SIDE NOTES

God’s people are called sheep throughout the Bible, for they are utterly dependent upon the Lord, their Shepherd, for nourishment, discipline, and protection (John 10:9, 29).

The shepherd’s staff represents the Lord’s authority and power (Exod. 14:16; 17:9, 11; Ps. 23:4).

Satan’s kingdom above – ground includes the earth’s surface (1 John 5:19), the atmosphere above the earth (Eph. 2:2; 6:12), and his headquarters in a lower part of the heavenly realm or midheaven (Luke 10:18). All three of these areas are interconnected; whatever he controls in one area of his kingdom, he also controls in all the other areas.

The filthy, stagnant water is a pitiful imitation of the crystal-clear river of life in God’s heaven (Rev 22:1).

The fleshly use of a Christian’s tongue is demonic, whether he is cursing others or attempting to speak wisdom (James 3:6, 9, 15). When he speaks out of his earthly self, he seeks his own glory and so gives Satan the right to use him (John 7:18).

All is damp or watery because satanic creatures fear the coming flames of hell (Matt. 8:29; Luke 8:31). Jesus said that they are even tormented by dry places on earth (Matt. 12:43).

We are to walk before the Lord with nothing in our lives concealed from Him (Eph. 5:11-12). Everything is continually exposed to let His presence cleanse and transform all into His light (Eph. 5:13-14; 1 John 1:7).

A horn symbolizes the power of a king or kingdom for good or evil (Rev. 5:6; 12:3).

A time is coming when everything belonging to God that Satan has stolen will be released from his headquarters, then cleansed and restored to the highest heaven (Heb. 9:23; 2Pet. 3:12-13; Rev. 21:1,5).

The Father will signal the beginning of His judgement on all of Satan’s host by raising His sword and by severing all that is His from the enemy (Deut. 32:41; Ps. 7:12; Heb. 12:26-27; Hag. 2:21-22; Zeph. 3:8).

Nothing that is not of God will be able to stand before His divine light, for “the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matt. 24:29; Isa. 34:4; Mark 4:22; Eph. 5:13).

A drone or monotonous tone in ritual incantation is used in some heathen worship to contact the power of the spirit world. The Lord expressly rejected the use of such mantras (Matt. 6:7).

Everything about the evil one and his kingdom is false and an imitation of the true (John 8:44). The true fire of God “burns up the chaff” in believers and ignites the new heart to become a living flame of love for God (Matt. 3:12; Song of Sol. 8:6). The false fire of the enemy merely torments and destroys (John 15:6; Rev. 9:17-18).

The devil is able to perform signs (miracles) and wonders (marvels) through his human servants on Earth. He did this, up to a certain point, through Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Pharaoh’s court. (Exod. 7:11-12,20-22; 8:5-7, 18; 2 Tim. 3:8). Simon the magician astonished the people of Samaria with his diabolical arts (Acts 8:9-11).

The fleshly church will “become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit” (Rev. 18:2) when God completely withdraws the light of the Spirit from her (2 Thess. 2:7, 11).

FOOTNOTES

1. Jesus Christ is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) “by the exertion of the [resurrection] power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil.3:21; Eph. 1:22). He proclaims His lordship right in the midst of Satan’s headquarters by the sheepfold where “no one [can] snatch… out of [His] hand” any believer whom Christ brings there (John 10:28). The Lord leads them in and out of this place of safety in the presence of their worst enemies (Ps. 23:5; John 10:3-4). He is the one and only door that leads to life (John 10:9), “who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens” (Rev. 3:7).

2. The command post for the devil’s worldwide organization of demons and fallen angels is in a lower sphere (Eph. 6:12; 3:10; Col. 2:15; 1 Cor. 15:24). God’s throne is in the third or highest heaven (2 Cor. 12:2; Eph. 4:10). From his headquarters, Satan governs a wicked empire on Earth through lust, deception, and pride. The Bible calls this evil realm “the world” whenever it refers to the system of commerce, industry, finance, education, science, medicine, and law that makes man the measure of all things and omits God (1 John 2:15-16; James 4:4).

3. Porpoise skin is water repellent and so served as the outer covering on the tent or tabernacle (Exod. 26:14). Nothing of the sin and death in Satan’s domain is to touch the feet of the believer! The shoes are red, a witness to the victory over the devil and his host won through the blood sacrifice of Christ on Calvary (Col. 2:15). The shed blood of the Lamb not only overcomes any accusations of the enemy, but it also cleanses from any possible defilement through being in his loathsome territory (Rev. 12:17; 1 John 1:9; 2 Cor. 7:1).

4. Sin and death have brought physical darkness to Satan’s territory in the midheaven (Col. 1:13). Because of the vicious hatred there, the inhabitants also walk in spiritual darkness (1 John 2:11), the opposite of the love that enables one to abide in the Light of God (1 John 1:5; 2:10).

5. The sources of this torment are the areas of human soul life (mind, emotions, and will) on Earth that Satan and his demons control. Everyone is born with his soul faculties subject to the law of sin and death in his bodily members (Rom. 7:23), and hence he is dominated by “the [evil] spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1-3). Satan therefore has a legal right to bring distress and suffering in every person’s soul until that person believes in Christ Jesus. He is then joined to Him, submitting his soul faculties to the Lord as he begins to think, desire, and choose as He does. This is “the salvation of your souls” (Matt. 16:24-25; Luke 21:19; Heb. 10:39; James 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:9).

6. In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, God separates the animal kingdom into two categories: the clean and the unclean. The clean animals were offered in sacrifice on the alter and used as food for His people. The unclean ones were not so acceptable. It would seem that Satan and his demons select many of these unclean animals to inhabit, as the legion of evil spirits asked Jesus to send them into the pigs (Mark 5:12-13). The hideous bodies of some demons are the result of living in an atmosphere of utter corruption apart from the light, life and love of God. There is a hierarchy of rank among demons. A sluglike animal represents the lowest order – those that crawl on their bellies (Gen. 3:14; Lev. 11:42).

7. The Father has so highly exalted the risen Christ “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). “Every knee” includes every creature in Satan’s domain, too.

8. The crocodile is an example of a reptile that the ancient Egyptians worshiped as a god. This culture often made idols of animals they feared, like serpents and lions. They considered the crocodile to have godlike qualities. It is also the only animal without a tongue, which the ancients considered godlike. Furthermore, it is almost impenetrable and seemingly afraid of nothing.

9. God has compassion on the suffering of His children (Exod. 3:7; Deut. 30:3) and is hurt by their unfaithfulness (Hos. 11:8; Mic. 6:3). In direct contrast, Satan and his demons find pleasure in defiling the children of God (Rom 1:32) and rejoice in their sins, which is the opposite of love (1 Cor. 13:6). The enemy host compounds hatred in their kingdom by taking delight in refusing to give any relief to those who are in pain (2 Tim. 3:3).

10. When we enjoy hearing of the fall of another into sin or slander each other or presume to pass judgement on the guilt of another, we are usurping God’s place and are participating in Satan’s sins (Rom. 14:10; James 4:11-12; Rev. 12:10). We are thereby withholding the blessing of God that we “were called” to give others (1 Pet. 3:9). We are even to “bless those who persecute [us]; bless and curse not” (Rom. 12:14). Christians have the great privilege of asking God for life for any brother or sister whom they see committing a sin (except sins for which the sinner deserves to die) (1 John 5:16).

11. The demons in Scripture found the presence of Jesus tormenting to them (Mark 5:7). “For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20). The true nature of “all things become[s] visible when they are exposed by the light” of God (Eph. 5:13). Since “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all,” there can be no fellowship (but rather enmity) with Him for those who walk in darkness (1 John 1:5-6; Rom 8:7).

12. On one occasion thousands of demons who were in a person asked the Lord to send them into a herd of pigs so that they could go with the animals into the lake (Mark 5:12-13). The devil has long secured worship of himself on Earth with sacred trees and tree trunks or pillars called Asherim that represent female deities of fertility (Deut. 16:21-22). These tree trunks are dead, as are all idols (Hab. 2:18-19).

13. Snakes or serpents are a major symbol for Satan and his demons in Scripture (Rev. 12:9; Luke 10:19). One reason is that God cursed the serpent in the Garden of Eden because it was used by the devil to deceive Eve (Gen. 3:1, 14). Jesus said that Satan must maintain unity among those in his evil kingdom (Mark 3:24-26), a oneness built upon hatred of God and His creatures (John 15:25; Ps. 69:4).

14. All believers “were formerly darkness” before receiving the light of the nature of Christ Jesus within them (Eph. 5:8; 2 Cor. 4:6). Their old nature was darkness because they had grown into the image of their father, the devil (Matt. 13:38; John 8:41, 44; 1 John 3:8, 10). Remnants of their old, dark ways of thinking, desiring, choosing, and acting may remain unnoticed if Christians continue to rely only upon their natural observation and perception. To perceive only the things of this world admits the old darkness again (Matt. 6:22-23; 2 Cor. 4:4). Their spiritual eyes need to be enlightened to the reality of Christ and be focused on Him (Eph. 1:18-19; Heb. 12:2). Of course, anything the believer does secretly with a guilty or doubtful conscience is hidden away from the light of fellowship with Jesus (1 John 1:6).

15. Satan has counterfeited all the things in heaven that are possible to him, an example being his guise as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Above all else, he craves to be worshipped (Matt. 4:8-9). Praise and homage come to Satan’s temple from the great multitude of idolatrous places of worship throughout the world by means of the demons who inspire this worship (1 Cor. 10:20; Rev. 9:20). The worship of false gods even infiltrated the first temple in Jerusalem during the reign of many kings of Judah (2 Kings 23:4; Ezek. 8:9-16). The first recorded instance of satanic worship occurred in Babylon around 2150 B.C. A rebellious host of people erected a tower whose “top reach[ed] into heaven,” meaning that the devilish signs of the false zodiac were used for divination there (Gen. 11:4). The antediluvian patriarchs knew the true meaning of these constellations of stars, for God tells the story in the night sky of salvation in Jesus Christ (Gen. 1:14 [“signs”]; Ps. 19:1-2).

16. Satan undergirds heathen kings on Earth to increase their treasuries of silver and gold, which the Bible calls “treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places” (Isa. 45:3). He increases their earthly wealth in exchange for their homage and praise through false gods (Isa. 65:11). In the first temple in Jerusalem, there were “upper rooms” called “treasuries” (2 Chron. 3:9; 2 Kings 12:18). Gold and silver that had been dedicated to the Lord for His purposes were stored in these rooms. These treasures came as gifts from the king or wealthy people and from the spoils of war (1 Kings 7:51; 1 Chron. 29:6-7; Num. 31:48-54; 2 Sam. 8:9-12). At times the kings of Judah gave these treasures away to try to gain military protection from enemies instead of relying upon God (1 Kings 15:18-19).

17. The valuables taken as spoil from enemies of the Israelites in war had to be purified either by fire or by water (Num. 31:21-23).

18. Not only will the stolen treasures be cleansed and returned to God, but the very terrain will be completely purified from the effects of darkness, sin, and death (as in the natural, see Ezekiel 36:6, 8-9, 13-15).

19. “All fat is the Lord’s” (along with the blood) of the animal sacrifices on the brazen altar, “an offering by fire for a soothing aroma” (Lev. 3:16-17). God commanded this from the beginning with Adam, Eve and their sons (Gen 4:4). Animal fat burned on the altar symbolizes nourishment and fragrance to the Father (Ezek. 44:7; Lev. 4:31). It represents the “sacrifice of praise” that is “continually offer[ed] up” (Heb. 13:15) through the Son (Acts 2:33) by the fire of the Holy Spirit (Lev. 3:3-5) from the people of God (Acts 2:3-4, 11). The Father seeks such worshippers (John 4:23). The main purpose of fat is to be “burned” (oxidized) to produce energy. The physical fat of the animal sacrifices was removed from organs in the abdominal cavity, which is the location in Christians of the human spirit from which praise and worship proceed (John 7:38).

The fat (and the blood), God’s portion of the sacrifices, was offered first on the altar – before the rest of the animal – in order to rise in smoke toward heaven (1 Sam. 2:15-16; Lev. 4:34-35). Likewise, the first order in approaching the throne of God in spirit is to “enter…His courts with praise” (Ps. 100:4; 96:8). As fat is that which abounds, believers are to abound in praise to our God. The word fat is an expression used to designate the best part, for example, “living on the fat of the land.” Praise to God is surely the best part for human beings (Ps. 147:1). When we worship anything of the earthly realm, we violate the first two commandments and allow demons to capture this spiritual fat.

20. Israel is often compared to a female (Isa. 54:5-6; Hos. 2:14, 16, 19-20). So is the church as the bride of Christ (Song of Sol. 4:8-10; Rev. 19:7). God designed human marriage on Earth to prepare the two mates for eternal marriage to Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:25-27, 31-32; Rev 21:9). The church is the spiritual womb in which the children of God are conceived, born, and reared (Song of Sol. 8:5; Rev. 12:1-2, 5). From the earliest days, Satan has perverted this sacred imagery into licentious worship of female deities of fertility. In all the nature religions of history, there have been “mother goddesses” (Acts 19:27; 1 Kings 11:5). The Bible often calls this idol “the queen of heaven” (Jer. 7:18; 44:17-19). During many periods, Israel worshiped “the Baals and the Ashtaroth” (Judg. 10:6; 1 Sam. 12:10). The idolatrous church in these last days is pictured as a harlot queen called “Babylon the Great.” She is ruled by demonic powers, just as the first Babylon in Genesis 11:4, 9 was ruled by them (Rev. 17:1, 4-5). She is foretold in Isaiah 47:1, 7-9.

21. Israel has been a captive nation in political terms and in spiritual chains for most of her history (Ps. 106:41-42; Isa. 52:2). Many present Christians have been “conformed to this world” system (Rom. 12:2). They are caught in “the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26). The captive church ensnares her converts with an illusion of grandeur – prosperous, outward appearance – and activities that are actually “dead works” and “devoid of the Spirit” (Heb. 9:14; Jude 19). This worldly church chains her members by teaching them to idolize the religious organization and by binding them to perpetuate it through traditional and rote forms of worship (John 11:48; Isa. 29:13).

22. Honey at times represents the false comfort that Satan provides through the fleshly church: smooth, sweet words based on earthly wisdom that is soulish and demonic like the words of an adulterous (Prov. 5:3; James 3:15).

23. King Solomon built a magnificent throne of ivory and gold, like no other throne on earth (2 Chron. 9:17-19). Furthermore, “he went up to the house of the LORD” by a stairway of such grandeur that it took the visiting queen of Sheba’s breath away (2 Chron. 9:3-4). His love of opulence was a root from which grew other idolatrous sins. Satan will give the coming Antichrist the power and authority of his throne to use on the earth (Rev. 13:2).

24. An evil “spirit of divination” spoke through a slave girl in Acts 16:16 to foretell the future. The Greek word for divination means “python.” Python was the name of a mythical serpent that guarded the Delphic oracle where secret knowledge was thought to be revealed. God forbids the evil art of people who seek to discover knowledge about the future that He Himself has not revealed to them (Deut. 18:10-11). The devil cooperates with this ungodly practice and supplies some of his limited knowledge if it will suit his purposes. Psychics, astrologists, fortunetellers, and adherents of the so-called New Age religion use modern divination.

25. God on His throne in heaven is attended by the redeemed “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9-10). In evil imitation, Satan’s court is composed of ruling, fallen angels known as “princes” (Dan 10:12-13, 20). These angels control the heathen rulers, nations, and areas throughout the earth for the devil’s purposes and bring their homage to Satan’s throne (Rev. 17:1-2, 15).

26. Through consorting with Satan’s evil, spiritual empire on Earth, which the Bible calls “the world” (Matt 4:8; John 14:30), the false church receives the “bodies and souls of men” (Rev. 18:13, NIV) whom she holds on to for display. God calls her the Esau church because she cares more for her comfort, gratification, and convenience than for her spiritual birthright (Gen. 25:29-34).

27. All along God has sent true prophets to speak for Him to His people, but time and time again they have been rejected in favor of false prophets who prophesy by means of an evil spirit what the people want to hear (Jer. 2:8; 23:13-17, 25-32). Jesus said that false prophets would arise in the last days “to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24).

28. In the last days, Jesus said that people in whom Satan is working will show “great signs and wonders” (Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:9-11; Rev. 13:13-15).

29. There were female and male cult prostitutes during periods of Israel’s history (1 Kings 14:24). Along the outer walls of Solomon’s temple in the three stories of side rooms that were built for the priests on duty, there was cult prostitution at times (2 Kings 23:7; Hos. 4:14). The fallen church has committed adultery through her friendship with the world system masterminded by the devil, adopting many of its values and methods, thereby making herself “an enemy of God” (James 4:4; Rev. 17:1-2, 18:3-9).

30. In the last years before Jesus returns, the corrupt church will be in league with Satan’s Antichrist (Rev. 12:3; 13:1; 17:3, 7). This human beast and his armies will turn and destroy her with fire in one day (Rev. 17:16). God executes this judgement against her for “corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her” (Rev. 19:2). The “cup of demons” is that which sustains them (1 Cor. 10:21). With Christians, it is the cup of Christ’s blood (1 Cor. 11:25). With Satan’s host, it is the “cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality” (Rev. 17:4).

31. God will separate out the true and living church of His Son (Rev. 18:4; Isa. 52:11; Jer. 51:6). This emerging church has only one standard by which she measures everything: Christ Jesus. The true Christians will allow the fire of God’s spirit to burn up everything that is not of Christ in them and in their lives.

The members of the false church will not allow the fire to deal with the ungodly use of their bodies and their natural self-life (the flesh) or their love for the things of Satan’s evil system (the world). The enemy will still have access to them. The Lord says in this vision, “Many will go with her [the false church].” Many of those who call themselves Christians will remain with the spiritually dead church. As in all past generations, only a remnant will be saved (Isa. 10:20-22; Zech. 8:12; Matt. 7:13-14).