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Isaiah 14:1-23 - The Downfall of Satan · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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Welcome to Tabernacle talk Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD I'm
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your host Brian self. We hope this podcast encourages
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you to know Christ, grow in his word and show his love to
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others. Let's dive right in Welcome back
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to Tabernacle talk. Today we are in Isaiah chapter
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14, Isaiah 14, and this is an awesome portion of scripture, if
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for no other reason than this is one of the portions of God's
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word that most clearly declares to us who the enemy of our soul
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is and times when human rulers and governments can become like
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Satan in the way that they operate.
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So if you would like to know, how can I not be like Satan, you
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have come to the right place. Today we're going to begin
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reading in Isaiah 14 and verse #1 we might get to verse 23
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today. We'll see where we're at on
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time. So Isaiah just prophesied about
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Babylon's destruction by the Lord, that though they would be
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the instrument of Judah's exile away from the land of promise,
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God would one day bring judgment on to Babylon for the way that
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they interacted with other nations and other people groups,
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and the death and devastation and oppression that they waged.
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And in that day there would be good news for Israel.
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We read this in verse #1 For Yahweh will have compassion on
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Jacob and will choose Israel again.
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He will settle them on their own land.
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The resident alien will join them and be united with the
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House of Jacob. That here there would be one
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people. It wouldn't just be, if you
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will, ethnic Israel. Instead, there would be a
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joining together of both this people of God ethnically and the
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people of God who volitionally choose God, which is, if you
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will, it's kind of the environment in which we find
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ourselves today, that those that are saved are not just those
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that have a certain ethnicity. It's not the ethnic people of
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God. It is those who by faith are
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joined to Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile, that the Jews are
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not cast off. Being a Jew does not preclude
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you from faith in Jesus and being a part of God's family,
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but instead we are now made one through Christ.
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Verse #2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its
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homeland. You can see this even in the
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time of Persia, the Medo Persian Empire, that as Nehemiah is
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leading a group back into the land from exile, he has given
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tremendous resources even from the Kingdom of Persia.
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It says then the House of Israel will possess them.
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Those that bring Israel to their homeland, they will possess them
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as male and female slaves in Yahweh's land.
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They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their
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oppressors. Again, this is a what was done
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to them now comes back on top of them.
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So then in verse #3 as Israel goes from a place of being
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subjected to being ruling, from being ones that are oppressed,
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now they are the rulers over others.
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Here's what we read in verse #3 when Yahweh gives you rest from
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your pain, torment, and the hard labor you were forced to do.
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This is actually a really important point that I've heard
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the Bible Project make several times.
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Whenever you read the Old Testament, remember that it is
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being written not from the powerful people in charge.
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It is written and collected and edited by those living under
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oppression, slavery, hardship here pain, torment, and forced
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hard labor. So when there is talk about
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rescue deliverance, when there's talk about justice that occurs,
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remember to filter it through there.
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It's not here's what I want to do to those under me.
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It is God will bring deliverance from those that are currently
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over me. So he says when Yahweh gives you
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rest from all of that, you will sing this song of contempt about
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the king of Babylon. So God through Isaiah here gives
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a script for here's the way that you can think poetically about
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what you went through. He says how the oppressor has
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quieted down and how the raging has become quiet.
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Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the
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rulers. It that is that ruler of the the
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the scepter of the rulers. It struck the peoples in anger
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with unceasing blows. It subdued the nations in rage
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with relentless persecution. The whole earth is calm and at
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rest. People shout with a ringing cry.
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Even the cypresses and the Cedars of Lebanon rejoice over
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you. Since you have been laid low, no
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lumberjack has come against us. So here everything from the
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trees to the nations are thankful that Babylon has fallen
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and it is no longer the oppressive jerk of a nation that
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it once was. Verse #9 The grave below is
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eager to greet your coming, stirring up the spirits of the
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departed for you, all the rulers of the earth, making all the
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kings of the nations rise from their Thrones, they all respond
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to you. So this is all of the deceased
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kings of the nations, the other nations.
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Now as they see the king of Babylon or Babylon's rule come
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to an end, and they say this from the grave, you too have
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become as weak as we are. You've become like us.
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Your splendor has been brought down to the grave along with the
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music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you
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and worms cover you. So it's just, it's a horribly
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gross word picture. But there is joy here that those
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that harmed others, that oppressed them, that tormented
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them, now they are subjected to what they passed out to others.
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And then here's where it gets super, super interesting verse
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#12 So we've gone from Babylon and Babylon's king picturesque
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of the type of rule that Babylon had coming to an end.
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But then Isaiah kind of transfers over, and you'll see
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this as we read through. He transfers over to say this
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king of Babylon is like someone else that was once a ruler not
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on the land but in the sky. And the pride that Babylon
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operated with is just like the pride of this other person so
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that you can kind of map them on in the same song that you are
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singing about the fall of human rulers and authorities, you can
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sing it about the fall of this spiritual ruler and authority
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verse #12 shining morning star. Believe it is Latin that you
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would get the word here from Morningstar is Lucifer.
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So if you ever hear the name Lucifer, it just means
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Morningstar. So think of Venus.
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It's kind of your brightest nearby celestial body that you
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can still see even in the morning.
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It's kind of the last star of the day.
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The last light to go out before the day dawns is the morning
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star, or in Latin, Lucifer, shining morning star.
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How you have fallen from the heavens, you destroyer of
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nations. You have been cut down to the
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ground. OK, why?
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Why did this morning star this one?
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That was a heavenly creature. How did it destroy nations?
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How has it been cut down? Why was it cut down to the
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ground? Verse 13 you said to yourself, I
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will ascend to the heavens. I will set up my throne above
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the stars of God. I'm going to be the highest of
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all of the divine beings, the spiritual beings.
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I will set up my throne above the stars of God.
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I will sit on the mountain of the Gods assembly in the
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remotest parts of the north. This would be Mount Zaphone,
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which would be another one I think I've mentioned on here
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before when we went through Psalms.
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Mount Hermon. A Mount Zaphone would be another
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mountain, kind of like this. Lot of idolatry would take place
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there. And so over and over again in
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Scripture, the biblical authors take great care to clarify that
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it's not like, Oh yes, Baal is really powerful on Mount Hermon,
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but God's really powerful on Mount Zion.
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And so it's kind of these, you know, 2 mountains in fighting
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with one another. No, God is the one that is
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actually ultimately in control of everywhere and any place that
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there could be spiritual beings. God is greater and bigger and
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ultimately in charge over those locations.
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So here Satan says I'm going to be better than everyone.
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I'm going to be better than every other spiritual being.
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I'm going to be in there. That divine counsel is sometimes
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a way that that's phrased. It's the assembly of the
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spiritual beings. It's God's throne room.
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Satan says, I'm going to take this place.
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Verse 14, I will ascend above the highest clouds.
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I will make myself like the most high.
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I will be like God. The same exact temptation that
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then he placed on to Adam and Eve to say, Oh no, no, God's
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telling you not to eat this because he knows that in the day
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that you eat of it, you will be like him, knowing good and evil.
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But to this grandiose bragging of Lucifer, the morning star,
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God says, but you will be brought down to the grave into
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the deepest regions of the pit. And certainly as we read Luke
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12, Jesus says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
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Or in Revelation 12, John talks about the good angels and
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Michael himself casting down Satan, falling like lightning
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down to the earth with great rage, knowing that he only has a
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little time. And then in John 20 Or sorry, in
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Revelation 20, John says that Michael will be the one to throw
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Lucifer, Satan the great dragon, into the bottomless pit.
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Verse #16 Those who see you will stare at you.
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They'll look closely at you. Is this the man who caused the
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earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms, who turned the world
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into a wilderness, who destroyed its cities?
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And would not the release the prisoners to return home?
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Satan's goal has been the same as Babylon.
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So that wilderness that we looked at at the end of last
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episode, where no one can live because it's too dry, just
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everything is destroyed. There's no infrastructure,
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there's no way to easily live. This was Satan's goal to
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accomplish all across the earth, and it was the the Kingdom of
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Babylons goal as well. When empires, if you will, when
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they want to go scorched earth, that is a demonic influence that
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causes them to want to do that. That is the goal of the demons,
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to make it so that there is no life, so that God's command to
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go into all of the world, make it flourish, subdue all of
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creation, seek the good of humanity, multiply on the face
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of the earth. Satan and his demons want the
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opposite of that. And so here there is this dual
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goal of this is what Babylon wanted, and this is what Satan
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wanted. Verse #18 All the kings of the
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nations lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.
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But you, Satan, are thrown out without a grave, like a
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worthless branch, covered by those slain with the sword and
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dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled course.
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You will not join them in burial because you destroyed your land
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and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of evildoers will
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never be mentioned again. Prepare a place of slaughter for
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his sons. Because of the iniquity of their
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ancestors, they will never rise up to possess a land or fill the
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surface of the earth with cities.
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So here there is this declaration against Babylon and
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the type of rulers that they had, a declaration against
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Satan, this one who plunged all of humanity, all of the nations
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into evil and wrong and their eventual end.
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And then God says this in verse 22.
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I will rise up against them. This is the declaration of
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Yahweh of Heaven's armies. And I will cut off from Babylon
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her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity.
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This is Yahweh's declaration. I will make her a swampland and
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a region for herons, and I will sweep her away with the broom of
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destruction. This is the declaration of
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Yahweh of Heaven's armies. I think it's really funny there
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at the end of verse 23, I will sweep her away with the broom of
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destruction. Just sounds like a a very funny
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line. I got your destruction broom
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today. And what a joy that evil will
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one day find its end. There will come a day where
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everything that currently causes us, fear and panic and worry,
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heartbreak and tears, we will one day laugh and scorn at evil
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as it is buried in the pit forever.
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And what a joy that will be that happens because of the victory
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that Jesus won on Calvary, that the demons have been defanged
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and defeated through the cross and through the blood of Jesus.
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And so as a result, there is nothing now to fear, because we
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are safe in God, and greater is he that is in us than he that is
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in the world. World.
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So be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the
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devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he
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may devour. Resist him, therefore, and be
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strong in the faith, knowing that the same temptations are
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conquered in your brothers and sisters around the world.
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Satan wants to tempt you so that you will reject God and God's
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way and fall under judgment and condemnation just like he is.
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He's the one that, if you will, you can think about little kids.
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If one little kid gets pranked and he wants other kids to get
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pranked just like he did. So if you have a couple
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siblings, you know, maybe someone walked through the door
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and a bucket of water, maybe not a bucket of water, but like a
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water balloon or something fell on him.
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He's like, oh man, you got me. Let's see if we can get our
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other sibling with the same prank.
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That's what Satan is doing, only with humanity's eternal souls
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that he wants others to experience that same doomsday
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that one day is coming for him. You do not have to fall to
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Satan's temptations. Instead, rely on God, humble
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yourself. Therefore, under the mighty hand
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of God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
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Answer Satan with the word of God.
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That's what Jesus did all throughout his ministry.
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That is why God gave us the Word.
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David would tell us your word. I've hid in my heart so that I
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may not sin against you. You want to battle sin, battle
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temptation, Battle Satan with the sword of the Spirit, which
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is the word of God. Thank you so much for tuning
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into this episode. And I hope that it's an
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encouragement to you to realize the evil will end one day and
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that yes, human evil will end, but ultimate spiritual evil will
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one day and two. And I can't wait for that day
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where there's no more temptation, there's no more
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struggle, there's no more natural disasters, and instead
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we live in the light of Jesus's perfection forever and ever.
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What a day that will be. Thanks for tuning in, have a
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wonderful day.