God's Children vs. Satan's

Copyright: rdissanayake.blogspot.com

 
This is not about the conflict between God’s children (or people) and Satan’s. Instead we will define the terms and talk about them regarding their manner of living, relationships with God and their destination and a couple more.

Satan, the Deceiver of the Whole World

The Whole Humanity is Divided into Two

At any moment in time—Adam’s to the present —the whole of Humanity, composed of past generations who are dead, who are now resting in their graves, and the living generations—can be divided into two: God’s children and Satan’s. This is the biblical view—God’s view. In other words God sees the dead and the living this way. This started with our first parents as they fell into sin of disobedience due to Satan’s seduction.  They became Satan’s children at this instant. It became clearer a generation after –Cain and Abel’s. Abel proved true as a child of God as he rightfully worshiped God. In contrast, Cain whose heart became hard chose the wrong path, killed his brother Abel and also became Satan’s child.

                                     

Between Adam, Eve, ¹ and Cain what is common was sinning against God. By the very fact that they sinned they became Satan’s children. They were doing evil as their father—the Devil—is known to do. If we apply it today then living in sin makes one a follower of Satan, being aware of it or not. A good example in the Bible is when the Lord Jesus Christ called some Jews (and they were supposed to be God’s people and they claimed they are) as children of Satan when they were thinking of killing Him. Now we know that later they killed Him and as a result God rejected Israel (except for a few), “the chosen people”, and transferred His redemption to another set of people, the Gentiles, where we belong. We can apply this to us of the present generation. If we do a mix of good and evil ² while claiming to be Christians, we are mistaken. In God’s eyes we are Satan’s children. And this is true always in all ages of humanity.

God’s Wrath over Sinners

Banishment in Eden

God’s wrath is readily seen in that event at the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were banished from it because of the disobedience and were totally barred from entering again. Not until they were to be tested or probed by God throughout their lifetime before they can return. They were given a second chance.This was true with Israelites and is also true with everybody at the present time. But they did not die instantly, did they? No, it was postponed precisely to probe their real loyalty, either to God or the Devil. The good news is that even before the foundation of the world God had already made provision for the salvation of the whole humankind. And that’s the gospel—the meaning of Christ’s life, death and resurrection—that we came to know being told and expounded in the Scriptures. Conformity or nonconformity with the gospel will determine our destiny. Either we are God’s children or Satan’s.

Destiny is One’s Choosing

The Prodigal Son Returns

God is sovereign in all things—meaning He controls nature, things or events as He wills. No one can thwart His purposes and ends. He left us sovereign in our choices though. He will not force you to choose Him; [Just as He is allowing Satan to continue his deceptions until judgment.] However, God woos us ardently. We can see this in the way He pursued Israel in spite of their many transgressions. It is also true with us. He wills that you would return to Him and be His child again. That’s the point of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Read the story and see the unchanging and steadfast love of God the Father to His children. A couple of things I wish to point out: 1) the Prodigal Son’s repentance of his reckless ways, ingratitude and dishonor of his father’s name; and his return, and 2) the father’s mercy, compassion and forgiveness and his joy in receiving the repentant son. He throws a lavish welcoming party, did he not? (Heaven celebrates with joy as a sinner gets to be saved from God’s wrath.) And the elder son got jealous and very envious. ³ The latter is feeling self-righteous and ungracious to his younger brother.

Signify one’s Choice ⁴

Seeking God through the Scriptures will signify your choice. The Word of God is complete with regard to your quest, which is a journey that begins with Christ and ends with Christ. Christ is the only way to the Father’s heart, the knowledge of all truth that cleanses us of all our unrighteousness, and the instruction how to practice the godly and righteous life that glorifies the Father. The journey ends as you are conformed to the image of Christ.⁵

Choose Which Way You Go

 It’s a long and a difficult journey only if you are halfhearted in your search. It can even be a failure. Get enlightened and inspired by reading the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. But if you are fully committed and completely trusting in God and remaining in Him through His Word, you will breeze through life like a child prodigy does to his studies from grade school to college or university. Heaven’s full resources and might will be deployed to help you through life. The complete journey is accomplished with the manner of the supernatural that only God can design and accomplish. For God’s grace, i.e., favor, will always be on your side as you remain blameless and upright in your ways. The Bible says, “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” The best example to behold is the man Jesus, who was told to be full of the Spirit. Read Luke 4 for the full story. Filled with the Spirit of God, Jesus successfully parried Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. And throughout His lifetime He only did things that pleased the Father. A child of God hews to this model. He or she participates with God through the Spirit within in living a victorious, godly and righteous life. Jesus was fully man but had the help of God through the Spirit; a born again man has the same help.

The Covenant of God with His children

God gave Moses the Decalogue
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Exodus 20:2 says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” God told them that He chose them to be His people, i.e., children. Implied was that God forgave Israel of past sins. Before God they were already justified. Then God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel. If we apply it to modern man God will be telling us whom He called into the faith, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the world (that is full of sin), out from being slaves of sin. Now, here are MY commandments.⁶ Do them and you may live as truly my children. Be holy as I am holy.” In short God is calling us to act as ourselves—as God’s children. And live as ‘salt and light’ before men as exemplified by man Jesus.

In contrast disobedience to these commandments will make you Satan’s child even if you profess to be a God’s child and devoted to prayer, church and ministry and claiming to be righteous in your ways. It’s really what anyone does and not what he or she says. In other words we should think and act and behave like who we are—children of God. As they say in business parlance—we should walk the talk. The Scripture says, “It is the doer of the law, i.e., God’s word, who is righteous.” It is also about character—that conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly Jesus says that many or majority of the whole humanity will belong to Satan in the end.

Temple of the Spirit or of the Devil

God dwells in temples—His children, those who have faith in Jesus Christ and obey His commandments.  There is no religio-secular divide in their worldview. They eat, drink and do all things for the praise and glory of God. The Spirit of God seals them into final redemption. Only in this condition of man will God dwell in them as temples.

In contrast, Satan’s children have the Devil’s spirit within them; manifest itself in their evil thoughts, malice, selfish ambitions, evil imaginings, envy, strife, jealousy, slander, greed which is idolatry, immorality, laziness, indulgence in leisure and pleasure, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. The dark spiritual forces indwelling them cause these wicked thoughts and acts. Aware or not, Satan is their master and he is enthroned in their hearts.

In a nutshell, the Bible has this to say, “For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14, NIV)?”

God is obliged or not obliged

Once you become a child of God, God is faithful to His word or promises. As our Father in Heaven, God is bound to lead and guide, provide, take care and protect you from Satan’s wiles and his followers’ deceit. If once in a while you commit a mistake, He will humble and chasten you. But rest assured He has forgiven you for the sake of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is living and continuously ministering to us in Heaven as our Mediator and Advocate. This is the meaning of what Paul is saying in the book of Romans, “… there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8: 1-2, NIV)  God’s children have the Spirit of God as a guarantee of their salvation. This is their glorious destiny and the ultimate of God’s many promises.

On the other hand if one chooses to remain an unbeliever, going your way, self-counseled and self-exalting, self-righteous (in other words proud)—God is not obliged to give you His grace, i, e., good will. In this condition you are prey to Satan and his followers’ deception or lies. Like a fish that is happy in the ocean you shall freely imbibe the culture of the world that surrounds you. The Bible says, “Satan is the father of lies…there is no truth in him for he lied from the beginning.” This text alludes partly to his lies to Eve in the Garden of Eden—the beginning of man’s downfall, which continues to this day. The moral corruption of man that is widespread at this time is very plain to see. It is like a contagion that seems to be spreading exponentially. It is no surprise that the majority of whole of humanity are Satan’s children. Their condemnation remains and this is their ignominy. Theirs will be a different eternal consequence from that what God stores for His children.

Heaven or Hell

Briefly I will tell you the obvious, which is that Heaven is where God’s children will go;⁷ and Hell (figurative for eternal death) is where Satan’s followers will go. Next, we will explore about a couple of things more:

A.  When will God’s children go to Heaven? Is this their ultimate destination?

1. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time, the righteous living together with the righteous dead that are sleeping in their graves until this time (both God’s children), the latter being resurrected, will be taken by the Lord Jesus and His angels into heaven. They will stay there temporarily for a 1000 years (a millennium).

2. At the end of the millennium, Heaven, inside of which are God’s children, come down to earth to live forever.

B.      When will Satan’s children suffer the fires of Hell? Will they stay there permanently? –

1.       At the same time that Jesus came down for God’s children (see item A.1 above), all living wicked people who practiced unrighteousness and have not repented (Satan’s children) will all be killed by the brightness of our Lord Jesus Christ’s coming, although this is not the fires of Hell yet. This will leave the whole earth devoid of living things including human beings. Earth becomes without form, void and dark as in the beginning (read: Gen 1:1, 2). The wicked dead remain in their graves.

Sodom and Gomorrah, a type of the Last Day of Fire
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2.       As the millennium ends (see item A.2) all the wicked dead are resurrected for the judgment. Immediately Satan and his demons will gather and lead them to attack God’s children who just came down from above.This shows how unrepentant the former still were. They still held to their wrongful ways. But fire from above will come down into the whole earth and destroy and consume them. This is what the Bible calls the lake of fire and causes the so-called second                                                        death for all condemned.                                   

3.       From dust they came, to dust they will go. And this is for eternal. They will be ashes trampled upon by the feet of God’s children on the earth that the latter had inherited. Did not Jesus say in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5), “[Only] the meek (and those who mourn, the peace makers, those who hunger for righteousness, those poor of spirit, and those of pure of hearts) will inherit the earth?”

Conclusion

We have defined who God’s children are and Satan’s; has told of their destiny:

God’s children live blameless and godly lives empowered by the indwelling Spirit of God, keeping the laws, decrees, precepts, and commandments of God. Their destiny is secure from beginning of faith to the end. They are citizens of Heaven and later of the new and fire-purified earth, which is the restored Garden of Eden. Humans and all other living and non-living things are restored to their original state and nature and will have eternal life. God the Father and the Lamb dwells with them.

In contrast, Satan’s children (or followers) practice lawlessness and have unrighteous ways living up to their father’s—the Devil—ways. They remained unbelievers and not fearful of God throughout their lifetime. They will be condemned to suffer the second death and go back to what they came from—dust. They remain as dust forever. They are in Hell, i.e. eternal death.

                           

N. B.

¹ The Bible does not settle Adam and Eve’s fate, whether they are destined to be God’s children or not.

² The mix of good and evil that anyone does are from one’s point of view. Usually we tend to emphasize the good and paste over the evil. Good works do not merit one’s redemption but we think otherwise. However, they are both like filthy rags in God’s eyes until the time God calls for you to the faith and to serve Him. The Scriptures say, “Without faith in God no one will please Him.” Our faith overcomes our sinful nature, freeing us from its dictates that we can live blamelessly before God. Christ’s crucifixion is also ours. In this manner we are dead to our old self and born into a new life in Christ. Now good works will please God.

³ In the biggest case, the Prodigal Son represents the whole of humanity; in the smallest, each individual person.

⁴ Our acceptance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is the start of our life in God. Believing the gospel opens the door to the Kingdom of God and it starts now in this present life. It is authenticated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that transforms our minds and purifies our hearts thus regenerating our lives. This is what being born again that is being spoken in John 3 is like.

⁵Being conformed to the image of Christ is also being conformed to the image of the father. For Christ is the exact representation of God the Father’s being. Jesus affirms this when he said to Philip, one of the twelve, “if you have seen me, you have seen the father.  I and the Father are one.”

⁶ The Ten Commandments can be read in exodus 20:1-17. Beware of the Roman Catholic version. The said church made changes without the authority of the Scripture. As a result the 1.3 billion Roman Catholics are being misled and misdirected. A relevant text to consider: Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Jesus spoke these words against the Pharisees in Matthew 15:14. In my view the whole priesthood of the Roman Catholic—unless they convert—are  the modern example of the Pharisees of the old Hebrew.

⁷ God’s children will go to heaven but only for 1000 years to judge with Jesus the angels and the wicked people of all generations. Ultimately they will go down to the new and purified earth at the appointed time and live there forever. God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will dwell with them on earth. In this term, the Kingdom of Heaven is anywhere where the Father and the Son dwells. If they are in you at present, the Kingdom is within you.