This is talking about Satan and it says that he was created by God. This along with Job 40:19 let’s us know that what God has created, He also has the power and authority to completely destroy, including all the devils.
Ezekiel 28:15-16
“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast CREATED, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: AND I WILL DESTROY THEE, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.”
God says He will destroy the devil, that means he will cease to exist. That means Satan isn’t immortal, he is able to be destroyed and will be destroyed.
Here in Job God tells us the largest “the chief” of His earthly creation was Behemoth. The LORD goes on to describe how incredibly giant and powerful this creature was, yet the LORD’s point to Job was that He was able to destroy whatever He has created.
We may think of Satan as being indestructible, but God says he isn’t, he will be destroyed one day. Our God is so much greater than Satan. Not only must he answer to God, he is controlled by Him too. Praise the LORD.
Job 40:15-24
“Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
He is the chief of the ways of God:
HE THAT MADE him
can make His sword to approach unto him.
Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.”
Not only will Satan be completely destroyed in the future, but Jesus also came to destroy the works of the devil too.
Jesus gained that victory with His death and resurrection, but the battle to to destroy the works of the devil continues daily. Satan is still working to destroy this world and the people in it. So Jesus is also still working as our high priest everyday to destroy the works of the devil by the word of God and the administration of His Holy Spirit.
1John 3:8
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
Hebrews 7:25
“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
2Timothy 2:25-26
“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
God told Cain that he would rule over the unclean spirit that would come to him because of committing sin. God said that the unclean spirit would desire to have him.
Genesis 4:7
“If thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted?
and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door.
And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.”
That “rule over” or control, I believe, is in the form of “resist the devil and he will flee from you”. God setup boundaries for Satan and all of the unclean spirits, they must comply with those rules. We need to know what those rules are. They are found in God’s covenant of salvation.
Based on other scriptures we learn that at some point of continual unrepentant sinning, the sinner can lose their ability to control (rule over) the unclean spirits. Jesus cast out many unclean spirits from people, giving them freedom to choose salvation and righteousness again. Jesus also warned them that they should not continue in sin anymore or else something worse would come on them and they would lose their salvation and righteous standing with God the Father.
John 5:14
“Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: SIN NO MORE, LEST A WORSE THING come unto thee.”
The only way an unclean spirit can be cast out is by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we believe God, confess, repent and receive forgiveness of our sins, the Holy Spirit is given to us as “the promise” of that covenant of salvation. We are purged of all our past sins and the devil has no more legal right (authority) over us when we are forgiven and receive the Holy Spirit.
(As a side note: If you think about this in depth, it also proves that it is possible for someone to have had the Holy Spirit of God the Father and Jesus Christ and then lose it. Here’s another example of that: 2Peter 2:20-21 “For if after they HAVE ESCAPED the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”)
That promised Holy Spirit comes when we enter into AND continue to keep God’s conditional covenant with us. It’s not too difficult, the thief on the cross entered into that covenant by believing, confessing and repenting of his sins. If he had continued to live he would have also been responsible to continue in covenant keeping through faith in Jesus Christ.
When we break covenant with God by breaking His laws, we depart from Him and He departs from us, and the unclean spirit that desires to return has legal permission from God to return because the LORD isn’t there anymore.
Matthew 12:43-45
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he FINDETH IT EMPTY, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”
This doesn’t mean that we can’t immediately turn from that sin in repentance and come back into fellowship with God and have Him return to us again. That’s why God placed inside His covenant this process for us to get forgiveness and re-cleansing again. The apostle Paul knew this and teaches us about it too.
These Galatians were being taught by Old Testament Jews that they had to keep the earthly carnal laws that governed the Old Covenant in order for them to have salvation. One of those laws was outward circumcision, which God Himself warned all the Old Testament believers that if they didn’t perform outward circumcision on their males, they couldn’t enter into God’s covenant of salvation, which meant they couldn’t be saved; no outward circumcision in the flesh equaled no eternal salvation for them. So I can see why they were trying to teach this to the Galatians, it was because they either hadn’t been taught the New Covenant yet, they were confused or they rejected the truth. Paul does later instruct those Jews about these differences between the Old and New Covenants in the book of Hebrews.
But back to these Galatians, Paul told them they had “fallen from grace”. That means they had grace but lost it.
He explained to them to go back to the laws that were ended would be to reject Jesus Christ and His blood offering. That’s because if they performed one aspect of keeping the Old Covenant for their justification, then they would have to keep all of it, which would have included animal sacrifices which could never take away sins in the first place. Those sacrifices were only symbolic examples and placeholders pointing toward Jesus Christ. These Galatians were unaware or confused and Paul was explaining the situation to them very clearly.
Galatians 5:4
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
Here’s where Paul teaches us that even after we’ve sinned and fallen from grace that we can regain the abiding of the Holy Spirit of God the Father and Jesus Christ again.
Galatians 4:19
“My little children,
of whom I travail in birth AGAIN
until Christ be formed in you”
Paul had travailed in birth with them before, probably when he first preached the gospel message to them and they believed, confessed and repented of their sins. Now Paul says he’s having to do it all over again because they lost the indwelling spirit of God. They needed to be made aware and taught why this happened before they could be brought back into true covenant keeping again.
We need to be armed with awareness and understanding the truth of this same gospel message that Paul taught, which is also called the Everlasting Covenant.
It’s encouraging to know that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and we should live with that same mindset and goal too. God has given us everything we need to make that happen.
John 20:21-23
“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
The destruction of the devil’s work begins daily in our hearts and minds. It’s a tough and challenging job. Some people think it’s too much work and give up and give in, but that’s what we are called to do for our Jesus who gave up everything for us. Some may believe that to “workout your own salvation with fear and trembling” just isn’t what they would consider to be “a free gift”. It’s still a free gift because no law could give us life once we lost it through sinning, it takes the blood of Jesus. But to receive the free gift we could never earn, we have to enter into and keep a conditional covenant of salvation. Every born again Christian believes this whether or not they’re aware of it. They know and teach we must first believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior; that’s conditional (and correct).
God deserves glory and honor by our daily thoughts and efforts. I’m praying that God helps me to be mindful, to have His mindset. I’ve fallen back into very bad habits and look for God’s strength and encouragement to help me focus on His mission for me. Hope this encourages you as much as it has encouraged me. Thanks for reading it. Lots of love and hugs to all my brothers and sisters in Christ.
These scriptures have also proven that the wages of sin is still death even for someone who once had Christ but had “fallen from grace”. that’s because if we don’t have Christ, we don’t have our seal of eternal salvation because we are only sealed by Jesus’ seal, we don’t have our own seals, we aren’t immortal. Jesus is the only one who has been sealed with eternal life (immortality) by God the Father.
That’s why it says:
1John 5:11-12
“And this is the record,
that God hath given to us ETERNAL LIFE,
and THIS LIFE
is IN His Son.
He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.”
John 6:27
“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: FOR HIM hath God the Father SEALED.
1Timothy 6:11-16
“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY,
dwelling in the light which
no man can approach unto;
whom no man hath seen, nor can see:
to whom be honour
and power everlasting. Amen.”
That light that Jesus lives in that no man can approach is God the Father. That light that no man has seen or can see is also God the Father.
John 1:18
No man hath seen GOD at any time;
the only begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared HIM.
1John 1:5-10
“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that GOD is light, and in HIM is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with HIM, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as HE is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ HIS Son cleanseth us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make HIM a liar, and HIS word is not in us.”
Which also sounds like:
Leviticus 11:45
“For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
Psalms 86:2
“Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee.”
1Peter 1:16
“Because it is written,
Be ye holy; for I am holy.”