Delivered from the power of darkness

On By In Topical, General, Bible, End time

Christ died on the cross of Calvary for sinners, and everyone who believes in Him receives eternal life. A joyful message of salvation, which has sounded - albeit in somewhat different form - ever since the Fall. After the Fall, Satan was able to tighten his grip on humanity. Until God intervened as He did at the Flood, in Babel and with cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. Anno 2025, things are moving in that direction again as God intervenes and sends Christ to defeat His enemies. Throughout the Bible, the influence of the dark powers is also recounted until their downfall. It is written lest we forget.

Biblical history from a different perspective

We live in a world where we can experience all kinds of things; including things in the unseen world. But how do we know what is true and not be fooled? How do we know what is truth and what are lies?
Are we aware that the invisible world has a great influence on the visible world around us? Do we realize how anyone - even a Bible-believing Christian - can be deceived and led astray?
Then also this: do we know that we are living in the "end times" and that this is a time driven to an unprecedented degree by the invisible world - that is the occult?

These are things we need to know, and so we look for what the Bible says about them.

From the Word of Truth

Answers and insight must be obtained from the book that characterizes itself as "the Word of Truth. It is the book written by a large number of authors over a period of more than 1,500 years that is at the same time the book of God.

In mysterious ways, Almighty God has allowed this special book to be written by human beings. He, who is above all gods, has given us this book to tell us who He is and who His Son, Jesus Christ, is. He shows us in this book how we can obtain salvation from this evil world through faith in Jesus Christ. But He also informs us how His adversaries - the gods who have become unfaithful to Him - are trying to gain power over mankind.

These are things that a human being cannot invent for himself and that we cannot know from ourselves. Therefore, we must turn to the only reliable source: the Book of the Most High God.

Advancing revelation

Before we really begin, there is something important to note. This concerns what is called 'progressive revelation'. It means that God reveals His truth gradually and in stages throughout biblical history. Rather than making everything known all at once, God builds on what has been previously revealed, adding new insights and depth.

For example:

  • Genesis already speaks of a coming Savior (Genesis 3:15), but it is not until much later in the New Testament that it becomes clear that this is the Lord Jesus.
  • The concept of "life after death" is discussed vaguely and piecemeal in the Old Testament, but receives much more elaboration in the New Testament.

This principle helps us read and understand the Bible as a whole, paying attention to the bigger picture. It prevents us from drawing conclusions from early passages without considering later, more complete revelation.

How it all began: the question of truth or falsehood

The creation of the visible heavens and earth with everything on them was done by God and the record of it is in the beginning of the Bible. God intended the earth to be a place where He could walk with people.

God can see everything, but remarkably, Adam cannot see God or perceive God with his senses. Adam received a spirit from God - who is Spirit. In this he resembles God and is "an image-bearer" of God. Somehow God was able to make things clear to him. That was a communication of God's Spirit with Adam's mind; a spiritual communication so to speak.

One of the angels who rebelled against God then tempted Eve to disobey God. This is how things went wrong, not only for Adam and Eve, but with consequences for all people who would come after.

In essence, this was about the question of truth or falsehood. Did God really say not to, come, I'll tell you something else, something better.

The consequences of the Fall

It is very important to realize what, for all humanity, was the consequence of the Fall that took place in the beginning.

The first is that the direct connection between God and man is broken. This means that when man is born, he is and remains in a state in which he naturally has no "contact" with God. God continues to seek each man and "speaks" to each man in his conscience, but each must consciously want to obey God and answer Him. Man after the Fall has a free will to want to obey God or not and live in the way He directs.

The second is that man has been given a sinful nature. It means that every man thinks of himself that he is better than the other(s): 'you shall be like god' was what Satan had foretold. The constant striving to be better, bigger and more than others has been the driving force of the human world from then on.
From this also comes the ruling over one another. God said it to the woman that she would want to rule over the man and the man over her1.

God, the gods, the people and the flood

God pulls every man, but leaves him free to choose or not to choose Him and want to belong to Him. But the "gods"-the angelic spirits rebelling against God-just like Satan try to bring men into bondage under their authority. So that they have no choice but to be obedient to the evil invisible powers.

After the Fall, these powers engaged intensively with humanity. At some point they went so far as to have sexual intercourse with women, and as a result, giants were born. The Bible tells - all very succinctly, by the way - that these were powerful people who ruled over "ordinary" people.

As a result, all mankind became obedient to Satan and his cronies. Mankind was "depraved" as the Bible calls it and God could only judge them by the water. Only Noah served the Lord with his family and they were kept by God in the ark.

It is important to conclude from this that Satan's evil powers are indeed powerful and that they are bent on depriving the whole human race of their free will. So that God is no longer the God of men, but Satan is their only god.
Satan is not called for nothing 'a human killer from the beginning (...) and the father of lies'2 named.

By the way, the Bible still says3 That in the last days (in which we live) it will be like the days of Noah. While it is clear that God's judgment is approaching, people just go on with their lives as if nothing is wrong.

After the Flood

After the Flood, everything starts all over again, and at some point things go wrong again. Again evil angelic spirits mix with humans and again giants are born. Nimrod is the most important of these. He is the founder and ruler of Babel. There again things went as before and it seems that Satan and his vassals will achieve their goal of depriving all mankind of their free will4.

Therefore, God had to intervene and made sure that they no longer understood each other by suddenly starting to speak very different languages. Then all those nations - with their gods - scattered across the earth. Thus, they could no longer work together to try to remove God from his throne.

In Babylon - the land of the Chaldeans - idolatry was incredibly great, it could not get any bigger. It is the mixing of the human world with the demons, causing total depravity, just like before the flood.

Out of this darkness and idolatry, God calls Abraham to make him a great nation.

Israel, the people of God

The nations had their own gods, but you could also say the gods had their nations. Thus God chose Abraham to form His own people Israel, a people He would provide with great privileges and who would serve Him. Thus, the world could see who the supreme God was, the God who is above all gods. It would invite the nations to also serve that supreme God. That was the intention.

But the people of God also failed and constantly ran into the sharp knives of Satan. He deceived them so that they thought they were serving God when in fact they were serving the gods - the idols. The story is one of constant human failure and, at the same time, of God's continued faithfulness to those who wanted to live by faith.

Israel's idolatry is the most terrible thing imaginable, because in doing so they were actually parting from God and going after other gods. The Old Testament describes it that way in many places: as continuous marital unfaithfulness of the people to God.

Christ and the Church

Finally, God Himself came to earth. The Son of God became man, lived here and died on the cross of Calvary. He did that to reconcile us humans to God in those three hours of utter darkness. Christ rose and went to heaven, where He now sits as Man - man with a capital letter! - sits at the right hand of God. Every person who converts to God and accepts Christ personally as the reconciler for his sins receives the Spirit of God indwelling him.

These are two miracles of God in succession. First God becomes man and after a few decades the Spirit of God comes to indwell every man who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior and Redeemer. The latter still happens every time a man repents and comes to Christ. All those who have received the Spirit of God together form a spiritual people, a family of brothers and sisters. They love God the Father and the Lord Jesus, they love God's Word, and they love one another. The Bible calls them the "church of God.

Idolatry in Christendom from beginning to end

Christians serve the supreme God, the creator of heaven and earth. But Satan will also try to tempt them. So that they unwittingly deal with demons and come under their their influence.
Similarly, idolatry has been present in Christendom from the beginning. Interestingly, almost all of the New Testament epistles warn against it. But most Christians do not notice it; the issue is not seen and remains under the radar.

We now live in the time when the end of "civilization" is approaching and what we are seeing is that Satan is once again working to bring the entire human race under his direct control. The occult is increasing hand over fist everywhere. When soon the end approaches and God's judgments come upon the earth, the Bible says about it:

"And the rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands; they continued to worship the demons and the gold, silver, copper, stone and wooden idols, which cannot see, hear or walk." (Revelation 9:20)

Living in the end times

We are living in the end times, the last days. It is the time when everything that is of God and reminds us of Him is being destroyed step by step. This began in the Age of Enlightenment when the truth of the Bible was destroyed, and it continues until today. In Revelation 6 we can see how - under the permission of God's government - the demonic powers are being destroyed step by step5 on the earth are allowed to do their destructive work. If this interpretation is correct6 we now live in the age characterized by death, pre-eminently Satan's trademark.

It is good to realize these things when we see what is happening around us in the world (and Christianity). It is not only people who are doing all kinds of terrible things, but it is especially the dark powers that are working - through people - to destroy all of God's work.
But fortunately we may know that above all these things is our God, who also 'the Lord of the Armies' called7.

Christ conquered on Calvary

On the cross, the Lord Jesus died for sinners and triumphed over the powers of darkness:

“Through Him we have received redemption and forgiveness of sins. (...) Our letter of guilt, which was directed against us with His commandments, He erased and removed from our midst and nailed it to His cross. By laying down His body, He has publicly put the authorities and powers to shame by His Being." (Colossians 1:14; 2:14,15 EBV)

When Christ appears8 He will judge both the enemies on earth and the enemies in the invisible world ("on high"):

"In that day it will come to pass that the Lord will punish the army of the high on high and the kings of the earth on the face of the earth." (Isaiah 24:21)

Those who know the Lord Jesus Christ may testify of Him. Fortunately, the circumstances of the world are prompting many people to seek the real truth. We may show them the way to the cross of Calvary, where Christ died for us sinners, and beg them to be reconciled to God.

"We are then envoys on behalf of Christ, as if God Himself were pleading through us. On behalf of Christ we beg: be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)

If you are reading this and do not yet know you have been reconciled, redeemed and saved by the Lord Jesus then this plea applies to you as well. Please accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior, believe in His sacrifice on the cross. So that you too can thank God the Father:

"And thank the Father, Who has made us capable of sharing in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has drawn us out of the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. In Him we have redemption, through His blood, namely the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians1:12-14)

Footnotes

  1. This is the meaning of Genesis 3:16b. For explanation see: https://goddienen.nu/over-de-zondeval-en-nederigheid/ ︎
  2. John 8:44 ︎
  3. Luke 17:26 ︎
  4. Genesis 11:1-9. See also, for example https://goddienen.nu/komt-trump-de-wereld-redden/#aioseo-de-torenbouw-van-babel ︎
  5. seal by seal ︎
  6. ... and I think this one is correct. See these articles: https://goddienen.nu/symboliek-in-openbaring-6/ and https://goddienen.nu/en/looking-back-to-be-able-to-see-forward/. ︎
  7. In the Old Testament, this expression occurs 290 times! And twice in the New Testament: Romans 9:29 and James 5:4. ︎
  8. Revelation 19:11 ︎

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