Last week we covered 6 attempts of Satan to destroy Christ’s lineage. God prophesied in Genesis 3:15 that He would fulfill His promise that Jesus would destroy Satan. Later, we learned that He would be a Jew coming from Abraham’s, then Judah’s, then David’s family. Satan was a total failure to stop it thus far. This week we do the last 9, including several attempts to kill Christ Himself. Let’s see what happens.
Attempt #7: This attempt was Satan’s efforts to kill David and his descendants. This was because Satan figured out that the Messiah would be in David’s line. How did he deduce that? First, he narrowed his search to the tribe of Judah, based on Genesis 49:10:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes;
Satan also saw how King Saul disappointed God by not following His instructions. And then, there was the bravery of David, from the tribe of Judah, and how he boasted about God’s power when he defeated Goliath. So Satan figured that David was next on the throne, and thus he wanted to kill David. Then Samuel anointed David as future king. So Satan fills Saul’s mind with envy and hatred of David to an obsessive decree. Saul personally went hunting to kill David day and night. And there are many verses that proves that Saul was moved by demonic forces. Earlier, while David tried to play music to soothe Saul’s violent temper tantrums, Saul with no reason threw a spear at David. Twice. Another example of demonic oppression was, Saul sought out a medium, expressly forbidden by God.
But David continued to prove his faith in God. He was egged on by his military to kill Saul when he had many lucky opportunities, but he remained righteous—by not assassinating the king. If he had murdered Saul, he would have possibly been an unfit candidate for the Messiah’s line, which would have served Satan well. (Of course, after he became king, he was a conspirator to murder, but sincerely repented—which is tenderly recorded in Psalm 51. God’s wonderful grace then forgave him.)
When David died, Satan also did everything he could to tempt David’s descendants into evil, hoping to break the lineage to the Messiah that way. Solomon was David’s son. Solomon’s many wives seduced him into idolatry. Solomon spent government money lavishly to build palaces and a glorious temple, burnished with alarming amounts of gold and precious stones. Thus he taxed his people heavily. When Solomon died, his own son refused the request of the common people to reduce the tax, and, as a result, the kingdom was split! There was the rebellious 10-tribe north, still called Israel, and south, called Judah (which included Benjamin). This was a real threat to their continued existence, since a divided nation is weaker and will be attacked by enemies. The following generations proved to be a continuing downdraft of morals and corruptions, of idolatry and religious sexual fornication. They abandoned God and followed the pagan religions around them. They were in and out of oppressive dominance by Canaanite nations.
Attempt #8. Ahaziah. This was around 885 BC. This was 100 years after Solomon’s sons had a rift and split the nation into two parts. We now must keep our focus on kings of Judah, not the 10 tribes of Israel in the north, because of Genesis 49:10, repeated in this week's blog:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes
Despite the same-name confusion from II Kings and II Chronicles, Ahaziah’s story begins in II Chronicles 22:1:
Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the raiders who came with the Arabians into the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
See also II Kings 8:25. As the above verses say, due to war, his brothers all died. He was alone among heirs among David's descendants. God's lineage plan was hanging by a single thread. Not a problem for Him. God kept Ahaziah from being killed until he had sons, continuing the Judah lineage. He began reigning when he was 22, or, ah, 42. II Kings 8:26 says 22, but II Chronicles 22:2 says 42. A copyist's error. Remember, Holy Scripture is perfect in the original. But an error like this doesn't mean we throw away God's Word. More than likely, he was 42. He was only king for one year. That leads to the next Attempt....
Attempt #9. Joash. We had another one-man crisis. Seems that a guy named Jehu was ordained by a prophet to kingship over Israel (I Kings 19:16). So he did a coup d’etat, and killed the king of Israel, Joram. And, for good measure, ordered the assassination of Ahaziah, king of Judah (II Kings 9:27). Then he took the kingship in Israel. When Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah, heard of her son’s death, the wicked woman took immediate advantage: she killed almost all Ahaziah’s sons, intending to reign herself (II Kings 11:1-3). God's lineage was under threat. But as II Kings 11:2 records, God saw that she missed one:
But Jehosheba (or Jehoshabeath)….sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being murdered; and they hid him and his nurse in the bedroom, from Athaliah, so that he was not killed.
So the lineage of Christ was again preserved; one survived. But note: Joash was a small child (notice "his nurse") when rescued, so he didn't become capable to reign in Judah at the same time as Jehu began reigning in Israel. A council of his aides, smart men, ruled for awhile.
The story of Joash (also called Jehoash) has a semi-happy ending, as you read II Kings 11:21-12:1:
In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem.
The reason I call it “semi” happy is because while he was a good king, and reigned for a long time, II Kings 12:3 says he didn’t take the “high places” away. These were places for worship of a false god. But the point is, Attempt #9 failed; Judah still has proper lineage.
Attempt #10 Perhaps the most entertaining event in the Bible is the book of Esther. It is short, and it is wonderful reading. It’s around 500 BC. Romance (well, as far as they knew, romance) wins, pride loses. I only have enough space to give you an incomplete Cliff notes. The tribes of Judah were conquered by Babylon. Then Persia defeated Babylonia, and took over the people of Judah (many of them were displaced elsewhere by now). Persian King Ahasuerus had a beauty contest and picked a new wife, Esther. Unbeknownst to him, she was Jewish. But one of the king’s servants, Haman, hated her cousin Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow to acknowledge his greatness in possessing his high office. Haman was infuriated at this slight; he resolved to not only kill Mordecai, but all Jews in all the Persian kingdom, which was most of the known world at the time. This would again be another attempt to snuff out the Messianic lineage. Satan may have given him the idea that it wasn’t enough just to kill Mordecai, but all Jews. (It would not be unusual, since he was from the Amalekite race, enemies of Jews). Through false witness to his king, he got the king’s signet ring to give orders for genocide. He picked a day for the massive kill—soon. He was willing to pay a lot of money to those who would do the killing—of every Jewish man, woman, and every child. A grisly business. An additional motivation toward getting the help of the Persians in the killing was the fact that whoever killed a Jew would get his land. Haman was efficient in giving notice to every province in the vast kingdom. But Esther heard of the plot through her maids, and Mordecai notified her that she would have to act fast to somehow persuade the king to change his mind. They all knew that Haman was behind it. There was one unfortunate detail of Persian law—once the king makes a law, it cannot be revoked. Satan had made a cunning move, and it looked like the Jewish people would all be dead soon.
But God knew this ahead of time, and made His own chess moves. God is always one step ahead of Satan. Why not? He is the master of the dimension of time. He knows the entire history of everyone on earth ahead of time. I can imagine all the future videoclips He could see at the same time.
Esther, I suspect with God’s help, made a brilliant plan. And in the end, she, with great tears explained it all to Ahasuerus and appealed to the king’s mercy (we all know how women are). Haman made some wrong moves and was hung, Mordecai got the king’s signet ring, and while the king couldn’t change the law, he provided another law that allowed Jews to kill their enemies first! The Jews were not only honored, but many people changed their religion to worshiping the Jewish God. This happened in the Persian kingdom, which is Iran today. Can you imagine today’s Iranians giving Jews the right to kill their enemies? For sure, this whole thing was a rarity for the Jews. God wins, Satan loses.
Attempt #11 and following show Satan’s all-out attempt to kill Jesus, whom he knew was the Messiah from prophecies about His birthplace (Micah 5:2), and by a visit by wise men underneath a supernatural star.
We won’t count as an Attempt how Joseph, when he heard of Mary’s pregnancy, was on the verge of divorcing her as his betrothed wife. Without such an important element in culture of a man standing up to be a father, the scandal of irresponsible fornication and baby-production would have been much greater. That would have meant that Jesus would probably have been banned from speaking at any synagogue in the land. His message would never have gone out. In any event, an angel told Joseph in a dream that Mary was still a virgin, and bore a child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph evidently believed it—so he was definitely the right man for the job of stepfather.
Neither are we going to start with Caesar, who had the brilliant idea that everyone had to be registered in their original home province. So Joseph and a very pregnant Mary had to travel over bumpy roads on horseback. This endangered her; a too-early, or even, stillbirth could have resulted.
No, let’s start Attempt #11 with king Herod, who was in a fret about the wise men appearing out of the East and asking for the location of the newborn King of the Jews. Hearing about another king was bad news to him. Two more dreams were necessary from God, but the wise men were warned not to tell Herod they had found the Messiah, and Joseph was warned to escape. So Herod’s cruelty in killing every child age 2 and under in the Bethlehem area did not produce the desired effect. Satan’s Attempt #11: FAIL.
Attempt #12 was at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist had given Jesus credibility, there was a miracle of wine at Cana, and Jesus was brilliant in initial appearances speaking at synagogues. But that was it to that point, so He had barely got going. He wasn’t a crowd-producer yet, to spread the new Gospel. But Jesus, on one Sabbath, informed the synagogue public that ancient prophets spent some time being kinder to Gentiles rather than Jews (Luke 4). The xenophobic Jews got a demonic gang urge, and almost threw Him off a cliff. God suddenly engineered an escape miracle, because it simply says, without explanation, that “passing through the midst of them, He went His way.” It was also a fact that Scripture records other instances of men’s desire to kill Him before the mock trial that finally did it. But Jesus was smart enough to have plenty of loving followers around Him during the day, and slip away into remote locations at night. His full message had time to get out. The only way they got to Him was the betrayal of Judas.
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Attempt #13 This was Satan’s attempt to drown the Messiah in a huge sea storm on the sea of Galilee, which had violent storms on occasion. But this storm was unusually dangerous and could have been lethal. Why do I think that Satan was behind this? Because in Luke 8:24, and Mark 4:39, Jesus “rebuked” the wind and raging water. A curious word, right? But the word “rebuke” is used in Scripture for deliverance from demons (Matthew 17:18, for instance). Yes, Satan can figure out how to have his demons make a storm. But, Jesus can figure out the source, and deliver Himself from the weather. A great God.
Attempt #14 Satan figured he had Jesus’ number at the Crucifixion. Even though the witnesses against Him were false, even though Pilate and his wife did everything they could to release Jesus, the Jewish crowd were in a demonic paroxysm again; they wanted to see Jesus dead. They even preferred to see a murderer released instead of Jesus. They even cursed themselves, saying (Matthew 27:25) “his blood be on us, and on our children.” God, in total disgust, rejected these Jews, formerly the “apple of His eye.” Jesus warned them several times about this. God’s judgment came down on those Jews 40 years later. Under a vicious Roman general Titus, over a million of the Jews were slaughtered in a raid on Jerusalem. The temple was completely torn down, as Jesus had prophesied. But Satan was looking only at Jesus; he actually figured that the Crucifixion would do the job; Jesus would stay dead. But in the greatest triumph of history, Jesus was resurrected, and lives! Now His Gospel of freedom from sin and resurrection for His followers still abides in a minority everywhere in the world.
Attempt #15 is probably future. God prophesied, through an allegory in Revelation 12, Satan’s attempt to devour Christ in the future. (He is the Child in Revelation 12; Satan is the dragon). In Revelation 12:13, Satan is attacking “the woman,” probably Israel. So Satan will cause many Jews to die. Other verses suggest God's children (those that believe and follow Christ) will also be heavily persecuted. In other Scripture we find that he is attempting a giant war against Christ and His followers at Har Megiddo, also called Armageddon (Revelation 16:13-16). But no one can be certain about the future, so I am deliberately sketchy about details. All I know is that Satan is given one last chance, in some probable future date, as implied in Revelation 12:12, to do his destructive work. It was futile, since Christ lives, but that’s the way Satan is. It may come during our lifetimes, it may not. But he will be a masterful deceiver, so much so that the earth comes under one world ruler and one non-Christian religion--most people will actually worship an antichrist under Satan’s control! Many nominal Christians will be fooled, as Matthew 24:24 says about that future day:
….false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Jesus even began His Olivet Discourse on future events by warning His followers about deception (Matthew 24:4). He also warned His followers to stay alert and looking for Him, not to be caught up in the ways of the world, which could destroy us. Yes, it is true that Satan looks like the Cleveland Browns, as he went 0-14, as we showed above, but he is wily and is successful on getting the majority of people to be swayed and hell-bound. Jesus confirms that in Matthew 7:13-14:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it
My final word of warning is from II Corinthians 11:13-15:
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Christians, beware! Do not fall for this upcoming great deception. You must endure the persecution to gain heaven. If we ever sign up with the Antichrist, our future will be in hell. Think soberly on Revelation 14:9-11:
Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name
Acknowledgement: Chuck Missler, a great man of God, who is sorely missed by his passing.
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