The Battle for your SOUL

The sole purpose of the Bible is to point to God's purpose, which is to reconcile sinful man to God through Jesus Christ, His Son. God's plan is to restore all things as it was in the beginning, before the fall of Adam and Eve ~ God dwelling with man and man, while subject to God. ruling over His New Earth (Rev 21:7).

Why do we need to be reconciled? Reconciliation is that of owing a debt and having it paid in full. Jesus paid that debt for us; He came to draw us back to Him because sin entered the world through the first man and woman, who were deceived by and obeyed Satan in the Garden of Eden. This is not an easy task, for there is a battle going on...a battle for your soul.

How did this battle begin? There was a rebellion in heaven. In Revelation 12:1-3 the dragon, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, waged war against Michael, God's Archangel, and his angels and LOST. In vs. 4 we see a third of the stars (angels) of heaven thrown down to the earth by the dragon's tail. In vs. 9 we are told the great dragon, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." At that point, they went after the woman (Jews) who was about to give birth to a male son (Jesus), and also against her offspring, the children of God saved through Jesus (vs. 17), called Christians (Acts 11:25-26). Thus began the spiritual warfare we read about throughout the Bible. Have you ever been in the middle of a war? There are only two involved: GOOD and EVIL.

God created Man to rule over the earth. When Satan was cast out of heaven to the earth, he tempted Eve. Understand that being tempted is not a sin, for Jesus was also tempted and did not fail. Adam and Eve did fail. Because of this, they gave their authority over the earth to Satan, who then became the "god of this world" (2 Cor 4:4). When Jesus Christ died on the cross and overcame death, He took back all authority, in order to give it back to those who follow Him. Once the last enemy is destroyed, death, and believers are resurrected, they will once again rule over the earth with God as the Head, forever...as it was in the beginning. In the meantime, this battle will rage on. Just as Adam and Eve were tempted to sin, the Spirit of God now draws us back to giving Lordship to Jesus Christ in our lives. God created Man to respond to temptation (by Satan) or the drawing of the Spirit (God). We have a choice to obey GOOD or EVIL.

GOOD is a master and EVIL is a master. The Word says in Matthew 6:24 that “No man can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Believe it or not, because of Adam and Eve we are born on the side of EVIL (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12-14) and God's Spirit (GOOD) draws all men unto Himself (since Christ was lifted up from the earth - John 12:32).

The Word also states in Ephesians 6:12, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” This warfare happens on earth as well as in heaven. Check out Jude 1:9 where the Archangel Michael disputes with the devil over the body of Moses. Satan is alive and well, and is at war (while he has time) to keep people deceived. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

When God created man, God’s words were not physically written anywhere. God spoke to Adam and Eve directly. He told them what they could and could not do. Because Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan into disobeying God’s command, God sentenced the serpent, Adam and Eve with a curse of judgment. What does that mean?

We can only assume Adam and Eve were never supposed to see death, but because they rebelled like Satan did, their sin was subject to God’s law; that is “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Surely, all mankind dies, but because we are sinful, our own death does not forgive our sin. When the nations of Adam and Eve repented by doing their best to serve God, they were saved by faith (Hebrews 11), yet were still enslaved to sinning (Romans 6:17), even as it is today.

When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, God sent a final plague, an angel of death to take the lives of every first-born Egyptian male. In order for Israel to be spared, they had to brush the blood of a lamb on their doorposts, causing the angel of death to "pass over" (sanctify/set apart) them. Every year since, Israel sacrificed the very best lamb they had at a time they called Passover (Exodus 12:6). This lamb would "pass over" their sins from that year to the next. This practice was symbolic of the coming of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). That Lamb was Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

After Israel was delivered from Egypt, they fell into rampant sin. God then gave Moses the 10 Commandments, written by His Own finger (Deuteronomy 9:10/Luke 11:20). When man could physically write the words of God, these writings were called “scriptures”, now known as “The Holy Bible”. The original language of the first scriptures was Hebrew/Chaldea. After Jesus Christ came into the world as the Lamb of God and fulfilled the Old Testament laws and prophesies (Matthew 5:17), the New Testament was then written in Greek. The English translations since printed have caused many to err in doctrinal understanding. This is why it is imperative we research questionable English wording by finding the applicable definition in the original languages.

The Bible says we are slaves to sin (John 8:34). So, even though God gave His laws to Israel, they couldn't keep them! Satan's purpose is to keep us enslaved! The Bible says the Law is against us! (Colossians 2:14). This is WHY God made THE WAY to deliver everyone from sin and its consequences (Romans 8:21). We can choose to remain slaves to sin and ignore the Way God has made for us, or we can choose the Way, the Truth and the Life, which sets us free from the law of sin and death (John 14:6; John 8:1, 32). You belong to one or the other based on your choice. You don't have the choice NOT to choose, people.

What is the Way, the Truth and the Life? Well, this brings us back to the purpose of Jesus Christ. He is the only WAY to reconcile mankind back to God (Romans 5:6-11). Jesus paid for our sin IN FULL by His death on the cross (Luke 23:46); however, we must deny (repent) one master (Satan) and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord (our Master). However, if we don’t believe or receive Jesus Christ, we have denied His payment. If we do this, we are still under the law of sin and death (ensnared in the dragon's trap). Again, no one can serve two masters! No one can serve NO master either!

• Romans 6:16 "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"

When you give your heart to Jesus Christ, God empowers you to overcome Satan (Luke 10:17-20). As I stated before, mankind can not pay for his own sin or be righteous enough for God. Because Jesus was sinless, He alone was worthy to pay for our sin; believers are blameless through Him and are worthy (because of the Lamb) to receive the Spirit of God/Spirit of Christ within (Romans 8:9), and live in the kingdom of God for all eternity! (Philippians 2:15). We are set free from the dragon's clenches, both here on earth, in death and in heaven. However, the battle for your soul will continue. It is possible for a believer to yet turn away from the truth (Hebrews 6:4). In other words, just because the Seed (the gospel) is sown in you, one can still be at risk of turning away from the truth (Mat 13:3-23; Mk 4:2-20; Lk 8:4-15; Rom 11:19-21).

We must CHOOSE this day whom we will serve (Joshua 14:15). To reject the One (Jesus Christ) is to serve the other, which is EVIL (Satan). Because we are sinful and have no sacrifice for sin when we reject Jesus Christ, those who physically die without Him will also experience eternity apart from God with Satan (Rev 20:10, 15). Rather than focus on EVIL and what God has in store for them, let’s focus on the GOOD and what lies in store for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, that purpose being salvation through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28).

So how do we become saved? It's explained in my hub Come to JESUS: Salvation.