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We
believers in Jesus Christ are soldiers of the Lord and as soldiers we are
continually at war. We must fight what the Scripture calls “the good fight”
(1 Timothy 1:18
– NIV). We must fight against our numerous and merciless enemies, but I do
not refer to our enemies made of flesh and bones (whom we must love, as it is
written: “Love your enemies” Luke 6:27
- NKJV) because our struggle is not against them. The enemies against whom we
children of God must fight are wicked spiritual beings that plot against us. However
God, knowing this, has provided us with an armor; the weapons are His, they
are not carnal because – as I said before - our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but they are “mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Corinthians
10:4 - NKJV).
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Now Paul
wrote to the Ephesians: “Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand” (Ephesians 6:11-13).
The devil is our adversary and he is the prince of this world, which he rules
through many spiritual beings which obey his commands, and which are
principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
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Now, know
this, that all these spiritual beings are our enemies; they do not love us,
they do not pursue what is good for us, they don’t want us to be edified,
they don’t protect us, they do not show any mercy toward us because they are
merciless. Here is what they desire: they desire us to deny the Lord, so that
we may be again entangled in the pollutions of the world from which Jesus
Christ has delivered us by His precious blood, and thus we may go to
perdition. Through their schemes they try to cause us to wander from the
faith and from the truth. Here is how they try to achieve their evil aim:
they try to keep us from reading and searching the Word of God, and from
meeting the saints; they try to induce us to believe destructive heresies;
they try to induce us not to pray to God; they try to induce us not to pursue
holiness, for they know that it is written that without holiness no one will
see the Lord; they try to induce us not to forgive those who wrong us and
must be forgiven; they try to induce us to doubt the faithfulness of God;
they try to induce us to forget the poor among the saints (for they don’t
want us to meet their needs). In other words, they try to keep us from
knowing and doing the will of God. They are indeed our enemies, because they
do not want us to do what is good, rather they want us to practice evil (while
the Scripture commands us to abhor what is evil - Romans 12:9).
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However, know
this also, that God knows all the wiles of Satan and his servants, and He
enables us to stand against them. This is why He has provided us with His armor
and commanded us to put it on, so that we may stand against the wiles of
Satan.
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Before I
speak in detail about the armor of God, I want to dwell upon the temptation
that our Lord had to face; yes, because Jesus Christ “was in all points
tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 – NKJV). Reflect upon this:
Satan tried to induce Jesus, the Son of God, to sin so that He might not be
able to save us! The devil did not want Jesus to die on the cross bearing all
our sins in His own body because he knew that in so doing Jesus would condemn
sin in the flesh and would rescue many men and women from the hands of the
devil through His precious blood. That’s why the devil tried to induce Jesus
to sin, because he knew that if Jesus sinned, He would not be able to die for
men’s sins and thus men would continue to be under the power of the devil.
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Satan
tempts us in the same manner he tempted Jesus, thus we must know how Satan
tempted Jesus, but above all we must know how Jesus resisted the devil so
that we also, following His steps, may resist the devil and put him to flight.
Yes, because we must resist the devil without giving place to him and without
treating him with familiarity. For this is what the apostles wrote to us:
James wrote: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you” (James 4:7 – NKJV); Paul wrote: “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians
4:27
– NIV); and Peter wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist
him, steadfast in the faith ….” (1 Peter 5:8-9 – NKJV).
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Let us see
now how Jesus was tempted by the devil and how Jesus resisted the devil.
After Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan
river, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and
with power. Then He was led up by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil (it was necessary for Jesus to be tempted in all points
as we are tempted so that He might be able to aid us when we are tempted, as
it is written: “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is
able to aid those who are tempted” Hebrews 2:18 – NKJV).
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● It
is written: “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was
afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to
him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God” (Matthew 4:2-4). Note that the devil tempted Jesus when He had
fasted forty days and forty nights; he came to Jesus when He was hungry, that
is to say, when He needed something to eat. Now, in the wilderness there was
no bread but there were some stones and the devil tempted Jesus to command
stones to become bread. The fact that Satan began to tempt Jesus by saying:
“If thou be the Son of God …” (Matthew 4:3), indicates that the devil knew
that Jesus Christ was the Son of God but by his words he tried to deceive the
Lord into believing that since He claimed to be the Son of God He could,
because of His authority, turn stones into bread, and also that if he had
seen Jesus turn those stones into bread he would have believed that He was
the Son of God. Also when Jesus was crucified, He was tempted in a similar
way, for while He was on the cross, those who passed by “blasphemed Him,
wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who destroy the temple and build it in
three days, save Yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the
cross” (Matthew 27:39-40 – NKJV), and the scribes and the chief priests said:
“If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we
will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42 – NKJV). As you can see, even on the cross
Jesus was tempted to rebel against God because his enemies wanted Him to show
them that He was the Son of God by coming down from the cross; however, Jesus
showed them that He was the Son of God not by coming down from the cross but
by rising again because that was the command He had received from His Father.
Let us go back to the temptation in the wilderness; the devil tempted Jesus
to command those stones to become bread not because he wanted to see Jesus
perform a miracle and to believe that Jesus was the Son of God but because he
wanted Jesus to fall into transgression, for he knew that if Jesus had obeyed
him He would have disobeyed God; nor because he wanted Jesus to eat some food
and be strengthened, for the enemy did not care about the needs of Jesus or
His physical weakness (“he was a murderer from the beginning” John 8:44 –
NKJV, therefore if the devil could have killed Jesus he would have killed Him
on that occasion), but the devil used His desire to eat some bread in order
to induce Jesus to do things His own way and not according to the will of
God. Jesus resisted the devil by the Word of God, quoting that passage of the
Scripture which states that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God. By those words Jesus meant not only
that it was not yet time for Him to eat some bread but also that in order to
come out of that distress He did not have to command stones to become bread
because God had decided to deliver Him from that distress in another way. The
adversary still tempts in the same way, for he tries to induce us to believe
that the end justifies the unlawful and dishonest means. However, let us take
heed to ourselves, because the fact that we need something must never lead us
to do things our own way or by fraud or by craftiness in order to obtain what
we have the right to have. On the contrary, we must make every effort to
obtain what we need by observing the divine laws, that is to say, by walking
in righteousness and holiness. It is true that in acting in this way we
suffer, but it is better to suffer, wrestling according to God’s laws, than
to lose our patience and thus fall into temptation (remember that “he sins
who hastens with his feet” Proverbs 19:2 - NKJV). Know that in the midst of
all our distresses and afflictions, Satan tries to cause us to fall into
temptation because he sees our weakness, he sees our need and he ‘advises’ us
to come out of our distresses and afflictions by disobeying God; he never advises
us to obey God in everything. Jesus, the One who turned the water into wine
at Cana of Galilee, could have turned those stones into bread because He was
able to perform that miracle; but Jesus did not do what the devil tempted Him
to do because even when Jesus was hungry His main food was to do the will of
Him who had sent Him and to finish His work. For us also, when we are hungry
and thirsty, our favourite food must always be to do the will of God. “Foods
for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and
them” (1 Corinthians 6:13
– NKJV), therefore both the bread we eat to live and the stomach we have in
our body will pass away. While he who does the will of God will never pass
away, as it is written: “He who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17 – NKJV).
Therefore, in the midst of all our needs we must see that we do the will of
God (fearing God and keeping His commandments), because man shall not live by
bread alone. Of course, bread also is given to us by God for our own good,
but we must not think that in order to be happy we only need to have the
necessary material things, for such a thought is untrue, for Jesus affirmed
that those who are happy are not those who are full but those who hear the
word of God and keep it, as it is written: “More than that, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28 – NKJV).
On the contrary, those who think that they can live by bread alone and affirm
that they do not need to keep the commandments of God are unhappy and in
addition to this they cannot please God because they live according to the
flesh, as it is written: “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans
8:8 – NKJV) even though they have their daily bread and all the necessary
material things. Just as after Jesus had resisted Satan and Satan had
departed from Him the angels of God came and ministered to Him, so we also,
after we have suffered a while, will be helped by the angels of God whom God
will send forth to meet all our needs (as it is written that angels are
“ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit
salvation” Hebrews 1:14 – NKJV); yes, because if in the midst our distresses
we submit to God and resist the devil we also will see the powerful deliverances
that God grants to the upright men; great deliverances which the Lord
performs for His elect by His angels.
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●
“Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a
pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning
thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash
thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:5-7). After Jesus told the devil
those words of the law of the Lord, the devil tried to cause Jesus to sin in
the following manner. He took Jesus up into Jerusalem and set
Him on the pinnacle of the temple and told Him to throw Himself down if He
was the Son of God, for it was written that God would command His angels to
bear Him up in their hands lest He dashed His foot against a stone. Seemingly
there was no harm in those words the tempter spoke to Jesus, because the
tempter quoted one of the faithful promises made by God, ‘believing’ that if
Jesus had thrown down God would have helped Jesus and He would not have hurt Himself.
However, all this is just a vain appearance because behind those words of the
devil there was a cunning scheme of the devil, who wanted to wreck the plan
of salvation made by God before the foundation of the world. Brothers, you
must always bear in mind that no matter how the devil acts and no matter what
he says, he never wants to do good to us. Furthermore, the devil wants people
to blaspheme the name of God, he does not want the
name of God to be praised. Do not be deceived by the fact that every now and
then he quotes even the Word of God, because his purpose is always a wicked
purpose. In that specific temptation against Jesus, the devil quoted a
promise of God, however he did not quote all the promise but only part of it,
for the devil did not say: “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to
keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you
dash your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11-12 – NKJV), but he said: “He
shall give His angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you
up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6 – NKJV). As you can
see, the tempter did not quote the following words “to keep you in all your
ways” (Psalm 91:11). Did the devil forget to quote them? Not at all, rather we
affirm that he did not want to quote them. Why did he decide not to quote
them? Because every time the devil quotes the Word of God he quotes it incorrectly
or omitting some words or adding some words of his; therefore we must know
very well the Scripture lest we be deceived by the devil. Also in the Garden
of Eden the old serpent did not quote correctly the Word of God when he spoke
to the woman, for God had said to the man: “Of every tree of the garden you
may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis
2:16-17 – NKJV), while the serpent said to Eve: “Has God indeed said, ‘You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1 – NKJV). In that
case, however, the woman did not resist the serpent as she ought to have resisted
him, and thus she was deceived and fell into transgression. Jesus knew that
His Father had promised to keep Him in all His ways on condition that all His
ways were holy and righteous, but He knew also that if He had thrown down
from the temple
He
would not have walked a holy way. Therefore, how could God have kept Him in
all His ways if among His ways there had been a wicked way? If Jesus had
walked that wicked way He would have sinned and His Father would have got
angry with Him. Yes, God commanded His angels to keep His Son in all His ways
in the days of His flesh. However, remember that all His ways were righteous.
Jesus knew that if He had done what the devil suggested, He would have sinned
against God, that’s why He answered the devil saying: “It is written again,
You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Matthew 4:7 - NKJV).
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What
happened to Jesus teaches us that sometimes the devil wants to induce us to
tempt God by quoting the Word of God incorrectly or misinterpreting it; but
it teaches also that every time the devil quotes a passage of the Word of God
there is always another passage in the Scripture which can be quoted to him
in order to put him to flight.
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Brothers,
we must watch, because the fact that God promised to keep us and to protect
us from the evil one must not lead us to think that no matter what we say or
what we do or where we go, God will protect us; let us not tempt God, but let
us walk in His holy ways and then we will be sure that God will preserve us
from all evil.
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Let us see
now how the children of Israel tempted
God in the wilderness because their behaviour helps us to understand what it
means to tempt God. After God brought streams out of the rock, and caused
waters to run down like rivers, the Israelites “sinned yet more against him
by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their
heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can
God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the
waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the LORD
heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger
also came up against Israel;
Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation” (Psalm
78:17-22). After the children of Israel saw God
bring streams out of the rock and they quenched their thirst, they tempted
God by asking food for their lust. How did they ask for that food? They asked
for that food, speaking against God, doubting the power of God as well as the
faithfulness of God which they had clearly seen. Did God like their words?
No, He didn’t, because that stiff-necked people tested Him. He was very angry
and “gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them”
(Psalm 106:15 – NIV), says the Scripture. Remember that Paul says to the
Corinthians that these things happened to the Israelites as examples, to the
intent that we should not tempt the Lord “as some of them also tempted” (1 Corinthians
10:9 – NKJV). Therefore, brothers, let us not follow the same example of disobedience;
let us not tempt God, lest we provoke God to wrath and be punished by Him.
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Now,
through the Word of God I am going to give you a practical example so that
you may understand what it means to tempt God. In Isaiah it is written: “When
you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame
scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2 – NKJV). However, if a believer, tempted by the
devil, decides to walk on living coals or through the fire in order to show
off his faith, for sure he will tempt God even though God made the above
mentioned promise. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego did not go into the
burning fiery furnace voluntarily to show off their faith in God or to become
famous, because they were cast into the fiery furnace against their will. In
this case we cannot affirm that they tempted God, for they were cast into the
burning fiery furnace by their enemies because they had obeyed God and so God
delivered them. God fulfilled His promise toward His servants who had put
their trust in Him, for they walked through the fire (King Nebuchadnezzar saw
them walking in the midst of the fire) and they were not burned, as it is
written: “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery
furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants
of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes,
governors, and captains, and the king's counsellers, being gathered together,
saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of
their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire
had passed on them” (Daniel 3:26-27). We see in that powerful deliverance
worked by God the fulfilment of the above mentioned words of Isaiah. In the
prophet Isaiah we read also the following promise: “When you pass through the
waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
you” (Isaiah 43:2 – NKJV), however, it is evident that if a believer, tempted
by the devil, decides to pass through a swollen river in order to show off
his faith, he surely will tempt God.
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● “Again,
the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then
saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil
leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him” (Matthew
4:8-11). In this temptation, the tempter showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the
world and their glory and told Jesus that if He fell down and worshiped him
he would give all those things to Him. From that temptation we learn the
following things.
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The devil,
as the Lord Jesus said, “is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44 – NKJV),
because when he said to Jesus: “All this authority I will give You, and their
glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish”
(Luke 4:6 – NKJV), he lied. Now, it is true that the devil is the prince of
this world but it is not true at all that he can give the kingdoms of the
world and their glory to whomever he wishes because it is written in the book
of Daniel that “the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever
He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:17 – NKJV), and
because when God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah (while Nebuchadnezzar was king
of Babylon) He said: “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are
on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given
it to whom it seemed proper to Me. And now I have given all these lands into
the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and the beasts of
the field I have also given him to serve him” (Jeremiah 27:5-6 – NKJV); and
also because in the book of Psalms David said: “The earth is the Lord’s, and
all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1 – NKJV).
Beloved, it is God, the Almighty, that gives the kingdoms of men and their
glory to whomever He wishes and not the devil, that’s what the Scripture states.
The devil lied to Jesus, for he promised to give to Jesus what God alone
could give to Jesus and - we’d better remember this – what God had already
promised to give to Jesus. For the Father had said to the Son: “Ask of Me,
and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the
earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall
dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:8-9 - NKJV), and the Son
received this authority from His Father after He made atonement for our sins,
in that after Jesus was raised from the dead He said to His disciples: “All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18 –
NKJV), and when Jesus appeared to John on the island called Patmos He said to
John: “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will
give power over the nations – He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they
shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ – as I also have
received from My Father” (Revelation 2:26-27 – NKJV). Remember that during
the millennial reign Jesus Christ will rule over all the nations of the
earth.
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In order
to cause us to fall into temptation, the devil plays on the lust of the eyes,
for he tried to cause Jesus to fall into sin showing Him all the kingdoms of
the earth; therefore we must watch out lest we be overcome by the lust of the
eyes, which is of the world, and as you know the world lies under the sway of
the devil.
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Jesus did
not desire to have an earthly kingdom on the earth in the days of His flesh,
even though He was a king, because His kingdom was not of this world.
Therefore, we must not desire to become powerful and rich according to the
flesh because we are not of the world, just as Jesus was not of the world. We
must continually desire to inherit the Kingdom of heaven, and we must not
desire to have a high social position or to create an earthly kingdom.
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The devil
gives nothing freely because he always wants something; when he gives some
supernatural powers or some material things to some people, he wants them to
worship him. Even though he is not worthy to be worshiped, he induces many
people to worship him as God in exchange for supernatural powers and
‘commercial successes’. On the one hand all those who accept to do what he
wants them to do manage to become famous and rich, but on the other hand they
lose their soul; for this is the purpose of the devil, to send to perdition
as many people as possible blinding their minds through worthless idols and
distracting them so that they might not seek the Lord. Jesus Christ refused
to fall down before the devil and to worship him, and once again He quoted
the Scripture to resist the devil. It is written: “You shall fear the Lord
your God; you shall serve Him …. He is your praise” (Deuteronomy 10:20,21
- NKJV); therefore God alone is worthy to be worshiped.
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From the
temptation Jesus had to face and the way He resisted the devil we learn the
following things.
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First of
all, we learn that the devil is a real spiritual being and not a myth as some
people think (thus these people in thinking such a thing deceive themselves).
The Holy Scripture speaks also of the devil and his works and the destiny
which awaits him and we accept all the things it tells us about the devil
because we believe that the Word of God is truth and does not lie to us.
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Secondly,
we learn that the devil uses the lust of the flesh, the pride of life and the
lust of the eyes in order to cause the sons of God to fall into
transgression, for he tried to induce Jesus to sin through the wish to eat
first, then he tempted Him trying to induce Him to exalt Himself by throwing
Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, and in the end he tried to
seduce Him showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in the
hope that He might desire to possess them. As I said before, the tempter uses
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in order to
cause us to forsake the Lord; all these things are of the world and since the
whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, these things lie under the
sway of the devil. That’s why we are commanded not to love the world or the
things in the world, because he who loves them, loves
what lies under the sway of the devil. The world and the things which are in
the world oppose the Word of God and the Holy Spirit for they lie under the
sway of the one who is the enemy of God and thus those believers who love the
worldly lusts and the pride of life are enemies of God, as it is written:
“Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy
of God” (James 4:4 – NKJV). Therefore, since we children of God live in this
world and we are surrounded by the things of this world, we must watch and
pray without ceasing lest we be overcome by the worldly lusts and the pride
of life that Satan uses to cause us to fall into his trap. Know that if there
is someone who wants us children of God to walk according to the flesh, well,
that ‘someone’ is Satan who knows perfectly that the Word of God says to us:
“If you live according to the flesh you will die” (Romans 8:13 – NKJV), and
thus he tries to deceive us by his craftiness saying to us the same thing he
said to Eve, that is, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4 – NKJV). He
tries, by the outward beauty of the pleasures of life, riches, corrupted
women, the fashion of this age, philosophy, modern music and many other
things, to induce us to love them and to be overcome by them, because he
knows that once a believer has been deceived and overcome by these evil
lusts, he ceases to keep the commandments of God and to bear fruit to the
glory of God, and thus he dies spiritually.
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But we are
not ignorant of his devices and we know how to resist him when he attacks us
because Jesus left us an example. We must use the Word of God to resist the
devil, for Jesus answered the devil quoting the Scripture.
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Brothers,
know that “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35 – NKJV), and that when
we resist the tempter quoting the Scripture he cannot break the Word of God
and he cannot demonstrate that it is false and thus he is forced to leave us.
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However,
there is another thing that must be said: when we answer the devil we must
answer him in the right way because he is still one of the dignitaries, in
that he is the prince of this world. When Jesus answered the devil, He said
to him: “Get thee hence, Satan” (Matthew 4:10).
Now Satan means ‘adversary’, and Jesus called him by name. Jesus did not
ridicule or insult him, even though He knew the character and the works of
the devil. Therefore, we are not allowed to make fun of the devil calling him
‘slewfoot’ or ‘monkey of God’ and so on, nor are we allowed to insult him.
Unfortunately, some preachers whose minds are corrupt take pleasure in
ridiculing the devil and insulting him. Let us not follow their bad examples,
rather let us follow the example Jesus left us.
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We
believers don’t have of ourselves any efficacious weapons by which we can
resist the devil, we are fully aware of this because we know that in us (that
is, in our flesh) nothing good dwells. But thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ because in His goodness and wisdom He has provided
us with a complete and mighty armor. It is complete because it protects
believers from every attack of the devil and so it does not allow the devil
to open a breach in them; it is mighty because it is so powerful that through
it we are able to resist the devil, to pull down his strongholds and to cast
down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God.
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The armor
of God helps us both to defend ourselves and to attack our enemies,
therefore we will do well to put it on in order to live a victorious life on
the earth, while we wait for the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul said that we must put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil and that we may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. The apostle said ‘in the evil
day’ because he knew that the day on which the devil tries to cause us to
fall into temptation is an evil day. Therefore, bearing in mind the reason
why we need to put on the armor of God, let us examine the weapons that God has
brought out of His armory to equip His soldiers, who are in this world of
darkness.
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Truth
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“Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Ephesians 6:14). As good
soldiers of the Lord we must gird our waist with truth, which means that we
must speak truthfully and we must not love nor practice falsehood, for it is
written: “Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with
his neighbour, for we are members of one another” (Ephesians 4:25 – NKJV).
Beloved, speak the truth; lie gives a temporary and weak shelter to those who
have decided to make lie their city of refuge and fortress, because God at
His appointed time destroys their fortress in a moment and confounds them to
show them that He cannot be mocked by anybody. Jesus said that “there is
nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known”
(Luke 12:2 – NKJV), thus even those lies which are told in order to cover
evil actions, hypocrisy and fraud, in due season will be revealed by God. I
will cite an incident happened to Abraham to show that even though one hides the
truth cunningly, in due season it will be known. It is written: “And there
was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to
sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the
land. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he
said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to
look upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see
thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they
will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be
well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. And it
came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the
Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of
Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken
into Pharaoh's house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had
sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she
asses, and camels. And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great
plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said,
What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst
thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore
behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way” (Genesis 12:10-19). Now,
Abraham had married Sarai, who was the daughter of his father but not the
daughter of his mother, therefore it was true that Sarai was his sister but
it was also true that she was her wife. When Abraham was about to enter the
land of Egypt, he was afraid for he thought that the Egyptians, seeing the
beauty of Sarai, would kill him and take away his wife, so he told his wife
to say that she was his sister and he was her brother so that he might live. Obviously,
when Pharaoh heard Abraham say that Sarai was his
sister he took her to be his wife because he believed the words of Abraham.
However, the fact that Pharaoh took Sarai to be his wife displeased the Lord,
and He plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues to force him to give
Sarai back to Abraham. We don’t know how Pharaoh came to know that Sarai was
the wife of Abraham, one thing is sure, that is, he came to know it. And when
he knew that Sarai was the wife of Abraham he rebuked Abraham for he had said
to him that she was his sister and not his wife. As you can see, what Abraham
tried to hide from Pharaoh could not be kept secret for a long time because
within a short time God brought the truth to light.
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The
following examples show that God confounds and punishes those who lie.
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►
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, lied to Elisha, for when Elisha asked him:
“Where did you go, Gehazi?” (2 Kings 5:25 – NKJV), Gehazi answered: “Your
servant did not go anywhere” (2 Kings 5:25 – NKJV), while a short time before
Gehazi, driven by his covetousness, had hurried after Naaman and had asked
him for a talent of silver and two changes of garments and stored them away
in the house. Elisha came to know that Gehazi had lied to him because God
revealed to him what Gehazi had done, and he foretold him the judgement of
God upon him saying: “Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and
your descendants forever” (2 Kings 5:27 – NKJV). In this case Gehazi told a
lie to cover an evil deed, but God confounded him through a revelation and
struck him with leprosy.
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►
Ananias, one of the early Christians, lied to the apostles of the Lord and
God put him to death. It is written: “But a certain man named Ananias, with
Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his
wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the
apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to
lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles
it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was
sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou
conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not
lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and
gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things”
(Acts 5:1-5). Ananias was a believer and he lied to the apostles about that sum
of money he had laid at the apostle’s feet after he had sold a possession,
and God put him to death because he had lied to God. Note that in this case
also, a man of God (an apostle and not a prophet as in the above mentioned
incident) came to know in a supernatural way that a person had told a lie.
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►
The false prophets who were in the midst of the people of Israel practiced
falsehood, for they said to those who walked according to the stubbornness of
their evil heart: “The Lord has said: You shall have peace” (Jeremiah 23:17 – NKJV),
while God had promised no peace to them. God heard all the lies that those
prophets told and He said that He would uncover their lies before those to
whom they had prophesied peace. For He said to Ezekiel: “Because, indeed,
because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’, when there is no peace
– and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar – say to
those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be
flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind
shall tear it down. Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to
you, Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?” (Ezekiel 13:10-12 –
NKJV) – the vain visions those prophets had told were
the untempered mortar -. And what God had foretold came to pass while the
army of the Chaldeans was besieging Jerusalem and was about to conquer it, for
the Scripture says that the prophet Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, who had
believed the lies of those prophets: “Where now are your prophets who
prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or
against this land?” (Jeremiah 37:19 – NKJV). As you can see, those prophets
who told lies to the people were put to shame by God in that God did not
fulfill their false predictions. However, God not only put them to shame, but
He also punished them. For instance, the Scripture says that God put to death
the prophet Hananiah for he had persuaded the people to trust in lies (Jeremiah
28:1-17).
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You must
always bear in mind that the father of lies is the devil, therefore every lie
comes from the devil and not from God; and we as believers must not tell
lies. If we tell lies, we will give place to the devil, and we will make God
angry and surely He will punish us and put us to shame. Lie is lie, and a lie
which is told to uphold the truth is always a lie, even though it is told to
‘defend and honor’ the Gospel. Know this, that the
Gospel does not need any lie in order to be defended and to be believed. I
say this because I know that there are some preachers who urge some believers
to testify that they have been healed by the Lord while they are still sick;
they behave in this way to show that Jesus still heals; however sooner or
later what they have testified will prove to be a lie. Many believers who had
testified before many people that God had healed them of a certain sickness,
after a short time died of that very sickness. Unfortunately, these scandals happens in the midst of the brotherhood,
and because of these lies the doctrine of God and the way of truth are
blasphemed among those who are outside. Why does this happen? Because since
the true miracles and the true healings are missing, some preachers, in order
to draw large crowds of people to their meetings, use lies in order to arouse
great interest. However, there is another horrible thing which happens in the
midst of the people of God: some believers slander other believers so that
they may be destroyed morally and may have a bad testimony among the Church.
To spread a false accusation against someone means to spread a groundless
charge thus an invented charge. Today many believers take pleasure in
slandering their neighbour, and they wilfully forget that “whoever digs a pit
will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him” (Proverbs
26:27 – NKJV).
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Brothers,
first of all I remind you that it is written: “Do not spread false reports”
(Exodus 23:1 – NIV), and secondly that in order to receive an accusation
against someone the accusation must be confirmed by two or three witnesses
(trustworthy witnesses and not false ones) for one witness is not enough. Therefore
if you hear an accusation against Tom wait for that accusation to be
confirmed or investigate in order to find out whether that accusation is
true. I tell you these things because some believers spread false accusations
in order to ruin their neighbour. I say it again: for the sake of truth, do
not spread false accusations and do not give heed to false lips.
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Beloved,
those who speak the truth are secure as a young lion and are not afraid to be
put to shame because truth does not confound those who love it and speak it. To
face our enemies we must tell the truth, lest we be put to shame in their
presence; yes, because if a child of God resorts to a lie, which is nothing
but a weapon of the enemy whom we fight, he will surely be put to shame
before the enemy. who will throw the lie into his
face. What I have learned over the years is that it is better to confess our trespasses
to one another telling the truth than to cover our transgressions telling
lies.
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Righteousness
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“Having on
the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:14). We
believers must pursue righteousness because it is written: “Seek
righteousness” (Zephaniah 2:3 – NKJV). Let us see now how we must seek the
righteousness of God.
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We as sons
of God must show no favouritism because James says: “If you show partiality,
you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:9 –
NKJV). Therefore we must not consider white people superior to black people
or to yellow or red people; we must not consider the rich more important than
the poor, nor the wise after the flesh (those who have a degree or are holder
of a diploma) superior to those who are illiterate or have not studied much
at school. Furthermore, since many people tend to justify or tolerate the
evil actions committed by their friends or loved ones while they hate and
condemn the evil actions committed by their enemies, we must not behave like
them. God shows no partiality and we as sons of God must imitate Him. It is
not easy, however, it is not impossible either. May God
help us to imitate Him, so that we may conduct ourselves in a manner worthy
of the Gospel.
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In
addition to this, we must not cheat people out of their goods and we must heed
the wisdom of God, which says: “Better is a little with righteousness, than
vast revenues without justice” (Proverbs 16:8 – NKJV). According to what the
Scripture teaches, we must not practice usury or lend money on interest to
our brethren, as it is written: “You shall not charge interest to your
brother – interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest”
(Deuteronomy 23:19
– NKJV).
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We must
not forge scales nor do any injustice in measurement of length, weight or
volume, for it is written: “You shall do no injustice in judgment, in
measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales,
honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin ….” (Leviticus 19:35-36 –
NKJV). The Scripture teaches that those who think that it is better to have
vast revenues without justice (that is, by cheating their neighbour) than to
have a little with righteousness are fool people who receive the due penalty
for their injustice.
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In the
book of the prophet Amos we read about the injustices which the Israelites
did in those days, and we can read also that God rebuked them and foretold
them that if they did not turn from their evil ways He would punish them. The
children of Israel
laid righteousness to rest in the earth, for they oppressed the humble, they
afflicted the just and took bribes, they trod down the poor and took grain
taxes from him; they said: “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell
corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat,
making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by
deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of
shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?” (Amos 8:5-6) However, even
though they conducted themselves in that abominable way, they went to the
house of the Lord to offer Him incense, burnt offerings and sacrifices; and
they gathered together and sang songs to God accompanied by the music of
their stringed instruments. But God did not like the worship of those rebels
and said to them: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in
your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat
offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings
of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will
not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and
righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:21-24).
Brothers, Wisdom says that “to do righteousness and justice is more
acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice” (Proverbs 21:3 – NKJV), therefore let
us not think that even if we refuse to seek righteousness our worship will be
acceptable to God, lest we deceive ourselves and be punished by God as those
Israelites, who refused to heed the prophet Amos, were punished. God foretold
the Israelites the punishments He would inflict on them, and among other
things He said to them: “Shall not the land tremble for this,
and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall
rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the
flood of Egypt.
…. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into
lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon
every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end
thereof as a bitter day” (Amos 8:8,10). And that is
exactly what happened, for God sent a strong earthquake first and then He
sent the Assyrian army against Israel, which
destroyed the land of Israel
and carried away captive the Israelites. The Divine longsuffering waited for
many years, then God poured out His fury on those
Israelites who hated righteousness. Brothers, God does not tolerate
unrighteousness and He still pours out His fury on those who hate righteousness
for He does not change; so let us search and examine our ways carefully.
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If any of
us has a dispute with another, he must take it before the saints for
judgement and not before the ungodly. For I remind you that in the Church of
Corinth there were some disputes and Paul rebuked those who, having a matter
against others, went to law before the unrighteous. Here is how Paul rebuked
them: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the
unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge
the world? and if the world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall
judge angels? how much more things that pertain to
this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set
them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is
it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no,
not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth
to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go
to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why
do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and
defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom
of God?”
(1 Corinthians 6:1-9) We know that going to law against a brother before the
unrighteous is wrong and that those who act in this way conduct themselves
unrighteously. When a brother has a dispute with another brother about the
things of this life, the dispute must be judged by the saints and not by the
unrighteous. If a believer goes to law against another brother before the
unbelievers he wrongs his brother. Brothers, keep in mind that one day we
will judge the world for it is written in the Psalms: “Let the saints be
joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of
God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute
vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their
kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon
them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints” (Psalm 149:5-9).
Therefore, when we need to judge things of this life we must judge them
without the help of those who do not know God. We will judge also the angels
who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode to fornicate
with the daughters of men, whom God has reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness for the judgement of the great day. Therefore, since we have the
power and the wisdom to judge in justice the disputes between believers, for
the sake of righteousness we must not go to law against other brothers before
the unbelievers.
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We must
share our material things with those who are in need, as it is written: “But
do not forget to do good and to share, for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:16 – NKJV).
We must do this so that there may be equality, as it is written: “He who
gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack”
(2 Corinthians 8:15 – NKJV). Jesus left us an example, for though He was
rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might
become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
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Remember
that “righteousness guards him whose way is blameless” (Proverbs 13:6 –
NKJV), just as the breastplate protects a soldier, and also that God “loves
the righteous” (Psalm 146:8 - NKJV)
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The
preparation of the Gospel of peace
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“And your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). We, as
it is fitting for the saints, must always be ready to do every good work and
furthermore we must be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks us a
reason for the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear, having a good
conscience (1 Peter 3:15-16). According to the Wisdom of God, there are some
people whose feet “are swift in running to evil” (Proverbs 6:18 – NKJV),
that is, who are ready to do evil things, and these people are an abomination
to God. On the contrary, a good soldier of Jesus Christ is always ready to do
good because his feet are fitted “with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15
– NIV). He is not unprepared, rather he is prepared
to do any good work and to evangelize. He does not say to his neighbour: ‘I
will help you another time, not now’ nor does he say to him: ‘At the moment I
don’t know how to answer your question about my hope’.
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Faith
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“Above
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16).
“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews
11:1 – NIV), and every believer has a measure of faith God has given him.
Now, faith is compared to the shield that the roman soldier used to protect
himself from the arrows of the enemy; and this comparison is appropriate
because for us faith in God is indeed the shield with which we can extinguish
all the fiery arrows of the devil. Yes, because our adversary shoots fiery
arrows at us which we can quench only by the shield of faith. One of the
fiery darts of the devil is doubt; doubt seems to be an insignificant thing,
yet anyone who doubts in his heart cannot see the fulfillment of the faithful
promises of God in his life. If we doubt, we will receive nothing from God,
while if we believe we will see the fullfilment of God’s promises in our
life. In the midst of our distresses, in the midst of our various
tribulations through which our faith is tested, we must trust in God and in
His Word, then the glory of God will be seen upon us.
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Now, let
us see some examples of men who, by the shield of faith, obtained what was
promised to them and quenched the fiery darts of the devil.
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►God
promised Abraham that his wife would give birth to a child (Genesis 17:19; 18:10) and He
would multiply his descendants as the stars of the heaven. The Scripture
says: “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already
dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s
womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was
strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that
what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:19-21 – NKJV).
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As you can
see, Abraham was old and even though he was not able to beget a child, he did
not doubt the faithfulness of God nor His power. Of course, his faith was
tested, but he obtained what God had promised to him because he firmly
believed that God would cause Sarah to conceive and bear a child, even though
Sarah’s womb was dead. What happened to Abraham teaches us that nothing is
too hard for the Lord: He can do whatever He has promised; our God can
deliver us from any distress and meet all our needs; however on our part we
must trust in Him with all our heart.
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► The
Scripture says that king Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and set it up
in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. He sent
word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counsellors,
the treasures, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the
provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which king Nebuchadnezzar
had set up. Those people came to the dedication of the image, and when the herald
of the king commanded all the nations to fall down and worship the gold
image, all the people – except Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego - fell down
and worshiped it. So when the king came to know that those men had not obeyed
his order, he gave command to bring them before him. So they brought those
men before him. Nebuchadnezzar said to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: “Is
it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what
time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and
dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I
have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into
the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver
you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:14-15), and they answered and said to the
king: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If
it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king” (Daniel 3:16-17). So
they were cast into the burning fiery furnace. But through faith they
“quenched the violence of fire” (Hebrews 11:34 – NKJV),
and they survived the burning fiery furnace without a burn.
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This is
another biblical example which shows that through faith we can face any
distress, being sure that the deliverance of the Lord is at hand. In the
midst of a distress, against all hope, the righteous in hope believes; he
sees that all circumstances are contrary to him and he knows that no man can
deliver him from his trouble for the help of man is useless, however he has
the promises of God in which he trusts with all his heart and he calls on God
so that He may deliver him. And God, in His faithfulness, delivers him and
shows everybody that He is indeed “a God of deliverances” (Psalm 68:20 - ASV)
and that he who puts his trust in God will not be put to shame.
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►
Let us see now how Daniel and his three companions through faith “escaped the
edge of the sword” (Hebrews 11:34
– NIV). The Scripture says: “And in the second year of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was
troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the
magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to
shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the
king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to
know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live
for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye
will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall
be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye shew
the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and
rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation
thereof. They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the
dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it. The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because
ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the
dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and
corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be
changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me
the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said,
There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the
king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such
things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing
that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the
king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the
king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of
Babylon.
And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought
Daniel and his fellows to be slain. Then Daniel answered with counsel and
wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to
slay the wise men of Babylon:
He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty
from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went
in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would
shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the
thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they
would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel
and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was
the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the
God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever
and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the
seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the
wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep
and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth
with him. I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast
given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of
thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. Therefore
Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise
men of Babylon:
he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me
in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation. Then
Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus unto him, I
have found a man of the captives of Judah, that
will make known unto the king the interpretation. The king answered and said
to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me
the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? Daniel answered
in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath
demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the
soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth
secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the
latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon
thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy
mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth
secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this
secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living,
but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and
that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart. Thou, O king, sawest, and
behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood
before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine
gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till
that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet
that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold,
broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer
threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for
them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled
the whole earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation
thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of
heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And
wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls
of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over
them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another
kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall
bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron:
forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron
that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas
thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the
kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the
iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes
of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be
partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with
miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall
not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall
never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for
ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain
without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the
silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall
come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped
Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours
unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that
your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets,
seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great
man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors
over all the wise men of Babylon.
Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but
Daniel sat in the gate of the king” (Daniel 2:1-49).
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As you can
see, not only did Daniel believe that God would reveal him that secret, but
he also declared it with his mouth, as it is written that “Daniel went in and
asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the
interpretation” (Daniel 2:16 – NKJV). Daniel also had the same spirit of
faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke” (2 Corinthians
4:13
– NKJV), for he believed and he spoke even before God made known to him that
secret. From the way Daniel spoke to king Nebuchadnezzar, we learn what the
Scripture means when it says that “faith is being sure of what we hope for” (Hebrews
11:1 – NIV). After Daniel spoke to the king, he went to his house and made
known the decision to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that
they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning that secret, so
that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men
of Babylon (Daniel 2:17-18). They prayed to God and God revealed the secret
to Daniel. So Daniel went to Arioch, who brought Daniel before the king, and Daniel told the king the dream and its
interpretation, and thus Daniel and his companions and all the wise men of Babylon were not
put to death.
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Our God is
a God who reveals secrets; we firmly believe and proclaim that. Any child of
God can call to Him concerning a secret, for He says: “Call to Me, and I will
answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah
33:3 – NKJV). Beloved, what do you need to know about the will of God for
you? Do you want to know the ministry God wants you to fulfil? Do you want to
know where to go to preach the Gospel? Do you want to know the person you
must marry or some other things? There is a God in heaven who reveals
secrets, call upon Him and you will receive the revelation you need. However,
call upon Him in faith, with no doubting, otherwise
you will receive nothing from the Lord. I myself have called upon God several
times concerning certain things about the will of God for me and God has
answered my prayers; He has not disappointed me, because He is faithful.
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►Here
is what happened in the days of king Hezekiah: “After these things, and the
establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria
came, and entered into Judah, and
encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. And
when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to
fight against Jerusalem,
He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the
fountains which were without the city: and they did help him. So there was
gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook
that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria
come, and find much water? Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the
towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made
darts and shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the people,
and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and
spake comfortably to them, saying, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid
nor dismayed for the king of Assyria,
nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than
with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to
help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the
words of Hezekiah king of Judah. After
this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he
himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto
Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in
the siege in Jerusalem? Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over
yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall
deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and
commanded Judah
and Jerusalem,
saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it? Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people
of other lands? were the gods of the nations of
those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand? Who was
there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed,
that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able
to deliver you out of mine hand? Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you,
nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any
nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of
the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine
hand? And his servants spake yet more against the LORD God, and against his
servant Hezekiah. He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to
speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not
delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah
deliver his people out of mine hand. Then they cried with a loud voice in the
Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem
that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might
take the city. And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the
gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man. And
for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz,
prayed and cried to heaven” (2 Chronicles 32:1-20). Here is the prayer of
Hezekiah: “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the
cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the
earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear;
open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib,
which hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria
have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, And have cast their
gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood
and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God,
save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou
art the LORD, even thou only” (Isaiah 37:16-20). The Lord answered the prayer
of Hezekiah, for it is written: “And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all
the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the
king of Assyria.
So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into
the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there
with the sword. Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the
hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria,
and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. And many
brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem,
and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that
he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth” (2 Chronicles
32:21-23).
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In this
case also, a man experienced a great deliverance through his faith; simply
because he trusted in God with all his heart. We can experience powerful
deliverances through the faith God has given us, I have said ‘we can’ because
we have to exercise faith in the midst of our trouble in order to see God
perform mighty things for us. A soldier can have a shield, however, the fact
still remains that if he does not use his shield when the enemy shoots his
arrows at him that shield will be useless to him. Likewise, if we prefer to
trust in man we cannot affirm that we are fighting the devil with the shield
of faith because we refuse to put our trust in God; we can say with our mouth
that we trust in God, but the fact is that men, seeing our behaviour which
attests the opposite, will not affirm that we are of those who trust in God
with all their heart. If we proclaim that we trust in God, we must also show through
our life that we trust in God; the children of this age hear many insincere
words from many people, so let us see that we speak sincere words, so that
they might not affirm that we are of those who speak insincere words.
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►Another
example of faith, which in my opinion is a great example of faith, is that of
the woman who had a flow of blood whom was healed of
that affliction through her faith in the Lord after twelve years of
sufferings. It is written: “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood
twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent
all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she
had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For
she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway
the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was
healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue
had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my
clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging
thee, a |
