Establishing The Kingdom Of Darkness

Chapter Two…

Earth was man’s domain; to rule, populate and subdue. However, Lucifer rebelled against God. In doing so, he established another kingdom in the heavens. Thus, we have evil principalities and powers in heavenly places. But this principality had also been given access to the Garden of Eden and the Holy Mountain of God.

SATAN AND HIS MAN

SATAN, THE FALLEN ANGEL

Ezekiel 28:12-19

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; 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: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

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.

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

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

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.

SATAN’S MAN ON EARTH

Ezekiel 28:1-10

1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

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:

5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

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.

From the scriptures above we learn the true character of satan and his man. We are able to see their aspirations as well as their demise. But how did satan come to be as he is today?

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

Everything God ever made was perfect. Why should this cherub be an exception? He, too, was made with perfection. But the day came when iniquity (lawlessness, violence, sin), was found in him. Ezekiel tells us the origin of this unrighteous seed.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, (a strong unlawful, unpleasant and destructive emotion which genders behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill someone or something) and thou hast sinned.

Note that evil began with a thought, which is an act performed in the imagination.

Isaiah 14:13-14

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.

As the Lord taught us many years ago, the location of sin is not an issue. Sin in the heart is just as deadly as sin in the body and carries the same punishment. “By the multitude of thy merchandise.” In other words, God gave Lucifer so much that instead of contentment he became jealous of God and wanton for more. Wantonness is a driving violent force that motivated him to assert his will against God.

Wantonness is a disease in the heart whose seed is discontentment with God and godliness. It destroyed Lucifer and it will destroy the saints of God. It created a war in the heavens and it creates wars in the church.

James 4:1-3

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

The character of satan is to steal, kill and destroy. The church has become a battleground for great wars between the saints. We have no problem killing one another to get what we want or to preserve the image we have of ourselves. We fight hard and to the death to have our way. We bite and devour one another as easy as eating supper.

It is time to stop this madness. It is devilish and only serves to promote evil in the Kingdom of Heaven in which we live.

It would seem that wantonness caused satan to believe he could indeed obtain his ambitions. But let us look a bit closer at the mind of the father of evil.

THE SATANIC SYNDROME

It is assumed that satan really believes he and his army will be able to defeat God. If not, why is he so fervent in his attack against all that is holy? Well, the truth is, he knows he will never defeat the Lord. He knows his end.

Revelation 12:12 KJVS

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

This again is the power of iniquity. His iniquity began with jealousy. He looked upon all that belonged to God and desired it. He became discontent with all the Lord had given him and introduced covetousness to the world.

But in Lucifer was the sum of all wisdom. He was not ignorant of God being the greater power. But he wanted to be exalted above his place in the universe. He wanted the same power and authority God had over the angels. But most of all, he wanted to be adored, envied and worshiped.

Matthew 4:8-9

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

His jealousy of God was so great until it drove him to go after the greatest prize of all, the only begotten Son of God. If only he could get Jesus to agree with him; he would forsake God and all that pertained to him. Isn’t it strange how a creature can think to be wiser than its creator? This only proves that wantonness and jealousy were able to take him outside that which he knew to be true. It removes one from all true spiritual reasoning.

Listen to the proclamation he resounded in the hearing of the holy angels of God. 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: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14:13-14).

In other words, I’m going to make it. I will be greater than God. I am the wisest of all, I am the most beautiful and I have authority over great multitudes. There is nothing God can do that I can’t do. I will overthrow Jehovah and I will make his creation my own. Follow me and I will make you partakers of my glory.

But what did God have to say about this?

I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub (Ez.28:16).

Here we see satan holding the truth inside his unrighteousness. In his discourse with the angelic host, he conveniently left out the truth regarding the end of the story. “I am a liar. I will be destroyed and all that follow me will share in my fate.”

Don’t you think for one moment that satan believed his own ramblings. He is a liar. He knew God had a time and a place set for his destruction. He knew he could do no more than God permitted him to do. He knew that when all the smoke cleared, and all the roaring ceased, he was just a dog on a leash.

But even as a dog he wanted to be king of the yard. He wanted his own dominion. He wanted his own subjects. He wanted his own worshippers. Therefore, he set up his own kingdom; the kingdom of darkness. Did he suddenly become some hideous looking creature with horns and a tail? No, I think not. Nevertheless, he corrupted himself. And as it happened with Adam and Eve, the glory of God departed from him. Just as his character changed, so did his countenance. The names great dragon, satan and devil reflect this change. He is satan, the great slanderer; and devil, the great deceiver.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence. Satan became violent in his inward parts. His very core was corrupted. He would do anything to get what he wanted. Knowing that he will never defeat God, his jealousy of God created a new spirit within him; the spirit of iniquity. It is his nature to steal, kill and destroy all that God has created. This is the satanic syndrome; “If I can’t have what He has, then I will destroy everything he has.”

Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: Corrupted wisdom is perversion. Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, to become a willing enemy of God is a mind that is perverted regarding godliness. This demented, perverted creature has made himself an adversary of all that is good and a champion for that which is evil.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick. These were the sanctuaries God gave him charge over. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: (Ez.28:14). Now the seed of iniquity is passed down to the angels of the Lord. Many of them agreed with satan and followed after his lies and perverted ways. Now that which was once alive unto God is now dead to all that is God. They have become creatures of darkness and perversion. They have walked away from their holy estate and entered into eternal damnation.

Another sad thing about this story is that at some point these fallen angels, demons and devils discovered the truth about their fate. They know their end. But they are caught up in the satanic syndrome, “If I can’t have what God has, then I will destroy all that God has.”

The kingdom of darkness began with an unlawful thought in the Kingdom of God. It began with rebel angels who decided to follow after the lies of a usurper. Consider the severity of the facts here. The kingdom of darkness began with one evil thought.

Ezekiel 28:13,14,15

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God…

14 . . . Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God…

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

It is certain that Lucifer did not rebel against the Kingdom of God until after the creation of the earth. The passages above place him in the Garden of Eden and the Holy Mountain of God (the site of Jerusalem), in all his perfection and servitude to God. Having worked the altar of incense on the mountain of God and having walked in the Garden of Eden, it is only natural that in a fallen state he would severely covet the earth.

Let us follow the progression of evil. First, satan plants his seed of iniquity in a multitude of angels and other heavenly creatures. These beings took on his nature and became demons, devils and fallen angels, whose one ambition is to overthrow righteousness and promote evil. Satan and all that pertain to him are the enemies of God. Nevertheless, there is an end to this madness.

Matthew 25:41

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

The end of this age will see the destruction of the all enemies of God. Satan and his angels will be cast in the lake of fire and will remain there throughout eternity; as will those who stand on the left hand of God at the final judgment.