Who Are You Going To Serve?

Last night I had a dream in which I was outside at a kind of camping area, and a lot of my family and friends were there. Looking up I spotted a lion coming into the camp and so I yelled out a warning to everyone. We gathered under the roof of an open shelter and the person who was in charge told us that we were to stay calm, but if the lion kept approaching any one of us, that person should extend their hands to the side of the lion's head and scream at it. When I awoke I realized that the lion represented the evil one, and the dream was showing me the subject of today's blog.

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As I've stated before, the world we live in has both a physical and a spiritual dimension. Each is real, and each affects us, even if we do not see the spiritual world with our physical eyes. God is the creator of both, and it may be inferred from Genesis 1:1 ("In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth") that since "heavens" is mentioned first, then perhaps angels and other spiritual beings were created before man. And we may also deduce that, just as our physical world has in it an astounding variety of creatures, so also would there be a huge variety of spiritual beings. At some point in the time before man, one of those beings, an angel of the highest rank, rebelled against God.

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Scripture does not pinpoint the exact time of his rebellion, but we do see in Ezekiel 28 an account of its beginning, and the reason for it. Ezekiel gives an account of the prince of Tyre, a powerful city state located along the Mediterranean Sea just north of Israel. Then we get the account of the force, the spirit behind the evil ruler of Tyre, and this spirit is called the king of Tyre. "You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God . . . You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God . . . You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence and you sinned . . . Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor". This angel is not a force which is the opposite of God. He was designed and created by God, to be creation's most intelligent and beautiful creature, his beauty representing the splendor of God, his abilities conveying the worship of created beings toward Almighty God. But from here and other places in scripture we see that he became proud of his beauty and, although intelligent, he thought that he should be considered equal with God, receiving some of the worship that belongs only to God.

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We also see that his desire to obtain this was so strong that he would lie, use violence, and even murder to obtain it. And so he became the father of those things (John 8:44), and through those things became the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the ruler of this world (John 14:30), and the accuser of the brethren (Zechariah 3:1, Job 1). We live in a world with an enemy whose desire is to keep us from a relationship with God that enables us to freely worship God for who He is. This enemy wants us to have the values of his kingdom because he wants to keep us under his dominion. God the Father has made it possible through Jesus for us to spend eternity with Him, because He loves us and desires the best for us. Yet our enemy wants us to suffer, and while suffering, he wants us to blame God as the cause of it. Our enemy comes disguised as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and he presents as attractive and desirable those things which God, in His wisdom and love, has warned us about.

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He started it in the garden by talking through the serpent, questioning God's instruction to Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, by saying; "You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". And we are told that when Eve saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was desirable to make one wise, then she ate and gave it Adam to eat (Genesis 3). The enemy has not changed his tactics. He still hates us and has not given up in his efforts to deceive us.

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We need to understand that this enemy is real. He leads a host of evil spirits that want to bring to us sickness and fear, distress and condemnation. However, God has provided for us ways to confront our enemy, many listed in Ephesians 6, beginning with verse 10. God wants us to approach Him daily in prayer, and worship, in spirit, and in truth. Always ready to confess our sins and weakness, always ready to forgive and to seek forgiveness. We should be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit regarding our entertainment and our habits, and really, all aspects of our life. And we need to remember that God wants the best for us, but we are easily deceived by the attractions of this worldly kingdom, whose lord is our enemy.

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"Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you". (1 Peter 5: 6-11).