Union with Christ, and Redemption

RV160-02

We have found that Satan is to be permanently denied access into God's throne room, the third heaven at mid-tribulation. The saints in heaven will shout for joy when this happens. All of you will be there to see this expulsion of Satan from further access into the heavenly throne room. The joy of the saints in heaven will be due to the fact that Satan's expulsion from heaven indicates that God the Father will soon bring to a climax certain things. We have looked at these in detail.

The first was phase three of salvation – the whole exercise of God's omnipotent power. Next was the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom on earth. We also saw the exercise by the Lord Jesus Christ of His supreme authority over the world.

The saints in heaven will rejoice that Satan's accusations, which have been lodged there against sinning Christians, will no longer be tolerated. When Satan brings an accusation against a Christian, before God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ proves that believer to be not guilty of moral evil, because Christ has paid for that sin with His own death upon the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ thus acts as the believer's lawyer in God's heavenly courtroom, refuting Satan's accusations, and Satan's demand that the sinning believer be denied salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ always wins His case when He defends the believer under these conditions against these charges of Satan, because the issue is not sin. The issue is the holiness of God. The holiness of God has been satisfied by the work of Christ on the cross.

So, the Christian today has absolute righteousness as a gift from God the Father. And as a gift, there are no strings attached. Therefore, it cannot again be lost to him. It's a permanent possession, and it is not dependent upon the believer's conduct.

The Accusations of Satan

It says that he does this before our God. The word "before" is the Greek word "enopion." This word means "in the presence of," or "in the very face of." Just to show you the enormity of the boldness of Satan, this word is illustrated in Luke 1:19: "And the angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God ('enopion')." Gabriel stands face-to-face in heaven with the living God. He communicates directly with God.

This is also illustrated in 1 Corinthians 1:29: "That no man should boast before God." Here again you have the word "before" – this Greek word "enopion," meaning nobody stands face-to-face boasting before God that he had saved himself.

So, Satan indicts the Christian for his sins in the very presence of God Himself. That is true because he can go into the third heaven. He now has access into this courtroom of God. This is what the saints are rejoicing about, because in mid-tribulation, this access is permanently shut off for him. He doesn't give up on this. He does this before our God day and night. Satan argues that Christians do evil, so that they are not themselves fit for heaven, and that God is unholy to let them in. Satan denounces us when we sin. He does this every time, day and night. However, you should remember that Satan, who with glee, today accuses believers of their sins before God, will for all eternity himself be in torment day and night for His unforgiven sin against God. Now he spends his time, day and night, charging the believers.

Revelation 20:10 tells us that he himself will, day and night, suffer for his unforgiven sin: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. This is at the end of the millennium. 1,000 years before this event, the antichrist and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire. You will notice that, 1,000 years later, they're still there alive in their agony. So, much for the Jehovah's Witness claim that people who are lost are extinguished and removed from existence, so, that it's not so bad to be lost after all, since you don't know what's happening.

This would be an interesting study. I've been going over in my mind the teachings which identify a false religion. I'm going to pursue this a little bit. But it's interesting when you stop and think how Satan, in one religion after another, leaves his marks because he teaches the same false things, and they are the signals that this is Satan teaching a false religious system.

Polygamy

Isn't it interesting that whatever else you might want to say about Islam, this one element marks it as a religion of Satan, because Muhammad taught that it is the will of God for every man to have four wives – no more? You don't want to get greedy. Every man is entitle to four wives. Muhammad himself, however, had nine, because he was the prophet, and naturally the prophet gets some respect. Therefore, he gets a bigger portion. You can go through the religious systems of the world, and you'll find these doctrines consistently taught, and that one in itself. You know that any religious system which teaches polygamy is a system of Satan, and not of God, whatever else you know about it. Sometimes it's very confusing, because they're so moral in other respects.

So, here, the Word of God is demonstrating for us that Satan is very clever. He misrepresents the Word of God, and a religious system comes in and very subtly teaches an error. In terms of where an unbeliever will spend his eternity, he is going to spend it alive and in agony in the lake of fire. And Satan, who now accuses you day and night for your evil acts before God, is himself going to be tormented day and night.

The Security of the Believer

This is why it is so gross to hear these television evangelists. I heard Bob Tilton this week again offering to give people the baptism of the Holy Spirit if they would call in and send in their seed money, so that God could start prospering them. He would send them the prayer cloth that they could use to drive away their ills. You sit there and listen to this blasphemous presentation, and wonder whether this person knows what he's saying; whether he's a deliberate conman; or, whether he is really that ignorant. But to tell people that you will give them the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the promise that this will give them some great, enormous powers in life, and great personal prosperity is a cruel hoax.

The truth of the matter is that every Christian has to be in Christ, or he is not His. As Paul says in Romans, "If you have not the spirit of Christ, you are none of His." It is the Spirit of God who comes into the life of the Christian and who baptizes him into Christ that makes you a believer.

This position in Christ is entirely the work of God. I can give you water baptism. I have done that for a large number of you. But no one can give you the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is only the work of God, and it is given only to those who say, "Yes, I accept Christ as Savior." With this gift, apart from all works, the believer has been regenerated. He has been born again spiritually. He cannot have that birth reversed, and he is permanently joined to Jesus Christ. The work of God in salvation is perfect; it is permanent; and, it cannot be reversed by anything the individual does. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is automatic. It places us into the body of Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 12:27, we read, "Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it." That is what verse 13 is talking about, that you are baptized into.

The Body of Christ

So, I want you to know that he's talking to people here who are Christians but who are very sinful. And yet, at the very first of the book of 1 Corinthians, in the second verse, Paul says, "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." Paul recognized that they called upon the Lord in salvation; that they were believers; that they were saints; and, that they were sanctified (set apart) positionally to eternal life. Yet, he goes on in this book and deals with them in terms of some of the most unimaginable, horrendous sins.

In 1 Corinthians 3:1, he says, "And I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, or carnal men, as those who are babes in Christ. So, this union with Jesus Christ is permanent, and it is not dependent upon your conduct.

In John 10:28, the Lord says, "No man can take a believer out of His hands." Indeed, He will discipline the sinning believer, but that does not jeopardize our place in Christ. So, Satan is wasting his time accusing us before the throne of God in order to get us thrown out of heaven, and to have our right to heaven removed.

This union as a work of God alone cannot be broken by any carnality on our part. Both the spiritual and the carnal Christian are permanently in Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual Christian, of course, is under the blessing of God. The disobedient carnal Christian is under the discipline of God. But no sin, once you are born again, can ever remove you from your salvation in Christ. But this is the way the world thinks.

I remember on one occasion I saw a movie in which there was this Spanish inquisitor who had been very brutal, and the hero of the movie now had him in a sword fight, and he had the man down on his knees with the sword at the Inquisitor's throat. And he said to him, "Blaspheme God. Curse God." And the Inquisitor recoiled from such a thought. He said, "Blaspheme him now on cost of your life." Finally, the inquisitor cursed and blasphemed God, and he drove the sword through his heart, so that he died in a mortal sin, and went straight to hell. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the walls of hell are lined with cardinals and popes who carelessly died in mortal sin. The mortal sins are the sins that you cannot have forgiven. This is a certain categories that the Roman church puts out as mortal sins.

In Mormonism, they have mortal sins which can only be washed away by shedding your own blood, which requires somebody to kill you. This is called the doctrine of blood atonement. Throughout the history of Mormonism, certain Mormons who felt that they had committed the mortal sin that the blood of Christ could not wash away, have had elders of the church take them out and execute them in order to spill their blood upon the ground, so that their own blood would wash away their sins.

Now, whose idea is that? Do you think that it is God's or Satan's? That's why only in the state of Utah, if you are going to suffer capital punishment, it can be done either by hanging or (at your request) by a firing squad. Why by a firing squad? So that you can spill your own blood upon the ground, and thus receive forgiveness for your own sins.

This concept, that your salvation is dependent on what you do or don't do at a certain point of time, whether you die in carnality or in spirituality, is inherent in the minds of the human race. In Shakespeare's drama Hamlet, his uncle had murdered his father, the king of Denmark. Then he proceeded to marry the queen (Hamlet's mother) who was in on the deed. The death of the king was attributed to a viper biting the king as he slept in his garden. Hamlet's father appears as a ghost, and reveals to Hamlet that he was murdered by his brother, the current king, with a poison poured into his ear as he slept. He calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. The father agonizes over the fact that he was killed with his sins unabsolved.

In act one, scene three, as the ghost of the father explains this to Hamlet, the father says, "Thus was I sleeping by a brother's hand of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched – cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled." Those words mean: "I did not receive the Mass. I did not receive the anointment of the priest." "Unaneled" means "I did not receive extreme unction. And I did not receive my final absolution of any sins that were upon me." That is a Catholic concept: "No reckoning made, but sent to my account, with all my imperfections on my head. Oh, horrible! Oh, horrible! Most horrible!"

What Shakespeare is annunciating for us is the common concept in the human race that salvation, once secured, is dependent upon your own conduct, rather than upon a grace work of God. Satan should know better than to be accusing us in the Father's presence, and accusing God the Father, of being unholy if He lets us into heaven, after all, because we don't deserve it, because of the way we are acting at some point in time.

Well, Hamlet is enraged over this, and feels compelled to fulfill the desire of his ghostly father. So, he finds his uncle in prayer, and realizes that here he has an opportunity now to avenge the father's death. But he refuses to kill his uncle while he's on his knees praying, because then he would send him directly to heaven.

For those of you who have any doubt about your salvation, Shakespeare advises you to spend as much time on your knees in prayer as possible. It would be preferable that you don't go anywhere except on your knees. So, if anybody does you in, you will be in a position to go directly into heaven. Hamlet decides to wait for a time when the uncle is covered with unabsolved sin.

So, in act three, scene three, Hamlet, as he looks upon the uncle there kneeling in prayer, says, "Now might I do it pat. Now he is praying. And now I'll do it. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. Oh, this is hire and salary, not revenge. He took my father grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May. And how his audit stands who knows save heaven. But in our circumstance and course of thought tis heavy with him. And am I then revenge to take him in the purging of his soul when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No! Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, at game a-swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in it, then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, and that his soul may be as damned and black as hell, whereto it goes."

That is well-put, but all wrong. That isn't the way it works. Satan will never be able to do something to spin you around so that your feet kick toward heaven and your head heads toward hell. We are secure because of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that has placed us in Christ, and that was entirely an act of God.

Union with Christ

1. All Sin is Forgiven

   The believer has all his evil acts for all time forgiven. Ephesians 1:7 says, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace," not forgiveness according to our performance and merits, but according to the riches of His grace. We have redemption – all sins forgiven.

2. Absolute Righteousness

   The believer has absolute righteousness imputed to him, which means that you are declared, in the eyes of God, as good as Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21: "He made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

3. Eternal Life

   Union with Christ means that the believer receives a new kind of life in Him. He receives eternal life. John 5:24 says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life." And though that language there indicates a permanent conclusive act.

4. A New Creation

   Union with Christ means that a believer has been made a new creation to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 refers to that: "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things pass away. Behold, new things have come." The old things here do not mean your sinful way of life. The new things do not mean your godly way of life, though that does take place. The old thing here means to be dead in Adam, and doomed and helpless. The new things is that you've been made a new species of human being. You're alive in Christ, totally in command.

5. Heirs of God

   The next thing that union with Christ brings us that we should remember is that it makes us heirs of God. Romans 8:16-17: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our human spirit that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also; heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him."

6. A Child of God

   The believer is declared to indeed have become the child of God. Galatians 3:26: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ." You are indeed a child of God.

7. A Priest

   Union with Christ makes the believer a priest in the Royal Family of God. In 1 Peter 2:9, we have this taught to us: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

The word "overcome" is the Greek word "nikao." This word means "to conquer." Believers in Jesus Christ are conquerors of Satan. They do this at the point of their salvation. They personally overcome him. It is a statement of fact. They overcome Satan in the sense that they escaped his slave market of sin. Everyone who is born into the human race is born as a slave of Satan. Satan, in effect, is the father of the unbeliever. Every unbeliever is a victim in that slave market. That is why unbelievers have such a difficult time dealing with personal sins that they fall into. They struggle; they're shredded; and, they're destroyed. They cannot release themselves, no matter what, from the terrible sins into which they fall, because they are enslaved to Satan. Satan maintains his control over people by blinding them to the one thing that could release a person from being a victim of sin. He never lets them take that first step if he can prevent it.

In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul says, "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." Satan prevents people from being removed from his slave market. What Satan does is he gives his spiritually blind slaves some kind of religious system instead, so that they cannot overcome him, or ever become free of him.

You have vast religious systems today. Islam is a prominent one. Islam is a religious system filled with millions of people who are total slaves of Satan, and they call him God, and they give him a fancy name. They call him Allah. What they are worshiping is Satan through the ministrations of a demon spirit, Satan gives religion to prevent people from believing the gospel.

Satan's Delusion

Jesus said to these who had gone that far, "If you now abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine." He is speaking to these Jews who believe that He is a prophet with a message from God. They've gone that far. So, Jesus says, "If," and it's third class – maybe you will, or maybe you won't, to indicate that these Jews may or may not go positive to the message of salvation which will give them freedom. That's what Jesus is offering, like he does every poor unbeliever. He wants to give you freedom. He wants to get you out from those clutches of Satan who is digging his claws into your brain, and hanging demons all over the back of you to drive you into the most unimaginable, unbelievable vileness. Jesus says, "I want to give you freedom from all that."

So, in verse 32, He says, "If you abide in My Word (that is, you go positive to the Word which I am giving you), you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Sometimes universities like to use this phrase, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." They put it over the doorway of some building. But this is not speaking to academic truth. While knowing certain things does make you free even in the academic or secular realm, when He says, "The truth shall make you free," He is speaking specifically here about spiritual truth. The truth here is the gospel, and all the doctrinal principles for daily living. The truth of doctrine is the only thing that can free a person from the slave market of Satan. The epitome of truth, of course, is that Jesus Christ Himself is the one who brings that freedom. Jesus is the truth. That's what John 14:6 says. He is the truth.

Verse 33: "They answered Him, 'We are Abraham's offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, 'You shall become free?''" Jesus offended them. He hurt their feelings. He implied to them that they were a bunch of slaves: Do you want to be free? I can tell you how to be free. And they, because they are satanically enslaved and blind, proudly claimed to be free. Why? Because they are all the descendants of Abraham. It's like somebody who is part of a denomination, and who is proud of that denomination, and equates that with being born-again. They claimed that they had never been in bondage to anyone.

Now, I ask you: what was their condition at the time? What kind of a religious system were they under? They were under the Mosaic Law. What does the Bible call the Mosaic Law? A system of bondage: "Do this or you'll get your head knocked off. Do this, and you do it right, and you'll get a blessing." That's a crummy system. But it certainly shows, as God designed it, that man cannot do right. All he does is tear himself up. That's bondage. That's no fun. But they're telling Him, "We are not under bondage." What about their sin? The worst kinds of sin were taking place even within the religious community. They were clearly the slaves of sin. And what kind of a political system were they under? They were under the control of Rome. They were politically enslaved and as a nation.

So, there's no blindness so great as some slave who thinks he's a free man. Any slave who thinks he's free gets in a lot of trouble. In Saudi Arabia, because it's an Islamic state, it operates on the teachings of the Koran. It says that you can have slaves. And people who reject their position as a slave get in a lot of trouble in Saudi Arabia. Any slave who forgets that he's a slave, and thinks he's free, is in for big trouble.

Verse 34: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.'" Here is some interesting grammar in the Greek language. "Everyone who commits sin" is in a sense that indicates that this is a habit of life. Some do this because they can't do anything else. You are continually in a condition of sinning. Unbelievers are slaves to the sin nature within them. Unbelievers live to indulge and satisfy the lusts of the old sin nature. They are clearly the slaves of evil.

Verse 35: "And the slave does not remain in the house forever. The Son remains forever." Freedom from Satan is based upon a spiritual kinship to Jesus Christ – a family relationship. Abraham had the son of promise, Isaac. Isaac was the free man. He was born of the free woman, Sarah. He belonged in the house. Isaac never had to leave his father's house. But Abraham had another son, 13 years old at the time with the free son was born. He had a son born by Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl. This son, Ishmael, was a slave son. He is the father of the Arab race. And Ishmael was thrown out of the home. The slave son does not have permanent residence in the family house. He does not have permanent access to the family fortune and well-being. And Jesus said, "A slave doesn't remain forever. The son remains forever."

Here, Jesus is using "the house" as an analogy for heaven. Those of you who are truly free, because you have accepted Christ as the Messiah Savior are going to stay in the Father's house forever. You will never be cast out. But those of you who have rejected Christ as Messiah Savior will never get into the Father's house in heaven. You've already been cast out like Ishmael was.

In verse 36, he concludes: "If, therefore, the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Only the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can free a sinner from Satan's slave market. The Lord frees the sinner from the slave market with the price of redemption that He paid on the cross. You have to pay a price for a slave. This price was demanded by the holiness of God. It was the death of the Son of God for the sins of the world. So, such redeemed slaves are totally free from Satan and from the old sin nature.

So, the redemption solution for release from Satan's slave market is the only way out. When Satan accuses us of our sins and says, "We merit now to have our salvation rescinded, and our right to stay in the Father's house in heaven withdrawn, and for us to be thrown out of the house, Jesus says, "All of that is wrong. You're never going to be thrown out of your father's house. You have a right, and the right is because you have been provided with the price of redemption to take you out of the slave market.

Redemption

1. To Purchase

   Word No one is the Greek word "agorazo." This word means "to purchase." It means to pay a price in the marketplace for a sinner. In Revelation 5:9, this word is used: "And they sang a new song, saying, 'You are worthy to take the book and to break its seals (speaking of Jesus) for You were slain, and did purchase ('agorazo') for God with Your blood men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. What is he talking about? Somebody has to pay a price to free you because you're a slave of sin, and, as a slave of sin, you're in Satan's slave market under his authority. What this word stresses is the fact that everyone is in that slave market, and it requires a redemption – something to redeem you, or a price to be paid.

   When I was in Dallas seminary, we had a man from Africa in the school, and he worked as a carpenter, as I did. When we had the lesson on redemption, and had learned this Word "agorazo," he went bananas over it. It was so exhilarating to him to think that somebody has paid the price, and it was totally paid. The slave has been freed, and he has no further concern. He would stand out there with his hammer, and we would be putting something together, and he keeps saying, "Agorazo. Agorazo. Agorazo." It made me sick of the word. He just kept hitting every time, like he was hitting Satan in the head, and declaring, "Redeemed. Redeemed. The price has been paid."

2. Led out of Slavery

   The concept of redemption is described also in a second word. This one gives us a little more detail about this great act of God: "exagorazo." The last part is the same as the first word, but it has added this preposition "ex," which means "out of." What this word means is not only did somebody step up and pay for you as a slave (Christ's payment), but then the Lord Jesus walked into the slave market, and took you by your hand, and he led you out of that trap. He led you out of that enclosure in which Satan has you under control. So, it lifts redemption up one more step.

   This word is used in Galatians 3:13: "Christ redeemed 'exagorazo' us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." Jesus Christ took upon Himself the curse of sin. He paid the price, and He redeemed us from the curse of the Law. Do you see what that means? How many people would read this verse and understand what you understand now about the Mosaic Law? We have all of these Seventh Day Adventists, and all of these legalists who want to keep under the Mosaic Law. Christ "exagorazo" us. He didn't just redeem us by paying for it. He redeemed us by leading us out from under that authority, so that the Mosaic Law has no authority over the Christian whatsoever. We are not under this system that says, "I'll bless you if you behave yourself." That's law. We are under grace, which says, "I'm going to bless you because I have already redeemed you, and you should act in a certain way. I'm going to bless you because my grace wants to do this, not because you have earned it by your behavior."

   Christ has redeemed us, and this is in the aorist tense, which tells us that the once-for-all act, once the Lord lead you outside of that slave market, you can never be returned to it again.

3. Freedom

   Then the concept of redemption has one other word in the New Testament that deals with that doctrine. It's the Greek word "lutroo." "Lutroo" is used in Titus 2:14. This word means to go one step more. "Agorazo" means that the Son of God paid the price to free you from Satan's slave market. That price was His death upon the cross that met and satisfied the holiness of God. The second word, "exagorazo," means He leads you away from Satan out of that slave market. There's one other step, and that is this one, which means that you are then turned loose to be a free man and free woman. You are turned loose outside of that slave market to live your life privately on your own, before the Lord, and into His glory. That, folks, is real freedom.

   In Titus 2:14, this word is used: "Who gave Himself for us (speaking of Christ), that He might redeem ('lutroo') us, from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works." "Exagorazo" led us out from under the rules and regulations of the legal system. But notice what we are free from here. We are free not to do every foul, vile evil. We now have the freedom to do right. We have the freedom to avoid lawless deeds, and to be fewer people. We have the freedom to be zealous for good deeds.

   It is a pity that so many of us are perhaps not too bad of being free from an evil lifestyle in conduct, but we're not too good, by using our freedom, in producing zealous, divine, good works of service for God. We're so doggone preoccupied with temporal things, and with all the good intentions of someday doing something for the Lord. And if we are serving the Lord, and it gets in the way of our ambitions, we quit serving the Lord, and we quit doing what we're doing, and we get in there so that we have more time to zero in on ourselves as if we were still slaves of Satan and of the sin nature. "Lutroo" tells us that we are out of the slave market, and we are free to live our lives unto the Lord's glory – doing right, and serving Him.

   We who have been so freed are thus, in effect, being called upon to do what Paul advises us in Romans 6:17-18 – to make ourselves slaves of Jesus Christ: "But thanks be to God that, though you were slaves of sin (slaves of the sin nature – singular), you became obedient from the heart (from your mentality) to that form of teaching to which you were committed (true Bible doctrine, from salvation to rewards). And having been freed from the sin nature, you became slaves of righteousness." Isn't that nice? It's good to be a slave of righteousness instead of being a pathetic slave of evils.

This is an amazing statement that John observes about these Christians who are in heaven rejoicing, many of them martyrs out of the tribulation – that God is beginning to move against Satan, and to shut down the system of evil that He has tolerated for the 6,000 long years. They are declared to have overcome Satan. While he accuses them in heaven, he can make no headway, because they are secure by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But then he goes on and gives us three dramatic elements by which they will beat Satan in the tribulation, and by which we are capable of beating Satan at his own game today. We shall look at those next time.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1990

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