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ATONEMENT - 2006
Fred R. Coulter – October 10, 2006
And greetings brethren, welcome to the Day of Atonement 2006. As we
have been discussing this year, especially ever since writing the book
Occult Holidays or God’s Holy Days, Which?, it has become
more and more evident that all of the Holy Days God uses to show not
only His plan, but they are historical and epical, fantastic things that
happened in prophecy and in history. And so this is why these days are
so very important for us to know, and to keep and to keep them on time.
And the time that God has given us to do it, is with the calculated
Hebrew calendar. As we have seen every other plan, every other thing
that is done by men who say that they have a better calendar plan than
God, they're always off, they always miss the point, and they always
have to postpone, regardless if they hate postponements. So, what we
need to do is concentrate on the meaning of it, realize that God has
given us the time, given us the day, given us the understanding of it,
so we can keep it in the time that He has set, not the time that some
other man has set.
So let’s, as we always do, begin here in Leviticus 23 for the Day of
Atonement, and this is a special day with a great significance, not only
for the church, but also for the world, and in God's plan it is one of
the most fantastic things that is going to take place. Let's begin here
in verse 26, Leviticus 23, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, also
on the tenth day of this seventh month
there shall be a day of atonement:” Now the word Atonement, if
you space it apart into three words, you have; at-one-ment. This is a
time when we are really at one with God and at one with God because of a
particular event that is going to happen. And we are going to see that
the understanding, and the meaning of the Day of Atonement, cannot be
fully understood outside of the book of Revelation and what that tells
us. And many of the interpretations that have been given, not using the
book of Revelation, miss the point entirely. Now let's continue on, “It
shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls…”
and that means your whole physical being, “and offer an offering made by
fire unto the LORD.” And so we always have an offering, we take up the
offering, and on this Day of Atonement, just let it be an offering
according to the blessing of God that you give, and according as you
purpose in your heart. And we just take a pause here now, and take up
the offering.
(Pause – Offering)
Now let’s continue on in Leviticus 23, “And ye shall do no work in
that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement
for you before the LORD your God.” Now this is for the children of
Israel, and this is a very important thing for us also to realize
because the way that we are at one with God—as we are going to see—is by
being removed from the power of Satan the devil, unto God. Verse 29,
“For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in
that same day…” and we know that’s fasting, no food, no water. “He shall
be cut off from among his people.” And this is an automatic operation
that happens when people start to abandon the Sabbath, and abandon the
Holy Days, they’re generally cut off from God step by step by step by
step. “And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in
that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye
shall do no manner of work:” Now, there's no doubt that God doesn't want
any work done on that day, correct? Yes. “It shall be a statute
for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall
be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the
ninth
day of the month at even,” or sunset, “from even unto even,” or
sunset to sunset, “shall ye celebrate your sabbath” (Lev. 23:26-32,
KJV). And this is where we understand in addition with the other
scriptures, that the days are reckoned from sunset to sunset for the
Holy Days, and to be doing the things that need to be done on those
days.
Now let’s have a little more understanding of the meaning of the Day
of Atonement for the children of Israel. Let’s come to Leviticus 16. Now
we want to cover this first, and then we will get into the New Testament
meanings of it first, or after we get done with this first rather. And
then we will see what a tremendous and important day this is. And we
will understand that in the plan of God, and the setting up of the
kingdom of God, the meaning of this day must be fulfilled in order for
it to occur. Now let's begin here in Leviticus 16, and let's pick it up
here in verse 1, so that we understand something very important—and this
is also important for us to understand, brethren—and part of the way of
the fulfillment of not only the Passover, but the Day of Atonement, that
is, that we can have direct access to God the Father. Verse 1 now, “And
the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when
they offered before the LORD, and died; And the LORD said unto Moses,
Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the
holy place within the veil before the mercy seat…” that's the ark
of the covenant, “which is upon the ark; that he died not: for I
will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.” Then He gave specific
instructions on what was to be done in order for Aaron to come in once a
year, and subsequently the high priest would come in once a year, into
the holy place. Now think about it, we have access to God the Father,
and Jesus Christ in heaven above, and the holy of holy in heaven above,
every single day, any time during the day. So the whole complexion of
everything in the new covenant has drastically changed from what it was
here in the covenant with the children of Israel. So this is how he is
to come: “With a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt
offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the
linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle,”
that is around his waist there, “And with the linen mitre…” he was to
wear the proper attire, “shall he be attired: these are holy
garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put
them on. And he shall take of the congregation of the children of
Israel…” Now, here is a special ceremony, not done on any of the other
offerings on any other day, in any other way, but only for the Day of
Atonement. And this has great and significant meaning, when we see the
fulfillment of it in the book of Revelation. “He shall take of the
congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin
offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his
bullock for the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an
atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two
goats, and present them before the LORD
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Now here's
something that is a very different ceremony, and why would be done this
way? Well you see, those two kid goats that they were to take for a sin
offering, “take the two goats”, they were to be identical goats. And
here was a special ceremony that was done because God was going to make
the choice. Now this is very important for us to realize when we get
into the types of what these two goats picture. So let's read on, “And
Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD…” and as
we will see that became a sin offering, “The other lot for the…” King
James says, “scapegoat,” But the Hebrew word is Azazel, and Azazel is
another name for Satan the devil. Now why would God have Satan involved
at the temple, and why would he be involved in making a choice between
one kid of goat for the Lord, and one for Azazel? And the whole purpose
we will see is in the spiritual meaning, and fulfillment of the Day of
Atonement. “And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot
fell, and offer them for a sin offering. But the goat, on which
the lot fell to be the scapegoat [Azazel], shall be presented alive
before the LORD, to make an atonement with [upon] him,” not with him,
but upon him. So there has to be something put upon this goat for Azazel
that becomes very, very important. And we need to understand how that
fits into all of the things in the Bible. “Into the wilderness. And
Aaron shall bring the bullock…” Then it shows what he was to do; bring
those in, and he was to put the blood on the mercy seat. The only time
the blood was put on the mercy seat was on the Day of Atonement. All the
other times all the blood for sin offering was poured out at the base of
the altar for burnt offerings. Now then, here's what he was to do, verse
15, with the goat for sin offering. Now this is the one for the Lord,
and we need to analyze what is said here, and how it is said, and then
we'll look at the fulfillment a little later. And then we will look at
the operation of how some of the meaning of this is for us. “Then shall
he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people,”
now this is the sin offering for forgiveness of sin. “And bring his
blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood
of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the
mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place,
because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of
their transgressions in all their sins:” And so, all the sins that the
children of Israel committed would then be put upon this goat. Same way
that we have the type of this is Jesus, and we have a fulfillment of it
with the Passover, don't we? But also, we need to understand, the
Passover and the spring Feast Days are for the church. The fall Feast
Days—beginning with Trumpets, and then Atonement, Tabernacles, and Last
Great Day, are for the world. This is important. So not only—because you
see—this is telling us that this atonement is going to be a special, and
a different atonement, than was achieved by the Passover. As a matter of
fact, the Passover, for Israel, was not a sin offering. So the things
completely change when we get to the New Testament. So here was the day
when it was applied to them in their carnal sins, and as a type, when
the sacrifice of Christ will be made available to the world in general,
as we will see a little later. “So shall he do for the tabernacle of the
congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness.” Then he said no man shall go in there until all this be
done.
Then we come down, after he has done that, verse 19, “And he shall
sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse
it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” When
he has made an end of reconciling the holy place, the tabernacle, the
congregation, the altar, he shall bring the live goat. And we have a
very unusual ceremony that takes place. Now you see, when a person
brought a sin offering, he was to lay his hands on the sin offering—as
we find there in the book of Leviticus in the first 7 chapters, whatever
a sin offering was offered. Now we have here Aaron, who represents the
people of Israel; represents God to the people of Israel; now he does
something very unusual. He lays both hands on the head of the goat, and
confesses over him all the sins of the children of Israel. Well all the
sins of the children of Israel had already been forgiven by that
sacrifice of the goat of the sin offering. So we have something else at
work here that God is showing us; that God is teaching us with this.
“And all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the
head of the goat, and shall send him away by hand of a fit man
into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their
iniquities unto a land not inhabited:” Into the wilderness. “And he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness:” And the man who came back from
taking the goat out there, he was to bathe himself and so forth and so
on. Now, let's come down here to verse 29, “And this shall be a
statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the
tenth day
of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all,
whether
it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth
among you: for on that day shall the priest make an atonement for
you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins
before the LORD. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye
shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.” Then it talks a more
about what the priest would do, and then he said that this was to be
done, verse 34, “And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to
make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a
year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses” (Lev. 16:1-11, 15-16,
19-22, 29-31, 34, KJV).
So, there's the ritual, there is the sacrifice. Now what can the
meaning of this be? Now let's understand something that has to do with
Satan and man, and Satan’s power over man. And also we’re going to see
that it brings out a very important understanding that we need to
realize, which is this, only God can get rid of Satan the devil, and He
will do it in His time, and in His way, and the Day of Atonement as we
will see, pictures that. But you see, what happened when Adam and Eve
sinned, and listened to Satan the devil instead of God, and ate of the
tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—what they did—they put
themselves, by choice, under the authority of Satan the devil. They took
themselves out from under the authority of God. And of course, when
anyone does that—and it’s always true—Satan takes what ever power that
men give to him. And Adam and Eve had been given by God what: every
blessing, the whole earth, everything that there was. So now then, when
they submitted themselves to Satan, and ate of the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil, then they submitted themselves to Satan as their god.
So therefore, they were removed from the Garden of Eden, they were cut
off from God, except whenever they could come to the east side of the
Garden of Eden, where the two cherubim were, and there they could
commune with God from time to time. However, from that day forward, look
at what happened to the world before the flood. It became evil. Why?
Because the way of Cain is following Satan the devil and his way, and
the whole world followed it. Now we have a similar parallel and a
statement by Satan because we're going to first of all, look and see
what it was that Jesus had to do before He began His ministry. And then
we’re going to look at some other things and see how that all comes
together.
Let's come to Matthew the 4th chapter, Matthew 4, and this is a very
important aspect of all the ministry of Jesus Christ. So here we have
the confrontation, and there were other confrontations between Satan and
Christ, and we'll look at that a little bit later too. Now, in order to
overcome Satan, Jesus who was God before He became a human being, took
on the form of a man, to overcome Satan, who has control over human
beings. And we're going to see how that control is really just so
predominant today, and it has been all the way down through time, but it
is more magnified because of all of the things we have in the way of
dispensing information, in technology, and television, and phones, and
Internet, and all the things of we have today. Now let’s begin here in
Matthew 4:1, “Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit in
order to be tempted by the devil.” So He subjected Himself to the very
same thing that Adam and Eve were, right? See Satan was already Satan
when he entered the Garden of Eden. He fell long before the earth was
renewed in the creation of Adam and Eve. So they were subjected to
seeing whom they would choose; would it be God, or would it be Satan? So
Christ came, now as a human being, and subjected Himself to exactly the
same thing. Now He did it in a way, so that he would be guaranteed to
have virtually no human effort left, because he fasted for 40 days and
40 nights. So He did it in such a way that the very weakness of the
flesh; the power of God—remember this—the Spirit of God always overcomes
the weakness of the flesh. Now verse 2, “And when He had fasted for
forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was famished. And when the
tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that
these stones become bread.’ ” Which was something He surely could do,
but you see here's another lesson; He was not going to misuse the power
of God, and He was not going to obey the voice of Satan the devil.
Because here's the thing, if you obey the voice of Satan the devil, you
are what? You’re placing him before you, as God. So if Jesus would have
done that, then He would have placed Himself under the authority of
Satan. “But He answered…” and He answered on the human level, “and
said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” ’ ” Now, you can
carry that from the beginning, all the way through the Old Testament,
and to the time of Jesus, and all the way through the canonization of
the New Testament. Those are the words of God, and we are to live by
every word of God. “Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him
upon the edge of the temple,” and when you understand how high that was,
you realize it was about 600 and some feet to the valley floor, “And
said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is
written, “He shall give His angels charge concerning You, and they shall
bear You up in
their hands, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” ’ ” Now,
quoted scripture, fairly accurately—not altogether accurately—but
nevertheless, to tempt Him to do something by making it appear that it
was the will of God. Now you see angels did minister to Him right after
the temptation, didn’t they? Yes, indeed. So He said, verse 7, “Jesus
said to him, ‘Again, it is written, “You shall not tempt the Lord
your God.” ’ After that, the devil took Him to an exceedingly high
mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory,
and said to Him, ‘All these things will I give You, if You will fall
down and worship me’ ” (Matt. 4:1-9, FV).
Now Luke the 4th chapter, in the same parallel account, shows that
Satan said “all these have been given to me”. Not how have they been
given to him? Let's go over there and read that, because I think that is
very important for us to understand, because that’s what shows us that
Satan is the god of this world. Luke the 4th chapter, alright, let's
pick it up here in verse 6, Luke 4, “And the devil said to Him, ‘I will
give You all this authority, and the glory of them all; for it
has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomsoever I desire.
Therefore, if You will worship me in my presence, all things
shall be Yours’ ” Very profound! We’re going to see in just a minute,
Satan the devil is the god of this world. And then we will see how he
acts, how he works in people’s lives. We’ll see how that not only is he
deceiving the whole world, but also he has his time when he intervenes
and he does things, and he comes at them, and especially those who know
the truth of God. That's what we need to understand. So then, Satan was
told by Jesus, “Get behind Me, Satan; for it is written, ‘You shall
worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve’ ” (Luke
4:6-8, FV). Well of course Satan won't do that. He wants everyone
to worship him.
Alright, now let's come here to—let's see the power that he has. Now,
we know in Revelation 12:9, it says he's deceiving the whole world, but
let's come here to II Corinthians the 4th chapter, and let's see
something very important that it says about Satan the devil, and we need
to realize that in the Greek it says it very clearly. Now II Corinthians
4:4, “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who
do not believe” (II Cor. 4:4, FV). Now, the Greek word for God is
“theós”, same word that is used for God. So he is the god of this
world. Why? Because of the sins of men and yielding to Satan the devil.
Men have given their authority over to him, and they have accepted him
as God, and every religion of the world goes right back to that
deception. Now granted there are degrees of deception, there are degrees
of interference. Now in John 12:21, Jesus called him the prince, or the
ruler of this world. And He had to have that confrontation with him so
that there would be nothing that Satan could have in Christ. He had to
live perfectly. He had to live sinlessly.
Now let’s look at some other things here concerning how Satan works.
Let's look at a couple instances, in the Old Testament, besides that of
Adam and Eve, as we related earlier. Let's come here to I Chronicles 21,
and we're going to see a pattern here. Satan is there to try and get
those that are serving God to do things they ought not do, but make it
sound like it's very important and good. I Chronicles 21, now this has
to do with David, and this has to do with something that really took
place—and we’re also going to see something here that's important—that
whenever a leader submits himself to Satan the devil, the people under
him suffer. And you can take any example that you want to, any
dictatorial power in the world, did the people suffer under it? Yes. Now
let's pick it up here, beginning I Chronicles 21:1, “And Satan stood up
against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” Quite an
interesting statement, isn't it? “Satan stood up against Israel, and
provoked…” Now this sounded like a good thing to David. See, the thing
that's important to understand, Satan begins to reach you at a level
that you are at. If you're closer to God, then he will start off with
something that appears good just like with David. “And David said to
Joab and the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even
to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many
more as they be: but, my lord the king, are
they not all my lord’s servants?” In other words, aren't they all…what
do you need to know the number of them? “Are they not all my
lord’s servants? why then doth my Lord require this thing? why will he
be a cause of trespass to Israel?” Now, David wouldn’t have any of that,
“Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab
departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And
Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David” (I Chron.
21:1-5, KJV). And all of that, all that were there. Now we come
down here to verse 7, “And God was displeased with this thing; therefore
he smote Israel.” Because of what David did, the people suffered.
Whenever the rulers do wrong, the people suffer. And that carries on
into the church too. Whenever the ministers do wrong, the people suffer.
And you can just take that principle through, and apply it wherever you
desire. “And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have
done this thing:” Well he was warned, but he didn't listen, “But now, I
beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very
foolishly. And the LORD spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and
tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer three things:
choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came
to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee either
three years’ famine;” and everybody's going to suffer three years, “or
three months to be destroyed before thy foes,” that is to loose all the
battles ands wars that you’re fighting, “while that the sword of thine
enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the
LORD, even the pestilence, in the land,” so there had to be a
punishment. “And the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the
coast of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring
again to him that sent me.” Now he was in a great strait, as it says,
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into
the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me
not fall into the hand of man” (I Chron. 21:1-5, 7-13, KJV). So
what happened? The destroyer came, and it destroyed 70,000 people. Let's
get the correct number here, because you have numbered them, and yes,
went forth and smote all of them, and it was 70,000 people died because
of David’s sin.
Now, let's look at another instance. Now you see, one thing that
Satan does—and here's what we need to always realize and keep in
mind—since he's got the world, who’s he going to concentrate on? He’s
going to concentrate on those that are serving God, and that means we're
also all subject to having to be very careful in what we do. Let’s come
to Zechariah the 3rd chapter, and let's see something here in the book
of Zechariah. Now, Zechariah the 3rd chapter, and here it tells us about
Joshua the high priest. Now let's begin right here, in verse 1,
Zechariah 3:1, “And he shewed me Joshua the high priest…” So here, we
had the king, first, David. Now we've got an example of Joshua the high
priest, “standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at is
right hand to resist him” (Zech. 3:1, KJV). Now that’s something,
isn’t it? Right there. And then of course God intervened, put away his
sin, so that he could do the work that he needed to do.
Now let’s come to the New Testament, and let's see how Satan
intervenes. Even during the preaching of the gospel, Satan is right
there. Let's come here to Mark the 4th chapter. Satan is right there,
and he does not want people to know the truth. He wants to keep them
bound and captive into his way. Now let’s pick it up here in Mark 4:14.
This is the parable of the sower. “The sower sows the Word. Now the ones
by the way, where the Word was sown, these are the ones who hear, but
Satan comes at once and takes away the Word that was sown in their
hearts.” Now we’re seeing that today. Satan has an all out blitz on the
world, to take away what ever vestige of Jesus Christ there is in the
world. And he also has an all out blitz upon the church, to take away
the knowledge of the truth from those who know the truth. And he always
comes, just like he did with David, with a good idea, but it fails. And
they are, “…the ones which were in like manner sown upon the rocky
places, these are the ones who when they hear the Word,
immediately receive it with joy; but because they have no root in
themselves, they do not endure; when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the Word, they are quickly offended.” So, it's something,
see, all of these things are there.
Now as we saw in the seven churches, what do we have? How Satan
interferes with the seven churches, right? We’re going to see how Satan
has been there busy and active in every thing that he can do. And living
in the end-time, when the great and glorious civilization of Satan the
Devil and mankind is going to come together, it's going to be something
that we really need to be on top of it, and be aware of, and be aware of
the devices of Satan the devil, and so forth.
Now then, he explains about those who were sown among the thorns,
“And those which were sown among the thorns, these are the ones who hear
the Word, but the cares of this life, in the deceitfulness of riches,
and the lusts of other things that come into their
lives choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.” And I would say,
we all need to take verse 19, and really apply it to ourselves because
we have so many things going, we have so many things that are happening
in our lives in the world and everything around us, and we're living in
a Laodicean age where there's riches and increases in goods, and we are
going to see the deceitfulness of that in the time down the road.
Now, let's go on, because there's hope, verse 20, “Now those which
were sown upon the good ground…” and that has to be us, “…these are
the ones who hear the Word, receive it, and bring forth fruit, one
thirtyfold, and one sixtyfold, one a hundredfold” (Mark 4:14-20, FV).
And so that's really quite a powerful and profound thing for us to see,
and know and understand, and how these things work in our lives.
Let's look at another account here, in the book of Matthew, Matthew
16, and let's see an example of an attempt by this, of Satan trying to
steal out of Peter’s heart what God put in there. Now, let's pick it up
here in Matthew 16, and let's pick it up here in verse 13. Now let's
follow this along, because there's a great lesson in it for us. Because
you see, the adversary Satan the devil is still there, and he’s still
going around, and he’s still seeking whom he may devour. And so right
here—just picture this, Jesus is there, the apostles are there, and
guess who is also there, invisible? As we will see, Satan.
Now let’s begin in verse 13, “Now after coming into the parts of
Caesarea Philippi, Jesus questioned His disciples, saying, ‘Whom do men
declare Me, the Son of man, to be? And they said, ‘Some say John
the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the
prophets’. He said to them, ‘But you, whom do you declare Me to be?’ ”
Now notice, “Then Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered and said
to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona…’ ” which means the son of
Jonah, “ ‘…for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My
Father, Who is in heaven.’ ” Very interesting isn't it, here God
the Father just revealed it to Him, that He was the Christ. Now, let’s
come over here and see what happened, beginning in verse 21. Now, Satan
can't let that go. So let's see what he does with Peter here, “From that
time Jesus began to explain to His disciples that it was necessary for
Him to go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised the third day.
But after taking Him aside, Peter personally began to rebuke Him,
saying, ‘God will be favorable to you, Lord. In no way shall this
happen to You.’ ” Now here is a good cause, right? Here was
something he was going to save Jesus from all the trouble and difficulty
that he brought out here, that he was to suffer many things, that he was
to be killed, and be raised the third day, and so Peter, he has a good
cause. No, we’re not going to let this happen to you. Well, let's see
what happened here, “Then He” that is Jesus “turned and said to Peter,
‘Get behind Me, Satan!’ ” Right there, Satan, Johnny-on-the-spot, ready
to thrust in his deception. And he does it under the guise that he
always does, this is something good. Is that not what he told Adam and
Eve? And also, appealing to Peter’s vanity, “Oh this will make you
important, this will make you number one, you’re going to save Jesus.”
Now He said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, because
your thoughts are not in accord with the things of God, but the
things of men.” Now notice what he says afterwards, because this is
important, and this becomes one of the key things of our armor against
Satan the devil. Now let's read it, “And Jesus said…” verse 24, “to His
disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and let him take up his cross and follow Me’ ” (Matt. 16:13-17, 21-24,
FV).
Now that goes right back to where we read there, in Matthew the 4:4,
that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, FV). So we’re to
follow Christ, we’re to follow God. Now notice, he draws his parallel
here, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but
loses his life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? For
the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels;
and then He shall render to everyone according to his doings” (Matt
16:26-27,
FV). So you see, again he pointed that Christ is going to take over
the world. Now let's ask the question, is Satan the god of this world?
Yes. What did it gain him to be the god of this world? Nothing, because
it's all going to be taken from him, and he’s going to be removed
forever.
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