10-22-19 Then Came the Morning
Then Came The Morning :: By Dennis Huebshman
The conflict started even before the creation of this earth. Though we are not given the absolutes of what existed with God before our creation, we have been given an account of a revolt against the Father by a certain created being – Lucifer. This conflict continues today, and will end at the final moment of the millennial reign of Jesus on this earth.
By the Hebrew translation of his name, Lucifer means brightness; morning star. Isaiah 14:12-14, “How you are fallen from Heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid all the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” (ESV – emphasis mine)
In Ezekiel 28, it sounds like a person is being talked about – the King of Tyre. However, starting in V.13:
“You were in Eden, the Garden of God (Genesis 3); every precious stone was your covering; sardis, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, emerald and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. (God had made him to be a beautiful angel.) On that day that you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub (designated angel). I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire, you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.”
Verses 16-19 tells of Satan being cast down from his lofty position and told of his destructive pride because of his beauty. God hates destructive self-pride, and this is one reason why.
When God created humans, He gave us free-will to make choices for ourselves rather than make us all like robots. It stands to reason that the angels were given free-will also. The majority of them follow God’s will totally and completely (i.e. Michael and Gabriel). Revelation 12:4 leads us to believe that about 1/3 of the angels followed Satan, and they now are the demons mentioned in the Bible, and are even here today. Matthew 25:41 tells that the Lake of Fire was created specifically for Satan and all his demons. It will also be the final destination for all who will have followed Satan on this earth.
Satan has tried to disrupt God’s plans for us from the very beginning, as given in Genesis 3. He wants to be God, but does not possess the divine qualities of the Godhead: Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient – all powerful, everywhere at the same time, and all-knowing. For example, God knows the exact day and hour down to the second that He will send Jesus to take up His Church (all believers) in the Rapture. Satan can only guess by the signs that are present.
Speaking of the signs, reading end-time prophecy in the Bible is like reading or hearing the “true” news of all the events taking place right now. All prophecy leading up to the Rapture has been completed, and exactly the way the Bible said it would be.
Satan knew God would have a plan to save His creation, and that it would be a descendant from the bloodline of David. He knows the Bible, contrary to what some may believe, and knew of the prophecies of a Messiah that would come, born of a virgin.
When the time was right for the Savior to be born, Satan would have known the area where it would take place (Micah 5:2), but not necessarily to whom and exactly when. He used whatever he could to destroy the child. What better plan than to have Herod, who was a vicious, murderous king, that would try to eliminate any threat to his throne? God, always several steps ahead of Satan, sent Joseph, Mary and the child (Jesus) to Egypt to save them.
Some have said Satan didn’t really know Jesus was God in “human” form, but that is dispelled with the noted temptation of Jesus that took place in the wilderness. This was right after He was baptized by John, and is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13. He had to realize who Jesus was, just as the demons recognized Jesus when He cast them out of people.
That takes us to the last days of our Savior on this earth. Jesus knew what was going to happen, and willingly allowed Himself to become our perfect sacrifice (John 10:18). He endured the entire process, and had even told the Jewish leaders beforehand that He would rise three days later (John 2:19).
After His death, and being placed in the tomb, the religious leaders went to Pilate and asked that the grave be sealed and guarded. They thought they could keep Him in the tomb, and this also eliminated any possibility of His disciples stealing the body. They didn’t realize they were going along with Satan’s plan to keep the resurrection from happening. From the moment Jesus was arrested, and all through the crucifixion, I’m sure Satan and his demons were rejoicing. In his great pride, I believe he may have thought he had finally won.
However, the third day, the stone was rolled away, and Jesus came out of the grave. This was the ultimate sign that Satan had been defeated, and Revelation 20:10 was a certainty. By the way, Jesus did not need for the stone to be removed, as He could’ve passed right through it as He did when He entered the locked room in John 20:19 and 26.
On Easter, while kids check out their baskets of candy, and people dress up in their “Sunday Finest,” the real reflection should be on the process our Savior endured, and His ultimate victory over sin and death. For some, this may be one of the two days a year they attend worship services, Christmas being the other holiday. For others, we choose to worship Jesus every day, thankful that He was willing to love us all the way to the cross and grave.
Please consider a song by Bill and Gloria Gaither from 1982. It tells about the despair His followers felt because they really didn’t understand what the sacrifice was all about, until He appeared to them after His resurrection. After His ascension back to Heaven, and the Holy Spirit coming to them at Pentecost, the “Good News” started, and hasn’t been stopped by Satan yet.
Then Came the Morning:
(v.1) They all walked away; nothing to say; they’d just lost their dearest friend. All that He had said; now He was dead; so this was the way it would end.
The dreams they had dreamed were not what they seemed, now that he was dead and gone. The garden, the jail; the hammer the nails; how could a night be so long?
(chorus) Then came the morning! Night turned into day. The stone was rolled away; Hope rose with the dawn. Then came the morning; shadows vanished before the sun. Death had lost and life had won; for morning had come!
(v.2) The Angel, the star; the kings from afar; the wedding, the water, the wine. Now it was done; they’d taken her son, wasted before His time.
She knew it was true; she’d watched Him die too; she heard them call Him just a man. But deep in her heart, she knew from the start, somehow her Son would live again!
(chorus)
Time is drawing near to the end of this age; and just as Jesus said, few have followed the straight and narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14). The day is rapidly approaching when the significance of that first Easter morning will be realized by all believers – when we will actually be with Him. It will also signal the worst 7-year period this world will have ever experienced.
If you have already accepted Jesus, your first moment with Him will totally outshine anything you could possibly experience here. If you haven’t accepted Him, please consider your eternal destiny. Accept Jesus and you get Heaven and eternal life; deny Him, and you will be in the Lake of Fire with Satan and his demons forever (Revelation 20:11-15).
He will turn no one away, but will not force anyone either. He was crucified, shed His precious blood, and died so that we could have everlasting treasure. Satan can only offer lies and deception as he has done from the beginning.
Choose this day – before it’s too late – whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15) He’s waiting for your call.
Maranatha
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