Spiritual Conflict Part 3 March 6, 2016 Special Ops R.O.M Review Origin of sin ­ Fall of Lucifer, who becomes Satan, set up a rival kingdom in the second heaven and opposes everything God does on earth. Satan then carries his wrecking ball of lies and deception to planet earth. The fall of man ­ sin brought a curse on the human race and the earth. God promises satan’s demise. As people populated the earth, we see the Satanic plot to pollute the human race and the rise of the Nephilim. In Genesis 6, wickedness is so great that God decides to destroy the human race and save one good man, Noah. Flood ­ Noahic covenant ­ Rainbow. It seemed to this point that Satan had succeeded in ruining everything that God had created. This Week A new beginning and Special Ops. R.O.M. ­ Redemption of Man. Genesis 10 is called The Table of Nations by Bible scholars. Genesis 10:1­3 and 6­7 NKJV Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. 2 T he sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 T he sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 6 T he sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7 T he sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Japheth and Ham are mentioned as root names of nations who join in a coalition to destroy Israel in the end times. Ezekiel 38:1­9 NKJV Now the word of the L ORD came to me, saying, 2 “ Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 a nd say, ‘Thus says the Lord G OD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you 1 around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. 5 P ersia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 G omer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you. 7 “ Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. 8 A fter many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.9 Y ou will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” Genesis 10 Semitic tribes and the Jews come from Shem, the best and most favored of the three. Genesis 10:8­10 NKJV 8 C ush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 H e was a mighty hunter before the LORD ; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD .” 10 A nd the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Genesis 11:1­9 NKJV ­ God confused the languages Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 A nd it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 T hen they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 A nd they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 B ut the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 A nd the L ORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 C ome, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 S o the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 T herefore its name is called 2 Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. This was an early attempt at empirical dominance that later became Babylon. That Empire was toppled by the obedience and courage of Daniel and his three friends. Conclude tables of nations with Genesis 10:32 Genesis 10:32 NKJV These w ere the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. All of us descended from here. Note ­ only the Bible gives the original accurate account of this Genesis (beginnings). After all this panoramic scene, with all its developments and consequences, God radically changes gears and concentrates His attention on one man. There was something God had to do ­ He wouldn’t just make the Savior of humanity magically appear, God i s legal, He makes the rules and follows the rules. He would work in history, He had to work with humanity so the redemptive purpose came from the exact descendants of Adam and Eve. He chose one man ­ Abram ­ His name means “exalted father.” It’s ironic. Kind of embarrassing. He had no kids. He wasn’t able. (Abraham is called the father of our faith ­ kind of ironic.) Without God's grace (a divine enablement) we have no ability to produce everlasting fruit and godliness. We would be as helpless as Abram was before he met God. Genesis 17:1­5 NLT When Abram was ninety­nine years old, the L ORD appeared to him and said, “I am El­Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” 3 A t this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, 4 “ This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! 5 W hat’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. Sign of the Covenant of Circumcision 3 Genesis 17:10 NLT 10 T his is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. Then He changed their names and put His name with theirs. Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah ­ El Shaddai. God promises inheritance and a son. Conclude The Abrahamic covenant marks the beginning of a redemptive plan to save the human race, destroy the devil and cancel the reign of sin and death forever, so nothing in the Universe remained to challenge the righteousness of God or erode the eternal security of His children. As we come to the end of the first phase of the spiritual conflict series, I want to briefly reflect back on the book of Genesis that we have been studying. Genesis means book of beginnings. It begins an accurate true defining of the four main questions facing humanity. 1. Who am I? 2. Where did I come from? 3. Why am I here? 4. Where am I going when I die? There are only two worldviews about where we all came from that answer these questions. First ­ evolution, or the Big Bang theory; things just kind of happened, or secondly ­ planned, intelligent design by a Master Creator and Designer. The Bible is the book that is based on a revelation of God Himself and all the intelligent design and planning that makes up our universe and for that matter, our own existence. The Bible is an integrated message from outside of time; 66 books from 40 authors, over a period of almost 2000 years. All the messages are cohesive and flow together into one continual theme; written by the Holy Spirit, inspired men who for the most part did not know each other or live in the same time period. One third of the whole Bible is prophecy; many times predicting events thousands of years before they happen. It's the only book that accurately describes what happened before time began. The creation of the Angels, the rebellion of Lucifer in the origin of sin, the creation of the earth, the creation of man and his fall, the flood, the repopulation of the 4 earth, the accurate table of nations and their origins, and finally the launching of God's redemptive plan ­ its continuance and its conclusion and how it all affects us, and where we fit in it all.