The Great I Am versus Satan,Ep 3-2
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are looking at names in the Bible. Specifically, we are looking at the Great I Am, versus Satan and what their names as revealed to us in the Bible mean to us on a daily basis. When we are in the midst of a battle or even just trying to understand what is going on around us, remembering these names and applying them in the situation will help you to discern what could be at the root of your situation and how to move through your situation with Him. If we want to conquer our unseen enemies, we need to understand what is at the core of our unseen enemy.
Before we begin, I want to thank those who are supporting us each month. Your gift is appreciated more than we can express. If you are growing through our podcast, consider supporting us as we continue to build the Kingdom of God. You can support us for as little as $3/month. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995558/support. There is a link in the notes.
When we look at names in the Bible, names are revealing in nature and character. For example, we read Jesus is referred to as the “Messiah” which means “The Anointed One.” The name Daniel means “God is My Judge.” In Genesis we read that God changed Abram’s name to Abraham which means “father of multitudes or father of nations.” God changed his name because God was revealing who He Abram was to become. Names are important in the Bible for other reasons as well. Through names we see how the name of a person can represent their relationship to us. A name reveals character. A name reveals purpose. A name reveals past, present and future.
Let’s start looking at how God began to reveal his character and relationship to us in Exodus.
Exodus 3: 1-5, Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
We can already see from just this part of the exchange between them that God is willing at times to show himself to us in a way that we cannot comprehend. The bush that did not burn went against what Moses knew to be logical in this world. From this we know, God will work wonders for our benefit. We also see from this exchange that the ground where God is presenting himself is holy, therefore God is holy. Then God introduces himself. He tells Moses who He is, He does not hide it, He is specific and puts it in terms Moses will understand and identify with.
As we read on, we see God is calling Moses to leave this wilderness and his flock and instead go back to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses is giving him some pushback. I am sure we would all react that way when you imagine the enormity of the task for Moses to complete.
Back to Verse 11, But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. (so again, God is revealing to Moses a characteristic of who God is) And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
From this part of their discussion again God is telling Him who He is in relation to Moses by bringing in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses knows who his descendants are, he knows he is an Israelite, so he can identify with this and God’s people. He also tells Moses, I Am who I Am. He says, I Am sent you. Its simple yet so profound, He just is. We’ll dig into that deeper, but remember that, I Am. Now let’s backtrack a minute and see what happened before Moses. Why did Moses know who God was in relation to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
Genesis 15:1, After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”
God is revealing himself to Abram as to what Abram can expect from Him. This is the beginning of God creating His people. He has to introduce himself to Abram so He can begin to build Abram into the man He created Him to be, the father of the nation of Israel and ultimately the lineage from which Jesus will be born. What God reveals to Abram is still the same for us today, He is our shield and our great reward. When you are having a moment. When you are needing comfort, just call His name, I Am. He knows what you are going through, He will be there.
Let’s go spend some time with Isaiah.
Isaiah 43:3, For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
Again, He says, I Am and then tells you specifically who He is and what that means in relation to you.
Isaiah 43: 5, Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
Another I Am, and a reassurance for us that He is here with us through everything.
Isaiah 43: 10, Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord,
and apart from me there is no savior.
Here God is telling us, who He is in relation to everything and everyone else. Then again, letting us know our place in relation to Him with a very definitive description of our place with Him.
Isaiah 43: 12, You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?”
This verse tells us a lot but I want to touch on I Am again for a minute. He refers to himself as I Am throughout the Bible, and then in the New Testament Jesus does as well. The reason I like this so much is that it speaks to him as yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. In Malachi 3, we read “I the Lord do not change.“ We read in Hebrews 13:8 that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. When He says I Am, there is no limitation. It’s not, I used to be but now I am this. There is no, some day I will be, but for now I am this. When we read words written thousands of years ago that mean the same today and will mean the same to our children’s children, he is I Am.
One of my favorite references to Him is Ancient Days or Ancient One depending on your translation. He always has been and He always will be. We cannot fathom how long He has been I Am because there is no beginning and no end in His existence. When he says “no one can deliver out of my hand” that tells you that He controls everything and the place you want to be is in His hand. Let’s keep going.
Isaiah 64:4, Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
This again explains who God is in relation to us, but also tells us something about who He is in providing for us. He “acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.” There is a two way communication here. That implies relationship. He wants us to have a relationship, He created us with that as His objective and He expects us to be in relationship with Him so that He can act for us, in place of us, so that whatever he does is right and true. It also tells us our position in Him. At times, we will need to give to Him our issues, let Him work them out, submit to His plan over the situation and wait for Him to resolve it His way on our behalf.
Isaiah 64: 8, Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
This is the perfect analogy for accepting who He is in relation to us. Again, we want to be in His hands and if we allow ourselves to be the clay and He is the potter shaping us in to what he creates us to be, then we will be perfect in His eyes for what He created us to do.
While we could spend hours on who God is, we are going to end our discussion of God with this last verse from Daniel 7:13, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
Daniel is describing this and in his description which is God breathed, He refers to God as Ancient of Days, the same way God refers to Himself. He is also talking of Jesus so we see the two together and we begin to see their relationship. Jesus is able to approach God and be in His presence and that is an important detail to know because Jesus does that on our behalf against the accuser which is what we are discussing next.
Satan has many names: Prince of Darkness, Beelzebub, the Antichrist, Father of Lies, Ancient Serpent. All names of which he lives up to but too often we forget all the ways He works to live up to his names.
Let’s start with Revelation 12;10, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
We can never forget that the accuser, satan, is always present to trick us, deceive us into doing what is against God and then he goes to God and accuses of doing what he set in place for us to do so that he can get permission to evoke a penalty. It’s just as if we were in a court of law being accused of wrongdoing. Jesus acts as our attorney, defending us against the Accuser. We see in Job how satan himself tells of what his objective is in the world. Job 1:6, One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
1 Peter 5:8 tells us what he is doing while he is roaming, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Let’s look at a few more places that tell us who satan is and reveal who he is in relation to us.
Revelation 20:10: And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
His character is revealed as a deceiver and as a result, in the end times, he will pay the price for all he has done and he will pay that price forever and ever.
Matthew 4:1, Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
We can see from this that satan was tempting Jesus in the wilderness. Another tactic of satan. If satan was working to try to tempt Jesus away from serving God, His own Father, why wouldn’t we think that satan would also use this tactic against us. All too often we allow ourselves to be put into position where we know there will be temptation for something and we brush it off and down the road end up in sinful situations we never should have been in but we allowed satan to convince us it’s not that big of a deal. Many marriages have been destroyed because of that deceit that starts with satan but then we come into agreement with it and start using it on ourselves to justify bad behavior.
Isaiah 13: 12-16,
How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[b]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
This reveals to us who Satan has at the center of everything, himself. His purposes are to serve himself, and that means he wants to draw us away from God to serve Him and His purposes. A sharp contrast to what God reveals of himself to us.
Lucifer, some of the names we have for satan are a result of translations, for example Lucifer came as a result of an early Latin translation called the Vulgate. So knowing that the name, Lucifer, for example, is associated or speaks specifically of Satan, we need to consider that in the use of that name anywhere else. For example, there is a TV show right now that is called Lucifer. I have never watched it, nor will I ever watch it. The marketing of it is depicted in reds, oranges, yellows and black. It is done in a way that subtly indicates some ties or reference to Satan as mankind has come to depict him. Whatever the show is about, the marketing of it is aligning itself with how we perceive Satan, so that would be something that my discernment would tell me to avoid. Why? Not because I am afraid of a show. There is nothing the show itself can do to me, though I doubt it would hold my interest. The reason is that by knowingly and intentionally watching something that is purposefully aligning itself with Lucifer, I am in essence opening a door to other things that are also aligned or associated with Lucifer. It would be subtle, somewhat like the marketing, but then slowly become less and less subtle. Over time I will have positioned myself to allow the enemy to have influence in my life, once there is influence, authority comes in and is allowed to move in my life.
If you are shaking your head thinking, “all of that as a result of watching a TV show? Yes, all of that as a result of watching a show. The tactic is to move in quietly so you don’t even realize it and then spread. It’s a cancer. The things of this world, the things of satan, are a cancer to everyone, believers and unbelievers alike. We turn a blind eye to it thinking it is harmless and the next thing you know, Stage 4 and you need help.
The name Satan in Hebrew is translated as adversary or accuser. By using specific names, God is revealing to us what we can expect from satan and those who work for him. When we name someone, that isn’t always the case. For example, my name is Dawn, which means the first appearance of light, daybreak. This is not when you want to see me. I am not naturally one of those people who walks into work “Good morning! all smiles”. I have to work at that. The funny thing is, I must have taught my parrot Good morning, because while I am still in bed, I can hear him up at dawn, literally, and he is looking out his window yelling “Good morning!” He has several different variations of ‘Good Morning’ so I know it is because he hears me say it differently. It’s pretty funny, if you want to know what you sound like and phrases you use frequently, get a parrot. You learn a little about yourself. Anyhow, my point is, God names things for what they are or will become, we tend to name things for our own reasons that may or may not have anything to do with what we are or will become.
This next scripture is Jesus talking about who Satan is and it screams of telling us what we can expect from Satan. This is Jesus talking to the Pharisees, who were religious leaders who became corrupted by Satan.
John 8:44, You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Jesus is giving us a lot of information here about satan and what we can expect to receive if we deal with him. When we cooperate with satan, knowingly or unknowingly, we are carrying out the desires of satan. He only cares about himself. He is also at the root of the spirit of murder. We see that play out in the very first murder by Cain in Genesis out of anger and jealousy, and as a result, Cain used violence to kill his brother. These are all demonic spirits we have discussed. Jesus also tells us satan is not holding to the truth, he cannot because he doesn’t have any truth so everything he says will not have truth. Jesus calls him a liar, tells us “when he lies” that lies are his native language essentially saying every word he uses to speak is a lie. He ends with telling us he is the father of lies. Lies began with satan, they are all attributed to satan and are his main tactic to get what he wants.
Luke 10:16, 16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Reference to Isaiah 13) I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
Jesus is painting a picture of black and white here. Jesus tells us he is the way the truth and the life, he has told us satan has no truth. So in verse 16 Jesus is telling us, pick one or the other, you can’t have both. If you pick satan once, that is your choice and that is rejecting Jesus. He references the scripture in Isaiah we talked about where satan fell from heaven. Then we see who we are in relation to satan. We have been given the authority and we can overcome him and when we do, he can’t do anything to us. When we don’t use our authority, we don’t have that assurance.
Matthew 13:18, “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
Here Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower and he starts off with discussing how satan is there to steal even our opportunity to have a relationship with Him. We have to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as we are told in Philippians 4:7. He also refers to him as the evil one. The definition of evil is profoundly immoral or wicked. Why do we continually place ourselves in positions to be misled by something profoundly immoral or wicked? We have to see through the lies, see through the deceit, help others see through it in love, not bashing like I described to you last week. What that man did that I described last week calling that woman satan, was evil. That is how the enemy wants us to treat each other, that serves him and his purposes.
We need to decide for ourselves, are we listening to I Am or are we listening to lies. Anything that is not a part of I Am will lead you to a path of lies and destruction. I Am, I Am, I Am is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing.
If you are growing through our podcast, consider supporting us as we continue to build the Kingdom of God. You can support us for as little as $3/month. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995558/support
If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share.
As always, let’s discuss our Top Show points:
· Looked at the Great I Am, versus Satan and what their names reveal to us in the Bible.
· Through names we see how the name of a person can represent their relationship to us. A name reveals character. A name reveals purpose. A name reveals past, present and future.
·
· Exodus 3: 1-5, Then God introduces himself. He tells Moses who He is, He does not hide it, He is specific and puts it in terms Moses will understand and identify with.
· Genesis 3: 11, From this part of their discussion again God is telling Him who He is in relation to Moses by bringing in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses knows who his descendants are, he knows he is an Israelite, so he can identify with this and God’s people. He tells Moses, I Am who I Am.
·
· Genesis 15:1, God is revealing himself to Abram as to what Abram can expect from Him. This is the beginning of God creating His people. He has to introduce himself to Abram so He can begin to build Abram into the man He created Him to be, the father of the nation of Israel and ultimately the lineage from which Jesus will be born.
· Isaiah 43:3, God saying, I Am and then tells you specifically who He is and what that means in relation to you.
· Isaiah 43: 5, Another I Am, and a reassurance for us that He is here with us through everything.
· Isaiah 43: 10, Here God is telling us, who He is in relation to everything and everyone else. Then again, letting us know our place in relation to Him with a description of our place with Him.
· Isaiah 43: 12, God refers to himself as I Am throughout the Bible, and then in the New Testament Jesus does as well.
· In Malachi 3, we read “I the Lord do not change.“
· Hebrews 13:8 that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. When He says I Am, there is no limitation.
· Isaiah 64:4, This again explains who God is in relation to us, but also tells us something about who He is in providing for us. There is a two-way communication, implies relationship with Him.
· Isaiah 64: 8, This is the perfect analogy for accepting who He is in relation to us, shaping us in to what he creates us to be
· Daniel 7:13, He is talking of Jesus. Jesus is able to approach God and be in His presence, Jesus defends us from the accuser
· Satan has many names: Prince of Darkness, Beelzebub, the Antichrist, Father of Lies, Ancient Serpent.
· Revelation 12;10, the accuser, satan, is always present to trick us, deceive us into doing what is against God and then he goes to God and accuses us so that he can get permission to evoke a penalty.
· Job 1:6, Satan telling the Lord he was out roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it
· 1 Peter 5:8 tells us what he is doing while he is roaming,
· Revelation 20:10: Satan’s character is revealed as a deceiver.
· Matthew 4:1, satan was tempting Jesus in the wilderness. A tactic of satan. Satan was working to tempt Jesus, he uses this tactic against us also.
· Isaiah 13: 12-16, This reveals who Satan has at the center of everything, himself. His purposes are to serve himself, and to draw us away from God
· Lucifer, some of the names we have for satan are a result of translations, for example Lucifer came as a result of an early Latin translation called the Vulgate.
· The name Satan in Hebrew is translated as adversary or accuser. God is revealing to us what we can expect from him. God names things for what they are or will become, we tend to name things for our own reasons that may or may not have anything to do with what we are or will become.
· John 8:44, Jesus is giving us information about satan and what we can expect if we deal with him. When we cooperate with satan, knowingly or unknowingly, we are carrying out the desires of satan.
· Luke 10:16, We have been given the authority and we can overcome satan and when we do, he can’t do anything to us. When we don’t use our authority, we don’t have that assurance.
· Matthew 13:18, Jesus explaining the parable of the sower discussing how satan is there to steal even our opportunity to have a relationship with Him.
· We have to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as we are told in Philippians 4:7.
· I Am is the same yesterday, today and forever.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, if you want a personal relationship with the Lord, you need to be active about reading His word.
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, visit our website, lovingconversationssalo.com. My book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice has helped so many people in their relationship with the Lord, check out the testimonials. Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Walmart. Those are also available on our website www.lovingconversationssalo.com.
· Follow us in Instagram, @conqueringourunseenenemies
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!