|
Satan attempts to cut off the line through which the seed of woman is to come.
After the flood, the wickedness and corruption again had become so bad that God was forced call out a man to accomplish His plan and preserve man's seed. This man's name was Abram (later changed to Abraham) (Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house...[3] and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.). All families of the earth would be blessed because, through Abraham, the seed of the woman, Jesus, was to come. Not only did God reveal this to Abraham, Satan also became aware of the human line through which Jesus would come. This allowed Satan to concentrate his efforts on Abraham and his seed, the Jews. It reduced his task of attacking all flesh to just attacking Abraham and his seed. Many are the instances in the Old Testament where surrounding nations made war against the Jews, Abraham's seed, and visa versa.
Once, when the Jews had become slaves in Egypt, the king of Egypt commanded the Egyptian midwives to kill all Jewish males immediately after being born (Exodus 1:16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.). But, the midwives refused to do it (Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.). So, Pharaoh (king of Egypt) charged all the people to perform the killing of the Hebrew males (Exodus 1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.) This was one of Satan's attempts to stop the seed by killing off the Jewish males.
God foils Satan's plan.
God devised a plan to raise up a man by whom he could deliver the Jews from these Egyptians. This man's name was Moses. Though Moses was born during the time that all Hebrew males were to be slaughtered, God preserved Moses alive (Exodus 2:1-10). Moses became a mighty man and, as already pointed out, was used to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. You can read his story in the book of Exodus. After a long and eventful period, Pharaoh begrudgingly agreed to let Moses and the Jews leave. Shortly thereafter, he had a change of heart and pursued the Jews as they journeyed. Satan, using the mighty Egyptian army, had Moses and the Jews where he wanted them, at the banks of the Red Sea with no where to run. Finally, they and the prophesied seed of the woman would be destroyed.
But (and you know the story) God performed a mighty miracle by parting the Red Sea, allowing the Jews to cross on dry ground. When the Egyptians pursued after them, the parted waters came crashing down on them and destroyed them. Thus, God had foiled Satan's attempt to stop the seed. (You can read all of these accounts in the book of Exodus.)
Satan attempts to lure God into destroying the Jews.
Once, when Moses had gone upon Mt. Sinai to meet with the Lord, the Jewish people became impatient and decided to forget Moses and the Lord and create their own Gods (Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron (brother of Moses), and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.) This shows how fickle people can be. Well, Aaron does as the people desire, creating a molten calf to worship (Exodus 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.) God became so wroth with them that he declared to Moses that He would destroy all the people and bring the seed through him (Exodus 32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them…).
Moses intervenes for the Jewish people.
Moses made a plea for God to reconsider. Moses' plea is heard and God repents (Exodus 32:14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.) Thus, Satan's plan was, again, foiled. This time, because of Moses' relationship with God. Had Satan succeeded, Moses would have been the one and only seed of Abraham remaining.
God reveals the lineage of Jesus through King David.
2 Samuel 7:12-14 And when thy (David's) days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. [13] He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. [14] I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
This prophecy to David had a double fulfillment in both Solomon (who succeeded David's reign) and Jesus (upon whom David's throne will be established forever). Of course, God had to keep David alive during King Saul's (whom David replaced) reign as King Saul attempted to kill David 21 times.
So, now Satan knows, specifically, that the seed of the woman is coming through the line of David. Now, he can concentrate on David's seed...and he did:
1. King Jehoshaphat had seven sons, the oldest of which was Jehoram. When Jehoshaphat died, Jehomram inherited the throne. He proceeded to be a very evil king. One of the first things he did was slay all of his brothers. So, now, what we have is the one remaining seed of David sitting on the throne as an evil man. Satan's plan was to goad God into destroying Jehoram because of his wickedness. Since there were no other seed, this would stop the seed of the woman from coming through David. But, because of God's promise to David, He would not destroy Jehoram. See the story, here.
2. Jehoram was so wicked that God stirred up Israel's enemies to attack Jehoram's kingdom. They destroyed all of Jehoram's sons except for the youngest, Ahaziah. So, again, we are down to one man remaining in the line of Jesus. Ahaziah had sons and was so wicked that God arranged his destruction. Upon Ahaziah's death, Athalia, Ahaziah's mother, rose up and slew all of Ahaziah's sons….except one that she missed because a woman hid him. Thus, Satan's attempt to destroy the line was, again, foiled:
2 Chron. 22:10-12 But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.
[11] But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath….hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not.
[12] And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land.
So, Satan fails to stop the seed of the woman though he continued to try. Read the book of Esther for an account of another of Satan's attempts to destroy all Jews.
Go here to finish: Jesus, the seed of the woman, is born.
|
|
