Is Satan a real entity or a metaphor for evil?

[complete]

Hi Charity, where could I find the Old Testament scripture where Michael and the devil are in dispute over Moses’s body?

Hi @Waiting on him,

It's in Jude.

Love in Christ Jesus
Chris

 

[VictoryinJesus]

Is Satan a real entity or a metaphor for evil?

I recently heard that 40% of Christians think that Satan is a metaphor for evil... What do u think

Is Satan a real entity or a metaphor for evil?

Was going to vote but wish there was another option. I would have voted a real entity but not some devil with horns and a pitch fork. not some literal talking serpent. But an entity very real. Someone pointed out the devil has to be real otherwise he couldn’t persecute anyone. Galatians 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; [2] Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: [3] Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

James 3:6-8 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. [7] For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: [8] But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

The spirit of the world...does it persecute? How many when tempted go back to it?
James 1:14-15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. [15] Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.


1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Trying to find the verse “in the world but not of it” ...a mind alienated from God, is that torment?

 

[amadeus]

Hi John, what if in the 27 psalm what we are reading is Jesus speaking to the Lord?

How many times in the four gospels do we find Jesus speaking to His Father? Is that an unusual thing for him? Consider this:

"And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" Matt 26:39

And also this:

"For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." John 17:8

And then this:

"For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Matt 10:20

So then our words when they come from the Father are what or who... if not Jesus or the Word of God?

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14

So then consider what David wrote a thousand years before Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem:

Ps 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
Ps 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
Ps 27:6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
Ps 27:7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
Ps 27:8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
Ps 27:9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

It does all tie together when we have received the Holy Spirit and we are allowing the Holy Spirit in us to lead us and to speak by means of our otherwise unruly nearly uncontrollable tongue. David was seeking as we are, or as we need to be, seeking what?

We, all of us at times, seek after those things which mostly tickle our flesh... "the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life". David went beyond that in his psalm or prayer... "not as I will, but as thou wilt".

Where is the house of the Lord in which David wished to dwell forever?

"But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Heb 3:6

And then again to what Jesus asked of his Father here:

Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

So then in Psalm 27 when David was praying, may it not also be seen as Jesus talking/praying or you or me talking/praying? When we are in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, it is not we that speak, but the Father which speaketh in us , through us, by means of our tongue under His control, under His direction?

Remember again that Jesus was not just a man of flesh. Jesus was/is the Word made flesh. We consumer the flesh of Jesus and in us by the Holy Spirit it is quickened [brought to Life] so we speak also what? The Word of God.

Are we not there yet, where like Jesus our every utterance is the Word of God?

Ps 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

 

[amadeus]

Trying to find the verse “in the world but not of it” ...a mind alienated from God, is that torment?

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." John 17:11

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:16

 

[VictoryinJesus]

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." John 17:11

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:16

thank you. I’ve been thinking this morning on the wilderness. One question I have is how did it become a wilderness? Which led back to that passage the other day in Isaiah 14:17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

wilderness: a barren desert, a desert waste, a dry place, a place ‘waste’ or ‘unoccupied’ where water and food are desperately needed.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

Which led back to that passage the other day in Isaiah 14:17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

Matthew 4:11-12 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. [12] Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

 

[amadeus]

thank you. I’ve been thinking this morning on the wilderness. One question I have is how did it become a wilderness? Which led back to that passage the other day in Isaiah 14:17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

wilderness: a barren desert, a desert waste, a dry place, a place ‘waste’ or ‘unoccupied’ where water and food are desperately needed.

As in...Wilderness:

rbdm Midbar (mid-bawr'); Noun Masculine, Strong #: 4057

1. wilderness
   1. pasture
   2. uninhabited land, wilderness
   3. large tracts of wilderness (around cities)
   4. wilderness (fig.)

In other words, Zion, the ultimate habitation and place of rest in and for God:

!wyc Tsiyown (tsee-yone'); Proper Name Location, Strong #: 6726

Zion = "parched place"

1. another name for Jerusalem especially in the prophetic books

Started bring forth and yield seed and fruit and it was good:

"And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Gen 1:12

But then lost by the choices of men:

"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;" Gen 3:17-18

But David is given a vision of the thing which he wrote down...

Ps 132:3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed;
Ps 132:4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids,
Ps 132:5 Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

Ps 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Ps 132:14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

All Zion needs is Life, which is Jesus or a place watered by Living Water to change it from wilderness to paradise!

"Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." John 4:10

Back to where we began and then some... The then some is found as we are enable to eat of the Tree of Life missed the first time around.

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Rev 2:7

 

[kcnalp]

Satan loves it when he can deceive people into thinking he's just a myth.