Recently we went camping and it was quite the
adventure. Of course we forgot major
items…like pillows, a bin for washing dishes, a first aid kit. Fortunately no one got hurt, we figured out a
way to wash the dishes and who needs pillows when you have arms where you can
rest your head. We were surprised when
we got to the campground by the weather.
We should have known better than expect warm weather like we had at
home. The campsite was right by the
ocean a couple hours north of San Francisco which is famously foggy in the summer. Not only was the fog so thick that we could
not even see the ocean despite it being right next to us but it was freezing
cold. I was the only one without a
sleeping bag and the blanket I had was too small so I tossed and turned all
night trying my best to get warm. The
next day I sat next to the fire and did not wander far from it. The funny thing about camping is that we
intentionally go somewhere where we will be dirty all day, smell like we came
out of a forest fire, have to go outside into the cold in the middle of the
night to use the bathroom, get bit in the evening by mosquitoes and have no
access to our cell phones. For a few
days, we were “earthy”.
When you think of someone as being earthy, you probably
have one of two ways of interpreting the description. One, the person is interested in the
environment, not into technology, grows vegetables, rides a bike to work and
doesn’t take showers very often. Earthy
people avoid shaving, live in rustic settings, are either strongly for guns or
against them, let strange animals wander about on their property. Another way to think of one who is earthy is
that the person is casual, easy to get to know, does not try to impress others
but is always “just themselves”. Earthy
people are relaxed and comfortable with themselves, may belch in public and are
unconcerned about how they pronounce words or their choice of words. But when we talk about being “earthy” with
regard to our discussion today, it will be to describe what the Bible literally
says about you. You are earthy.
To do justice to the discussion of the earthiness of
humanity, we must take a brief journey into the far ancient past. The Bible is rather opaque in its account of
what took place before the six days of creation and the putting together of
Adam and Eve. The Bible provides some
hints at what occurred and we must admit that we might be wrong about what we
think it is saying. In the quite old
book of Job is a fascinating passage that is generally overlooked. "Where were you when I laid the
earth's foundation? Tell me, if you
understand. Who marked off its dimensions?
Surely you know! Who stretched a
measuring line across it? On what were
its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang
together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7 NIV)
What the NIV translates as angels is literally in
the Hebrew “sons of God” but “angels” is precisely what the verse is describing. There was a time in very ancient history when
the earth’s structure was being put together that the stars “sang together and the
angels shouted for joy. Before Satan
rebelled against God and threw the universe into chaos, there was great
happiness at what God had done among the spiritual beings He had made. The angels cried out their tremendous
pleasure at God’s work. But then the
cataclysmic insurrection took place among the angels. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning
star, son of the dawn! You have been
cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend
to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned
on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I
will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14 NIV) This passage, although it is used
metaphorically to describe the actions of the king of Babylon, also tells us
about the rebellion of Satan and Satan’s allies among the “sons of God’. Rather than submitting themselves to God
during the early days of the universe, Satan incited anarchy among the angel
beings (the morning stars) so that some joined Satan in the fight against God’s
rule and others stood with God as Sovereign Lord.
Jesus refers to this war on God when He responded to
the joy of the seventy-two disciples who during their mission trips found the
demons submitting to the name of Jesus. He
replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18
NIV) Where did Satan fall when like a
lightning bolt Satan was cast down from heaven?
Isaiah 14 tells us it was to the earth.
Revelation 12: 7-9 agrees. And
there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and
the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost
their place in heaven. The great dragon
was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads
the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
(Revelation 12:7-9 NIV) Our Lord saw this before He became a man born in a
manger. He saw this before the earth was
made the home of humanity. Now, we are
going to speculate about something and we might be wrong in this but it seems
to be the case. There is a fascinating
set of terms our Lord uses to describe the earth before the six days of
creation. In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth. Now
the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2 NIV)
So in the beginning when Satan and Satan’s fellow
anarchists existed and the angels who were loyal to God existed, the heavens
and the earth existed. Isaiah tells us
of the existence of heaven and earth when the terrible rebellion took place.
How long the heavens and the earth existed before the six days of creation
occurred, we have no way of knowing. But
if Satan and Satan’s allies were cast down to earth it is not surprising to
discover something rarely discussed about the earth before God prepared the
earth for the coming of mankind. It was
as the NIV translates it, “formless” and “empty”. These two English words do not give us the
complete picture of what the earth was like during that time. Formless and empty are translations of two
Hebrew words that rhyme: “thohu” and “vohu”.
The first, thohu, speaks of wreckage and chaos. So before God made the earth ready for
mankind, it was wrecked and full of chaos.
The second term, Vohu speaks of that which is under judgment. So the earth, at the time the six days of
creation began was under judgment and wrecked.
In Genesis 1: 3, God reclaims the earth for His
special creation, prepares it with loving care for the “apple of His eye”,
those made in His own image, humanity.
The chaos is pulled into order, the wreckage becomes a beautiful
paradise and then at the pinnacle of the six days, God crafts man out of the
dirt of the earth and breathes a spirit into him. People are not just spiritual beings, they
are earthy and spiritual, a part of the earth and a part of God. But Satan was not willing to idly sit by
while God established a new society on the very spot where he had ruled. Satan, as a serpent, tricked Eve into
rebelling against the God who gave her life and Adam chose loyalty to his wife
over the clear command of God and together, Adam and Eve pulled the universe
into chaos once again with their Sin and rebellion against God, the perfect
environment for Satan to flourish.
Satan is called the “god of the world” in 2
Corinthians 4: 4 in the KJV, the “god of this age” in the NIV. Both are correct as the Greek word that is
used in the verse can be translated either way.
Satan has authority both in this age and in the world where the Lord cast
him. Here though is the key point. The full verse reads, “The god of this age
has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (NIV) Satan’s chief skill set is to convince people
they don’t need Jesus Christ and that they are better off not involving Him in
their lives. Paul’s accusation leveled
against a sorcerer says much about the sorcerer but even more about Satan. "You are a child of the devil and an
enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and
trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts
13:10 NIV) If Elymas the sorcerer was a child of the devil, an enemy of everything
right and full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, what does this say of the
devil? We must be careful here to
realize that Satan is known most for fooling the world and shifting the world’s
opinion of what God is really doing.
No one ever thinks they have been caught in a trap
of Satan’s. Eve didn’t. She thought she made the decision all on her
own to eat the forbidden fruit. Adam
simply chose Eve over God. You never
enter into one of Satan’s schemes thinking you have been fooled. Otherwise you would see right through
it. When you come alongside Satan in his
rebellion against God, you don’t generally think about Satan at all. You are just mad, you feel like you have been
treated badly, you want something you don’t have, you are frustrated, you are
having too much fun, you are bored.
Satan doesn’t attack God when he comes after you; he gives you an option
that makes sense. David didn’t commit
adultery with Bathsheba because he wanted to rebel against God! He slept with her because it seemed
reasonable to him and it was reasonable to Bathsheba. Peter did not stand up to Jesus’ insistence
that He would soon die because he was fed up with Jesus; he did so because he
thought Jesus was being too pessimistic and not trusting the Father enough to
see Him through this new crisis. Jesus
knew this contention of Peter’s came straight from Satan and made that clear
when He demanded, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to
me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
(Matthew 16:23 NIV) Satan makes certain
that when we rebel against God, it seems reasonable to us and perfectly normal.
Satan’s great plan; it is his plan since the earth
was in chaos and he saw what the Lord did in six days, was to somehow cut off
the connection between heaven and earth, to make humanity self-reliant,
independent, secure. Satan does not want
us broken-hearted, depressed or sick.
Satan wants us confident, sure of ourselves. Satan wants us not needing God, functioning well
without Him. But when we begin to see
who we really are, when our false sense of independence starts to unravel and we
realize that we are sinners and we have an emptiness and real brokenness that
only God can make right, the sham is uncovered.
Satan is the liar and father of all lies and life without God, without
Him at every inch of it will fall apart.
Jesus Christ did not die so that we might live free of God at times but
that in every way we build our lives in Him.
We seek Him with every decision we make, turn to Him at every moment,
trust Him with every part of our day.
Satan has fooled the world into thinking we don’t need God. We don’t have to turn to Him, don’t have to
seek Him with our decisions and circumstances.
It is a lie. Every inch of life
needs Christ to fill it and you are not the exception, you are the rule. Turn to Christ! Turn to Him again and again. Don’t stop turning to Him. He is your Savior…not just for Heaven but
also for Earth.
