The Great Conflict of the Ages

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Reflection 1

The Great Conflict of the Ages

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The Bible names a real and present foe of our faith: the Devil. He is not just a symbol for evil, he is the source of evil. He doesn’t live in myths and fables; he is an actual being who stalks our planet. He knows his time is short, so he seeks to wreak havoc on every occasion.

The Apostle Peter warns us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Our Lord tells us the Devil comes “only to steal and kill and destroy” (John. 10:10). Are you enjoying happiness? Satan wants to steal it. Are you having a good day? Satan will try and ruin it. Are you trying to renew your Christian life? He will redouble his efforts to lure you back into the world. Satan is the enemy of your God-given destiny and longs to be the destroyer of your soul.

Don’t dismiss him!

Agree with the witness of Scripture. From the Bible’s earliest to final pages, we are confronted with an arrogant anti-God force of great cunning and power.

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The Great Conflict of the Ages Some of his Biblical names include Lucifer Son of the Morning, the Devil, the Serpent, the Strong One, the wicked one, the Accuser of our Brethren, the god of this age, the murderer, the Prince of this World, the prince of the Power of the Air, Beelzebub, and Belial.

He oversees a conglomeration of spiritual forces: principalities, powers, dominions, thrones, princes, lords, gods, angels, unclean spirits, and wicked spirits.

Satan appears in the Garden at the beginning. He is cast into the Lake of fire in the end. He tempted David, bewildered Saul, and waged an attack on Job. He is in the Gospels, the book of Acts, the writings of Paul, Peter, John, James, and Jude. Serious students of Scripture must be serious about Satan.

Make no mistake… the Devil is a real! Every conflict is a contest with Satan and his forces. For that reason, the Bible says, “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). In Genesis 3:15 God promised a Savior that would put an end to the works of Satan. He promised His Son. Satan was present during that prophecy and was determined to make every effort he could, to stop our Lord from reaching the Cross, defeating him, and securing our Salvation. The efforts of Satan to destroy the seed line of Christ have formed:

The Great Conflict of the Ages. In the coming pages we will examine some of the more prominent conflicts that led to the one moment in time Satan spent centuries trying to prevent. A moment in time when all of the world was exonerated through the willingness of our Lord to lay down His life for us.

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1 John 3:12

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

----------- The first attempt came through Cain. God forewarned him of the evil he was harboring in his heart (Genesis 4:5-7). But Cain gave into the impulse of because he was of that evil one-Satan (1 John 3:12) and he rose up and slew his brother Abel. God provided a substitute in the seed line and blessed Adam and Eve with another son-Seth (Genesis 4:25).

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Genesis 6

There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Jude 1:6

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

2 Peter 2:4-5

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly…

----------- The irruption of fallen angels in Genesis 6 was the second attempt by Satan to prevent the coming seed of the woman and he nearly succeeded. Only Noah and his family had preserved themselves pure with the genealogy of Adam and did not mix with the Sons of God (Genesis 6:9). If Satan had corrupted the entire seed line, then God’s Word would have failed, and his own doom would have been averted.

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Genesis 12:6

Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

----------- As soon as it was made known that the Seed of the woman was to come through Abraham of these angels (make note of Genesis 6:4 as it includes the words, “and after that”). The enemy sought to occupy the land of Canaan before Abraham entered it. In Genesis 12 when Abraham entered Canaan we read “the Canaanite was then (already) in the land.”

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Genesis 12:6 But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

----------- The attempt in Genesis 12 to prevent the coming seed of Isaac occurs with Abraham’s entrance into Egypt with his wife Sarai, but God secures their passing by sending a plague on Pharaoh’s house. (Genesis 12:17-20). In Genesis 20 God prevents a similar occurrence from coming upon Abraham and his wife. When Abimelech attempts to make Sarai his wife. God intervenes through an ominous dream to Abimelech.

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Genesis 41: 15-16

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”

So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

----------- The destruction of the chosen family of Israel by famine is thwarted by God securing Joseph as second in command to Pharaoh (Genesis 41-42; 50:20). The destruction of all the males in Egypt by another Pharaoh (Exodus 1:10,22; 2:5; Hebrews 11:23) The destruction of the entire nation when Pharaoh’s army pursued the Israelites as they left Egypt (Exodus 14)

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1 Samuel 19: 9-10 And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin: but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

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With the singling out of King David’s line (2 Samuel 7) came the continued assaults of Satan. Saul relentlessly pursued David and attempted to end his life on numerous occasions (1 Samuel 17 – 27)

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2 Samuel 15: 2-6

Absalom would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.” Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

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David faced an attempt on his life and a challenge to the throne through

his sons Absalom (2 Samuel 15-17) and Adonijah 1 Kings 1).

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Jehoshaphat walked in the ways of the Lord (2 Chronicles 17:6) and as king of Judah he sought to strengthen himself from the evil ways of Ahab king of Israel (2 Chronicles 17:1). Yet when he had riches in abundance (the blessing of the Lord) he sent his son, Jehoram, to marry the daughter of Ahab, Athaliah (2 Chronicles 21:6; 2 Kings 8:18) and began an Alliance of Marriage (2 Chronicles 18:1; 21:6) War (2 Chronicles 18:2-34) and Commerce (2 Chronicles 20: 35-36). The consequence of this alliance is that Jerusalem ran with blood. The mischief of this marriage was soon seen when Jehoram (the married son) rose to power in the kingdom of his father and slew all his brethren with the sword. This was Satan’s doing as he succeeded in breaking into the royal line through this marriage so as to destroy the promise of Genesis 3:15. As a result of Jehoram slaying his brethren the Lord stirred to war the surrounding nations and Arabians rose up and slew all Jehoram’s sons except one Jehoahaz (also known as Ahaziah or Azariah), the youngest (2 Chronicles 21:17). When Jehoram died this remaining son, Ahaziah (Jehoahaz) assumed the throne, but he only ruled one year. In this year he followed his mother’s instruction to walk in the evil ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Chronicles 22:2-4). He was soon slain (2 Chronicles 22:9). When Ahaziah’s evil mother Athaliah saw that her son was dead, she killed all of his children in order to gain power over the throne that was now empty (2 Chronicles 22:10). Athaliah killed every heir to the throne and her actions (influenced through Satan) almost succeeded in destroying the entire seed line of Christ. She killed every child, but one – Joash. He was taken and put in hiding before she could kill him. Joash was an infant when he was taken, and he was hidden in the house of God. For six years he stayed hidden and the Word of God and the promise of the coming of Christ hung on the life of that child. God preserved him and through the direction of his servant Jehoiada destroyed Athaliah and restored the throne to the house of David.

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When Hezekiah reigned, he was childless and faced certain death while facing a double assault from the King of Terrors and the King of Assyria (Isaiah 36:1-38:1). God’s faithfulness was appealed to and Hezekiah was blessed for fifteen additional years of life, sons, and delivered him from his enemies’ attacks (Isaiah 38:1-7; 39:5-7).

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Esther 4: 13-14

“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

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In the book of Esther, while the Jews were in captivity, Haman a prince above princes, obtained the king’s permission to send forth a decree unto all the land that on a certain day, the nation was to come against all Jews in the land and destroy them (Esther chapter 3). But God brought upon the king a restless night wherein he learned of the deeds of the Jew Mordecai and it turned his heart (Esther chapter 6) and Esther, in serving God, risked her life (Esther 4:15-17) to further enlighten the king of Haman’s plot of genocide and to thwart his plans (Esther 6-9).

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Matthew 1: 20

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

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Joseph was assaulted with doubts as to whether he should take Mary in marriage. He was a just man he followed the law, but he did not want to have Mary stoned to death and determined to divorce her quietly, but God intervened, “Fear not” (Matthew 1:18-20).

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Matthew 2: 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

----------- Herod sought the life of the Christ child and, in attempt to destroy Him, sent out a decree for all children two years of age and younger in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof to be slain (Matthew 2).

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Matthew 4:6

If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down:

Luke 4: 28-30

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Mark 4: 37-38

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

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In Christ’s temptations in the wilderness Satan directly attempted to destroy Christ by suggesting, “cast thyself down” (Matthew 4:6).

In Nazareth, there was another attempt to cast Christ over the brow of a hill (Luke 4:29).

The two storms on the sea were further attempts (Matthew 8:24; Mark 4:37-41; Luke 8:22-25).

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The climax of the conflict came during our Lord’s passion. Satan knew, this was his last chance to secure his dominion over the earth and condemn man forever. In the Gospel of John (chapter 14), our Lord asserts: Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. According to a footnote in the Dake Bible he states: “no relationship, no sin, no nature, and nothing of Satan in Him. He was not subject to death because He had not sinned. In the fall, Satan gained a pseudo sovereignty over man on the principle of possession and consent of a responsible agent, or government by consent of the governed. God recognized this and decided to permit Satan to defeat himself by causing him to kill an innocent victim over whom he had no claim. When he inflicted death on Christ, he forfeited all his claims, rights, and pseudo authority and his right to liberty itself. He lost the right to inflict death on all others who became the property of Christ by virtue of His redemption for them. This agrees with the Book of Hebrews (2:14) Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the Devil


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In the wilderness of temptation, the destiny of the human race had been at stake. Christ was then conqueror. Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle. For this he had been preparing during the three years of Christ's ministry. Everything was at stake with him. If he failed here, his hope of mastery was lost; the kingdoms of the world would finally become Christ's; he himself would be overthrown and cast out. But if Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan's kingdom, and the human race would be forever in his power. With the issues of the conflict before Him, Christ's soul was filled with dread of separation from God. Satan attempted to tempt Christ to disobedience by suggesting that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan's kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.

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In the book of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit reveals the hearts of our Lord’s enemies in this passage: Wisdom 2 17 Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him in the end. 18 For if the righteous one is the son of God; God will help him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. 19 With violence and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. 20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

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Satan led the cruel mob in its abuse of the Savior. It was his purpose to provoke our Lord to retaliation if possible, or to drive Him to perform a miracle to release Himself, and thus break up the plan of salvation. One stain upon our Lord’s human life, one failure of His humanity to endure the terrible test, and the Lamb of God would have been an imperfect offering, and the redemption of man a failure. But He who by a command could bring the heavenly host to His aid—He who could have driven that mob in terror from His sight by the flashing forth of His divine majesty—submitted with perfect calmness to the coarsest insult and outrage.

Christ's enemies had demanded a miracle as evidence of His divinity. They had evidence far greater than any they had sought. As their cruelty degraded His torturers below humanity into the likeness of Satan, so did His meekness and patience exalt Jesus above humanity and prove His kinship to God. His humiliation was the pledge of His exaltation. The blood drops of agony that from His wounded temples flowed down His face and beard were the pledge of His anointing with "the oil of gladness" (Hebrews 1:9.) as our great high priest.

Satan's rage was great as he saw that all the abuse inflicted upon the Savior had not forced the least murmur from His lips. Although He had taken upon Him the nature of man, He was sustained by his Divine fortitude, and departed in no particular from the will of His Father.

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The murder of Abel was Satan’s first attempt. His next occurred in Genesis 6 with the irruption of the fallen angels. This was directed at the whole human race. When Abraham was known, then he and his family were attacked. When David was made king, then the royal family was assaulted. And when “the Seed of the Woman” Christ Himself came, then the storm burst upon Him. Our Lord endured his sufferings with Divine patience and at length the cross was reached, the tomb sealed, and the watch set (Matthew 27:66), but God raised Him to life. Just as Joash was hidden in the temple and expected to gain his kingship once his enemies were destroyed (2 Chronicles 23-24) so too, is Christ taken and hidden (as Revelation 12:5 attests) until his enemies be made his footstool (as Hebrews 10:13 attests) at the end of the world. In this we join our prayer with that of John in the Book of Revelation and proclaim:

Come Lord Jesus!

Click the link below for a review on this reflection:

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Date post:	26-Feb-2022
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The Great Conflict of the Ages

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