We live in a very fast paced world today. So much so that we want as many instant commodities in our lives as we can possibly get. This is not only in the secular realm of society but the Church has fallen for this “Give it to me fast” type of living as well. The decline of the possession of Doctrinal truth of God’s Word by the average member of any local Church of God congregation in our present society, I believe, can be contributed to this type of mentality. Instead of studying God’s word for ourselves, we readily accept any guess or theory about God’s word from any supposed Theologian or scholar. We live in a day and age that television evangelist or anyone that will call themselves Pastor or Reverend can state a theory or thought and we will claim it for the truth without investigating what God’s word truly says.

A prime example of this mindset is a quote from a book that was written by Hal Lindsey entitled “Satan is alive and well on Planet Earth.”   And he says, “Satan was once a ruler and leader of angelic beings and apparently led them in their praise of God and shouts of joy… the greatest being God ever created, and who had unequaled strength, wisdom, beauty, privilege and authority… The blameless perfect Lucifer was created without any form of evil… with the greatest intelligence of any created being… Lucifer, realized how beautiful he was, inflated with power and pride, rebelled against God, and was cast out of heaven and became the devil.”

Now there is a vast majority of Christians that will read a piece of fiction such as that statement and accept it as truth. But this simple statement alone is full of inaccuracies.

1^st off where does the Bible state that Satan was ever a chief angel? The 1^st challenge is to find that scripture. It doesn’t exist.

2^nd Where does Mr. Lindsey get that he was the greatest being God ever created? What was created in the image of God? Man, and how can anything be any greater than that.

3^rd Where in the word of God does it show us that pride because of ones beauty ever caused the fall of Satan? At this time most people will now take you to Isaiah 14. They will claim that this is where it is all found. I even had one gentleman tell me one time that he didn’t know where it was at; he just knew it was there. When I led him to Isaiah 14 that was the verse he was thinking of. I will give Mr. Lindsey credit for one bit of truth; the fall in Isaiah 14 is about power and pride, but not of Satan as when he was an angel in Heaven but about Nebuchadnezzar when he was king of Babylon.

But before we go on to Isaiah 14 I want you to look at the handout for a minute. Take these 8 statements home with you and try to prove them in Gods word with scripture and then bring them back to me. Church it is time we allow Gods word to speak for its self and us accept the truth that is spoken. So please, attempt with an honest study to prove these statements. But if they cannot be proved by God’s word, we must be willing to let God’s word stand and every man to be a liar.

Isaiah 14: Who is Lucifer?

Most generally when advocates of The Fallen Angel theory bring you to this scripture they want to start in the middle of the text or with verse 12 and end about verse 15. Now the problem with this is that to begin in the middle of a thought is to do that thought an injustice. It can cause the writer to be misunderstood and taken out of context. Just like someone coming in on a conversation in the middle and trying to gain full knowledge of that conversation, it is impossible.

In order not to miss the proper meaning of the text we must read it as a whole. In order to get the full view of the text we must start our reading in Isaiah 14:4 and end our reading in Isaiah 14:23.

Isa 14:4-23

4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?

11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.   KJV

As we look at these verses of scripture it is easy to see that Isaiah starts a thought in verse 4 as he encourages us to take up this proverb or this taunting speech or this reproach against the king of Babylon. Now in this one verse we have a summary of the whole discourse.

1^st of all we have the topic or what or whom it is about; a man but not just any man, but the king of Babylon.

2^nd of all we have a location or where this was to take place. In the city of Babylon, not the glorious city of God.

3^rd we have the purpose or message of the text. This is a reprimand to Nebuchadnezzar for his ungodly actions.

Now the remaining verses give us a fuller detail of Nebuchadnezzar’s actions and God’s judgment upon him for those actions. Now it is your privilege to disagree with this thought but the challenge that you will be faced with when you do is to find the place in this scripture that Isaiah changes his line of thought or his subject or topic. When does the location of this message change from Babylon to Heaven? When does it change from being about the king of Babylon to the Prince of Darkness?  With any type of thought given to this text we can see clearly that Isaiah’s topic, location or message never changes, it starts with the king of Babylon in verse 4, speaks of his sin and his demise and the destruction of Babylon all the way through verse 23.

Something else that will allow us to more clearly identify the true subject of this passage of scripture is to answer some simple questions of reason.

1^st Question: If this was talking of Satan, then how did he weaken the nations while he was still in Heaven? This scripture is a prophetic speech of the punishment to come for a sin already committed. So how was it possible for Satan while he was still a pure angel in Heaven to cause problem here on earth? It just doesn’t make sense, does it?

2^nd Question: If Satan was a pure angel of God in Heaven how did he have the ability to entertain the sinful thoughts of overthrowing Heaven?

3^rd Question: Why would he say in his heart “I will ascend into Heaven” if he is already there? This is referring to king Nebuchadnezzar wanting to rule the whole known world. But supposedly the devil was thrown out of Heaven for wanting to ascend up to Heaven. Now that is rather confusing don’t you think?

4^th Question: What is meant by “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” in v.13b? Again, is he ascending into Heaven or is he descending out of it? I can’t be both.

The word “stars” is used in prophetic teaching to mean the messengers of God. Like in Rev. 12:1 the 12 stars that made up the crown on the woman’s head stand for the 12 Apostles of the New Testament Church. In Rev. 2 the 7 stars in the right hand of Christ are his ministers or the Pastors of the 7 candlesticks or churches. Remember that 7 is the number of perfection.

So at the time of this writing who would be the stars or the messengers of God? The Israelite people. The very purpose of king Nebuchadnezzar was to oppress the Children of Israel, to show them that he was supreme, that he was the king. These Babylon kings thought of themselves as divine or like unto God. As a matter of fact verse 14 states that was the desire of the king - to be like God. He lorded over Israel, he held them down, made them his slaves, thought himself better than the Jewish people. That is what he meant by exalting his throne above them.

Pretty much the rest of the text tells us of the judgment of God that was going to come upon the subject of the passage. The next question that we must ask in identifying the true identity of the person wrote about in Isaiah 14 is, “Did anything like this ever happen to King Nebuchadnezzar while he was on his throne.”  Turn to Daniel 4 let us read vvs.5-18 and then vvs.24-37.

Let us look and see how these verse parallel with each other.

Isaiah 14:13 and Daniel 4:30

Isaiah 14:16 and Daniel 4:32

We see at the end of Daniel 4 that the king of Babylon fell from his lofty place of royalty. He was relegated to eat the grass like the oxen. Can you imagine how the people that saw him began to question how this could be the same man that ruled the world or made the nations tremble? The king did fall from his personal heaven; he was cut down and humiliated by God in front of all the people that he had once ruled.

We do read that the king repented and honored the Lord God of Heaven, where there is no sin and where there never will be any sin and where sin has never dwelt.

(The above Bible Lesson was presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor

February 7, 2007)

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Was The Devil Truly an Angel in Heaven? – Part 2

Looking Closely at God’s Word in Ezekiel, Chapter 28:1-19

(Bible Lesson presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor

February 21, 2007)

Ezekiel 28:1-19 

In order to have a proper understanding of this passage of scripture we must have a better understanding of what exactly the city of Tyre was like. According to Halley’s Bible Handbook Tyre was located 60 miles northwest of Nazareth and it was known as a Double City. The reason for this label was because part of it was on an island and the other part was on the mainland in a fertile and well-watered plain at the foot of the Lebanon mountain range. It was a city that was famous for its grandeur and wealth. It was also a power in the shipping industry. At its height Tyre had its thumb on the commerce of the Mediterranean with merchandise from all nations drifting through its ports.

It is pretty easy to see from history that Tyre was a very important community and it is well documented of its wonderful scenery and beautiful structures.

This passage of scripture is another part of God’s script that is taken out of context and is twisted to try and make it fit into the Fallen Angel theory. But just like Isaiah 14 we must identify when Ezekiel stops talking about Tyre and picks up the subject of Satan. And again this is impossible to do because it never happens. Starting with the 26^th chapter and ending at the 19^th verse of chapter 28 Ezekiel’s whole topic was about the city and the King of Tyre.

Some of the Fallen Angel advocates will say that the different wording in verse 2 and verse 12 as one refers to the Prince and the latter refers to the King of Tyre as when the discourse changes from the city and ruler of Tyre to the topic of Satan and his origin. But with a deeper look at these scriptures you can plainly see that the same man is the topic of discussion here.

The word that is translated “prince” in verse 2 is “nagiyd” ^(naw-gheed')and it means:

Captain, chief, excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler. And it could very easily be used interchangeably with the word “king”.

But another theory that I have is that this prophecy could be to King Ethbaal and to his son Baal. The destruction of Tyre didn’t happen over night by one army. As a matter of fact king Nebuchadnezzar took 13 years to totally siege the city and he had no Navy so the Island part was secure. But after Baal was given the throne and even after him was judges that ruled the city, Alexander the Great finished off the destruction of this once proud city with the capture of the Island part of the city after a 7-month siege around 2 centuries later. Now remember this is just my theory and really have not done much research on the issue to see if it valid.

But I believe we have a pretty good concept of what Tyre was like, so we can start to look closer into the word of God and shed some light on some of the misconception of this scripture passage.

Ezekiel 28:1-5

In this particular section of scripture we see that the Prophet Ezekiel or actually God through the prophet Ezekiel is using sarcastic phrasing to speak to the King of Tyre. This is not the only time that we see the messengers of God use this type of language or attitude towards the enemies of God. Let us take a look at 1 Kings 18:22-29

1 Kings 18:22-29

22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:

24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.

26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.  KJV

Do we really believe that Elijah was agreeing with the prophets of Baal that the one they worshiped was a God? Of course not, he was mocking them, actually making fun of them. In the same line that is what Ezekiel is doing here in these scriptures to the king of Tyre.

Ezek 28:2

Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God,

In other words Ethbaal was full of himself, he was a very proud man to the point that he thought he was more than he really was. He was very arrogant. As a matter of fact if you will turn back to Ezek. 27:3-4 you see just how arrogant this man had become.

Ezek 28:2

I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas;

Here the prophet is alluding to the thought that the rulers of Tyre had of the city actually being a Holy Island, as they called it. The legend said that the city was so great and beautiful that Tyre actually rose from the Mediterranean Sea by the hand of God. They also looked at their city as a “Rock throne of God and whomever reigned their was like God.

Ezek 28:2

Yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

It totally amazes me how one can read this part of the verse and not see that a literal, living, breathing, walking, talking man is being talked about here. The prophet says in a nut shell, You may think you are al these things but you are simply flesh and blood, you’re a man and it doesn’t really matter who you think you are. The king got to thinking that he didn’t need God, all that he needed he thought he could give unto himself. He thought that he was a complete man, perfect in every way and head and shoulders above anyone else. The next verses teach us that truth.

Ezek 28:3-4

3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

Daniel was the embodiment of everything that is of God at this time in history. He was a man of great wisdom; he was one that was a revealer of the future and an interrupter of dreams. He was very famous but yet he gave all the praise to God for he knew that God was the reasons for his power and ministry.

The king was comparing himself to Daniel but was saying that all he had accomplished, unlike Daniel, he accomplished on his own. He had no need of God; he could do it all alone. He never acknowledged a divine providence. All he ever had he had gotten on his own so he thought and was in no need of outside help.

Does this sound like someone else that we have recently studied about? This is the very same attitude that King Nebuchadnezzar had when Daniel interrupted his dream in Daniel 4.

Dan 4:30

30 The king spake, and said, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?"

KJV

Just as the king of Babylon the king of Tyre found a false sense of security and power in his wealth and worldly accomplishments. We need to remember that it wasn’t his wealth or accomplishments that brought the judgment of God down on Tyre, but it was the pride that the king had that caused him trouble.

In Chapter 26 the king boasted of the downfall of Jerusalem instead of lending aid to Gods people. We don’t read anywhere that Tyre and Jerusalem ever had conflict, but the pride of the king caused him to rejoice over their fall because of the business he would be able to get from the loss of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 28: 6-10

In this portion of scripture God tells the king just how his destruction of going to take place.

Ezek 28:7-8

7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

KJV

The “strangers” that God was going to use as his instruments of judgment was the Nebuchadnezzar led Chaldeans. Don’t allow yourself to think it strange for God to use pagans for a tool of judgment. How many times did God use the Philistines to bring the Children of Israel back to repentance and reality?

For 13 years King Nebuchadnezzar and his army waged attack after attack on this beautiful city’s main land until it was almost an unlivable pile of ruins.

The prophet asks in verse 9, Will you still boast of your power and glory, will you brag to the Chaldeans of your wisdom and strength?

Verse 10 brings us to a very interesting point in this scripture, it causes us to ask the question “What is the deaths of the uncircumcised?”

The King James Version of scripture makes the word death plural, signifying 2 deaths. To have an understanding of this we must know what is meant by the uncircumcised.

 To be circumcised meant to be part of the covenant promise God had with Abraham. It symbolized being cut off from the defilement of the outside world and being consecrated or set apart for God and His purpose. So to be uncircumcised meant to be apart from God and defiled by the world.

To put that in New Testament terms God was telling him he was lost, he was separated from God. He may have thought that he was right with God; he may have thought that everything was okay but his pride caused his fall from God’s care.

The 2 deaths, 1 is physical which he suffered at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the 2^nd is Spiritual in which he lost more than his life, he lost his soul.

You may ask why this is significant to the study, can anyone deny that Satan is alive and well today in our world? But this man in scripture was put to death. How can this passage relate to Satan? 

(The above Bible Lesson was presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor, February 21, 2007)

 

Part 3:  Continuing in Ezekiel 28:11-19:

In the verses that we are going to look at in this section we are going to read of “anointed cherubs”, “the Eden of God”, “being perfect in thy ways”, and something about “iniquity being found in thee”. Now many of the advocates of Satan being a fallen angel will use these phrases and a few others like them to say that this was the devil when he was a powerful angel in heaven. But once again I believe a proper study of these scriptures will show that this is not a proper interpretation of our text.

Verse 12 clearly identifies our topic for the text as the king of Tyrus. In our last study we even identified that king to be Ethbaal. Now there is no doubt in my mind that this king Ethbaal was a man of flesh and blood just like myself, he was not a spirit being such is Satan is.

Let us now look and see what all God our father had to say to this wicked king Ethbaal.

Ezek 28:12

Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty

We need to remember that we identified in our last study that Ezekiel was using a sarcastic tone or phrasing with the king just as Elijah used with the prophets of Baal. The phrase “sealest up” in the original text means to make an end of, to mark or to seal something up or to stop. The only time to seal something or mark an end of something is when it is finished or complete, right?

This king was drawing a very favorable portrait of himself to the world. He was proclaiming to be the complete picture of what a man should be, no flaws within him. He thought himself to be perfect in wisdom, remember verse 3, and he thought himself to be a very beautiful fellow, a prime specimen of a human being, and the complete sum of a man.

It is easy to see that this man’s pride has gotten the best of him. He was in need of being reminded that God is the giver of everything that is good and God is the total consummation of all wisdom and beauty and everything else as well. There is only one whole and perfect man to live in this world and it wasn’t king Ethbaal.

Ezek 28:13

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;

Again we can see here that Ezekiel is playing on this king’s pride. Let us think for a moment what exactly Eden was. It was paradise, it was a place to where there was no want, man had everything that he could ever want or need. Man also had dominion over everything in the garden he was the lord or ruler over all of God’s creation. Man also had complete fellowship with God, he had the mind of God and the heart of God.

Once again this king tries to elevate himself to the prominent position of God or a God. He believe that he has all that he will ever need, he believes he has dominion over all of the world at that time, remember he controlled the trade industry of that region at this time in history. He also thought hat he had the mind of God, whatever God thought he thought. Remember he thought himself wiser than Daniel and Daniel was the very embodiment of the mind of God.

It does us well right here to remember that it was God that gave Eden to Adam and it was God that gave Tyre to king Ethbaal. Ethbaal didn’t make Tyre, Tyre made Ethbaal because God allowed it to prosper. And just as Eden was taken from Adam because of disobedience so was the king of Tyre taken from his place of prominence.

Ezek 28:13

Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:

Now we are not going to spend a great deal of time on this portion of the scripture because we all know that these stones that are mentioned are some of the stones that are in the Breastplate of Judgment for the High Priest to wear. The problem here is that it is not complete. There are three stones missing And some of the stones that are mentioned are out of sequence as God gave to Moses in Exodus 28.

You see each of those stones stood for a tribe of Israel; there were 4 rows of stone, 3 stones in each row and that made twelve. The twelve tribes of Israel stood for the complete family of God; they were what we would call the present day Church.

Now promoters of the fallen angel theory will try and use this passage of scripture and say that Satan was the High Priest before he fell from Gods will. But that holds no water because the garment was not complete. God does nothing half way, what God does He does to it’s completion. So why would Ezekiel refer to the stones then?

The High Priest was the Children of Israel’s go between to God. He was God’s earthly representative so to speak. He was to be holy and blameless for God would accept nothing less in His presence.

King Ethbaal was claim to not only be the people’s High Priest but also they’re God. The 12 stones represented the complete people of God or the wholeness of God’s people and the king of Tyre was claiming to be the fullness of God here on earth. What a blasphemous claim.

Ezek 28:14

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

God placed a cherubim at the entrance of Eden to keep anyone from entering in and partaking of the tree of life. This cherub represents a guardianship or protector of everything that is holy and sacred.

God had been very good to Tyre, God had placed king Ethbaal in his position to protect what God had given those people. But instead the king allowed greed to get in his way and iniquity entered in. Verse 16 and 17 describes to us how his pride of the beautiful city and his greed for more money from his importing and exporting caused him to lose sight of God and God’s will.

What was the exact cause of mans expulsion from Eden? Wanting more than they already had and this caused them to lose sight of God’s will and God’s law and they sinned against God.

Ezek 28:15

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Now I have to confess, this verse can be a little tricky to explain, but if we will have open minds and take the whole story in to context and not just a grouping of scriptures I think we can see the idea that is stated in this verse.

I want us to remember that it is not just the man Ethbaal that is under fire here from the almighty but it is KING Ethbaal the king of Tyre that is under fire here. So we are not discussing the time that he was created as a man but the time that he was created as a king or his coronation day as the king of Tyre.

Nowhere do we find that Ethbaal was a bad guy when he was crowned king. But as time went on he allowed the power and the greed to get the best of him. The Amplified Bible says; “Through the abundance of your commerce you were filled with lawlessness and violence and you sinned.”

Verse 18 speaks about the iniquity of his trade or in other words dirty business deals is what brought defilement to this mans soul. He was a crooked businessman and pay the price for it.

Let us close by viewing verse 19 briefly;

Ezek 28:19

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Pretty much what the prophet is saying here is “The people that know you are going to be shocked at your terrible fall and you will be a alarm or a warning to others about blaspheming the God of heaven. You will be utterly destroyed and be no more.

Has the devil been totally destroyed yet or is not his power and presence still very evident in the world today? How then can this be the history of Satan and his fall from heaven?

Ezekiel 28 is not a unfulfilled prophecy about the origin of Satan. It is the fulfilled prophecy of a king named Ethbaal that ruled the city of Tyre and allowed pride and greed to cause his kingdom and life come crumbling down at his feet because of the judgment of God.

(The above Bible Lesson was presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor)

 

Was Satan an Angel in Heaven? - Part 4:  Continuing in Luke 10: 17-20:

If people would simply take this verse of scripture in the context that it is written they could plainly see its true meaning. In Luke chapter 9 we see that Christ has had a very eventful 8-10 days and a great number of people believed in Him because of the miracles that he had preformed. ^{(Healing, the feeding of the 5,000, the demoniac son was healed)} So in the beginning of chapter 10 we see that Jesus appoints 70 other ministers to help with the load of ministry that they were now faced with, with His newfound popularity. Jesus was just now really coming on strong in the public scene.  ^{(Refer to Luke 9:7-9 and Luke 9:18-20)}

This 70 was did not include the original 12, they were totally different people and were appoint for a totally different purpose. “The apostles were to be with him; to hear his instructions; to be witnesses of his miracles, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection and ascension, that they might "then" go and proclaim all these things to the world. The seventy were sent out to preach immediately, and chiefly where he himself was about to come. They were appointed for a temporary object. They were to go into the villages and towns, and prepare the way for his coming.” ^{(From Barnes' Notes)}

As this 70 was sent out 2 by 2 they were commanded to and empowered to heal the sick and preach the gospel. But as we can see in Luke 10:17 that the 70 were able to accomplish more that they had even expect and came back on fire for God with praise on their lips and rejoicing in their heart because even the devils were subject unto them.

The 70 had found that there was great power in the name of Jesus. If we have Jesus in our hearts and are willing to proclaim His name with our lips then the sky is the limit on what we can accomplish with God.

It was because of the 70’s celebratory return that prompted Jesus to speak the very words that are in question in verse 18. Christ was rejoicing with them and in His time of rejoicing He made a comparison of this moment that everyone there would be able to understand.

We need to remember that this was said in connection with the 70’s recently completed mission trip. Therefore there is no way that this could be taken in it’s proper context and still be referred to as the literal falling of Satan from the dwelling place of God.

This was not the 1^st time that Satan has been on the scene. He was in the garden of Eden, He was in the Book of Job, He was in the wilderness tempting Christ, it was not like this was the worlds 1^st encounter with this enemy of God.

Jesus was here referring to how Satan had been expelled from the hearts and lives of men and women by the power of God that was exercised by the 70 that Christ had sent out to do the work of the Kingdom.

Down through the course of time Satan had taken an exalted place in the hearts and lives of God’s most precious creation. He had moved in on the throne of man’s heart and that was a place that was made only for God the Father. But praise God, through the power of Christ and His gospel Satan was being dethroned from his exalted position that he had unrightfully achieved by deceiving the creation of God. And that my friends was what Christ was celebrating.

To give us a little better understanding let me quote Lawrence Chesnut from his book on the same subject.

“For scriptural understanding it is very important to keep clear the fact that Jesus did not say Satan fell from heaven, but that he saw Satan as lightening fall from heaven. To understand the meaning of the little word as is important here.

1—As—An adverb, which denotes to the same degree, or extent, equally.

2—Adverb—A word that extends, or limits the meaning of a verb.

3—Verb—That part of speech which asserts, declares, or expresses what is said about the subject.

Here the overthrow of Satan is compared as lightening falling—Meaning the comparison is limited to the realm, or area of lightening. Lightening operates, and displays itself only in the realm of the aerial heaven—Not in the heaven of heavens, where God is. Lightening here used as comparison, displays itself in the realm of the sight and sound of the human eye and ear. What this text refers to can be seen, heard, and felt by the eye, ear, and feeling of humankind here on this earth. This pinpoints, and limits the entire scene, and happening here on earth with Jesus and His disciples.”

^{Lawrence Chesnut “Was the Devil One Time An Angel in Heaven”}

Ps 42:1

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

KJV

This verse of scripture uses the same adverb, as does the verse in our study ad we have no problem here understanding what the writer is trying to say. Just like the deer desires a drink of fresh water from the brook, our souls desire the fellowship of God.

It is just like someone saying, “ You are as graceful as a gazelle.”  It is not to mean literally but figuratively. Jesus was saying that the fall of Satan from the hearts of mean was like the way that lighting falls from the sky. AS I thought on the way that lightning falls it seems to fall;

-         Sudden

-         Visible: Seen by those on earth

-         It enlightens: It lights up the night sky

Let us take a minute and explain these characteristics.

Sudden: Salvation is not a process; you don’t get saved a little more each day. The act of being cleansed from sin is a instantaneous action. Our growth may come day by day but our cleansing from sin does not.

Visible: The change will be seen by all. Even though the dethroning of Satan is done in the spiritual, the change will be evident in the mortal realm as well. WE are new creatures in Christ.  

It enlightens: Allowing the gospel to evict Satan from your heart is to also allow the gospel to lead you into all truth. There were ideas and concepts that I had prior to my salvation that I don’t hold any more. I have see the truth and I have been enlightened to the things of God.

I believe our brief little study here has been sufficient enough to prove that Jesus was not talking about some vision that He had or hearing of the 70’s victory took him back many years before when the devil was thrown from Heaven. But what Jesus was doing was making a comparison that would have been very understandable in that day and time and should still be today about what was taking place in the lives of the people that was accepting Him as Lord and Savior. 

Satan’s reign of power was not going to go unchecked any longer. You see Jesus was not only excited about what had taken place but He was rejoicing over what was still to come. The ultimate victory for God was at Calvary. Because of Calvary Satan is not only defeated in our souls but also he is defeated in our everyday lives.

Another reason that this passage of scripture is so misunderstood is the meaning of the word “Heaven”. The Jewish people believed that there was at least 7 different heavens. Now I don’t hold to that thought. But I believe that the Bible speaks of at least 4.

We have the heaven where the sun, moon, stars and clouds are placed. We have the heavenly places that are spoken of in Eph 2:6, which are spiritual, experiences here on earth. We have the 3^rd heaven that Paul spoke of in 2 Cor. Chapter 12 1-4, which I believe is paradise.  And we have the heaven that is the eternal dwelling place of God

To state that every time we see the word heaven it means the dwelling place of God is to do the word injustice.

In order to be earnest seekers of truth we must be willing to rightly divide the word of God and leave old wives tales and fables alone.

Side notes: Paradise: Luke 23:43 then see John 20:17. He had been to paradise but had not yet been to His Father.

(The above Bible Lesson was presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor)

Was Satan an Angel in Heaven? - Part 5:  Continuing our study in 2 Peter 2:4-10 & Jude 6-7:

As we read these passages of scripture you will notice that the word devil, Satan, Lucifer, or anything of that nature is mentioned. So how could anyone get the idea that these scriptures are pertaining to the dismissing of Satan from Heaven? In order to have a understanding origin of where these scriptures were so twisted and confused, let me share with you a quote from Jeanne Trovato’s book Was The Devil Ever An Angel In Heaven

“ Some believers cannot wholly accept the theory of Satan actually being an angel in heaven at one time, so they have believed what is known as the “Pre-Adamic” theory. This is that scenario… God told Adam and Eve to “replenish” the earth. The supposition here is that the earth had already been plenished with some former occupants. These former occupants are assumed to have been the Devil and his host of angels.

            They suppose that God had placed Satan and his angels upon the earth before man, for a probationary period of time. The scenario builds… Since Satan was the one in charge over all these angelic beings, he became puffed up with pride and rebelled against God. Therefore! He lost his first estate. Since that time, the supposed rebellious angels became his subjects and are now the enemies of God.” Jeanne Trovato

Now this theory makes no more sense to me than any of the others that we have already studied but the advocates of this deduction use our passages of tonight’s discussion as their evidence.

In our attempt to have a greater understanding of these scriptures I want to quote Lawrence Chesnut on these scriptures.

“The Hebrew converts who first receive this most solemn epistle would be familiar with Jude’s references to Old Testament figures and incidents.

1—Unbelieving Israel.

2—Disobedient Angels.

3—Lustful Sodomites.

4—Self-righteous Cain.

5—Greedy Balaam—“The error of Balaam.” For the sake of gain they corrupted the Word of God and refined away its meaning and let down so as to suit the passions of the profligate.

6—Presumptuous Korah. Korah, and his associates opposed the authority of Moses and Aaron. Jude 11 accuses them of murder, covetousness and rebellion against the authority of God.

7—Blasphemous mockers.”

This second epistle of II Peter was meant as a sharp rebuke of the unfaithful among the professing Disciples of Christ. The same atmosphere of unrest, suffering and persecution pervades the two epistles first and second Peter. Now, Emperor Nero is about to undertake his fierce persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire, and heresies, false teachers, and apostates abound. So Peter utters his last warning before his own Martyrdom at Rome.”  Lawrence Chesnut ^{Was The Devil One Time An Angel In Heaven}

The letters of Peter and of Jude have the common thread of warning the readers against corruption and in the Church and the falling away of God’s people in the past, present and times to come.

In order to see these passages clearly we have to have a proper understanding of the word “Angel”. It comes from the Greek word, aggelos (ang'-el-os); and it is defined as A messenger; especially an "angel"; by implication, a pastor. (^{New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance)}

So we can see that this word “angel” can very easily be defined in three ways. It can mean a celestial being or messenger sent from God as in Matt 1:20, Luke 22:43, John 5:4, Acts 5:19 just to name a few. It can mean a human being as a messenger, pastor, minister or leader as in Rev. 2:1. Or it can mean the followers of Satan as in Matt. 25:41.

It is important to realize that the word “heaven” is ever spoken in either of these passages. So where can we get that this ever happened in the dwelling place of God in the 1^st place. 2 Peter 2 and the book of Jude both are speaking of false prophets that crept into the church and were leading people stray.

Both of these verses of scriptures are speaking of what occurred with the people of God after creation but before the flood. Gen. 5 gives us the whole run down of the generations of God’s people before the flood and we know that there were 8 generations so to speak.

I think it is important to note here that this is the generations of the men that formed the blood line for Jesus. Seth was the 3^rd son birthed to Adam and it was from Seth’s bloodline that we get Joseph the earthly father of Jesus. ^{Luke 3:23}

As we begin to look at Gen. chapter 6 we can see that their was a great deal of wickedness that came into the world and all that they could think about was sinfulness. They had lost their desire for a relationship with God. This grieved the Lord to the point that He even placed man on the earth. We all know that God decided to destroy the earth with a great flood but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

So looking at 2 Peter 2 and Jude in light of these facts it is easy for us to see that the writers were warning the Church about allowing false prophets to fill their minds with a bunch of junk and cause them to lose their influence. Because that was what had happened that grieved the hart of God so much.

Gen 6:2 tells us that the Holy seed or the bloodline of Seth began to see the daughters of man or the descendants of Cain and they married them. And the people of God that were to be the messengers of the laws of God were being corrupted by the daughters of the world.

You see these 10 men and their families lost their 1^st estate or they traded the promises of God for the pleasures of the world. They left their own habitation or forsook their God given responsibility as leaders for God and allow the work and the causes of the world to become their habitat or their life’s work.

If we were to look at Gen. 4 we could see that Cain began to have children and his children had children and they began to invent things such as tools, musical instruments, and built unto them cities. We see in this group of scriptures that it was a descendant of Cain that 1^st married more than one wife. ^{V. 19}

It was a total breakdown of the plan of God. Surely God gave Jubal the ability to make and play musical instruments and I am sure that God gave Tubalcain the wisdom to design tools and other things out of metal. But it was the devil that caused this to be their life and to follow after God.

The men of God fell into this trap; they married the daughters of these guys and allowed the desires of the world to interfere with the work of God.

They were to teach the world at that time the will of God in word and by action. But because they intermarried with the perverse seed of Cain the world fell into moral chaos.

This why that Peter wrote that the messengers that sinned were cast down to Hell because they were denied the glories of God’s holiness and presence in the Garden because of the sin in their lives. Any place that there is not the presence of God is a Hell in my opinion.

Can you imagine the culture shock that Adam and Eve must have felt going from the Garden of Eden, which was total; paradise to have to make due for themselves?

Now let us close by looking at the last phrase in each scripture passage. Even though they are worded a little different they are saying the same thing.

The question I must ask here is; “Is the Satan and his angels or followers in Hell right now waiting upon the coming of our Lord?”

I believe that we have ample scriptures to prove that the devil is still free today. He is bound in the lives of the Saints of God that bind him with the truth of God’s word. But isn’t it evident that he is loose on the world of none believers? (See Matt. 8:29, Matt. 25:41 and Rev. 20:10)

But the human agents of the devil that fell from their place as messengers or ministers of God and have passed from this world are reserved or held in the chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day or last day. (See John 12:48, Rom 2:5)

(The above Bible Lesson was presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor)

Was Satan an Angel in Heaven? - Part 6:  Continuing our study in Revelation 12: 7-11:

This particular passage of scriptures can be very difficult to understand if we take them out of their context and try and take them literally. If we would be reasonable thinking adults we could come to the conclusion that it is totally absurd to believe that there was a literal war in the dwelling place of God.

In order to have a true understanding of what is being spoken of here we must realize that Revelation has been spoken to us from the mouth of God in a symbolic language. We must also understand that if one part of this book of prophecy is symbolic then the whole book of prophecy is symbolic. It would not be a just God to give a book that was partly literal and partly symbolic.

In order for us to get a clear picture of Revelations 12:7-11 we must understand the time and place that the events in this chapter takes place. In order to do that we are briefly going to look at the 1^st 6 verses of Revelation 12 and see what was going on in that scene and where and when that took place.

The 1^st sight that we see with our spiritual eye is a woman with child that is standing on the moon; she is clothed with the sun and has a crown of 12 stars that is upon her head.  We can easily identify this woman that is so glorious and beautiful it takes every luminary in Heaven to describe her as the Bride of Christ, The Church.

Now we may ask what does the sun, moon and stars stand for or what is their objective. These 3 objects are the only natural producers of light that we have in this world. The Church is the only producer of light that we have in a world that is engulfed with spiritual darkness. It is the responsibility of the Church to bring the light of truth into a world that is full of the darkness of sin.

Matt 4:16-17

16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Acts 26:13-18 13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. 14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. KJV

The last verse of scripture that we just read was Paul’s testimony before Agrippa and the purpose that Christ gave Paul for this special encounter was to turn the world from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God and that they may receive forgiveness of their sins.

So in Revelation 12:1 we see the Church shining bright with the truth of God’s word in a very dark and corrupt world.

I also believe that each particular object has it own personal representation as well. The moon is symbolic for the old law. With the death of Christ the law was fulfilled and Grace abounded. The Church rose above the old covenant and stands on its principles but is clothed in the brightness of the whole truth of the gospel. The law of the Old Testament was truth concealed but the gospel of Jesus Christ is truth revealed.

The moon shines only with borrowed light and it receives that light from the sun. As well the law was only a shadow of the good things that were to come with the gospel day. Now that the gospel has been revealed the shadow of the law can be seen more clearly, for it has been fulfilled or filled in so to speak.

Heb 10:1

10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. KJV

We know that stars are used to symbolize ministers or carriers of a message. To have the star laden crown upon the head of The Bride of Christ this could only mean that they were gospel messengers. It was the 12 Apostles that were commissioned to go into the then known world and spread the glorious message of the gospel light.

The crown is used also to show us that the Church is to reign in this present day not only in a time to come. The Church is not to be under the thumb of Satan, we are not to be held in bondage to sinful natures, we are not to be controlled by this world and its theories and ideas. But we have power over sin, we have dominion over Satan, we have the ability to live above the ways of this world. We are the Church, The Mighty Church of God.

The 2^nd scene that we see with our spiritual eyes is this star crowned woman giving birth to a man child that was to rule all the nations.  The church being shown with child being ready to deliver signifies unto us that the fruit of matrimony the birth of children. The very object that Christ had to build the Church or marry His bride was to bring newborn babes into the kingdom of God.

Rom 7:4

4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. KJV

Is the Church still in labor today? Are we still birthing babes into the kingdom?

We see in verse 5 that the star crowned mother to be delivers a son that is to be ruler of all the nations with a iron rod. Now there are people that want to call this man-child Christ. But that is totally impossible. Christ is not the child of the Church; He is the founder or the Husband of the Church. He purchased the Church with His own blood. Acts 20:28

28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.  KJV

1 Peter 1:18-19

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  KJV

The man child that was brought forth is the 1^st Century church in it’s rapid growth. It seemed as if a whole nation was born at once.

Isa 66:7-8

7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.

8 Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. KJV

Ps 87:5

5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.  KJV

Eph 2:14-15

14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;  KJV

As the 120 brethren met in the upper room on Pentecost to wait upon the promise of God they were filled with the Holy Spirit and with Power. As they departed from that room and began to preach the truth of the gospel the Bible teaches us that 3000 souls were saved or were birthed into the kingdom. That was the nation birthed in a day.

In our scripture passage in Eph 2 we see that the gospel gave the gentiles the same offer of salvation as it did to the Jews and Paul called this union one new man.

So we can that the man-child is the universal members of God’s Church. It is the whole body of Christ.

The 3^rd scene that we see with our spiritual eyes is a great red dragon that has 7 heads, 10 horns and seven crowns on its 7 heads. We also see that this dragon takes its tail and cast 1/3 of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and he stands before the star crowned woman waiting to devour the child when it is born. Without going into great detail we can safely say that the dragon represents Pagan Rome. The 7 heads are the 7 distinct forms of government that ruled over Rome from its very beginning to its final destruction. They are; 1.) Regal Power, 2.) Consular rule, 3.) Decemvirate, 4.) Military Tribunes; 5.) Triumvirate; 6.) Imperial, 7.) Roman Empire.

The crowns represent authoritative rule or sovereign rule of Rome at that time.

The horns that we see on the dragon symbolize the 10 kingdoms that grew out of the destruction of the Roman Emperor. These ten Roman kingdoms are as follows:

1. Anglo-Saxons

2. Bergundians

3. Franks

4. Huns

5. Heruli

6. Lombards

7. Ostrogoths

8. Suevi

9. Vandals

10. Visigoths

The dragon is seen by John at the end of its existence as we see by its tail taking a third of the stars from the heavens or in other words Pagan Rome causing great conflict and martyring the ministers of God's church in a last ditched effort to maintain control. This heathen power controlled by Satan was determined to destroy the new-born church. The pagan emperor demanded worship which Christians refused to give. Because they failed to burn incense on pagan altars, Christians were despised, hated and persecuted. Any disaster in the empire was blamed on the Christians. If the crops failed, Christians must be censured because they had made the gods of the Roman pantheon angry by failing to worship them. The emperor was a dictator claiming supreme allegiance to himself and the Roman state.

John saw the “tail” of this dragon cast stars to the earth. The “tail” expresses that it was the end part of the empire. The stars which fell were the gospel lights, God’s ministers. Had not Rome crucified Peter? Was it not Rome’s sword that severed the noble head of Paul from his shoulders? Not only putting ministers of the church to death, but devouring Christians as soon as they were born tells of masses who died in the cruel clutches of the bloodthirsty red dragon. Some were thrown to wild beasts, some stoned, others were beaten, some were burned.

Phil 2:15

15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;  KJV

The casting down of the stars symbolize the great many carriers of the bright and shining truth that were slain by Pagan Rome.

Now what we have gained from studying these 6 verses is that the time of this event is taking after the death of Jesus Christ and in the time of the great growth of the morning light Church. Pretty much we are seeing the Book of Acts. In Acts there was great growth but also great struggle. Paganism was destroyed but at the cost of many dear lives of God’s people.

Now that we are ready to look at Revelation 12:7-11 and see what was this battle that was taking place and where was it taking place.

The 4^th scene that we see with our spiritual eyes is a great war that is being waged between Michael the archangel and His messengers and the great red dragon and his messengers. It is very important that we understand that every time that we talk of something taking place in heaven that it doesn’t always mean the dwelling place of God. From my studies I am led to believe that there are at least 4 heavens. We have the one that we can see with our eyes. Our planetary heaven. We have our spiritual heaven. This is in the spiritual realm of our soul that we are taken to as we worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth. ^{(Eph. 1:3; 3:10)} Then we have the 3^rd heaven that Paul talked about in 2 Cor. 12:2-4. Now this is Paradise where Jesus promised the thief that he would be going to along with Christ the very day of their death.  But in John 20:17 Jesus told Mary not to touch Him for He hadn’t been to the father yet. So this tells me that if He was going to take the thief to paradise on the very day of their death but 3 days later He had yet to Ascend to the Father then Paradise is not the dwelling place of God and so there must be at least one more heaven.

The reason all that has any relevance to our study is because we need to see that this war is taking place in spiritual realm or in our hearts and lives. The heaven that we can witness down here on earth. This war was a spiritual struggle between the forces of evil and the power of the Godly. This battle took place in the being of the gospel dispensation. Paganism was the tool of Satan at that time and he was going to do all that he had power to do to keep the truth from being spread to the then known world.

The church of God and the ministry of Satan were engaged in a great conflict for souls. But the kingdom Christ established was destined to overthrow all the kingdoms of pagan darkness and to stand forever. It was that stone (Dan. 2:31–35) which smote the iron kingdoms of paganism under the Roman power and broke them to pieces.

We see in verse 8 and 9 that the great dragon was cast out of heaven and his ministers with him. This symbolizes that they had lost their rule in the hearts of men. Paganism as a tool of the devil was no longer of any benefit or very little. The truth had prevailed and Satan would have to move on to another plan of attack. And we all know he did in Chapter 13 as the beast comes on the scene.

As we close by looking quickly at verses 10 and 11 we can see this was a spiritual battle. Even though the Romans were using weapons of literal war the saints of God prevailed through the blood of the Lamb and the testimony in their heart and their willingness to die for what they believed. 

Let me close with a quote from H.M. Riggle.

“That this triumph did take place, all who are acquainted with the pages of history know. While the pagans fought with sword and faggot and beasts of the earth, slaughtering thousands of the people of God, the Christians went forth to battle with no other weapon than the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. And thank God, “they overcame.” Those early Christians were consecrated for “they loved not their lives unto the death.” They gladly went to the chopping block, to the amphitheater, to the stake; but they went testifying—that the blood of Jesus saves. And it is a historical fact that often by the literal slaughter of a few Christians, great numbers of heathens would be convicted and convinced of the truth, and turned to Christ. Then the time came when a decree went forth from the Emperor himself, that all the heathen temples should be destroyed, and Christianity became the universal religion of the Empire. Thus in the progress of Christ’s reign, one after another of his great enemies were defeated. This began to fulfill the Psalmist’s prediction, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Thousands and millions in those primitive times were saved from sin, raised up to the real plane of holiness, and reigned in life through the abundant grace of God.” From Christ’s Triumphal Reign, by H. M. Riggle.

(The above Bible Lesson was presented at Stanton First Church of God

Bro. Anthony Molihan, Pastor)