Life Matters

a. The Battle Between the Two Seeds, Two Women, Two Cities

The battle between God’s family kingdom and Satan’s inherent power system is described in Genesis 3 as the battle between two seeds.

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

The seed of the woman represents the small group of people that faithfully seek to hold to God’s family system in the midst of many attacks. The heart of this seed is of course the Son of God because He is the ultimate expression of submission to the life source of God and He establishes the flowing of this channel of blessing. The preservation of the seed is the preservation of the example of the Son of God. Whenever families are following the headship and submission principles in the context of the commandments of God and walking the journey of the Sanctuary system, they are being filled with the Spirit of Christ and revealing His character.

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ.

Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

As we discussed in Chapter 16, once the human race became enslaved to Satan’s kingdom principles, it was impossible for us to be set free. Therefore Jesus came as a human being and developed a human character that could then flow to us through the channel of blessing and we could then obtain victory over the serpent.

So wherever we see people responding to the commandments of God and the family kingdom system, it is actually the character and Spirit of Christ that is being reflected in their lives. This is a mystery to many and was a mystery until Jesus came to earth and fully revealed these family submission principles.

Col 1:26-29 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Genesis 3:15 reminds us that Satan would seek to kill this seed. He would be successful in bruising the heel of this seed when he killed Jesus on the cross, but this darkest hour turned out to be the greatest triumph for God’s people and opened the channel of blessing to the entire world.

But Satan not only tried to kill the seed directly in the person of Jesus, he also tried to kill this seed in the hearts and minds of His followers. The first example of this is the story of Cain and Abel.

Gen 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

1John 3:11-13 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

These two brothers symbolize the war between the principles of Christ and Satan played out in human history. We will trace the history of these two principles over the next number of chapters.

After the episode of Cain and Abel, Satan then tried to kill the seed of the woman by tempting the sons of God to marry the daughters of men which produced the tyrants of the antediluvian world. This plan nearly succeeded, but God called Noah and eight people were saved to continue the Seed.

1Pet 3:18-20 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

1Pet 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

We notice how the Bible tells us that it was the Spirit of Christ in Noah that preached to the people of his time concerning the coming flood. These poor souls were in the prison of Satan’s inherent life source kingdom (spirits in prison) and the Spirit of Christ flowing through Noah preached to the people to warn them. Sadly, none of the people responded and only Noah’s family was saved.

Satan then attacked Noah’s family by tempting Noah to get drunk and tempted his son to a vile immoral act. The result of this tragedy was the man Nimrod who developed the foundational principles for Satan’s kingdom on earth. This entire system is referred to in Scripture through the city of Babylon, the first city that Nimrod built. Much of the world fell under this idolatrous system so God called Abraham out of Babylon and taught him His family kingdom principles.

Satan attacked again by tempting Abraham to be afraid while in Egypt (Egyptians were descendents of Ham, the grandfather of Nimrod). Abraham nearly lost his wife as a result but God counterattacked and sent great plagues to Egypt to avert the killing off of the precious seed. Satan did manage to wipe out Lot’s family kingdom in the gross immorality of Sodom and the consequent fires that were needed to check this deeply immoral system.

Satan attacked again through the introduction of Hagar as a means of producing an heir to the kingdom promised to Abraham by God, but finally a true heir was born in the person of Isaac.

Satan attacked again by enslaving the Israelites in Egypt and preventing them from keeping the commandments which protected the channel of blessing. He also tried to feminize their society to weaken the channel.

God then called Moses to reestablish His family kingdom principles and He gave detailed instructions concerning how the law, which protects the channel of blessing, could be written in the hearts of His people. This came via the Sanctuary worship system.

Satan attacked through the murmuring of the people against Moses. He attacked by getting them to worship the golden calf. He attacked by tempting them to doubt God’s word that they could go into the Promised Land. On the banks of the Jordan, Satan tempted Israel with foreign women and then after the death of Moses, Joshua and all that generation, he finally succeeded in breaking the family channel system when Israel forsook the Lord and worshipped other gods – gods that reflected Satan’s inherent life source principles.

God sent several prophets to try and preserve the righteous seed containing the submissive spirit of Christ and keep a faithful remnant. Since the channel had become so weakened, the Lord could find very few men to lead a work of reform. The Lord resorted to raising women in Israel like the prophetess Deborah which, while not optimal, was the best thing to do in a desperate situation.

Satan then tempted Israel to ask for a king, like the other nations. This was a ploy to enslave Israel’s hearts and minds to the principles of Nimrod and Babylon and prevent the Spirit of Christ from manifesting in His people. The kings of Israel were largely a disaster and prepared the way for Israel to be recaptured physically.

Satan had long been preparing his seed for the conquest of world dominion. If Satan could control the entire world through his seed, then he could cut off the family kingdom principles of God. He could wipe out His Sanctuary, His commandments and His people and anything that represented the channel of blessing principles and the Spirit of Christ.

Looking forward from the time of Babylon, we see a series of world powers that Satan uses to attack God’s people, His commandments, His Sanctuary and His city, Jerusalem – city of peace. After Christ conquered Satan on earth and placed His seed safely within the church (His bride), Satan led an ‘all out’ world wide attack on those who kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus’ family channel system. We read about this in Revelation Chapter 12.

Rev 12:1-5 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev 12:13-17 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The faithful woman representing the church of God, was under severe attack by the dragon and his agents. Satan had learnt early on that one of the best methods to derail God’s people was to introduce another woman. He learnt this principle through introducing Hagar the Egyptian to Abraham as a wife. And so the Bible reveals:

Rev 17:3-7 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

Just as Sarah had to contend with Hagar, so the church of God will have to contend with another woman claiming to be the true bride of Christ. And sadly as it was Sarah who suggested that Hagar be used to produce a child, so it was the church itself that allowed this other woman to come into and dominate the family of God.

We will unpack these verses in detail in the coming chapters and reveal how Satan attacked God’s people, His commandments and His Sanctuary after Jesus went back to heaven 2000 years ago. But first we must go back to the captivity of Israel and the rise of world dominion.

b. Satan’s Seed Rules the World

During the time of the kings of Israel, God tried to warn them by sending prophets. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the kings of Israel that they would be taken captive if they did not turn back to God.

Jer 25:9-11 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Sadly they did not listen. The kings of Israel rejected the commandments of God and His Sanctuary system in favour of Satan’s kingdom system. By continually rejecting God’s channel of blessing and living outside of it, God could no longer protect Israel. Stepping outside of the channel of blessing allows Satan the right to freely attack, destroy and desolate. Finally the time came when Israel was taken to the very heart of Satan’s kingdom principles – Babylon.

2Chron 36:5-7 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

2Chron 36:18-20 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

Notice how Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Sanctuary of Israel and took the vessels of the Sanctuary and put them in his own sanctuary or temple. This was a fitting symbol of the domination of Satan’s seed over the Christ’s seed during this time. But the Spirit of Christ fought back in an amazing way. Satan’s desire was to rule the earth forever through Babylon and build a kingdom that would last forever. The Babylonian system would indeed rule for a long time but ultimately the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. This means that the lies of the serpent concerning inherent power would ultimately be wiped out.

God sent the king of Babylon a dream concerning these things but left him without an interpretation. Through providence, God allowed a young man of the captives of Israel to interpret the dream and grant him influence with the king of Babylon so that he might be able to present to him the true principles of God’s kingdom. The story of the dream and its interpretation is found in Daniel Chapter 2. We will look briefly at the key points but I encourage you to read the entire chapter if you are not familiar with it.

The king had “wise men” that claimed to have connections with the spiritual realm and should have been able to tell the king his dream, but they could not. When Daniel was brought before the king, Daniel politely explained that the power to interpret dreams was not from himself but through the channel of blessing from God.

Dan 2:26-28 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof? 27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; 28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

Daniel then outlined the dream which revealed a statue of a man. This man consisted of various metals degrading in quality and getting harder and harder, representing four great kingdoms. After this came a division into ten kingdoms represented by the toes. The dream then comes to the key point: that a rock would come and smash the statue of the man and a new kingdom would be set up that would never end. This kingdom is God’s family kingdom and God was telling Nebuchadnezzar that though he was ruling now, the seed of the woman would ultimately triumph over the serpent’s lie.

Students of Bible history have identified these four world empires as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. The Bible clearly indicates that the head is Babylon, because Daniel told the king this was the case.[1] We also know from reading further in Daniel that the 2^nd and 3^rd kingdoms were Medo-Persia and Greece because the angel Gabriel tells Daniel directly.[2]

These four kingdoms would dominate God’s people right through to the return of Christ the second time. In the meantime, God would keep the seed alive and preserve a witness of his family kingdom in the earth, but they would always be in the minority. In the time of Media and Persia, God would cause the king to allow God’s people to return to Israel and rebuild their temple. They would have a certain level of autonomy, but the seed of the serpent was always there seeking ways to control them. During the transition time between Greece and Rome, the temple services were interrupted by a king called Antiochus Ephipanes. He desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and did many other insulting and evil things.

But sadly this was not the worst problem. After Israel came back to their home land, they determined not to fall into idolatry again. Rather than strengthen the channel of blessing family system, they developed numerous laws regarding the keeping of the law, the Sabbath and how to worship in the Sanctuary. This was a new tactic of Satan to make the Israelites prove they were faithful to God by keeping all His requirements and more besides.

Since these laws were not a product of the channel of blessing, they were still infected by the serpent’s lie of inherent power. But now the inherent power concept was directed towards trying to faithfully follow the true God. The effect of these laws made men’s hearts hard and callous and just as much under the control of Satan as they were before, only now it was harder to detect.

c. Messiah the Prince Comes to His People

Knowing that all this would take place, God told Daniel in a prophecy that the true seed would come and deliver His people spiritually. There was no point in delivering God’s people physically if their minds were still slaves to the serpent’s lie. Peace and prosperity would never come. By sending His Son, God would restore the true principles of His kingdom and maintain a remnant of faithful followers until the second return of Christ.

The coming of Christ was taught every day in the Sanctuary service given to Moses, but we must remember that this entire system was a collection of symbols designed to show the pattern of how God would free the minds of His people to worship Him truly as a Father and cling to the pattern of submission revealed in His Son.

The piece of furniture in the Court of the Sanctuary was the Altar of Sacrifice and this was the symbol of the death of the coming Messiah. It was the first stage in the journey towards restoring the law of God in our hearts.

Let us turn to Daniel and see the prophecy that pin points when the Messiah would come.

Dan 9:24-26 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Some of the language here is a little tricky to understand and requires some study, but the main point is that there would be a period of seventy prophetic weeks in which the Israelite nation had to either fully accept or reject the coming Messiah.

When it comes to the use of prophetic time, the Bible applies the principle of a day for a year.

Ezek 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

The starting point for these 70 weeks is set as the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. A careful study of the Bible reveals that the year when this was fulfilled was 457 B.C.

Ezra 6:14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

There were three decrees that the Persian kings issued, but as Ezra 6:14 points out the full command was executed by the time of Artaxeres. The first two decrees got the process going, but the restoring of all Jerusalem came with the third decree. This decree was given in the 7^th year of Artaxerxes which was 457 B.C.[3]

So in summary we have the following:

The story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is told symbolically in the story of Revelation 12 which we looked at recently. Satan tried to kill Christ soon after His birth through King Herod, but he failed. Jesus completed His work of establishing the family kingdom principles, He developed a perfect human character which He then returned to heaven with to flow the channel of blessing to His followers by the role of a priest in the heavenly Sanctuary.

In the next chapter we will look at the teachings of Jesus and how they restore the channel of blessing.