The lesson continues the Christian Life series on Satan and demons by distinguishing Satan’s attacks from the campaign of the sin nature. The flesh campaigns against the soul through appetites and emotional appeal, as listed in Galatians 5. Satan and his demons typically present a thought or line of reasoning aimed at the rationale. The method is not necessarily appealing; Job’s losses were not desirable. Scripture describes Satan as walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Handling an attack from Satan differs from handling an attack from the flesh.

Satan and demons ordinarily work through a thought put before a person; the person is not mind-controlled. Three attacks are assembled from different passages: independence from God, disappointment, and discouragement.

Independence from God is at the center of Satan’s own fall and of his first recorded dealing with mankind. In Genesis 3 the serpent questions what God has said, contradicts the warning of death, and offers the prospect of being like gods, knowing good and evil. Eve is beguiled and eats; she later says the serpent deceived her. Adam is not deceived. First Timothy 2:14 states that Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. Romans 5:12–19 traces sin and death entering the world through one man, Adam, who knew what he was doing. The attack is to know God’s command and act independently of it.

James 4:13–17 addresses the same independence in planning: those who say they will go, stay a year, buy and sell and gain ought instead to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” To know to do good and not do it is sin. Acts shows the contrast in Paul’s travels. In Acts 16:6–7 the Holy Spirit forbids preaching in Asia and does not allow them to enter Bithynia. In Acts 18:21 Paul says he will return to Ephesus if God wills. In Acts 19:21 Paul purposes in the spirit to go to Jerusalem. In Acts 21 disciples speak through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem, and Agabus binds himself with Paul’s girdle, saying the Holy Spirit declares the Jews will bind the owner of the girdle. Paul is not persuaded and continues. The pattern illustrates the danger of setting one’s own course apart from the Lord’s will. Satan peddles independence from God; believers are dependent on God.

Job supplies the examples of disappointment and discouragement. In Job 1 the Lord points to Job as a blameless and upright man. Satan answers that Job fears God only because of the hedge and blessing, and claims that if all Job has is touched he will curse God to His face. Permission is given except against Job’s person. Messengers report the loss of oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, servants, and Job’s sons and daughters. Job tears his robe, shaves his head, worships, and says, “Naked I came… the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job does not sin or charge God foolishly.

In Job 2 Satan returns and claims that if Job’s bone and flesh are touched he will curse God to His face. Job is struck with boils from sole to crown. His wife says, “Curse God and die.” Job answers that they should receive evil as well as good from God; he does not sin with his lips. After seven days of silence with his friends, Job opens his mouth in chapter 3 and curses the day of his birth, wishing he had died from the womb so as to be at rest. The attitude has shifted from blessing the Lord to disappointment that events do not match his expectations.

The friends then press a reasoning that such calamity cannot fall on the righteous. Eliphaz asks who ever perished being innocent (Job 4:7). Bildad says God will not cast away a perfect man and that Job should seek God so his habitation would be prosperous (Job 8). Zophar says God exacts less than Job’s iniquity deserves and that Job should put iniquity far away (Job 11). Job is bewildered. In Job 10 he asks God not to condemn him and to show why He contends with him, insisting he is not wicked. In Job 19 he says God has overthrown him, fenced his way, stripped his glory, kindled wrath against him, and counts him as an enemy. The attitude moves from disappointment to discouragement—the sense that God has turned against him. The opening chapters show that God has not abandoned Job; Satan’s aim is to bring Job to curse God.

First Thessalonians 2:17–18 records that Paul desired to see the Thessalonians again but Satan hindered him. The Thessalonians themselves were in tribulation, and some were teaching that they were already in the Day of the Lord. Paul sent Timothy lest the tempter have tempted them and the labor be in vain. Timothy brought good news of their faith and love. Believers can pass through suffering without falling into disappointment, discouragement, or the conclusion that God has abandoned them. Christians do not face wrath from God as Job described. Satan remains permitted to hinder and to present reasoning that would produce a wrong attitude and a wrong action. Further lessons will treat the armor of God.

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The sixth seal is not the end of the world. It is the moment the world sees God step back into Israel’s history: sun darkened as sackcloth of hair, moon like blood, sky receding as a scroll, every mountain and island moved, while Israel is still at peace.

Revelation 6:12–17 describes a great earthquake and atmospheric obstruction so the sun can still be seen through sackcloth-like darkness and the moon appears blood-filtered. This is not Matthew 24:29, where the sun stops giving light and the stars go out just before the Lord’s return. Stars here fall as a fig tree drops late figs when shaken by a mighty wind; they are shaken, not extinguished.

Ezekiel 38:11 places this at mid-tribulation. Gog of Magog comes against a land of unwalled villages, a peaceful people dwelling safely without bars or gates because the man of lawlessness’s covenant has protected Israel. The motive is plunder: livestock and goods in the midst of the land after the earlier seals have left the nations in famine and death.

Gog of Magog is the expander of the expanse, prince of Rosh, farthest north—Russia—with Meshach (Turkey), Tubal (Georgia), Gomer (Germany), Togarmah from the far north, Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya (Ezekiel 38:1–6; Genesis 10:2). The Lord puts hooks in the jaw and brings them down. Every man’s sword is against his brother. Pestilence, bloodshed, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone fall on Gog, his troops, and the many peoples with him (Ezekiel 38:19–22). Mountains are thrown down, steep places and walls fall. Revelation 6:13–14 describes the same shaking and the sky rolling up like a scroll—the language of nuclear detonation affecting earth and atmosphere together.

They fall on the mountains of Israel; birds and beasts devour them (Ezekiel 39:4). Fire is sent on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands; homelands are destroyed with the armies (Ezekiel 39:6). The nations know that He is the Lord (Ezekiel 38:23). Kings, great men, rich men, commanders, mighty men, slave and free hide in caves and rocks and cry for the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come (Revelation 6:15–17).

God is not dealing with Israel as a nation in the present dispensation of grace; He calls them “not My people” while preserving a remnant among the Gentiles. A Jew today is saved by the same gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose the third day. In the tribulation the dispensation of law is under judgment. The first half God again deals with Israel; this war makes Israel realize He is protecting them. Zechariah 14:1–7 gathers nations against Jerusalem; spoils are divided; a remnant flees; the Lord fights; His feet stand on the Mount of Olives, which splits east to west; light diminishes so it is neither day nor night until evening light signals His coming.

Russia succeeds in assassinating the man of lawlessness; one of the beast’s heads is mortally wounded and healed, and the world marvels and follows him (Revelation 13:3). Two witnesses prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth; they are the two olive trees and two lampstands (Revelation 11:3–4)—Elijah and a contemporary Jew, not Enoch. The woman (Israel) flees into the wilderness to a place prepared by God and is nourished 1,260 days, given two wings of a great eagle (Revelation 12:6, 14). The Great Tribulation begins when the man of lawlessness sits as deity in the temple of God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). The church will not know who he is; that day cannot come until the standing away (the gathering of the church from the earth) and then the man of lawlessness is revealed.

After these things four angels hold the four winds so they do not harm earth, sea, or trees until the servants of God are sealed on their foreheads (Revelation 7:1–3). Another angel from the east with the seal of the living God commands the delay. 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel are sealed for physical protection so they can proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens—the Messiah coming to Israel and the earth—not the gospel of grace. They are sealed just before mid-tribulation and then spread through the earth. Levi is included because the sealing is not about land inheritance (Numbers 18:20). Joseph receives a double portion; Manasseh is listed. Dan is omitted; that tribe first set up carved images and its own priesthood (Judges 18:30). The dragon, unable to destroy the woman in the wilderness, makes war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus the Messiah (Revelation 12:17). Next the great multitude that results from their ministry (Revelation 7:9–17).

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The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, traces the promise God gave Abraham. The line did not follow firstborn custom. God rejected Ishmael and appointed Isaac, the son of promise born to Sarah. From Isaac the line passed to Jacob rather than Esau, the firstborn. Before the twins had done good or evil, God chose the younger so that the purpose of election might stand. Jacob’s name means heel-grabber or usurper. Esau sold the birthright for a meal; Jacob, with his mother, took the blessing.

Judah, one of Jacob’s twelve sons, first proposed selling Joseph rather than killing him (Genesis 37:26–27). God used that act to place Joseph in Egypt so that Jacob’s house would survive the famine. Later Judah changed. Facing Joseph, he pledged his own life for Benjamin. Israel (Jacob renamed) blessed Judah as a lion’s whelp: the scepter would not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes (Genesis 49:9–10). When God calls the nation Jacob He speaks of the usurper; when He calls them Israel He speaks of the prince of God.

From Judah the line runs through Perez and Zerah, sons of Tamar. Perez received his name because he broke through after his brother’s hand had appeared first (Genesis 38). His house became a leading clan in Judah (Numbers 26:20). Perez’s descendants settled in Bethlehem. Ruth 4:12 treats the house of Perez as a blessing. Perez begot Hezron, head of the Hezronites and the primary clan of the later royal line (Genesis 46:12). Hezron begot Ram. Scripture records no deeds of Ram; he stands as a structural link in the tables of Ruth and 1 Chronicles that validate the house of David.

Ram begot Amminadab, whose name means “my people are noble.” Amminadab’s daughter Elisheba became the wife of Aaron (Exodus 6:23), joining the coming royal line to the priestly line. Amminadab begot Nahshon, the first man in Scripture explicitly called a nasi, a prince or leader of Judah (Numbers 1:7; 2:3). Nahshon offered the first gift at the dedication of the tabernacle (Numbers 7:12) and led Judah as the vanguard of the wilderness march (Numbers 10:14). Judah was already set as military and political head before the monarchy.

Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon married Rahab of Jericho. Rahab hid the spies, confessed that the LORD had given Israel the land, and bound the scarlet cord in her window (Joshua 2). By faith she did not perish with those who did not believe (Hebrews 11:31). Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab. Boaz means “in him is strength.” He acted as go’el, kinsman-redeemer, under the law of Deuteronomy 25:5–10. Before the elders at the gate he acquired the estate of Elimelech and took Ruth the Moabitess as wife to raise up the name of the dead (Ruth 4:9–10). Boaz was a mighty man of wealth (Ruth 2:1) and kept the Torah toward the poor, leaving extra grain for Ruth.

Ruth, a Moabitess descended from Lot, left her land and gods and clung to Naomi: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Deuteronomy 23:3–4 bars an Ammonite or Moabite male from the assembly of the LORD even to the tenth generation. The restriction applies to the male line, the line of seed; it does not bar Ruth. There is therefore no legal defect in her place in David’s genealogy.

Boaz and Ruth begot Obed. In the legal sense of redemption Obed was accounted the heir of Elimelech and Naomi so that the name and inheritance would not be cut off (Ruth 4:10, 14–15). Obed begot Jesse of Bethlehem. The LORD sent Samuel to Jesse after rejecting Saul: “I have provided Myself a king among his sons” (1 Samuel 16:1). David, the youngest, was keeping sheep. Samuel anointed him; the Spirit of the LORD came upon him. David did not seize the throne while Saul lived. Isaiah 11:1 promises a rod from the stem of Jesse and a Branch from his roots. Romans 15:12 applies that word to Messiah, who will rise to reign over the Gentiles. Revelation 5:5 names Him the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the One worthy to open the scroll.

The Spirit was with David, not in him as in the Church; David could plead that the Spirit not be taken from him. The earthly monarchy would later be cut down, yet the right to the throne remained in Jesse’s line and is fulfilled in Christ.

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The message continues in 1 John chapter 2, approaching the end of the chapter. Last week covered antichrists in verses 18–20. John writes that it is the last time; antichrist will come, and even now many antichrists have gone out from the assembly. They were not of the assembly; if they had been, they would have remained. They went out so that it might be made plain they were not all of us. Believers have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things.

John has not written because they do not know the truth, but because they do know it, and no lie is of the truth. The liar is the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore let that which was heard from the beginning abide; if it abides, they will also abide in the Son and in the Father.

The focus is verse 21. The audience already possesses the information needed to identify these liars. John does not give new information; he reminds them that the ones they heard were coming are present, and they already know how to recognize the lie. Verses 26–27 add that some would try to deceive, yet the anointing received from Him abides and they need not that any man teach them; the same anointing teaches all things, is truth and no lie, and they will abide in Him.

Ephesians 1 shows salvation as the work of the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed believers with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, chosen them before the foundation of the world, marked them off for placement as sons through Jesus Christ, given redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins, made known the mystery of His will, and granted an inheritance. After hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of their salvation, and believing, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the guarantee of the inheritance. Believers hope and believe after these things have already been accomplished by God. Those who deny the Father and the Son undercut the very provision of that salvation.

“The truth” with the article points to something specific determined by context; it is not identical in every passage. In some places it refers to the doctrine necessary for victory over the sin nature. Romans 6 asks whether believers should continue in the sin nature that grace may abound. Those who died to that sinfulness cannot live in it. They were immersed into Christ’s death, co-buried with Him, and are to walk in newness of life. The old man was crucified with Him so that the body of that sinfulness might be destroyed and they should no longer serve it. He who has died is freed from sin.

2 Corinthians 4:2 speaks of the manifestation of the truth, not walking in craftiness or handling the Word of God deceitfully, but commending themselves to every man’s conscience. The truth affects visible behavior.

Galatians 1:6–7 marvels that the Galatians were so quickly removed to a different kind of gospel, which is not the same. Some would pervert the gospel of Christ by adding that something must still be done about sins or that the law must be brought in for righteousness. That is not believing Christ died on behalf of sins and paid the price; it is believing He died but. Galatians 5:6–7 states that in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails, but faith working through love. They ran well; who hindered them that they should not obey (be persuaded by) the truth?

1 John 1:5–8 declares that God is light and in Him is no darkness. The one who claims fellowship yet walks in darkness lies and is not doing the truth. Walking in the light brings fellowship and cleansing by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. The one who says he has no sin deceives himself and the truth is not in him. The truth here is meant to change behavior: in Christ believers have died to the sin nature. 1 Peter speaks of purifying the soul by obeying the truth, because the sin nature campaigns against the soul; victory over it positively affects the soul.

1 John 2:4 states that the one who says he knows Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God is perfected. The old commandment is the word heard from the beginning. Verse 24 again calls them to let that which was heard from a beginning abide, so that they abide in the Son and in the Father.

John has already linked the truth to not denying the sin nature and walking in darkness (chapter 1) and to keeping His commandments (chapter 2). At the end of chapter 2 he contrasts it with antichrists who deny the Father and the Son. Most Christians already have the information needed to recognize that denial. The implications of what God has done in salvation are past, present, and future: not only a past moment of belief and a future heaven, but present freedom from the sin nature and present effects.

Ephesians 4:14–24 exhorts that they no longer be children tossed by every wind of teaching and the cunning of those who lie in wait to deceive, but speaking truth (truthing) in love they grow up into Christ the Head. They are not to walk as the Gentiles in the uselessness of the mind, darkened understanding, and alienation from the life of God. They have learned the Christ; truth is in Jesus. They are to put off the former manner of life, the old man corrupt according to deceitful lusts, be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and put on the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness. Denial of the Father and the Son creates fundamental issues for doctrines already stated in 1 John, including living free from sin.

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Who Is Satan? Satan is a person, not an impersonal principle or force. He is a cherub. His name comes from the Hebrew sathan and means enemy or one who hates.

Origin. Ezekiel 28:12–15a addresses the king of Tyre yet describes what no human is: presence in Eden the garden of God, covering of every precious stone, tabrets and pipes prepared on the day of creation, the anointed cherub who covers, set upon the holy mountain of God, walking in the midst of the stones of fire, and perfect in his ways from the day he was created.

Fall. Ezekiel 28:15b–19 continues: iniquity was found in him; the multitude of his merchandise filled him with violence and he sinned; his heart was lifted up because of his beauty; his wisdom was corrupted by his brightness; he is cast as profane from the mountain of God and the covering cherub is destroyed from the stones of fire.

Motivation. Isaiah 14:12–14 records Lucifer, son of the morning, fallen from heaven: “I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mountain of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.” After the attempt failed he doubled down and made it his business to oppose God.

Opposition. In Job 1–2 the sons of God present themselves before the Lord and Satan comes among them. He argues that Job fears God only because of the hedge and blessing; the Lord permits testing of Job’s possessions, then of Job’s person. In 1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number the people. In the garden he persuaded Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Demons. Satan did not fall alone. Revelation 12:3–4, 9 identifies the great red dragon as that old serpent called the devil and Satan; his tail draws a third of the stars of heaven and casts them to the earth. Those fallen angels are demons. Ephesians 6:11–12 and Colossians 1:16 speak of principalities and powers among the ranks. Demons remain active: a lying spirit stands before the Lord and is sent into the mouths of Ahab’s prophets (1 Kings 22:19–23); in latter times some depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons (1 Timothy 4:1). A demon is a person. Satan is not omnipresent; many temptations come from demons rather than from Satan himself.

Relation to the world. Jesus calls him the prince or ruler of this world who shall be cast out (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). In the wilderness the devil claims all the kingdoms and their authority have been delivered to him and he gives them to whom he will (Luke 4:6). The whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19). Unsaved people are under the authority of Satan and must be turned from darkness to light (Acts 26:18). The god of this age blinds the minds of the unbelieving (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Relation to Christians. Satan cannot touch, possess, or indwell a Christian (1 John 5:18). He is an enemy who walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). He is the accuser (Revelation 12:10) and attacks through desires placed in the mind. The defense against the flesh and the defense against Satan are not the same; the kinds of attack also differ. The flesh offers appetites people find appealing. Satan operates as a roaring lion—discouragement, doubt, bitterness, and other unwelcome pressures meant to freeze the prey and produce a response such as cursing God.

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The lesson resumes in Revelation 6 with the opening of the seals on the scroll introduced in Revelation 5. No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth could open or look at the scroll. The strong angel of chapter 5 is identified with Christ. The Lamb who was slain takes the scroll from the right hand of the Father who sits on the throne and is the only one able to open it.

The opening of the seals marks the beginning of the tribulation period. Several events precede that beginning. The Church is removed from the earth in the rapture before the man of lawlessness is revealed, so believers will never know his identity. Christians are those who believe that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; confession and repentance of sins are results of believing, not conditions of salvation. The Church is not appointed to wrath. The rapture itself does not start the tribulation. The tribulation begins when the seven-year peace covenant is signed with the man of lawlessness.

After the Church is gone, Satan is permitted to gather the nations. Ten nations rise for that one hour and give their authority to the man of lawlessness. A harlot religious system rises and exercises control over religion among the nations and brings the man of lawlessness onto the world stage. Israel must be back in the land shortly before the tribulation begins—likely months rather than decades—because something forces the majority of Jews who now live among the Gentiles to return. A massive financial collapse is presented as a likely means. Believers are not to prepare as if they will pass through the seven years.

The first seal, already treated, is the rider on the white horse who brings a perceived worldwide peace through the covenant with Israel. First Thessalonians 5:2–3 states that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night: when they say “Peace and safety,” sudden destruction comes upon them. That day of the Lord is the beginning of the tribulation. The peace is short-lived.

The second seal is opened. The second living creature says, “Come and see.” A fiery red horse goes out. It is granted to the one sitting on it to take peace from the earth so that people kill one another, and a great sword is given to him. Peace must already exist before it can be taken. The war includes the man of lawlessness destroying three of the ten kings. Daniel 7:8 describes a little horn coming up among the ten horns before whom three of the first horns are plucked out by the roots—the entire line is removed so that none remain to challenge him. Daniel 7:23–24 identifies the ten horns as ten kings who rise from the fourth kingdom that devours the whole earth; another king rises after them, different from the first, and subdues three kings. Matthew 24 concerns Israel in the tribulation, not the Church. Matthew 24:6–7 speaks of wars and rumours of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, together with famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. The kingdoms in view are the ten kingdoms. Israel is still protected by the man of lawlessness and only hears of these wars.

These shifts mark stages of Gentile power. Revelation 17:10–11 describes seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come and must continue a short time; the beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth, is of the seventh, and goes to destruction. The sequence is the ten kings, then seven kings with the man of lawlessness, then the beast as the eighth after he dies and is brought back to life. The arrangement is the revived Roman Empire, iron mixed with clay, called the sixth Gentile world power. The remaining seven kings stay with him and later fight against Christ at His return. No specific death toll is given for the second seal beyond the great sword and people killing one another.

The third seal is opened. The third living creature says, “Come and see.” A black horse appears; the rider holds a pair of scales. A voice among the four living creatures says, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” The black horse brings famine. A denarius is a day’s wage, so a full day’s labor buys only enough wheat to sustain life; barley, less nutritious, costs the same wage for three quarts. Oil and wine are not preserved for luxury or drunkenness but for medicinal use, as in Luke 10:34 where the Samaritan pours oil and wine on wounds. Food is devastated; medicine remains available. Israel is still protected and does not experience this famine. The horsemen describe conditions on the earth, not literal spirit-beings riding horses.

The fourth seal is opened. The four living creatures say, “Come and see.” A pale horse appears. The word rendered “pale” means sickly green, the color of one who is deathly ill. The name of the one sitting on it is Death, and Hades follows with him. Authority is given over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. Applied to present population that is approximately two billion people within the early months of the tribulation. Because Hades follows, those who die under this seal are unbelievers. Believers who die in this period are tribulation saints, not Church saints; the Church has already become the bride of Christ and no one is added to it.

Sheol and Hades are the same place in the heart of the earth. Sheol is not merely the grave; Hebrew has a separate word for the grave. The unsaved are in lowest Sheol where fire burns (Deuteronomy 32:22). Before the resurrection, paradise (Abraham’s bosom) was also in the heart of the earth, separated from the place of torment by a great chasm. Luke 16:19–31 is not a parable: it uses names and places and is given in plain language; parables hide truth rather than reveal it. The rich man is in torment in Hades and can see Lazarus at rest with Abraham. Jesus tells the thief, “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Christ Himself speaks of three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. After the resurrection Christ led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8) and moved paradise to the edge of the third heaven. Paul was caught up to the edge of the third heaven and into paradise (2 Corinthians 12:2–4). The Church never enters Hades; believers go into the presence of the Lord. The gates of Hades therefore do not prevail against the Church. Stories of people returning from Hades to warn the living contradict Abraham’s reply that even if one rose from the dead they would not believe.

The abyss is the region where certain fallen angels are incarcerated, including those who crossed the line by taking women and producing the Rephaim or Nephilim in an attempt to corrupt the seed of man. The legion of demons begged not to be sent into the abyss. Revelation 9:1 speaks of the key to the pit of the abyss, not a bottomless pit; a pit has a bottom. Isaiah 14:15 places Satan in that pit for a time; he is bound there and not free to move even within the rest of the abyss.

Death under the fourth seal comes by sword (people fighting), hunger (worldwide famine that itself produces more fighting), and death (the decay of unburied bodies spreading disease). Unbelievers who die have no second chance; they face the second death in Gehenna, the lake of fire. Hell is properly Gehenna, the final place; Hades is not hell.

The fifth seal is opened. Under the altar are the souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony they held. These are tribulation saints, saved after the Church is gone, many through Bibles and teaching left behind. They stand against the harlot religious system that sets itself in authority contrary to Scripture; she kills them. They cry with a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” “Those who dwell on the earth” are earth-dwellers who settle down and will never believe. A white robe is given to each, showing they are redeemed, and they are told to rest a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and brethren who will be killed is completed.

The sixth seal is opened and supplies the time marker that the narrative has reached the middle of the tribulation. There is a great earthquake. The sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becomes like blood. Sackcloth is black yet can be seen through; something in the air—dust and smoke from major war—filters the light. The sun and moon still give light. This is distinct from Matthew 24:29, which occurs immediately after the tribulation of those days, when the sun is darkened and the moon does not give its light because the sun supernovas near the end of the tribulation.

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Matthew presents the story of the Messiah who came to Israel and the promises God fulfilled. God the Son was not known by the name Jesus in the Old Testament; that name was not revealed there. Names that were revealed include Emmanuel, God with us, a name He will take when He returns and sets up His kingdom. At His first coming He is known as Jesus. The Old Testament indicates that the first coming would be humble and that He would die for the sins of the people. The second coming will not be humble. He comes to set up His kingdom with extreme violence because the Gentiles will attack Him, and He will destroy them.

Matthew refers to Israel. The Church is not to be read into the book until the Church is revealed. If something in Matthew relates to the Church, it may be received as such; otherwise He is speaking to the Jews.

The author is Matthew, one of the disciples from the beginning, also known as Levi. Matthew 9:9 records that Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax office and said, “Follow Me,” and he rose and followed Him. Tax collectors were classed with sinners and regarded as traitors to Israel. Luke 5:27 uses the name Levi. Jews commonly had a name tied to their Jewish history and a Gentile name, as with Saul and Paul. Paul did not become Paul at conversion; that Gentile name already existed. Mark 2:14 identifies Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office and called to follow. The call is to follow Christ as Messiah. Acts 1:13 lists Matthew among the eleven who remained. Only Christ appoints an apostle. He says, “I chose you; you did not choose Me.” Peter’s later appointment of another apostle was presumption and influenced the church in Jerusalem to keep appointing apostles when one was lost.

Matthew 1:1 begins with the genealogy of Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Genealogies disclose how God continues His work. Two genealogies are given: Matthew from Joseph’s lineage and Luke from Mary’s side. Together they show that Christ has the right to sit on the throne as the Son of David and that this also relates to His priesthood.

The genealogy concerns Christ in His human nature, not His divine nature. John 1:1 states that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The original is stronger: in any quality of a beginning, the Word already was. Wherever the beginning is placed—Genesis 1 or earlier, when spirit beings were created—the Word already existed. He was facing with the God, a reference to God the Father, and the Word was, as to character and quality, deity. John 1:14 states that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and they beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. “Beheld” is to watch as one watches a theater. Glory is holding a proper opinion. They could look at Christ and see how God acts, because He is God in the flesh. “Only begotten” is not one who is birthed; it is only of a kind, one of a kind. His body was made for Him in the womb of a virgin, so He has no connection to the male. The death penalty comes from the male, not the female. Adam passed on physical death and spiritual death. The body did not create a new being. God the Son joined that human nature and provided the person for it. He is full of grace and truth. Grace is God’s attitude of giving a benefit without consideration of merit. Truth is seeing things as they really are.

The genealogy proceeds with the father begetting the son until Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, out from whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ, the Messiah (Matthew 1:16). There is a shift. “Begot” belongs to father-to-son lineage. Joseph was the husband of Mary, but Joseph did not beget Jesus. Jesus came out from the womb of Mary.

The line must go back to Abraham, through whom God gave the promises that relate to the coming of the Messiah. His name was first Abram. God called him out of his country, family, and father’s house to a land God would show him (Genesis 12:1). God promised to make of him a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him, and that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. This is a personal promise, not the covenant. God protected Abraham in keeping with that promise.

Genesis 15:18–21 is the land covenant. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram to give his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, through the listed tribes. The river Euphrates here reaches to the headwaters. The land promised is far larger than the sliver often pictured beside the Dead Sea.

Genesis 17:5–9 gives another covenant. His name is no longer Abram but Abraham, for God has made him a father of many nations. Nations and kings shall come from him. God will establish His covenant with Abraham and his descendants for an everlasting covenant, olam, that which relates to eternity. This is not an addition to the Genesis 15 covenant. Once a covenant is made, it cannot be added to or annulled. In verse 8 the land given is the land of Canaan, the land of the merchants, which in context relates to the earth as a possession that relates to eternity.

Genesis 22:17 relates to Christ. Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because Isaac was the son of promise, and he accounted that God would raise him from the ashes (Hebrews 11). God said He would bless Abraham and multiply his descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore, and “your descendant shall possess the gate of his enemies.” The Hebrew is singular, “his,” not “their.” Some translations change the word. Paul in Galatians identifies this descendant as Christ.

Abraham died at 175 years (Genesis 25:7). After he was 100 years old he received Isaac. Sarah brought in Hagar to produce a son, but God would not take Ishmael. God said Sarah would have the child. Sarah was 90 and past childbearing. The Lord restored to her the time of life, and she began her cycle again. He also restored Abraham, who later had many children. Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5). Sarah was ten years younger than Abraham. Isaac’s name is from the term to laugh, because the Lord made Sarah laugh.

Isaac married Rebekah at age 40 (Genesis 25:20). He fathered Esau and Jacob at age 60. When the twins were born, the first came out red and hairy, and he was called Esau. Esau means the hairy one. Afterward his brother came out holding Esau’s heel, and he was called Jacob, a usurper, one who takes hold of the heel. Isaac died at 180 years (Genesis 35:28) and was buried by Esau and Jacob.

Matthew 1:2 has Abraham begetting Isaac, and Isaac Jacob. Jacob is not Isaac’s only son and is not the firstborn. The line does not run in the ordinary firstborn course. Romans 9:10–13 states that when Rebekah conceived from one man, Isaac, the children not yet being born, and not having done good or evil, God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not out from works. The choice was made before they came out of the womb, not before they existed. This is God’s choice of the line of promise given to Abraham, not a text by which to justify predestination as commonly used. Salvation is not by works. The means God has chosen today is believing that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. Adding confessing sins, repenting of sins as remorse, or making Jesus Lord of one’s life as a requirement for salvation is work-based. “Hate” toward Esau is not hatred as the word is used today. God was indifferent to Esau regarding the line. He would not bring the line through Esau. He loved Jacob in that He gave him the line.

Esau sold his birthright for a stew of red lentils. The birthright was the promise to Abraham, the land. He saw no value in it. He did not want to give up the blessing of the firstborn. Jacob, by his mother’s advice, took the blessing (Genesis 27). He put goat skins on himself so that Isaac, who could not see, would feel a hairy man, and he said, “I am Esau, your firstborn.” Jacob the usurper lived up to his name. God’s choice stood in time. It was not Esau’s or Jacob’s choice.

Jacob wrestled with a man until daybreak (Genesis 32:24–28). The man touched the socket of Jacob’s hip. Jacob would not let him go until he blessed him. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, the prince of God. When God later refers to Israel as Jacob, He refers to them as usurpers. Jacob was not a good man until God corrected him. With his sons he migrated to Egypt because of extreme famine (Genesis 46). His twelve sons make up the twelve tribes of Israel. He lived 147 years.

From this point the recorded years of life begin to drop away. The significance of those who follow is how they connect back to the promise of Abraham. The genealogy will be carried through to David. From David the split between the two genealogies shows why Joseph’s line is given in one place and Mary’s in another, and how that connects to Jesus as the Messiah who has the right to the throne.

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Pastor Luther Walker resumes the study of Philippians with the intention of completing the letter. He notes that the next book under consideration is Matthew, which, though not predominantly for Christians today because it is under law, must still be understood. Returning to Philippians 4, he revisits the peace of God that surpasses the mind and guards the heart and the conclusions of the mind, producing an unruffled state even when others are stressed, because the believer knows who God is and what He will do. The terms “mind” and “understanding” share the same root. Believers are to reason upon whatever is true, noble (worthy of respect), just, pure (uncontaminated by guilt or defilement), lovely (related to fondness), of good report (having a good reputation), and praiseworthy. They are to practice the things learned, received, heard, and seen in Paul, so that the God of peace is generally associated with them. Anxiety is an attack from Satan; instead, requests are to be made known to God by worship and supplication after thanksgiving. Gentleness (sweet reasonableness) is to be known to all. Citizenship is in the heavens—the results of one’s politics—so the stresses of earthly politics should not dominate; the direction of the world system is already revealed, and prayer for leaders is for a peaceful life in which believers can manifest who they are in Christ. Those who walk according to the apostolic pattern are to be carefully noted, because many walk as enemies of the cross by adding works such as confessing sins or making Jesus Lord of one’s life in order to obtain salvation, contrary to the pure gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 that salvation is by believing that Christ died for our sins and was raised the third day. Living according to the level of maturity already attained, the believer presses according to the goal on the basis of the already-possessed prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, not in order to earn it. Righteousness is Christ’s, not one’s own from law; the believer acts rightly because of who he is in Christ. Working out one’s own salvation with fear (respect) and trembling means applying and living out the salvation already received, knowing that God is not mocked and that one reaps what is sown. The proper frame of mind sets the boundaries of thought so that one’s opinion of self aligns with God’s: the believer is a saint, not merely “a sinner saved by grace,” and therefore stops sinning and does God’s desirous will. Nothing is to be done from selfish ambition; in humility others are to be esteemed better, their interests scoped out, and love expressed, so that conduct is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Paul rejoices that the Philippians’ care (frame of mind) for him has flourished again while he is in prison; he has learned to be content in whatever state he is—whether abased (humbled) or abounding, full or hungry—because God’s grace is sufficient and His strength is made mature in weakness, as illustrated in 2 Corinthians 12. Philippians 4:13 is correctly rendered as possessing potential strength by the one who strengthens in Christ; the one who strengthens is the Holy Spirit, who teaches the believer how to abide in Christ in all things through the internal desire to do what is right. Pastors supply the information for victory over the sin nature, Satan, and the world system; the Spirit enables personal application. Only the Philippians shared with Paul in giving and receiving at the beginning of the gospel after he left Macedonia, even sending aid while he was briefly in Thessalonica. The historical background includes the spirit of Pythia in Philippi (Acts 16), the illegal beating of the Roman citizens Paul and Silas, and the subsequent ministry in Thessalonica. Paul seeks not the gift itself but the fruit that abounds to the Philippians’ account through their fellowship; the gift is a sweet-smelling sacrifice well-pleasing to God and part of priestly service. Giving is not a tithe but from what remains after one’s own household is cared for, and it is to be done cheerfully. God shall supply all needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Glory is a proper opinion of God. The letter closes with greetings to every saint in Christ Jesus, including those of Caesar’s household who believed through Paul’s bonds among the praetorian guard, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ generally associated with all.

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Pastor Billy Myron continues the study of 1 John after addressing the world, beginning at 1 John 2:18. He reads the passage: Little children, it is the last hour; as you have heard that the Antichrist will come, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. You have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things. I have not written because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you; if it abides, you will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise He has promised us—eternal life.

The term antichrist appears only in John’s epistles. In 1 John 4:3 every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; this is the spirit of antichrist already in the world. In 2 John 7 many deceivers who do not confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh are deceivers and antichrist. This includes early heresies that denied the physical incarnation of the Son of God and any denial of the Father and the Son. Unbelievers deny that Jesus is the Christ; some theologies claiming to be Christian have also denied these truths. The term is broader than the future man of lawlessness or first beast of Revelation, which many call the Antichrist though Scripture does not use that title for him.

These antichrists left the fellowship but were never truly of it. The language of continuing or remaining is the word for abiding—staying as one who is at home and at ease. One cannot abide in both light and darkness. Jesus stated in John 12 that He came as light so that whoever believes should not abide in darkness. John has already taught that the one who loves his brother abides in the light while the one who hates walks in darkness. Even while present among the believers, the antichrists were not abiding because that was not their true home.

In contrast, the readers possess an anointing from the Holy One and know all things. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1 that God establishes, anoints, seals, and gives the earnest of the Spirit. The knowledge here is intellectual perception, distinct from the experiential knowing used earlier in the chapter. They know the truth and that no lie belongs to the truth. Truth is central throughout 1 John: God is light and in Him is no darkness; claiming fellowship while walking in darkness is a lie; claiming to have no sin means the truth is not in us. The truth enables victory over sin. In 2 John the truth abides in believers forever. John addresses how the saved live: they are not to walk in darkness or deny the reality of sin, for denying the problem prevents its solution. The readers know that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, died for sins, was buried, and rose again, so that through their position in Christ they may live free from the sin nature—unlike the antichrists.

John’s reference to the last hour connects to warnings about the last times and last days. Romans 1 describes the ancient suppression of the knowledge of God that led to idolatry. 2 Timothy 3 describes perilous times in the last days marked by people having a form of godliness yet denying its power and ever learning yet never coming to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3 warns of scoffers in the last days who deny the promise of His coming and are willingly ignorant of creation and judgment. Jude likewise speaks of mockers. Written in the AD 90s, 1 John addresses the presence of such denials of the incarnation.

The Galatians illustrate the danger of failing to hold the truth. Despite knowing Christ was crucified, they turned to works of the law for righteousness. Paul insists that a person is not made righteous by works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ; if righteousness came by law then Christ died in vain. Believers are crucified with Christ and may live free from the sin nature. Understanding the truth of the incarnation and the cross is essential; denying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh precludes the gospel itself. John stresses these fundamentals so that believers are not hindered from living in the truth they already know.

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Pastor Luther Walker continues teaching from Philippians chapter 4, picking up from the call to unity, the same frame of mind among believers, and the repeated command to rejoice in the Lord because the Lord is at hand. Gentleness is to be known to all men. Believers are instructed to be anxious for nothing, understanding anxiety as a divided mind and an attack from Satan. Instead, in everything, with worship and thanksgiving first, followed by supplication, requests are to be made known to God with confidence according to His will.

This results in the peace of God that surpasses the mind, an unruffledness of mind that guards the heart (the center of the being and source of thoughts) and the conclusions of the mind through Jesus Christ. Peace is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. A mind framed on the things of the Spirit produces life and peace, while a mind framed on the flesh produces death. God is not the author of confusion but of peace. The conclusions of the mind can be veiled, as with those reading the Old Testament under hardness of heart or those perishing whose minds are blinded by the god of this age. Accurate presentation of the gospel is essential because God is the one who shines light into darkness. Christians are to bring every thought (the conclusions of the mind) into captivity to the obedience of the Christ, referring to the new man. False teachers corrupt these conclusions by complicating the simplicity that is in Christ and elevating themselves above the flock.

Philippians 4:8 then directs believers finally to focus on whatsoever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely (literally toward fondness), of good report, if there is any virtue and anything praiseworthy, and to reckon or put these things to account as a logical act rather than mere meditation. Truth is seeing things as they really are, including the new commandment, true statements, and the true grace of God that enables living out righteousness in Christ rather than license to sin. Noble refers to things worthy of respect and reverence in conduct. Just means righteous uprightness lived out from faith, not under law, since the law is not for the righteous person; suffering for doing right is an aspect of grace. Pure means uncontaminated and without mixed motives or defilement, applying to associations, the conduct of older women teaching younger women, the wisdom from above, and purifying oneself in light of the hope of Christ’s return. Lovely involves fondness: not for the world (which is enmity with God), but as friends of Christ who know what is coming (including the rapture as the next prophetic event for the church), kindly affection toward one another, fondness for a quiet life minding one’s own business, and hospitality to strangers. Good report relates to the gospel and things of good report. Virtue pertains to life and godliness given by divine power; believers are to add knowledge to virtue with diligence. These are the rational things mature believers reckon, putting away the reasoning of an inarticulate babbler. Additional resources are available at wordofgracestudies.org for verse-by-verse teachings and at thechristianlife.org for ongoing Bible teaching.

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