The Devil we Know | Sunday, April 19, 2026

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Anthony and team. Good morning, Cross Connections. It is so good to see you all. You can have a seat. I am so glad you're here with us this morning.

We're going to get into the Scriptures. In fact, you can take out your Bible and begin making your way to the Gospel of Luke. Chapter 10 is where we're at. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one. If you don't own a Bible, please accept that as a gift from us today. We think that God's Word is important. It is living and powerful; it transforms us. God uses His Word by His Spirit to transform us by the renewing of our minds.

The passage that we have before us today is a very fascinating one. It garners intrigue. Last week, if you were with us, the text just before this is where Jesus gathers together a group of His followers—70 of them—and sends them out to go before Him to prepare the way as He makes His way through the nation of Israel down to Jerusalem for ultimately His triumphal entry, crucifixion, and resurrection. They are going before Him to prepare the way.

When they return, it is where we are in the text today in Luke chapter 10. They come back rejoicing, excited about the awesome things that God does through them. One of the huge things that they are rejoicing in, which would stir us to rejoice and be in total awe and amazement, is that they say, "The demons are subject to us," which is a remarkable thing to think about.

In response to their joy, their rejoicing, and their excitement, Jesus says something that might be one of the strangest things He says in the Gospels. It is kind of like one of those "wait, what?" moments when Jesus tells His disciples, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Then He just keeps going.

Hold on a second. There is something there that we need to try and figure out. When did that happen? Where did that happen? What took place? I want more information. So buckle up; this is an interesting passage of Scripture, and I think it is a very interesting thing to consider today.

If you have your Bible open, stand with me. We're going to look at Luke chapter 10, and we're going to begin reading at verse 17. Luke 10, verse 17, says, "Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."

Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in His spirit, and He said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and the one whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

Then He turned to His disciples and said to them privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear and have not heard it."

God, I pray as we stand here today that You would open our eyes and our ears so that we would see and hear and comprehend. We are going to see spiritual truths here in this passage today and throughout the Scriptures that are hidden from the wise and the prudent because they are only known by revelation.

Lord, You have given us Your Word, which we trust and believe is inspired by You. It is revealed to uncover things that we could not know through just examination and investigation. I pray that You would open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to receive from You what it is that You want to speak to us today. Give us insight, give us wisdom, and give us understanding, especially for the moment that we are living in, so that we could see the times we are living in through the lens of the Scriptures. This helps us to see beyond the things that are just happening in the physical, tangible world, beyond the veil, so to speak.

Speak to us, we pray. We ask this today in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You could be seated.

Last week, if you were here at the end of our service, I called up a group of people who attend the church here, who have signed up this year to go on short-term trips with us to Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, and to other places throughout the world in Africa. It is an awesome thing to see when God begins to move in a person's heart to go on a trip like this. As I was having a conversation with one of the individuals who is going on one of these trips...

Of these trips, he was sharing with me that he was a little anxious about it. Really, that's the feeling of so many people when they feel this desire to go on a trip. We offer the opportunity, and it's like, "Oh, I think I want to go," and then maybe, "I don't want to go." They start to reason all the reasons why they shouldn't go. That's normally what we do; we try to come up with reasons why we should say no.

But, of course, we do the Christian thing. We say, "Well, I'm going to pray about it." That's how Christians often say no. As you think about it and pray about it, you come up with all kinds of anxious reasons like, "No, I shouldn't go because I have so much stuff to do. I have to clean the garage. I've been putting that off for so long." We always come up with things we need to deal with because we're fearful and anxious about this.

It's understandable because you're stepping into something that you know very little about. You're doing something you've never done before, and for some people, this is the first time they've ever gone out of the country. It's the first time they've ever gotten a passport. That can be fearful and scary. You're going to a place you've never been to, and they speak a different language.

On top of that, we start to get you together into these groups, and we teach you how to do the Evangel Cube. You're going to share your faith or your testimony, and you see people who are just scared to death over this. They might say, "I don't like to talk to people, and I definitely don't want to do the Evangel Cube." It seems so dumb.

I remember that as a teenager here at this church in the youth ministry. We would do trips to Mexico, or one time we did a trip out to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. We all had to be prepared and trained to share our testimony and to share the gospel. You're looking at all this stuff, and it's exciting, but it's also terrifying.

But here's the awesome little secret that every one of these people is going to learn as they go on one of these trips this summer: they are going to have an incredible time. It will be a life-changing experience. Going on a trip is great, but going on a trip as an ambassador of Christ and being used by Him is indescribable.

When these people come back from their trips later this year, they will return with joy and rejoicing. It will be a joy and rejoicing that they almost won't be able to fully articulate with words. They won't even know how to explain it to you. They'll get tongue-tied when you ask them, "How was the trip?" and they'll say, "Well, it just comes out of the flood." There's a part of it where the only people who understand are the others who were there with them.

On the trip with them, you come back filled with joy. I think it's the same kind of joy that Peter described in 1 Peter chapter 1 when he says, "joy inexpressible, full of glory." This is precisely what the seventy experienced when they came back to Jesus after He sent them out. They returned to Jesus, blown away by their experiences. You know the emoji with the head blown? That's what they experienced. When Jesus asked them how it was, they exclaimed, "You're not going to believe this! Even the demons were subject to us." How phenomenal is that? They were just amazed.

One of the cool things that's easy to miss in this text is that their joy and excitement made Jesus excited and full of joy as well. Look at verse 21: "In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in His spirit." I think that's the only time in the Gospels where it speaks about Jesus' joy and rejoicing. It clues us into something that you all know personally: joy is infectious, isn't it? There’s a way in which it just spreads. His disciples came back filled with joy, inexpressible and full of glory, and Jesus rejoiced in His spirit.

But immediately after that, He says something that is like a mic drop moment. In verse 18, He states, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Have you ever had one of those friends who has a way of saying casual things that just stop you in your tracks? You find yourself thinking, "Wait, say more?" I have a friend like that. He lives in the Netherlands, and his name is Jaco. During conversations, he might casually mention, "Yeah, you know, I'm the eighth Jaco van Stavren in my family, the eighth." You want to know more. He continues, "We have a watch that goes back eight generations." You think, "Wait, say more about that."

Then he adds, "I didn't name my firstborn son Jaco." What? I remember having that conversation and thinking, "What kind of son are you? You terrible child." But Jesus is one of those people who says things that leave you wondering, "What in the world was that?" It stirs a whole bunch of questions in your mind.

In that moment, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I definitely want Jesus to say more about this. Don't you? We live in a very skeptical period of time. We live in a culture where, for the most part, we don't believe in anything beyond what we can see, taste, hear, or touch—the tangible. We think that there is nothing beyond what can be assessed through observation and deduction. As a result, the vast majority of the intelligent ones, the wise and prudent of our society, do not believe in anything beyond that. Skepticism abounds in our day.

Consequently, the concept or idea that there is something beyond the realm of reality seems fallacious to us. If you believe these things, as Christians do, you may find yourself feeling a little embarrassed about what you think or believe. There is often a temptation to keep silent when conversing with a neighbor, friend, co-worker, or family member who is skeptical. You don't want to be outed as one of those people, because you know how that is. You might think, "Oh, they probably think the earth is flat, don't they?" We don't want to be labeled among those individuals, and so the temptation is just to keep quiet.

There was a movie that came out about 30 years ago. I don't necessarily recommend it, but there is a great line from the main character. He says, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist." I think there is a lot of truth in that. The devil has done a really good job of concealing himself; he masquerades. The text here, in one sense, kind of peels back the mask or the veil. It unmasks the devil in this passage. Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."

Jesus indicates here that he knows something we don't know and cannot know apart from Revelation. Did you realize there are things you cannot know apart from Revelation that you could never find through deduction, scientific rationality, or reasoning? This makes people in a highly rational, reasonable culture like ours, post-Enlightenment, feel a little less than when they say, "Well, I believe things that are outside the realm of scientific investigation."

So we feel like we should probably keep quiet about that. But Jesus says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." It is important to recognize that He uses the past tense there. Not "I will see" or "you shall see," but "I saw," past tense. Something happened in the past.

When in the past? That is the question that arises. When did this happen? We can't fathom or conceptualize something before time began. Even in science, we are told in all of the high-level advanced learning institutions of our culture today that at a certain point in history, sometimes they will say 15 billion years ago or more, everything we can tell through astronomy and physics and all the different research we have indicates that at some point in the past, everything came forth from all matter being compressed down into something the size of a pinprick.

You might wonder how on earth that happens. We don't know, but we can see through all the different investigations, through scientific rationality, through red shifts and other phenomena, that at some point billions and billions of years ago, everything compresses down into something and then bursts forth. But what was before that? We don't know. It is kind of a singularity. We can't wrap our minds around the idea of it even happening.

It is amazing that this coincides with exactly what we read in the Bible. At one point, everything sprang forth from nothing. How? Well, God said, "Let there be light." The indication of Scripture is that there was history before that point, what we would call prehistory. No, I am not talking about prehistoric; I am talking about prehistory, before any time began. There was a time before time began, and God was there because He exists outside of this realm. He is, as the Scriptures reveal Him, eternal.

However, there was something else that existed in that prehistory period of time, before the world was made, before the first light was spoken into being, before any grains of sand existed. There was something. It seems like a stretch to us, but that is what the Scriptures reveal. Here is the amazing thing: not only was there God before all of these things existed, but there were other conscious beings. That is what is indicated here in this text, and there are other places like it. One such place is in the book of Job, which I want to encourage you to read if you are ever going through a really difficult time in your life. However, it is probably not the best time to read the book of Job.

But there's a good chance that at some point in your life, you'll experience something not identical, but similar to Job, where your world falls apart. Maybe that's what brought you to church in the first place. Perhaps that's what you're going through right now, or you know someone whose world is falling apart.

What happens when your world falls apart? You experience what's called an existential crisis, where your existence and the existence of all those things and people that you love is just destroyed before your eyes. That's what Job went through. And what do you need in that moment? Well, you need what every human needs. You need someone to come and sit with you, to just be still with you, and to simply be with you.

That's what Job's three friends do. They show up, and for seven days, they just sat with him in silence. They did such an awesome thing while they sat with him quietly, but they didn't stay quiet. Eventually, they started talking, and when they did, they began to get a lot of things wrong. Why? Because immediately, they said, "Well, Job, listen, this is a really pitiful thing that you're going through. But it must indicate that there's something really bad in your life that you're not telling us about. If you would just be honest with everybody and yourself, then everything would be fine."

Have you ever had that kind of conversation? The rest of the book of Job is basically his friends accusing him, and him excusing himself, saying, "No, that's not the case. I've done nothing wrong." Eventually, he reaches the point where he says, "You know what? I want an audience with God." Have you ever had that thought? "I want to take this up with Him, because this is not fair. I want to talk to Him."

Then God shows up in Job 38, and the way that God shows up is awesome. He arrives in a grand event that Job can only describe as a whirlwind. Then God speaks, and His words are powerful. In Job 38, verse 4, He asks, "Where were you when I created everything? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding, because you're so wise and so understanding. You understand everything. Job, I would like you to answer this question: Where were you? Who determined its measurements? Did you get out there and determine how big the universe ought to be? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone?"

And then this, in verse 7: "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job, where were you when I created everything?"

When I said, "Let there be light," and boom, there was light. Were you there? No. Job is silent. That's a good thing. God is in heaven, and we are here on earth. "Let your words be few," is what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 2. Job was silent. And God says, "Were you there, Job?" Clearly, you were not. You weren't there, but the morning stars were there.

No, not the stars that God spoke into existence in Genesis chapter 1. This is an indication of something different. This is an allusion, metaphorically, to something that you find in ancient Near Eastern literature, like the Bible. The stars in this passage represent a being, a conscious being. It is conscious like you are conscious, but it exists outside of the realm of this reality. It exists in another realm.

He calls these beings, referred to as stars in verse 7, the sons of God. It's the Hebrew "ben Elohim," which is a reference in our vernacular to angels. That's what we call these beings that are outside of the realm of this world, but are conscious beings, and they were there. When God created, when God said, "Let there be light," and there was light, He had an audience. There were conscious beings watching this. They witnessed it.

And what did they do when they witnessed the grandeur and the awesomeness of the creative capacity of God? They shouted for joy and rejoiced when He said, "Let there be light." The sons of God rejoiced, which is fascinating because it means that there was a creation before the creation—a creation before God created the realm of this universe, this reality that we know of.

There was some time in history past, before Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, where God made these conscious beings that are referred to as the sons of God, the "ben Elohim." The term "sons" indicates that they came forth from Him. They did not exist; they were created just as this was created, just as you were created. But they were there when God created what we see here.

These angels preexisted the cosmos. When God divided the light from the darkness, divided the night from the day, and divided the waters from the land, and He called the dry land "earth" in Genesis chapter 1, the sons of God, the angels, were there when they heard God say seven different times in the first chapter of the Bible, "It is good, it is good, it is good."

They nodded in agreement as he said it is good. They worshiped him, and as they worshiped him, the most beautiful of all the angelic sons of God, seemingly the highest one of them, the one who was probably leading the chorus, was there.

We're introduced to him in Ezekiel. In fact, you might want to turn there. It's in the Old Testament. If you turn about the middle of your Bible and start turning to the right, you'll find Isaiah, then Jeremiah, Lamentations—another book you shouldn't read when you're depressed—and then Ezekiel.

In Ezekiel 28, God is speaking and revealing things that cannot be known apart from revelation. He is revealing something to an individual referred to in Ezekiel as "son of man," which is a title given to Ezekiel. God says this in Ezekiel 28:12: "Son of man, take up a lamentation, a weeping; weep, lament for the destruction, the punishment of a people group."

"Son of man, I want you to take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre." Tyre was an ancient, well-known city in antiquity during this period of time, roughly 2,500 years ago when Ezekiel lived. Tyre was a wicked and evil city, as many cities have often been throughout history. During that time, it dominated and was tyrannical upon the other cities around it.

So God says, "I want you to take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre and say to him." However, he is not speaking to the earthly king; he is speaking to the power behind the power. This is one of the interesting things about the Bible. Many times, we are clued into the reality that there are principalities and powers, angelic forces beyond the earthly forces of this world.

God tells Ezekiel to speak this lamentation, this word of woe and judgment that is going to come upon Tyre, but he is speaking to the power behind the power. "Take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord: You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God." That is one of the clues that he is not talking to an earthly king. Whoever the "you" is that God is speaking to here was in the garden of Eden.

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. He is describing the beauty of this being that was there at creation, covered in Sardis, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald, with gold. Probably got it all at Tiffany's.

The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes is significant. There is something about this being that is beautifully arrayed and connected to music. Your timbrels and pipes were prepared for you on the day that you were created. This awesome being, perfect in beauty and full of wisdom, was created. God says you were the anointed cherub who covers. What on earth is that? The anointed—what an interesting word. It is connected to the Hebrew word "Mashiach," meaning Messiah. There is something about this being that has the anointing of God, and it has the title cherub. Cherubim is the plural form, which you have heard before. It is an angelic term, but this is the anointed cherub who covers.

What does this mean? You may remember the ark in Exodus. Moses was commanded to make an ark, a gopher wood box overlaid with gold. Inside it were the Ten Commandments and a couple of other items that were to be placed there. On top of it was a lid called the mercy seat, or the throne where the presence of God would abide here on earth. Outstretched over the top of it were angels, cherubim. Their wings covered the mercy seat. This being, beautifully arrayed, is in the very presence of God, pictured here as the anointed cherub who covers.

God says, "I established you. You were created. I established you." You were on the holy mountain of God. The holy mountain of God, in ancient Near Eastern literature, is the mountain upon which the temple of God, the palace of God, dwells. This being was there, walking back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. What in the world is a fiery stone? In many places in literature, where you see this, this place is pictured with all of these elements.

Around the presence of God's glory, beings are so affected by the glory of God that they shine like fire. That's why some of the beings in His presence are called not just cherubim, but seraphim. Have you ever heard the word seraphim? It means "burning ones." Wow, that's a cool idea. The burning ones are in His presence.

You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created. There it is again. But then this last little word: until iniquity was found in you. God is lamenting something about this anointed cherub who covers, who was in the very presence of God throughout eternity past, before creation.

Someone in between the services just asked me, "Are you saying there was a long period of time before creation?" Yes. "How long?" I have no idea. It's called eternity. It's really big; the brain can't fathom that whole thing. But in eternity past, there was a conscious being that was so beautiful you couldn't really even comprehend his beauty. He was so wise, created by God, and apparently among the chief of all of God's creations—the anointed cherub who covered, who was in the very presence of God.

Then, iniquity was found in him. This connects us to Luke chapter 10: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." It begs the question: what iniquity could possibly be found in the being that is described as so perfect in beauty and wisdom? Iniquity was found in him. Where did it come from? How could some being so high, so awesome, and so close to the presence of God Almighty have iniquity found in him? How could it arise in this anointed cherub?

I suggest to you that it didn't arise from nowhere; it rose in response to something. I think it rose in response to an announcement, a pronouncement from God. The Bible is not explicit; it doesn't give us the play-by-play on this, but it gives us enough of the pieces that...

We can put it together and see the puzzle pieced together in such a way that we understand what this is. All of it begins, I think, in a very important passage of Scripture, which I have come to believe in the last several years is exceedingly important at this moment in history. It's in the Psalms, a 3,000-year-old text in Psalm 8. You can turn there if you'd like.

In Psalm 8, David, the author of the Psalm who would become the king of Israel, is in the wilderness, looking at the starry night sky. Have you ever been there? He gazes at all of the stars and is in awe of how grand and awesome it is. He has the same question that you've probably asked when you've been in that moment—when you've stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon, or at the edge of Niagara Falls, or out in Joshua Tree looking at the stars. You find yourself in total awe of everything and you ask, "What am I in all of this? Who am I in the greatness of this?"

Psalm 8 states, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and all the stars, which you have ordained, you made all this. What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" Note this; this is amazing. You, God, have made him a little lower than the angels. So, by hierarchy and rank, you and I are made a little lower than these amazing beings.

We just read about this anointed cherub who covers and is in perfect wisdom and beauty. Obviously, I am not that. You have made him a little lower than the angels, and note this: you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things—maybe circle that in your Bible—all things under his feet.

As I said, I think this is perhaps one of the most important passages of Scripture for this moment in time. It presents to us two interesting and opposing realities about humanity. When I say "man," think "humanity." There are two amazing and important, but opposing realities of man's rank and man's role. His rank: you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory.

And honor and given Him the authority to rule over all the works of Your hands. These two things, the rank and the role of man, do not go together, do they? They seem to be in conflict with one another.

In the same way that God does this frequently, very often in the Scriptures, you see where the rank of an individual opposes the role of that individual. It begins with the first children, Cain and Abel. The younger, yet God valued Abel's offering more than Cain's. But that's not the only time we see this. This is a persistent theme we find in the Scriptures.

We find it with Isaac and Ishmael. Ishmael was the firstborn; by rank, he ought to be the leader. Yet God says, "No, I've chosen Isaac." It happens again with Jacob and Esau, and again with Ephraim and Manasseh, and again with Perez and Zerah, and again with Moses and Aaron. Some of these names you may not know, but some you do. Moses had an older brother who, by rank, was higher than him, and yet God chooses Moses over Aaron.

Then there is David, King David, who was looked down upon in the family as the youngest of his seven brothers. God chooses David over his brothers. Or consider Solomon, David's son, who was younger than his brothers, or Gideon over his brothers. God has chosen the church, one born out of time, over His chosen people. This is phenomenal. The rank and the role do not match.

You've made him a little lower than the angels, but You've crowned him with glory and honor. God created humanity in the celestial hierarchy, lower than these heavenly bodies that are called the sons of God and the stars of heaven. Then God said, "I'm going to give them dominion to rule over everything."

Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, says, "Do you not know that you shall rule over angels?" Did you know that? You will have authority over angels. What did the seventy come rejoicing about in Luke chapter 10? They rejoiced that even the demons were subject to them. Do you not know that you shall rule over angels? Yes, we are a little lower than the angels, but we have been crowned with glory and honor and given dominion over the works of God.

His hands. We shall judge. Why would God do this? This seems so strange, and yet it's the persistent theme we find in the Scriptures: the older serves the younger, or God chooses the one of lower rank to take the foolish things of this world and confound the wise, the things that are base to bring to nothing, the things that are mighty. Why would God do this? What is God doing that He would take these lowly creatures like you and me? And that's really what we are—lowly creatures—and crown us with glory and honor.

Well, God's plan for humanity has never just been about humanity. God's plan for humanity is to reveal the fullness and the greatness of His wisdom, power, and glory. How? Through you. Come on. You've got to be kidding me. It seems absurd, and yet that's what the Scriptures reveal.

Let me read to you from Ephesians. Ephesians chapter three, verse eight, Paul says, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, God has given grace." Why? "That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which was from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ."

And then here's the key, verse ten: "To the intent." So get this. God created everything, including you. For what? For what reason? For what purpose? "To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by who? You, the church. To whom? The principalities and powers in heavenly places."

Wait a minute. You're saying God wants to reveal the manifold wisdom of His power and glory through us to angels? That's what the text says. That's what the Bible says. God had a plan from the foundation of creation to reveal the manifold wisdom of His power and glory to even angelic beings that pre-existed Genesis chapter one. He wanted to do that through His people—human beings, you and me, His church.

What's that got to do with Satan falling like lightning from heaven? It has everything to do with it. And this is where this all hinges. You see, before God said, "Let there be light," there were angelic beings, the sons of God.

Chief among them was this anointed cherub who covers, created in perfection, beauty, and wisdom. At some point in history, there in the assembly, the gathering of all these individuals—the assembly of the gods, lowercase g—God said, "I'm going to do something great." They responded, "Oh, what are you going to do?" God replied, "I'm going to make something." They asked, "What are you going to make?" He said, "I'm going to make a new creation. I'm going to speak it forth."

They watched as God created on the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, and the fifth day. He was making all these things, and what were these angelic beings doing? They were praising God and worshiping Him for what He was doing. Then, on the last day, He formed from the dust of the ground something in His image. In Genesis 1, verse 26, He said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness." So He made them male and female after His image and His likeness. He gave them a mandate: "Go into all the world, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. You're going to have dominion over everything." That's what God said.

He formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul. There is something about us that is different from all of creation. Before He did that, He told His angelic beings, "I'm going to create this being," and they were in awe. It was amazing. "You're going to make this thing. What are they going to do? Are they going to serve us?" No, God said, "They're going to rule you. They're going to have dominion over everything. They're going to be stamped with My image, My likeness, and they're going to partner with Me to rule all things."

In that moment, I think Lucifer said, "No. How dare You? I will not be ruled by that thing that comes from the dust, that crawls in the dust. How dare You?" Iniquity was found in him. You may ask, "Can you validate this? Can you substantiate this in any way? Give me something, some text." Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 14.

Remember, I said that God sometimes speaks to a city, but He speaks to the power behind the power. That's what we have here. He is speaking to the great city of Babylon, delivering a judgment upon one of the greatest cities of antiquity. God says this in His word against Babylon: "How you..."

Have fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning, Lucifer. There are three named cherubim in the Bible: Gabriel, Michael, and Hillel. You didn't know that name. You've heard the name Lucifer before, but his name is Hillel in Hebrew. Lucifer is the Latin term. Lucifer means "son of the dawn" or "light of the dawn." His real name, his given name, is Hillel.

How you are fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, Hillel, son of the morning, the last star that is seen before the sun rises. That's the idea, the metaphor connected to this: how you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations. Why did Hillel fall? Because, in verse 13, you have said in your heart five "I wills." Note these; these are phenomenal.

I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. What are stars a reference to in ancient Near Eastern literature? Angels. I will exalt my throne above the angels, the stars of God. I will sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the North. In ancient Near Eastern literature, where those fiery stones were in Ezekiel 28 is in the mountain of God in the North.

I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. In ancient Near Eastern literature, it is God who rides upon the clouds. You see this throughout the Old Testament literature. I will be like the Most High. What were Adam and Eve tempted with in the garden? "You shall be like the Most High."

I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne. I will sit on the Mount of the congregation. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Lucifer was embodying main character energy here. God said to the angels, "I'm going to make a new being to be somewhat like you."

But I'm going to stamp this being with My image. They're going to be lower than You created of the dust of the ground, and they're going to rule over You. Lucifer said, "I will not have that. I refuse." Jesus says, "I saw it. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." That great fiery dragon referred to in Revelation chapter 12, verse 3, drew with him a third of the stars of heaven, a third of the heavenly host.

There are some theologians, and I would agree with this, who believe these three named cherubim in the Bible are the heads of three captains of angels in eternity: Michael, Gabriel, and Hallel. When he drew with him a third of the stars of heaven, he was drawing with him his company of angels. You may wonder, how many angels are there? Well, we don't know, but the Scripture says "ten thousands of ten thousands and thousands of thousands." That's a lot. Some people believe that there are as many angels as there are stars in the sky.

You might ask, how many stars are in the sky? I asked ChatGPT the other day, and it said that scientists believe there are between sextillion and septillion—billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion. That's a lot. That's almost our debt. It's like unbelievable—septillion angels. And he drew with him a third of them.

How many demons are there? Lots—fallen angels. He is called in the Scriptures the Prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, those who are subject to the fall and who have not repented and returned to God. He is upon the earth; he's been cast down. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Why? What does he want to do? He wants to destroy the image bearers of God. He wants to rule and subjugate the image bearers of God. He wants to reign with dominion and power over the image bearers of God—over humanity. When we fell to his deception in Genesis chapter three, we gave over to him.

The authority that was given to us is significant. That's why he could tempt Jesus during his temptation and say, "If you bow before me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the earth." Why? They are all now his. The whole world is under the sway, as the Bible says, of the wicked one. He has humanity captive under sin and death, holding them under his power and influence. He will take them with him to be destroyed alongside him. This is what is revealed in the Scriptures and what opposes the work and workers of God.

Now, here's the amazing thing about angels, which is different from humanity created in God's image. Angels cannot procreate. It is revealed in the Bible that they do not marry or are given in marriage, and they do not procreate. They do not beget more. However, you have been given procreative capacity. What did God say? "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over all things." You possess the creative and procreative capacities that angels do not have. God gave this to you, but then the fall happened, and now that capacity is subject to the power of the wicked one.

Through the knowledge of good and evil, man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, the creative capacities of man are used not for good, but tend toward evil. The first things that are created, if you read Genesis chapters four, five, and six, show that man gathers together in cities and builds tools for war to bring subjugation and dominion, all under the power of the enemy. This continued until Genesis chapter six.

Then, in Genesis chapter six, verse five, the Lord saw the wickedness of man, that it was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. What's really strange about Genesis chapter six is that the sons of God came down and tried to procreate because they lack procreative capacity, attempting to procreate with humans. Meanwhile, the thoughts of man's heart were only evil continually, and God was grieved. So, what did He do? He brought judgment on the earth through a flood, as described in Genesis chapters six, seven, eight, and nine.

In Genesis chapter ten, we have the post-deluge, post-flood world, and man...

God begins to fulfill His mandate. Once again, He commands, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth." What does man do? Does he go and fill the earth as God says? No. In Genesis chapter 11, we read that the whole earth had one language and one speech. As they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. They left the mountains of Ararat, journeyed, and dwelt there. They said to one another, "Come, let us make and build for ourselves a city." In verse four, they added, "Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered."

God said to fill the earth and subdue it, but man decided to stay right there, to build a city, and to make a name for themselves, seeking power and greatness so that everyone would want to bow down to them. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. He observed that the people were one, sharing one language, and noted, "This is what they begin to do."

Now, note this; it has stuck with me for 20 years. Nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. What is the extent of the creative capacity of humanity? I suggest to you that it is infinite. This is phenomenal. I do not believe there is a ceiling, if you will, to the creative capacity of humanity when we are united as one. However, subject to the fall, all of our creation tends toward wickedness.

So, what did God do? He said, "Let us go down there and confuse their language." Is this a judgment or is it mercy? I think it is mercy. The thoughts of man's heart are only evil continually. This is what he will do: he will make a city and destroy people, bringing them under his captivity and dominion, led by the evil impulses of the devil. Therefore, God decided to confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech.

The Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Consequently, the name of it was called Babel because there the Lord confused their language and scattered them. This is God's mercy; He mercifully scatters them. Since Genesis chapter 11, man has been scattered into every tribe, tongue, nation, and people on the face of the earth. We have had different languages and the inability to communicate until the 20th century.

And then what happened? It's phenomenal. It's absolutely amazing. Just five hours from here, people gathered the dust of the earth. It's called silicon sand, and they formed and fashioned it into something. About 50 years ago, we began to be able to speak to it in a unified language called binary. From Babel to binary, now all of the languages on the earth have one language that we can use to communicate with our creation made of sand.

We've given it something that appears like life. We've breathed into it the breath of mimicry of life and consciousness. Five weeks ago, Dario Amadei, the head of Anthropic, which means "man-centered," said, "We're not sure if our clawed AI is conscious. We think it might be." I gave it life. Ironically and frighteningly, this is weirdly connected to Revelation chapter 13, where they gave life and breath to the image of this thing created in the image of man. It's the replication of God making man in His image and breathing into him the breath of life from the dust of the ground.

What have we done now? I am not saying that AI is of the devil. I'm not. However, every creation of man since the fall has been used by the devil to bring destruction and dominion, to aggregate power, authority, and wealth to some who will use that to oppress the rest. Whether it was the sword, the spear, the archer's arrow, or the chariots of the Assyrians, they gathered together in cities, aggregated power and wealth, and forced people down.

So listen, if tools of man's creation are used to fulfill his mandate to fill the earth and subdue it, to bring human flourishing and human freedom, they are of God. But if those same tools are used to bring power and aggregation to a small group, then we must be cautious.

To oppress and dominate others is of the devil. You should be aware of the impulse happening in governments and great institutions of power today as it relates to these tools. Consider what they might be and could be used for.

You may be thinking, "Good gracious, Miles, I came here on April 19th to be encouraged, and you scared me half to death! You've already gone over time. What am I supposed to do with this?" Well, here you go: Don't be scared. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Jesus's disciples came back rejoicing. Why? They rejoiced because even the demons were subject to their power. Jesus said to them, "Do not rejoice in that the spirits were subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Rejoice! Your names are written in heaven. He who is in you is greater than he who is in this world.

Before I close, I want to leave you with three final things. I will just go ahead and close, Anthony, because I've already gone over time. Here are my three final points.

Point number one: The enemy is real. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist. The enemy is real. He is identified in the Scriptures by many different names, including the great dragon, the serpent of old, the devil, and Satan. This one, who is high above all things, first appears in Genesis 3 as a serpent on his belly in the dust. Wow, that's interesting. He was cast down to the earth. The enemy is real.

Point number two: The enemy was defeated. Where? At the cross. Jesus, on the cross, overcame the devil, making a spectacle of him, as stated in Colossians chapter two, verse 15.

Finally, point number three: The enemy will be overcome. Revelation 12, verse 11 tells us, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

And they did not love their lives to death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and to the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath because he knows that his time is short.

No matter what you read in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or here in the Daily Wire, or watch on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, this is good news. Any tool of man's creation that is used for the flourishing and the freedom of humanity is a tool used for God's good and the fulfillment of our mandate. However, any of the same tools used to bring about subjugation, dominion, destruction, and terror is of the devil. We should be aware of the impulse to use these tools, which are absolutely phenomenal, in that way in our time. Don't miss it. You need to be prepared to speak clearly about this because the impulse will be to use these things as taskmasters and not as tools. It's already happening. Be aware of it. Speak clearly about it.

Let's stand. We'll close in prayer. God, I thank you for the revelation of Scripture—things we could not know and would not know had you not enlightened us and opened our eyes. Even though it seems to some to be, well, a great story, I pray, God, that you would help us to recognize the reality of this. The truth is stranger than fiction. Lord, help us to see that we are living in crucial times, important times. You have sent us forth to be ambassadors of a message that brings freedom and flourishing: the gospel. That is what our nation was established upon and has brought about for a very long time—250 years this year.

Yet, the impulse of the last several generations, Lord, has been to aggregate power and to use it in unrighteous ways. Every city in antiquity that did that was destroyed, whether it was Babylon, Tyre, or Sodom. God, I pray that you would help us to be aware of the time we are living in and to recognize the call you have given to us. For we ask this in Jesus' name.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen.