Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 229

Life In Christ – 7

THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR 

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Ephesians 2:1-3
(1)  And He has made you alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins,
(2)  in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience;
(3)  among whom we also had our way of life in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

The Prince of the Power of the Air is clearly Satan.  But what does this term mean? The “air” is the lowest of the three “heavens” (heaven is a plural word “shamayim” Hb.) - which are “the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:9) where God’s holiness dwells, the mid-heaven where angels and spirit-animals (beasts) fly (Revelation 8:13, 14:6), and the air above us where the “birds of the heavens” fly and where Satan rules.

Satan seems to have started off in the Third Heaven as a covering cherub (Ezek 28;14), then was cast down to the second or mid-heaven at some point due to “trafficking” (Ezek 28:16). In Job is occasionally summoned to the Third Heaven but only by God’s permission.  Satann seems to be able to freely roam on lower realms such as earth.

During the ministry of Jesus and the disciples Satan “fell from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18) and was further triumphed over in the cross, which also stripped Satan of many of his weapons (Colossians 2:13-15). 

By the time Paul writes Satan is confined to the first heaven or the “air”. (Ephesians 2:1-3 above).

Satan’s future is clearly marked out.  In Revelation 12:1-11 a great battle takes place and Satan will be cast to earth (out of the heavens altogether) and then incarnate as a man in Revelation 13, and wage war, which after losing he is confined to the Pit, (Revelation 20:1-3) and eventually at the very end, to the Lake of Fire. 

Satan’s trajectory of doom gives us a basic structure for the order of the heavenlies.

God, Jesus, the Church – above the heavens
Third Heaven – Holy Things
Mid-Heaven – Angels, Spiritual beings
Air – Satan and demons (at present)
Earth – unredeemed humanity, creation
Pit – a place of temporary punishment of the wicked– 1000 years and released, demons chained for judgment. (2 Peter 2:4, Rev 9:1ff, Rev 20:1-3)
Lake of Fire – final and complete judgment and unrelenting torment.

Satan is ambitious and always trying to “go up a notch”, then being cast down even further. So in the Third Heaven he tried to set his throne above God, then in the second heaven he tried to intrude on holy things, when released from the Pit he tries to conquer Earth – and so on.

Satan seems to have freedom to visit levels lower than where he is at and still “roams” around on the Earth. The present spiritual battle is to cast down Satan from the air-  to the Earth, through courageous witness of the saints(Revelation 12:10,11). This will unleash the final end-times. (Revelation 13). 

In Luke this casting down seems to have something to do with the proclamation of the gospel :
Luke 10:17-18
(17)  And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name.
(18)  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.

Thus when the proclamation of the gospel is fully accomplished, and it has been preached as a witness to all the nations, Satan will be cast down, out of the air, to Earth, become the Anti-Christ, “and then the end shall come”.

Matthew 24:14
(14)  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come.

Satan will be crushed by God (of course) but also by the Church and the Seed of the Woman – Jesus Christ (Genesis 3:15). God puts Satan under OUR feet (Romans 16:20) and we shall judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:2,3) and it is the blood of the saints and courageous witness that finally overcomes the Devil (Revelation 12:10,11)

Thus the Christ-indwelt and Holy Spirit empowered Church acting in bold authority will ensure Satan’s downfall.

Ephesians 2:1-3 goes on to describe the effects of the prince of the power of the air on his subjects – disobedience, lusts, passions and universal rebellion against God. Satan causes us to walk in trespasses and sins and to follow “the course of this world” so we end up as spiritually dead “children of wrath”.

Thus sin is, in part, due to demonic influence. This demonic influence is pervasive and strong and is over most of the world’s people. The apostle John says the “whole world” is under this demonic power ( 1 John 5:18,19) but Christians are not subject to it because of the blood of Christ. (1 John 5:18,19, Colossians 2:13-15).

As we will see in the rest of this chapter, Satan’s influence over our desires, minds and behavior is over-ruled by the grace of God and the power of salvation by faith. We become the redeemed, we are saved from wrath, seated with Christ and made new creatures and do food works prepared beforehand by God (Ephesians 2:4-10)  The influence of Christ stronger than that of Satan and moves us from rebellious and disobedient to saints who gladly do good deeds.

Blessings,

John Edmiston <johned@aibi.ph>

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