God and Satan

Question: Why in the Bible does God allow Satan to do what he does? If God is all powerful why didn’t He just destroy Satan?

It is clear from the Bible that God USES Satan for His own purposes. The following are some of those purposes as shown in the Bible (you will need to look up each of the references in your own Bible to catch the full meaning):

1. To reveal men’s hearts

• 1 Chron 21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel – he was to reveal David’s underlying sin of pride – in the parallel verses (2 Sam 24:1) it is seen as God who was behind it (to deal with the sin)

2. To bring judgement on unbelievers

• Rev 9:11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. (both names mean “Destroyer”)

3. To bring discipline to believers

• 1 Cor 5:5 by putting this sinful believer out of the church’s protection, it enabled Satan to come against him and humble him and bring him to repentance

4. To subjugate unbelievers

• 1 Jn 5:19b the whole world is under the control of the evil one
• Satan is allowed to rule where there is unconfessed sin, i.e. over unbelievers

5. To maintain humility in our lives

• One of the key things God does with his children is to seek to develop character in them.  As pride is always lurking, sometimes God allows us to be attacked so that we maintain our reliance upon Him and realise that of ourselves we are nothing.

• 2 Cor. 12:7 Because Paul received wonderful revelations from God, to keep him from getting puffed up, he was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment him and keep him from getting proud.

6. To develop faith & righteousness in our lives

• Faith is one of the key elements God wants to develop in our lives, and so often He does this by allowing us to encounter trying circumstances where our faith is both revealed and developed.  Similarly, such testing times are to reveal and bring about greater righteousness within us.

• 1 Peter 1:7 – trials are testings, and testings reveal our faith – such revelation of our faith brings honour in heaven

• 1 Peter 5:8-9 – Satan seeks to attack us, but we are to learn to resist.

• 2 Peter 1:4-8 – the testing of our faith develops our lives in many ways

7. To bring about trials whereby we can be rewarded

• These trials, that involve Satan, make us rely upon God, His word and His Spirit and so the outcome of the battles we fight is that we appreciate Him, His word and His Spirit more and more.

• James 1:12 God blesses the people who patiently endure testing – testing develops us and God blesses through it

• 1 John 2:13,14 – it is a battle with Satan which we can win with God’s word, as we battle we rely on that word more and more

• 1 John 4:1-6 – our battle is also with Satan’s agents; we are to overcome in the mind and we overcome by the Holy Spirit within us, as we overcome we realise the wonder of who it is within us more and more.

• Rev. 2:17 – our reward, as we overcome Satan’s attacks, will be intimacy with Christ

• Rev. 2:26-28 – as we obey Jesus and have the victory so he is preparing us to take authority, both in this world and the next.

8. To teach us how to fight

• As we face such trials we learn how to overcome.

• Judges 3:2 God did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience.

• Israel grew in their knowledge of the Lord and how to fight as they opposed the enemy. We do the same in the spiritual sphere.

9. To demonstrate God’s power over the enemy

• We need reminding who is who in the battle. Jesus IS Lord!

• Eph 3:10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made  known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.

• As we triumph God is glorified in the heavens.

• Mk 1:21-27 As Jesus cast out a demon God was glorified.

• Acts 13:6-12 As Saul triumphs over Elymas God was glorified.

Conclusions:

Although Satan was apparently not created for these express purposes, God takes and uses his rebellion for His purposes.

As Joseph once said, (Gen 50:20) “You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Thus it is that in this fallen world where sin dominates, Satan is allowed access for the sake of God’s overall purposes.

We, therefore, need to maintain a right perspective so that we see:

• Where the enemy is being allowed activity because of man’s unrighteousness, and therefore the unrighteousness is the thing to be dealt with.

• Where the enemy should be resisted because he is simply seeking to expand his arena of control, and here we need to look to seek what God is wanting us to learn or develop in resisting the enemy, so we can co-operate with Him.

How many O.T. originals do we have today?

Question: How many Old Testament documents do we have today and how reliable are they?

Answer:

Josh McDowell in New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, categorises in detail the thousands of manuscripts we have available today around the world, that attest to the validity of the N.T.

In comparison to what we might expect, there are a limited number of such manuscripts for the O.T.

The reason suggested for this limitation is that of age – 2 or 3 thousand years is a long time to expect a document to last – and destructibility of materials.

However, beyond those two reasons, a primary reason was to do with the destruction of documents when they became damaged.

To understand this more fully it is useful to understand how documents came down us:

1. An original author wrote on clay, rock (early materials), papyrus (most common material, made from reeds), or parchments (later usage, made from animal skins) or vellum (calf skin, often dyed purple).

2. Copies would be made – and here the detail should be noted:

• So concerned were the ancient scribes over the copying accuracy of sacred documents that they wouldn’t write even one letter from memory, only from what they had immediately in front of them.
• To achieve accuracy they even counted every letter on a line and checked it with the original.
• They numbered lines and words and letters to ensure accuracy.
• If they made a single mistake they destroyed the copy and started again!
• When a new copy was guaranteed perfect, they would destroy the old one because physical damage gradually occurring might mean mistakes in reading it.

Our earliest complete O.T. manuscript comes from the 10th century AD. although we have plenty of older fragments.

Unlike the New Testament documents, it is really impossible to trace back to the originals. The finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 changed things considerably however.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of scrolls dating from between 3rd Century BC through to the 1st century AD.

To quote McDowell, “They include one complete Old Testament book (Isaiah) and thousands of fragments, which together represent every Old Testament book except Esther,” and these have been used to confirm the evidence of thousands of other documentary fragments that reveal the O.T.

What N.T. confirmation is given of the O.T.?

Question: What New Testament Confirmation is given of the Old Testament?

Answer:

a) The N.T. about history

The following is just a starter illustration of the many instances where New Testament references are made to the historical factualness of the Old Testament.

You are invited to note, as you read the N.T. the incredible numbers of supporting Scriptures:

Mt 12:-4 David eating the bread

Mt 12:40 Jonah in the fish

Mt 12:42 The Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon

Lk 4:25,26 Elijah going to the widow

Lk 4:27 Naaman cleansed of leprosy

Lk 12:29- Sodom and Gomorrah

Jn 3:14 Moses and the serpent

Jn 4:6 Jacob giving a field

Acts 7:2-50 Detailed history of Israel

Acts 13:17-23 Overall history of Israel

Rom 4:10 Abraham believing

Rom 4:19 Abraham 100 years old

Rom 9:10-12 Rebekah and children

b) The New Testament about prophecy

It is suggested by scholars that there are over 300 prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled.

The N.T. is full of references to the O.T. prophecies. The following is, again, merely a starter selection taken from Matthew’s Gospel, and the student is invited to go through the N.T. and note the many similar references:

1:22,23 Jesus to be born of a virgin

2:5,6 Born in Bethlehem

2:15 He would come out of Egypt

2:17,18 There would be weeping over children

2:23 He would live in Nazareth

3:3 The coming of John the Baptist

4:13-16 He would minister in Galilee

What books were excluded from the canon?

Question: What Books were Excluded from the Canon?

Answer:

We have already noted in other questions the many references in the O.T. to other ‘books’ or ‘annals’ that refer to records that were not considered on a par with those included in the canon.

Looking at the books that were rejected from the Old Testament canon helps us see more clearly how the ones that were included were so different.

Some of the well known rejected books are:

a) Ecclesiasticus

• which makes no claim that its author was a prophet or that the Lord spoke by him.

b) The Book of Baruch

• supposedly Jeremiah’s secretary,
• supposedly in Babylon though Jer 43:6 says he went with Jeremiah to Egypt,
• in generally inaccurate and contradicts other known details and dates.

c) The Books of Maccabees

• make no claim to prophetic authorship
• records simply secular wars etc.

d) The Books of Tobit & Judith

• full of clear geographical, chronological and historical mistakes
• neither claim to be the works of the prophets

It should be noted that these and other rejected books were not quoted by, or accepted by, Jesus or the apostles.

How was the O.T. Canon agreed?

Question:  How was the Old Testament Canon agreed?

Answer:

a) Uncertainty

The origin of the Old Testament canon is unknown and there is little or no evidence outside the books themselves.

The fully developed canon clearly existed by the 2nd century BC.

b) Excluded writings

Not all books of Hebrew antiquity were included.

A number of writings between what we now have as Old & New Testaments were excluded.

Similarly other previous books, referred to in the Old Testament itself, were excluded, e.g.:

“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.” (Josh 10:13 )

and

“David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar): “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!” (2 Sam 1:17-19).

and

“That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says….” (Num 21:14)

and

“As for the other events of Solomon’s reign–all he did and the wisdom he displayed–are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?” (1 Kings 11:41)

and

“The other events of Jeroboam’s reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel.” (1 Kings 14:19) [Not Chronicles]

c) How was the canon created?

Some suggest it was venerated documents that were considered inspired.

But how were they thus tested?

It probably started with the writings of Moses which would have been considered authoritative, simply because of his position and having encountered the Lord face to face at Sinai.

We have noted on a previous page about Inspiration, how Moses received God’s word and wrote it down:

• see Ex 17:14, 24:4-7, 34:27,28 referring to the wars, the Ten Commandments, the treatment of the Israelites and various festivals,
• Num 33:2 referring to a daily recording of their journeys,
• Deut 31:9,22,24 referring to the law and the song.

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy have Moses’ ‘finger prints’ all over them.

Tradition had it that Moses wrote down a combination of direct revelation from the Lord and tradition passed down to form Genesis and thus the first five books together came to be called the Law of Moses, or the Torah.

In respect of Joshua, the Talmud, the earliest Jewish traditions claim that Joshua wrote his own book except for the final section in respect of his funeral (Attributed to Eleazar son of Aaron with the last verse being added by a later editor.)

Joshua gives credence to the earlier books being the work of Moses:

“Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” (Josh 1:7,8)

and

“He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses…… There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses, which he had written.” (Josh 8:31,32)

and

“Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses.” (Josh 23:6)

Similarly, later books make reference to Moses’ Law, e.g.

“Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses.” (1 Kings 2:3) etc.

Many of the Old Testament books refer back to the Law of Moses.

The principle of including the Pentateuch in the canon was not simply antiquity but Moses’ authority as God’s spokesman.

Now Moses was considered a prophet of significance for Israel – because he spoke from God.

Now the O.T. is littered with prophets and their prophecies – all of which take their authority from their encounter and experience of God. Most books after the Pentateuch have some prophetic dimension to them – foretelling or forth-telling the word of God.

Indeed, with this in mind, we can observe that most if not all of the books of the Old Testament get their credence in the eyes of Israel, from their recording of encounters with God. Even the so-called historical books have considerable references to God in them.

Thus the canon or credibility of the Old Testament books is based upon the fact that they provide a record of the divine encounters with Israel.

What does the ‘Canon of Scripture’ mean?

Question: What does the ‘Canon of Scripture’ mean?

Answer:

The Greek word kanon means a rule or measuring rod.

Canon first means the collection of books for which prescribed tests have been applied to determine whether they are considered authoritative and worthy of being part of the sacred Scriptures.

Canon also means all the books collectively. The Canon is thus all the Scriptures that constitute the ‘rule of faith’ by which all doctrine is tested.

What does Inerrancy of Scripture mean?

Question: What does Inerrancy of Scripture mean?

Answer:

a) The idea of inerrancy

The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

i.e. the Bible always tells the truth about whatever it speaks about.

We have already noted that Jesus referred to the Old Testament many times and each time assumes truth.

Paul was able to say, “I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14)

and also

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom 15:4) – an all embracing coverage of Scripture.

b) Problems with Denial of Inerrancy

To deny the correctness of Scripture means:

• any and all of it becomes potentially unreliable
• it is impossible to know where to draw the line
• it becomes a matter of human arbitration as to where to draw the line
• we can believe nothing with certainty.

c) Faith is Built on Evidence

We are mindful that to come to a belief in the inerrancy or correctness of Scripture requires but as the Bible itself says, “faith comes by hearing”.

Faith is in fact built on evidence – the evidence of God’s voice, which the more and more we read the Scriptures, the more we sense we are discerning God’s voice through them, and the more certain we become of their reliance and authority.

The writer to the Hebrews said,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1).

This is one of the strange things about faith:

• we need to come with an open mind as to the possibilities
• we need to examine (read) the evidence (Scriptures)
• as we do so more and more, we find a growing assurance that what we have before us is certain.

What Historical Support is there for Inspiration?

Question: What Historical Support is there for Belief in Inspiration?
Who in history has supported the idea of inspiration of the Scriptures?

Answer:

What is interesting is that the early creeds were concerned to specify certain beliefs about God and about Jesus – but never refer to the inspiration of Scripture – they all assume that these beliefs are inspired and revealed by God.

When we come to the page about the validity of the Old Testament, we will see that Jesus himself quoted from it again and again, giving no sense that it is anything less than completely true.

A few quotes from the many that are possible must suffice to illustrate historical support.

Flavius Josephus, Jewish historian, first century AD in Against Apion:

“How firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change; but it is become natural to all Jews, immediately and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and if occasion be, willingly to die for them.”

He also gave a list of those books which exactly corresponds with the books we have in our Old Testament today.

Irenaeus, church father of the late second century in Against Heresies:

“when.. they are confronted from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures as if they were not correct.”

and

“being most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit.”

The 1664 Westminster Confession of Faith, the Church of England’s reformed confession of faith listed the books of our Bible referring to them as:

“All which are given by inspiration of God , to be the rule of faith and life.”

“The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.

“The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man or Church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.

Richard Baxter, one of the great Puritans:

“No error or contradiction is in it, but what is in some copies, by the failing of preserver, transcribers, printers, or translators.”

How was God involved in producing the Bible?

Question: How was God involved in producing the Bible?

Answer:

a) Unaware involvement by men

It is clear from the Scriptures that God can inspire people to do things without their awareness that this is happening

Example: the king of Assyria as noted in Isa 10:5-

Thus it is probable that, similarly, there were scribes who recorded the activities of Israel who were not specifically aware of divine prompting, although it could be there.

b) God wrote Himself

This is exactly the opposite extreme. This was unusual and was limited to the production of the Ten Commandments:

“The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Ex 32:16)

and

“The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.” (Ex 34:1)

c) God Instructed men

The next activity, nearest to that extreme above, was God instructing people to write:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it ” (Ex 17:14)

the opposition to and vanquishing of the Amalakites recorded.

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (Ex 34:27)

the basic laws of the covenant given on Mount Sinai recorded.

“Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.” (Isa 30:8)

instruction to Isaiah to record the prophecy.

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel , says: `Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.” (Jer 30:1,2)

similar instruction to Jeremiah.

“Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.” (Ezek 43:11)

similar instruction to Ezekiel.

“Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets” (Hab 2:2)

ditto Habakkuk.

d) God inspired men by the Holy Spirit

Much of the time in the Bible it is assumed that God’s Spirit inspired the writers to write as they did.

For those who are not Christians and who do not know the experience of being inspired by God, the nearest you might come to is a poet or author being inspired to write poetry or a story because of moving circumstances that they have experienced.

In the case of the Bible, it is not merely moving circumstances, but the moving of the person of the Holy Spirit. Occasionally that is expressly recorded:

“The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: `When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God ” (2 Sam 23:2,3)

David’s awareness.

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:20,21)

Peter spoke about it as a regular experience.

“David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit , declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand” ‘ (Mk 12:36 where Jesus quotes David in Psa 110:1)

Jesus himself cited David saying he was being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

e) Unaware involvement – again

Which takes us back to our starting point again. Thus we may read, for example:

“Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.” (Ex 24:4)

Here Moses was not instructed but it appeared a ‘natural’ response, a thing it was sensible to do.

Daniel makes an interesting comment:

“in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years” (Dan 9:2)

i.e. Daniel already had Jeremiah’s writings and considered them part of holy Scripture, the word of God which he could rely upon.

In Nehemiah we find the practice of Israel indicating their attitude towards the Scriptures:

“They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God ” (Neh 9:2)

and they prayed:

For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets” (Neh 9:30 )

and also:

“all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.” (Neh 10:29)

thus they clearly believed the Law they had written down had come from God.

In the New Testament we find the classic example:

“since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you.” (Lk 1:3)

The nature of the writing presupposes that he was in fact being inspired or prompted by God to do this writing.

Why is the Bible difficult to read?

Question: So why isn’t the Bible always easy to read?

Answer: We often fail to realise that there are various features of this ancient set of documents that mean we actually have to think about it, and about what we are reading:

There is a variety of types of writing – history, poetry, teaching, prophecy

• some is meant to be taken literally, others not (e.g. poetry)

There are different cultures to ours.

• imagine an alien or foreigner coming to our culture and needing explanations

It is a different period in history to ours

• as with any historical periods there are differences from ours.

It was written in different languages to ours

• therefore it has had to be translated and words differ in meaning.

There are many different styles of writing used

• as with any literature, it needs understanding.

It is spiritual and we aren’t always very spiritual!  We need to ask God’s help.

If we can overcome this apparent difficulties, we will find we are richly rewarded as we come and study the Bible.