So far in our study of Revelation chapter 12 - Great Red Dragon - we have found out that verses 1-11 have already been fulfilled. Verse 12 says...Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. The Great Red Dragon is the devil in this verse. Why would Jesus allow woe upon the inhabitants of the earth & sea, since He knows that woe is an exclamation of grief?
Long ago when Lucifer, an honored angelic being in God's kingdom, tried to usurp God's throne, he lost his first estate with God -- no power or authority any longer in Heaven. At this time Lucifer was indicted by God, but he had not received his final punishment. Although Hell was created by God for Lucifer, now called Satan, and his angels, they were not as yet condemned there permanently. Satan still had access to Heaven, revealed in the following text.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them...Job 1:6. We can see that Satan still had access to Heaven, even after he wrenched dominion of the earth & its inhabitants, out of the hands of men, becoming their ruler. Satan lost the position of honor he once enjoyed with God, but continued to present himself before God with the angelic beings who did not rebel against God. Is it possible that Satan gloated about the multitudes of human beings he had captured, and redirected to his own home in Hell? We do know, that during this time, Satan made accusations against God's human family. How do we know?
Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?" So Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."
"But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord...Job. 1:8-12. While God didn't allow Satan to take Job's life, He permitted him to bring calamity upon Job, his family and his possessions. In other words, woe - grief - was allowed to come upon Job to test his allegiance to God.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Satan & his demonic entourage were no longer allowed in Heaven. They were cast to the earth, having great wrath against mankind, for their time was short. Now woe came upon all the inhabitants of the earth. Satan became a terrorist on the earth, especially knowing his time to perpetrate death & destruction was short. The woe that he brings upon the inhabitants of the earth is sorrow, pain and misery. Satan personifies the cliché -- all Hell broke loose, and it continues to this day!
The wrath that Satan and his rebel angels unleashed upon the earth has been ferocious and violent. Through unconscionable acts, strategically designed, Satan has attempted to place a permanent wedge between God and His created man. Satan's deceptive plots to entrap mankind have become more brazen and ostentatious as generations passed. How has Satan accomplished his goal?
Satan has enlarged his arsenal of godless human beings who cooperate with him, consolidating a mighty army of vicious human assassins - religious zealots - against the saints of God. The more human beings that he can deceive into cooperating with him, the more successful will be the malicious persecution against God's kids. Global chaos and anarchy against representatives of Jesus Christ and His Bible is Satan's goal. Satan must work fast and furiously, because he knows that time constraints have been placed on him by God, allowing only a little more time to kidnap men from God, surreptitiously dragging them to Hell.
As the time grows closer to the return of Jesus Christ, Satan and his demon forces, who invisibly influence men and commerce on the earth, will experience greater freedom, and it will become much easier for them to kidnap and manipulate human beings. The inhabitants of the earth will reel and groan in despair and hopelessness just prior to His return How will it become easier for Satan to kidnap men from God?
With the arrival of the 21st century, societies worldwide have essentially rejected God and His righteous laws. Due to paganism, the righteousness of God is disdained, unleashing a bold and torrential manifestation of evil expression, demonstrated openly and unashamedly in the public arena by dishonesty, pathological lying, immorality, sexual perversion, drunkenness, drug addiction, disgusting lewd and obscene public conduct, murder, violence and mayhem. This open and unrestrained lasciviousness exposes the activity of Satan and his demons, who reside in the invisible spiritual realm.
How can the saints of God overcome the injustice they must endure, and all the assaults hurled at them in this immoral and pagan world? Stay tuned...
God's sheep question the doctrines of men...sheeple follow without question~~~
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