uses the word gods without referring to something occultic or evil. The most obvious place is in John 10:34-36, where Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6 ("Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'?)

 Medieval Christians believed that not only had God created these various spirits, but that He had put seven of them in charge of the seven planets. Each planet was governed by its own god or angel, who in turn ruled over a different day of the week.

He then goes on to point out that the seven days of our week are each named after one of the so-called seven planets, with each planet governed by its own god or angel. 

• Saturn rules Satur-day
• Sun rules Sun-day
• Moon rules Mon-day
• Mars rules Tues-day (the Norse equivalent is Tyr or Tiw)
• Mercury rules Wednes-day (the Norse equivalent is Woden)
• Jupiter rules Thurs-day (the Norse equivalent is Thor)
• Venus rules Fri-day (the Norse equivalent is Freya or Frigg)

Our planet Earth also has a god or angel who was put in charge, but this ruling spirit rebelled and led a whole cohort of other angels to join him. For this he was cast out of heaven and confined to the earth (Luke 10:18; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 9:1; 12:7-8) Of him the Apostle Paul writes, 

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world (aion) 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. - 2Cr 4:3-4 ESV

Jesus confronted the ruler of this world on a high mountain and resisted this ruler's temptation.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." - Mat 4:8-9 ESV

Interestingly, Jesus did not deny that the devil has such power. What he resisted was the temptation to kneel before this fallen angel and worship him, for the clear command is to worship the LORD alone (Deut. 6:13-14).

The Apostle John records other comments by the LORD Jesus about this world's ruler.

Now is the judgment of this world (kosmos); now will the ruler of this world (kosmos) be cast out. ... "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." - John 12:31, 40 ESV

 What does all this suggest? That we need to take another look at how we view what we now call space or the universe, usually portrayed as a cold, dark, lifeless expanse of mere energy and light that expands ever outward since the Big Bang. But it is not at all as lifeless and empty of created beings as we are currently taught by our wise men—otherwise known as scientists and astro-physicists. It is teeming with spirits and life. The LORD challenges Job with this question,

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? - Job 38:4-7 ESV

Who are these morning stars that sang together on the days of creation? Who are these sons of God who shouted for joy? They are His angels, His messengers. These great spirits inhabit the universe and many other spirits fill the earth, controlling its winds and waves and storms—and many other events, as the Psalm says,

He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers (Mal'akim) winds, his ministers (Sharathim) a flaming fire. - Psa 104:3-4 ESV

We miss them and their singing. We are not even aware of it, because their songs surround us. It is so much a part of our life that we do not hear their songs ever praising and giving glory to The Name! I invite you to join C.S. Lewis and those who love his writings to  acknowledge the presence of a countless multitude of great spirits, angels, cherubim and seraphim praising The Name in the stars and planets of the heavens above. And on the earth learn again of the magic and hear again the singing of sprites, nymphs, elves, fauns, faeries, gnomes, ogres, trolls and dryads in the winds and clouds, the streams, waterfalls and lakes, the mountains and forests.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. - Psa 19:1-4 NLT

As reborn children of God join the singing of this countless multitude to hallow and praise The Name that is above every name in the vast heavens beyond and on the earth, our home. Our Father in the heavens, hallowed be Your Name! 

Why Do We Get Sick?

There are so many sick people. Why? Of course there are numerous answers to the question. For instance, those who embrace the emerging science of Darwinian medicine argue that illness is part and parcel of the evolutionary system. Sickness actually helps us to evolve towards a better adaptation to our environment. We are adapting by natural selection. So those who have a tendency toward child abuse are probably influenced by evolution and the passing on of genes!

First century Jewish people in Galilee and Judea had theories about sickness almost as outlandish as those of current Darwinian medicine folks. They connected sickness and disabilities directly to a person's sins or to the sins of his/her parents.

As he (Jesus) passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." - Jhn 9:1-5 ESV

Of course we all know that there can be a direct connection between sin and sickness. We sin against one another. A mother on drugs ends up with a baby addicted to cocaine. Children abused by their parents become themselves abusers. Many illnesses are directly related to poor diet. The list goes on and on. But dare we say that God causes sickness as a punishment for the person's sins? What a frightening thought. We'll come back to that later as we look in depth at Jesus' promise to bring light to the world—also in this arena. For now, a little background to modern thinking about sickness.

Ancient Greek physicians, like Hippocrates and Galen advanced the concept of humorism, a theory which held that we get sick from imbalances of the four basic substances within the human body, which they identified as blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Health or eucrasia was associated with a balance of these humors,. The qualities of the humors, in turn, influenced the nature of the diseases they caused. Yellow bile caused warm diseases and phlegm caused cold diseases. These theories led to such practices as blood-letting by cutting or with leeches in order to balance the humors. Incidentally the traditional red and white striped poles—representing blood and bandages—can still occasionally be seen outside barber shops. Barbers were also blood letters. All this is a fascinating reminder that these medical beliefs and practices didn't finally die out until the late 1800s.

This thinking also influenced medieval doctors to group each person into one of four temperaments, based upon the dominance and combinations of the four humors. Thus they concluded a person was either sanguine, choleric, melancholic or phlegmatic. In turn, these bodily dispositions determined a person's susceptibility to particular diseases, as well as being inclined toward certain behaviors and emotions. The causal link between bodily fluids and health has not stood the test of time. However, the analysis of the four temperaments as a personality model has. The Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory is a dominant modern example. Stephen Montgomery, an English teacher, in a spin on the Myers-Briggs personality types (People Patterns: A Popular Culture Intro. to Personality Types), even connects them to Ezekiel's vision of the four creatures.

As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. - Eze 1:10 ESV

There does indeed seem to be a strong correlation between personality and sickness. So today we often speak about psycho-somatic illnesses. I will not attempt to go into detail other than to point out that almost all physical illnesses have mental and psychological factors that determine their onset, how they present, maintain and are resolved. Psychological factors also make one susceptible to various illnesses. Psychosomatic medicine is considered a subspecialty of the fields of psychiatry and neurology.

Finally, there are those who claim that the New Testament teaches that all sickness comes from the devil. So Peter proclaimed to the household of Cornelius.

As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. - Act 10:36-38 ESV

Jesus himself said the same thing as he healed a woman bent over for 18 years.

Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" - Luk 13:15-16 ESV

I shall leave modern medicine and modern psychology to ponder their own theories about why we get sick. What interests me more is the spiritual question. Does the devil indeed cause all sickness? More on that in my next posts.

The Dark Side Of All The Talk About Angels

Angels are big in our American culture. Google the word and you come up with tens of thousands of sites. And they're apparently always ready to help. All you have to do is get in touch. Strangely, they're usually pictured as feminine in gender, but ever with glorious powers of healing and protection. Example:

The Purple Oasis - A Sacred Space for Healing

What has the Creator of men and angels revealed about these wondrous beings? Its quite different in many cases from what is passed off as inside information on the Internet. This week I'll take a look at some of God's, not man's revelations.

When we start at the very beginning—with the serpent in the garden—we come at once to the dark side to this story. Prior to Adam's creation there was a rebellion among these spirit beings we are told (Rev.12:7-9). When God created Adam and Eve, the leader of that rebel angel crowd sought to take these bodied souls under his control. So we read . . .

Now the serpent was more crafty (cunning, shrewd, subtle) than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" - Gen 3:1 ESV

Was this serpent a fallen angel? The text says nothing about the serpent being an angel. Instead we simply read about the nachash, the serpent, "The nachash was more crafty than any other beast of the field made by the LORD God." What made this poor beast so cunning? Could it have been the spirit that had taken over its body? Furthermore, it seems this nachash was more like a dragon, a reptile with feet, because he wasn't forced to crawl on his belly until later:

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. - Gen 3:14 ESV

I see nothing to suggest at this point that the curse extended to all of that particular serpent's offspring. Nothing suggests that wonderful class of creatures known as snakes are all under some curse of God.

The word nachash is also a noun meaning divination, enchantment, omen and sorcery. The only place we find that noun is in the story of the pagan prophet Balaam (Numbers 23:23; 24:1). In Gen. 30:27 we meet the verb form as Laban learned by divination that he was blessed because of Jacob. Divination is in the list of forbidden secret practices of Deut. 18:10. Further, the Hebrew words for copper, bronze and brass have nachash as their root. All that may help to explain why Eve was attracted to the dragon/serpent in the garden.

Of course, we do read more about serpents in other places. For example, at the start of Exodus story, the LORD sends Moses and his brother Aaron to Pharaoh with their miracle working staffs. When Pharaoh demands proof of their authority, they throw the staffs down and Aaron's "became a nachash!" No big deal, says mighty Pharaoh. He merely calls in his magicians whose staffs do the same thing. But—and I've always like this part—Aaron's staff-nachash swallows up those of the Egyptians (Exodus 7:8-12).

What's the deal about serpents, both in the garden and in Egypt? All through the myths and stories of Egypt and various other religions, both ancient and modern, serpents and snakes figure in very prominently. The Egyptians had many serpent or dragon gods.

- Aker, was a dragon representing the earth. It bound the coils of Apep. It was believed to preside over the point where the eastern and western horizons of the Underworld met. Aker aids the forces of light by binding and chaining the serpent when Ra passes through the underworld. 

- Apep [also known as Apophis], a terrifying great sea-serpent, lay in wait in the Egyptian underworld to ambush the sun god, Ra, who had to voyage through it each night ready to rise again. Apep would viciously attack the boat Ra was in as he crossed the sky during the day, and when there was an eclipse, it was believed to be due to Apep swallowing the vessel whole. Despite Apep's menace, he never gained complete victory over his eternal enemy. However Apep was also never believed to have been fully vanquished. The reddening of the sky at dusk was said to demonstrate that the serpent had been overcome by the sun's strength.

- Ankh-neteru was a serpent god. Afu Ra [the sun god] had his boat pulled by twelve gods through Ankh-neteru's body, entering the tail and exiting the mouth. This results in Afu Ra being transformed into Khepera, the ancient god associated with the creation of the world.

- Denwen came about during the third millennium B.C. and is described as a fiery serpent. He would have caused an inferno that would have destroyed all of the gods had he not been thwarted by the Egyptian King.

- Nehebkau, a servant of Ra, was an Egyptian serpent with human arms and legs. It was the great serpent upon which the world rested, and is sometimes represented with a man's body and holding the eye of Horus. Nehabkau was known to guard the entrance of the Underworld and accompanied the sun god on his nightly journey through it as well. 

- The Uraeus was the symbol of sovereignty, worn on the royal Egyptian headdress. It is used as a protective symbol, as the Egyptians believed that the cobra would spit fire at any approaching enemies.

- Wadjet was an Egyptian serpent guardian sent by Osiris to protect Pharoah and control the Nile. The cobra goddess was the patroness of Lower Egypt. Wadjet was part of the Osirian myths and was always viewed as a protector of Egypt, depicted as a woman with a cobra head or as a cobra about to strike at the nation's enemies.

Common also was the ouroboros, the snake that eats his own tail. Dating back as early as 1600 B.C. Egyptians believed that the sun god rose through the underworld each night on the back of ouroboros. The word comes from the Greek: ouroboros = tail-devourer. In many religions the ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and infinity. Like the circle, it symbolizes creation out of destruction, life out of death. You can read more about general serpent symbolism in the Wikipedia article.

Ouroboros - Wikipedia

In the Exodus story the power of the LORD was greater than all the serpent gods of the Egyptians. 

So back to the serpent in the garden. Was the serpent or dragon in the garden the devil? It is obvious that the devil or satan—and those under his control—are spirits. They do not need bodies to move around. However, they are able to enter bodies of beasts or men. For instance, we read of two demon-possessed men who lived among the tombs in the country of the Gadarenes. Jesus drove them out and gave the demons permission to enter a herd of pigs (Matthew 8:28-34). Again, we read about how Satan entered into Judas, leading him to betray Jesus (Luke 22:1-6). The only conclusion we can reach is that in the garden the devil used that particular dragon's body to seduce Eve to disobey a specific command of the LORD. 

For this and other reasons snakes are seen as seductive and deceptive, especially since many carry lethal poison in their fangs. The snake's phallic shape is also associated with fertility.

The warning at the Bible's very beginning: The devil long ago succeeded in his plans. In many and various forms he now appears, not only as a snake. He has become, in fact, the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 1 John 5:19). 

Not a good way to start our examination of angels, but quite realistic. 

New Revelations About The Mystery Of Marriage

For the past several months I've been focusing upon the divinely established institution of marriage. Not only did God establish and define marriage, He also blessed it. However, in this fallen world what God has established will always be rejected or redefined. It has been so from the beginning because we live in a rebellious world, led by the prince of darkness and confusion. Recall how he began his attacks: 

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

   He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)

For untold centuries people of all nations have assumed that marriage is the union of a man and a woman—for life. Many want us to believe that is not so, that we have come to a new understanding, even a new revelation from God in our day. They are asking, "Did God actually say that?"

And when we quote God's Word, they reply, "That's not quite correct. Let us tell you what He was really saying. You see, in our day we have gained new and deeper insights into this institution. What was once a mystery has now become quite plain to us through our studies. We have new revelations. Marriage is not only the union of one man and one woman. It was meant by God to be more than that." 

Interesting. Could it be so? More than that? Maybe, maybe it is. Wow!

But let us be very cautious. Are we changing what God has said? Before approaching this mystery called marriage we had best address the back story. In novel writing, the back story is vital to understanding how the main story progresses. Let's take another look at the back story of marriage, because, as the Apostle Paul says, it is indeed quite a mystery! And you will never unravel this mystery unless the Author of the great story, the Author of Life (Acts 3:15, Hebrews 12:2), unwinds it for you. Paul writes about this in his commentary on marriage:

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:32).

In the Bible the word mystery, as in novel writing, is something unraveled step by step. The hints were already there in the beginning, when the Author of Life made Adam and Eve as two separate beings. When Adam awoke he was amazed. He sensed the meaning of the mystery. He said, "Aha! This is it! At last I see what You are doing. A bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. I shall give her a name like my own, even as I have been commanded to define all of the other creatures (Genesis 2:19). She shall be called Woman (Hebrew: Ishah. The word for man is Ish)."

Wikipedia gives us this background for our English translation of the Hebrew: 

The Old English wifman meant "female human" (werman meant "male human". Man or mann had a gender neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "one" or "someone". However in around 1000AD "man" started to be used more to refer to "male human", and in the late 1200s began to inevitably displace and eradicate the original word "werman").[1] The medial labial consonants coalesced to create the modern form "woman"; the initial element, which meant "female," underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman ("wife").

But wait, the story is  moving too fast. I've skipped over a vital part, the part about Adam's rib. Remember that? No sweat, right? Everybody knows that Eve was made from Adam's rib. But do you really know that part of the story? Just for fun let's take another look at it. The Hebrew text of Genesis says something far more than that. It actually says that Adam was split in two while he slept. Take a look:

"So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man" (Genesis 2:21-22).

So reads most familiar English translations. But is that what the original Hebrew text actually states?

The word translated 'rib' is tsela. The Stone edition of the Chumash (English translation of the Hebrew Pentateuch) renders the verse in this manner:

"and He took one of his sides and He filled in the flesh in its place."

Following this translation you see at once that something far more was going on than merely making another being out of a piece of Adam, like his rib. Indeed. Did you know that nowhere else in the Bible is that word tsela translated as rib? Let me give you but two examples a bit further into the Pentateuch. Speaking of the Ark of the Covenant, the LORD told Moses,

"You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it" (Exodus 25:12).

The word for side in this quote is tsela, the entire side of the Ark (see also Exodus 37:3-5  for the same description of the Ark).

Now move to the description of the two sides of the Altar:

"And the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles are on the two sides of the altar when it is carried" (Exodus 27:7).

Once again the word for side is tsela in the plural, the two sides of the Altar. There are other examples of the word (1 Kings 6:5-6; 6:34; Job 18:12, etc.). As noted, nowhere else in the Bible is the word translated as rib. Makes you wonder why the King James folks ever got into calling it Adam's 'rib'. But that's another story.

Think about this. What is the Author of Life telling us, both about marriage and about His plans to unite Himself with His Bride? For starters, note that Adam was split in two. He had been one, but now he was made two. When he awoke he saw at once his other half, like him, yet different. He was separated, alienated, but here she was. He could only become one by being united to her, this woman,  this female human.

There's a whole lot more to this mystery. But we'll save that for another day. 

How The Devil Ended Up Being Called Lucifer

Lucifer! Now there's a scary name known to most of us. Why do we connect it to Satan, the Devil or the Prince of darkness? It all started with the Bible and a Latin translation some 1800 years ago.

The children of Israel were enslaved for seventy years during the years of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires toward the end of the eighth and the beginning of the seventh centuries before Christ. In chapter 14  the prophet predicts the fall of the two empires and salvation for the people of Israel. In his oracle about Babylonia we come across a very strange passage from which comes the name Lucifer.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?'

All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot - Isaiah 14:12-19, ESV.

So where is Lucifer? The new King James Version, following the earlier KJV, translates v. 14 this way:

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!"

 Lucifer? It's Latin for Bearer of Light, the Latin name for Venus, goddess of love, fertility, war, etc. (Greek: Aphrodite). She was the goddess of many names. She's also known in the Bible as Ishtar or Astarte, Astaroth and the Queen of heaven, that frivolous and promiscuous goddess, beloved by men and gods. See Judges 10:6, 1 Sam. 7:3-4, 12:10, 31:10, Jeremiah 7:18 and Jeremiah 44:17-25.


Every 19 years or so the planet we know as Venus appears on our horizon as the sun is setting. The Latin speaking peoples called this star Vesperus, the evening star. In a few weeks the same planet appears just before sunrise. Thinking this was a different wandering star (planet means wanderer), they named it the Day Star or Light Bearer. Brightest of the stars after the sun and moon, they considered this to be the goddess Venus who brings light and love.

So how do we end up relating Lucifer to the devil? For starters Isaiah prophesies that the people of Israel will take up this "taunt" against the king of Babylon. The point to be made is mockery in the form of a parable, a Mashal in Hebrew. What we seem to have is a parable drawn from the mythology of the Babylonians, Assyrians and Canaanites. Does it speak about the rebellion of the devil in heaven and his being cast out of the heavens above only to be confined to the earth and the deep pits of Sheol? There are some who believe this to be an accurate description of that event before Adam and Eve were in the garden. That is doubtful, but often said. In any event, that exegesis and interpretation is disputed.

Jesus did speak about Satan's fall when he said, "I saw fall Satan like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18).  He also calls the devil the ruler of this world (John 12:31, 16:11). The Apostle John writes that "the devil has been sinning from the beginning" (1 John 3:8).

John's Revelation tells about the war in heaven when the dragon and his angels were defeated and thrown down to the earth where he continues the war (Revelation 12:7-9).

One thing is certain. The devil is real. He is truly the "ruler of this world" and the source of evil, death and rebellion against God. Jesus met him head on when the henchmen of the Sanhedrin captured Jesus and dragged him to their mock trial. He said, "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness"(Luke 22:53). The ruler of this world had no claim on Jesus, of course (John 14:30). In that hour that same ruler was defeated on the cross. And now we who have been called to faith in Jesus are delivered "from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Father's beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

As we await our final deliverance, freedom and resurrection, we continue to pray, "Our Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

I'll Do It My Way!

During this Lenten season I am proclaiming God's Word at a small congregation of Lutherans in an area village. Today I invite you to join me as I work on that meditation. The series of sermons I'm developing is based upon the temptations of Jesus by the 'god of this world,' the devil, as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11. This week we'll focus on the first lie of the tempter, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."

Note that our Lord spent 40 days and nights in the wilderness. This points back to the 40 days and nights Moses originally spent on the mountain when he wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12-18). The people of Israel rebelled against the Lord while he was up there, forcing Aaron to create a calf of gold, an idol they began to worship as the god who had delivered them from slavery. The LORD was so angry He wanted to destroy them all, including Moses' brother Aaron. But Moses returned to the mountain to pray for these stubborn, stiff-necked people for 40 days and nights (Deut.9:8-29). Now Jesus has just completed 40 days of fasting and prayer for all of mankind, including you and me.

Jesus is the LORD of the Covenant who has come among us to pray for us and to give battle to the tempter. The devil tempted Jesus in the same manner he tempted Israel when the LORD brought them out of bondage and slavery in Egypt. No sooner had they escaped than they began to complain, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (Exodus 16:3). That was when the LORD, in His abundant grace and forgiveness, covered the camp with quail and began to give them their strange daily bread they called Manna—which means, "What is it?"(Exodus 16:4-36).

I find the adjective 'stiff-necked' to be an apt description of us all. It originally referred to an ox or a donkey that would not yield to the directions of its driver. The animal that insisted on going its own way would stiffen his neck. So do we all. Should the LORD test our faith by causing us any difficulties, we are inclined to stiffen our necks. This is not my way of doing things. Why has God brought these problems into my life? It isn't fair. It's not right.

And yet the LORD gives us our daily bread and provides us abundantly with all we need for this body and this life, even though we grumble, complain and gripe about what we do not have. In his explanation of the Lord's prayer petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," Dr. Luther urges us to receive this bread with thanksgiving and praise. We do not deserve it—in the least since we are stiff-necked sinners to the core. And yet He gives us spouses, homes, family, children, parents, work to do, good government and a land filled with blessings.

Back to the temptation, "If you are the Son of God . . . "

Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan and the Spirit had descended upon Him. The Father had spoken from heaven to declare, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." But now comes the tempter to plant doubts in Jesus' heart. After all, He had not eaten in 40 days and He was hungry, to say the very least. Why should He hunger any longer? He was, after all, the Son of God and that must imply that He had the power to turn stones into bread. So get on with it, Jesus. Do it. Carpe diem, seize the day. You have within you the power. Do what you need and want. I'm reminded of Frank Sinatra's famous song, "My Way."

And now, the end is near, 

And so I face the final curtain. 

My friends, I'll say it clear; 

I'll state my case of which I'm certain. 

I've lived a life that's full - 

I've travelled each and every highway. 

And more, much more than this, 

I did it my way. 

Regrets? I've had a few, 

But then again, too few to mention. 

I did what I had to do 

And saw it through without exemption. 

I planned each charted course - 

Each careful step along the byway, 

And more, much more than this, 

I did it my way. 

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew, 

When I bit off more than I could chew, 

But through it all, when there was doubt, 

I ate it up and spit it out. 

I faced it all and I stood tall 

And did it my way. 

I've loved, I've laughed and cried, 

I've had my fill - my share of losing. 

But now, as tears subside, 

I find it all so amusing. 

To think I did all that, 

And may I say, not in a shy way - 

Oh no. Oh no, not me. 

I did it my way. 

For what is a man? What has he got? 

If not himself - Then he has naught. 

To say the things he truly feels 

And not the words of one who kneels. 

The record shows I took the blows 

And did it my way. 

Yes, it was my way. 

LORD Jesus, in our baptism you have taken us into Your death and out of death into Your life. Truly, we are Your children by Your undeserved grace and mercy. So Lord, teach us humility and give us the power of Your Spirit. Help us, we pray, to humble ourselves before You and accept with praise and thanksgiving all the You give us, even those times when You allow our faith in You to be tested. In the moment of trials and temptations teach us to pray as did you, "Not my will, but Yours be done." For we have learned from Your most holy Word that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Deliver Us From The Evil One

In a previous post I discussed briefly a believer's spiritual wrestling. I continue that discussion today, focusing again on Ephesians 6:12. There the Apostle Paul teaches that each one of us must wrestle with the rulers and authorities of this world, especially the decisions, laws and rulings that touch directly or indirectly upon our personal spiritual lives. Behind such authorities, Paul writes, are the

"the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places"

 These are strange phrases, often overlooked, but vital to our spiritual lives. Recall how we daily pray the prayer our Lord taught, "but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13). A better translation would be, "but deliver us from the evil one." To speak about the evil one helps us to focus upon the fact that the need for deliverance is personal, not vague and abstract, i.e. "evil". There is one who is determined to enslave us in endless darkness.

John emphasizes this as he writes about our Lord's triumphal ride into Jerusalem (John 12:12-19). Recall that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead just prior to this and also recall that Mary, Lazarus' sister, had poured precious perfume on his feet while Jesus and His disciples were gathered for a meal at Mary, Martha and Lazarus's home. Mary had been saving the ointment for his burial, but decided to pour it on his feet at this occasion. She knew what awaited Him in Jerusalem.

Among the crowds gathered for the Passover Feast were some Greeks who asked Jesus' disciples to introduce them to Jesus. Jesus saw this as a sign of what was about to occur. He would be soon lifted up on the cross and by His cross would gather all men to Himself (John 12:20-32).

Among those comments John records these words,

"Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

The Greek word for 'world' in this passage is kosmos. It's part the complex word Paul uses in Ephesians 6 when he speaks about the kosmokratoras, the world rulers or, as the ESV translates, "the cosmic powers over this present darkness." In other words, we live in a world hostile to Jesus and His disciples. It doesn't matter what part of this world you live in. Everywhere you go you will encounter powers and rulers working to overthrow the Gospel and the church of Jesus Christ. We live in a hostile spiritual environment.

You  will encounter this hostility, mockery and false teaching in every aspect of human life. You will meet it in literature, music, the arts, politics, science and philosophy. Everywhere you turn, on all sides, expect to find what Jesus and His apostles call "this present darkness." Expect it. Do not be surprised by it and above all, be on your guard. Behind it are spiritual forces and rulers and behind them is the devil, the world ruler himself, the enemy of Christ and of all those who are in His kingdom and under His rule.

So every day we pray, "deliver us from the evil one and lead us not into temptation." And Jesus, who has called us out of darkness, taken us with Himself into His death and brought us out again into life and light, will hear our prayer and deliver us from the temptations of the evil one. 

More on Spiritual Warfare

In recent posts I invited you to join me in researching the spiritual warfare that went on in the 20th century and continues to the present. All this is in preparation for a paper I have agreed to present to a group of pastors the first part of next year. 

Before going further, I want to take another look at what the Apostle Paul says about spiritual warfare, especially in Ephesians 6:10-20. 

Let's look at the question of wrestling in v. 12, a Greco-Roman sport that continues to the present. Learning to wrestle in that violent manner was part of every soldier's training in those ancient days. Wrestling, like much of ancient warfare, was a one on one affair, a contest between two in which each tries to throw the other. The contest was decided when the victor was able to throw his antagonist to the floor and hold him flat down. The particular Greek word the Apostle uses (palay) is found only here in the New Testament. It seems to come from a verb that means to scatter, throw or pour. In the ancient Olympics wrestling was a no-holds barred event known as the pankration ("all-powerful"). Things such as kicking, joint dislocation, bone breaking, hair pulling, strangling, and other brutalities were allowed. Biting and eye gouging were not allowed in national competitions. The sole object was to force an opponent into defeat, to make him give up. The loser often ended up maimed or even dead. 

The only place in the Bible where you can read about any kind of wrestling match is in Genesis 32:24-32, where Jacob wrestles all night with a mysterious man who puts his hip out of joint. The Hebrew word for wrestling in that place is abaq. The word has the same sense of struggling, pounding and rolling around on the ground in a wrestling match like the Apostle describes in Ephesians 6. The Greek O.T. uses a verb form of Paul's wrestle noun to translate the Hebrew. 

So what was this wrestling match "with God" (Gen.32:28) all about? It was about an earlier conflict between Jacob and his brother Esau. By trickery Jacob, whose very name meant 'deceiver', was able to obtain to steal his brother's birthright as the first born and his father Isaac's blessing as well (Genesis 27:1-20). In fear of death, Jacob fled to his uncle Laban where he ended up marrying both of Laban's daughters and working for him for many years. Now he is returning home, blessed with many children and wealthy, but humbled and and renewed in faith. Upon hearing that his brother Esau was coming out to meet him with 400 armed men, he sends his family and servants on ahead, praying that Esau will not kill them all and remains behind on the bank of the Jordan River to struggle with God. 

Something very profound and meaningful happened that night as Jacob, the deceiver and sinner, struggled with his God. Instead of being destroyed by this face to face encounter with God, Jacob was blessed again. He said, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered" (Gen.32:30). The encounter was so profound that Jacob receives a new identity and a new name. Henceforth his name is Israel, he who wrestles with God. 

Paul says we all wrestle, but not only with God. He says our face to face mortal battle is particularly also against the devil and his minions (Ephesians 6:11-12). Does that imply that we do not wrestle with God? Indeed not. It rather means that we who claim the new name 'Christian' (one of Christ's) have been wrestled to the ground and defeated by the Lord Jesus, the same Lord that met Jacob on the shores of the Jordan river. It means that we have given up on any hope of rescuing and redeeming ourselves from the folly of our sinful ways. Our only hope for this life and that to come is the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Christ has killed the old man in us and in this spiritual death we receive the blessing of new life, a new identity in Christ and the strength needed for that one on one wrestling match we each have with the demons sent against us by the devil. Strangely, the old sinful man arises again each day to align himself with the devil and the wrestling starts all over (Romans 6:1-12), both with God and particularly with the demon or demons assigned to us individually. 

Here then is also where we must start as we discuss those one on one attacks that come at believers, spiritual attacks that have their origins in the past century or earlier and that continue into the present. No one can merely be objective or 'scientific' as he looks at this struggle, for each one of us is existentially involved.