Category: Radio

Satan’s Place in Heaven
Let’s start with our familiar text:

Awake, O north wind,

And come, wind of the south;

Make my garden breathe out fragrance,

Let its spices be wafted abroad.

May my beloved come into his garden

And eat its choice fruits!” (So 4:16)

This call to “Awake, O North” is thought to encompass three distinct calls recorded in

1. Jeremiah 31:7-8 (exiles of Israel),

2. Isaiah 41:25 (Messiah)

3. Gog and Magog (Ezek 38:2)

Why are Gog and and Magog are so attracted to “the beloved city” and its inhabitants to want to destroy them at least twice in Biblical history? Last week’s study of the yetzer ha-ra, or evil inclination, as it pertains to satan, was a key piece to the answer. If we can understand that the power of satan is strong against the holy things of this earth, that will explain it.

It does need to the be strong to cultivate evil from the wicked. They are already his willing subjects. It is the holy who require him to exert his maximum strength. This sounds incredible, but Scripture reinforces this Jewish principle:

“The evil inclination, as a general rule, gravitates toward holiness, and functions at its greatest strength where holiness resides…Evidently, it is because the forces of evil concentrate their greatest efforts on enticing the righteous, those people most deeply immersed in holiness.” (Midrash Rabbah to Shir HaShirim 5§4)

WHAT? You’re telling me that if I pursue holiness by obedience to the commandments that I make a bigger target?

I put that in all caps because we always seem so surprised and indignant when bad things obstruct our pursuit of the Word. I’m not usually an all-caps writer. More than one question mark is just a bridge too far, though. I don’t think I’ve ever had a peeve as a pet, but if I did want a pet peeve, that would probably be it. Multiple question marks instead of one. Only one per interrogative. Please.

So, yes, Scripture suggests that holiness acts like a magnet to evil. Even more perplexing, sometimes the Ruach HaKodesh leads us to the place or situation to be be tested in the Word. Here are a few examples of the principle:

“I was watching Satan fall from Heaven” (Lk 10:18)
“…there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.” (Re 12:7-9)
“And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.” (Re 12:13; 16, 17)
“the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1:6)
e. “…a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, ‘These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.’ She continued doing this for many days.” Acts 16:16-18; 8:9-18)
f. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Mt 4:1)

When Scripture identifies the intense effort to sabotage the righteous ones and the Holy City Jerusalem, then it is quite evident that the dragon’s desire to dominate the heavens is still strong even when bound!

For that reason, the satan, the evil imagination, must be bound in our daily lives. It does not go away…it is bound. Disciplined. Exercised authority over.

How do the pre and post millennial battles with Gog of Magog (the wicked among the nations, “Amalek”) relate to the texts of Shir HaShirim 4:16 and 5:1?

Both attack the Garden-ruled Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Song of Songs 4:16 invites the awakening of the Anointed One to execute the process of the resurrection of the righteous dead and the purging of the wicked, including the satan. He will be bound and tossed into the Abyss, which will be sealed over him for 1,000 years. That’s important. If he is only bound or imprisoned by the Holy One, then we cannot try to kill it. We must learn how to discipline and bind it with “It is written.”

Just quoting “It is written,” however, is not enough. It must be written and applied in the proper context in which we are tempted! The Word is frequently used by the serpent deceptively…out of context.

This is why Job’s friends fell so short in their “counsel” to the suffering Job. They really hadn’t invested the time to understand how what they knew of the Holy One really applied to Job’s situation. They didn’t understand the dynamics of what had taken place in Heaven in order for Job’s test to be authorized. Job was already confused as to why his pursuit of righteousness was being punished:

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2)

Knowledge in Hebrew is daat, which means an intimate understanding and relationship. It is beyond wisdom and understanding. It is sacrificial love. Job had wisdom and insight to the Holy One, but until he’d suffered through testing, he would not “know” Him. For a man to “know” a woman is for them to cohabit and bear fruit. In Job’s case, the result of the test would be greater fruit and a greater revelation of who the Holy One is. The verses in Job are majestic in their revelation of His Majesty and glory.

Job could not “bind and loose” the satan completely on his own, but with the authority of Yeshua, we do have the authority to exercise a system of judgment within the holy community as well as to appeal to the Holy One when we are sorely tested. We can invoke Yeshua’s Name, for Yeshua is interceding on our behalf, perhaps something which Job did not enjoy. In His mercy, the Father may respond by shortening the test Himself (“Lead us not into hard testing” of Matthew 6:13) or reveal to us what we need to do to reach the conclusion faster. He will always refer us to His Word as a greater revelation of Him in that test. It is His desire that we answer these situations with “It is written…” accurately.

A proper “It is written…” really does get rid of the satan faster!

Something else to try is to forgive. The Luke text of the Disciples’ Prayer alludes to the appeal to escape hard testing with forgiveness:

“And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Lk 11:4)

Although spirits are not bound with physical chains, the Living Word, which is Yeshua, does hamper the work of the evil one among the holy. It is as close as we can come to putting cuffs on the satan like the Holy One, for in our obedience, we are exercising His power over the accuser and saboteur of our holy life.

While the satan is bound during the millennium, the nations will be free to learn of and obey Yeshua without that evil inclination constantly hampering their efforts. What a deal, right? Perhaps this is the reason the satan is released one final time, to test those nations. Will they truly love Yeshua and restrain evil, or will they join Gog as Magog to rebel against the Word?

For 1,000 years, the un-resurrected among the nations will be subject to the Word, loving restraing “cords” of the YHVH, Messiah, and the royal priesthood:

“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’” (Ps 2:1-3)

This uproar among the nations and their rebellion against Jerusalem’s administration is possible because the satan, the yetzer ha-ra, is released to once again deceive and threaten the Garden and rule of righteousness from the Holy City.

The Gog and Magog deception frogs will once again sing a song of deception like they did before the millennium: “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs…” (Re 16:13)

Among the nations are leaders and people who will invite the deception to take root in their hearts that enjoyed the privilege of learning the Word without its evil inclination for 1,000 years. Ultimately, they will be bound with the lies they believed because they chose not to trust Elohim, their Creator, and His saving right hand Yeshua. They will learn of Him in peace, yet they will reject Him.

The sages associate this rebellion of the created against the Creator as the rebellion of a degenerate child against his parent. They read the prophecies of Gog and Magog along with the rebellion of Absalom against David:

Rabbi Jacob bar Acha said: Why is the portion of Absalom juxtaposed with the portion of Gog and Magog? To teach that a wicked son is more difficult for a father than the war of Gog and Magog…” (Midrash to Tehillim 3:2)
Degeneracy in a man’s house is considered far more grievous than the war between Gog and Magog. For with reference to the war between Gog and Magog it is written: Why are the nations in an uproar? (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 1:7)
and…

Avraham’s taking of a skin of water and bread in sending away Ishmael is also associated with Gog and Magog. “Immediately, “Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water…” , teaching you that he hated Ishmael because he set out on a path of depravity, and sent him and his mother Hagar emptyhanded…and without sustenance?…The path of depravity in a person’s household is worse than the war of Gog and Magog, as regarding Gog and Magog it is written: “Why do nations rage and peoples meditate in vain?”…, wealth, and good deeds….he bound him and tied him, and [Isaac] did not prevent [him from doing so].

The perfect marriage of YHVH through Messiah in the Beloved City and “married” Garden Land with the holy ones, the righteous, is ultimately and finally gained through purging the unrepentant wicked who refuse to cede authority and rulership to their Creator.

It reminds me of a beautiful song from the 90s:

One day every tongue will confess You are God

One day every knee will bow;

Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose You now.

(Brian Doerksen. 1998 Vineyard Songs)

Let us choose to serve the Holy One of Israel now. Even before satan loses his place in Heaven. Before he is bound, loosed, and bound again. Let us be counted among those gathered who will be perfected, no longer susceptible to sin after the resurrection. Inheritors. Forever.

“Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever. For the LORD loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. (Ps 37:27-29)