I Will Be Like the Most High, Part 2

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

In our last article in this series, we introduced the biblical concept that while God could have chosen to immediately confine Satan to the Lake of Fire as soon as sin was found in him, God clearly chose not to do that. He also could have done that when Satan gained the following of one-third of the heavenly hosts of heaven. Again, God chose not to do that.

God allowed Satan to not only continue to exist outside of the Lake of Fire after sin was first found in him, but also after there was war in heaven, which resulted in Satan gaining one-third of the heavenly angelic host. We can wonder why and certainly, asking that question is good. In fact, I believe by answering that question, we learn a tremendous amount about God’s higher and highest purposes not only for humanity, but for all of His Creation.

Failing to ask that question will never allow us to see that God has a unique purpose in allowing Satan to remain outside of the Lake of Fire, creating evil and havoc for us and all of God’s Creation. Once we begin to focus in God’s intended purpose in these areas, we also begin to realize that salvation itself is not God’s highest purpose for everything He does, but that it is certainly part of His highest purposes.

We learned last time that Satan sinned because of pride that had taken root in his own heart. His sin is recorded for us in Isaiah 14:12-17 and it is incorporated in his five “I will” statements, which turn out to be promises to himself. Those promises said in the privacy of his own heart were noted by God, as nothing to Him is private. Because of these promises born of arrogance, that sin caused his fall and fall he did, from the highest created being to the most evil. Yet, God allowed Satan to retain much of his power and included in that power are his very persuasive abilities to deceive people. This he worked to his advantage against our Eve, who ended up following his temptation that also caused her to sin. Adam – in complete rebellion – followed suit.

In doing so, our first parents, exchanged their obedience to God for Satan and he became the owner of the earth since Adam and Eve were God’s representatives on the earth and were overlords of it. By sinning, Adam and Eve didn’t just fall. They gave everything away to Satan who had craftily directed their failure to continue in obedience to their Creator. In essence then, they swapped allegiances from God to Satan.

Though Satan had sinned prior to the fall of our parents – and God could have stopped it by simply placing Satan in the Lake of Fire, eliminating the possibility, but chose not to do so – he had sinned outside the realm of earth and it is possible that Adam and Eve had not yet been created. We really have no firm or dogmatic way of knowing. In any case, once Satan caused the fall of humanity, he became inextricably bound up in humanity’s time line. There was now no escape for him and what happened to earth and the world’s population as part of God’s Creation, would also happen to him.

We spoke last time of the fact that God will bring Himself glory in everything that occurs in all His Creation. That is His intention and it will be done. This is exactly what the Bible reveals. It’s not simply about the plan of salvation, though that’s a huge part of it. It’s about God’s highest purpose for Himself and His Creation.

To that end, Satan is being used to help bring all of this about. Let’s look more closely at the time line from start to finish to see how this is being worked out.

When Satan fell through pride that made him think more highly of himself than he ought to have. It put him on a path that would eventually and ultimately crash right into God Himself. Those “I will” statements recorded in Isaiah would be his eternal undoing. However, as we noted, God could have sent Satan (and his demonic host) to the Lake of Fire immediately after sin was found within him, but didn’t. God’s plan would involve allowing Satan to have every opportunity to bring his promises that included becoming like the Most High to fruition.

This “big picture” should provide us with direct insight into God’s purposes as they relate to this world. The question to ask is this:

If God is allowing Satan every opportunity to become “like the Most High,” what will that ultimately look like as it unfolds?

What can we expect in this world and what should we see unfolding, not only in our lifetime, but up until and including the end of the coming Tribulation period? If God is going to allow Satan the opportunities he needs to attempt to bring his promises to fruition, how will that appear to us? Will we see it happening? Will it affect the world and our lives? What changes might we see in global society as Satan is allowed to bring the needed change to this world so that he can ascend, if you will, to become absolute ruler?

The aforementioned questions are what we are talking about. If the answers to these questions are proof that God is allowing Satan the necessary opportunities to succeed, is there anyplace we might see the plan apart from how it is worked out in society? Might we even find a source that fills us in on how Satan’s plan is to be worked out? If that source exists, might that same source also reveal to us the ending or summation of the working out of that plan?

Of course, the answer to that is found in the Bible. It is reasonable to expect that if God has allowed Satan the freedom to create the perfect environment for him to one day “rule the world” and be closer to being “like the Most High,” then we should also expect that God would have told us about it way ahead of time; not only how Satan was going to attempt to work things out, but the actual outcome of his attempts to work things out.

If this plan does – in actuality – exist in the Bible, then we can be confident in its efficacy and integrity. Understanding that the plan has been revealed helps us avoid theological fads that, for instance, tell Christians that if we only work more efficiently, pray harder, and demand our rights, we can turn (insert the name of your country here) around and be saved from the coming judgment.

Next time, we will begin looking very closely at what the Bible tells us regarding Satan’s plan to “rule” the world and whether there is anything as Christians we can do to alter his course.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective