The Final Overthrow of Satan

 

1 John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 

Satan is a Defeated Foe 

The Greek word for destroy is, luo, to loose; to loose something tied or bound; to dissolve; to destroy. 

The English word is derived from the Latin, destruere, to destroy; from de and struo, I pile up, I build: To pull down; to demolish; to ruin; to lay waste; to kill; to put an end to. 

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 

Colossians 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 

Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 

Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 

All Enemies Are Under His Feet 

1 Corinthians 15:24-28 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

Romans 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. 

This statement is made after Calvary! 

The Greek word for bruise, used here, is suntribo, and means to crush completely, i.e., to shatter. 

Genesis 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. 

As death, the last enemy, remains yet to be made manifest under the authority of Jesus Christ, there is an aspect of this first prophecy of the Bible, that yet remains to be fulfilled. 

This manifestation is to be seen, and will take place at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

John 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 

The work is complete. The ultimate manifestation, rendering inoperative and abolishing every other rule and every authority and power, that is, all governments of this world according to Daniel's Image, remains to be seen. 

These powers will be dissolved and blown away like the chaff of the summer threshing floor.

 

T

he Origin and Fall of Satan

 

Isaiah 14:12-17  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! 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. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof that opened not the house of his prisoners? 

Ezekiel 28:12-19 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 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 was created. 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. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 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. 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. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; 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. All thee that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. 

Jeremiah 4:23-28 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. 

Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it not to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. 

Genesis 1:1,2 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 

The Spiral of Satan is Downward

1 Timothy 3:6  Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 

The devil did not fall through adultery; neither did he fall through money; PRIDE brought his downfall! 

Look what I have done. Look who I am. Look what I've got! 

Be ever alert for this master strategy of the devil. He understands its power. 

 

S teps in the Final Overthrow of Satan

1. The Perfection of the Church 

Ephesians 4:11-13  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 

Revelation 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. 

The Mystery of God embraces the union of Christ and His church, (marriage) and the conception, birth and translation of the manchild. 

2.  War in Heaven 

Revelation 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 

3. Satan Cast Down to the Earth 

Revelation 12:9-13  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 

4. The Second Coming of Christ 

Revelation 20:1-3  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 

5. Loosed For a Little Season: 

The Final Overthrow

Revelation 20:7-10  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. 

T he Three Heavens

 

Many of the great truths of God come in threes. 

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Likewise man is spirit, soul and body. 

So it is with heaven. The Bible speaks of heaven, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens. 

The First Heaven 

Genesis 1:6-8  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 

The first heaven, therefore, is the earth's atmosphere. 

The Second Heaven 

The second heaven is what we know as outer space, with in excess of 100 billion galaxies each with 100 billion suns. 

The Third Heaven 

2 Corinthians 12:2-4  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

The third heaven is where the throne of God is located. It is the seat of power for the entire universe. 

T he Spiral of Satan

Jesus saw Satan fall from the third to the second heaven. 

The coming conflict between Christ and Satan, the most powerful in the history of the universe, lies just ahead of us. There will be war in heaven, that is, the second heaven. Satan will be forever ejected from outer space. He will spiral downward to the earth. 

And will the inhabitants of the earth be aware of such an occurrence? Satan himself will be locked in the first heaven, never again to see the second and third heavens with which he is so familiar. The earth’s atmosphere is all he will ever see of heaven! 

At the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit, again a downward spiral, for one thousand years. 

At the conclusion of the millennium, he will be loosed from his prison for a brief period. He will seek, yet one final time, to influence the resurrected dead, (the rest of the dead, the unsaved dead, are not alive during the millennial reign of Christ), against the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In a desperate, all-out confrontation, he attempts to hurl everything at his disposal at the new Jerusalem. 

Fire comes down from heaven. 

Satan and his followers are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, there to be tormented day and night forever and ever. 

There he will remain - for all eternity!