In our second article concerning God’s purpose for future events we noted three tragic consequences of man joining Satan’s revolt against God. First, God’s theocratic kingdom rule was lost from planet earth. Second, by getting God’s earthly representative, Adam, to defect from God, Satan usurped the rule of the world system from God, and Satan and his forces have dominated the world system ever since. Third, all of nature was subjected to a curse that caused radical changes.

This present article will begin to examine how Satan’s revolt against God and these three tragic consequences of man joining Satan’s revolt relate to the future events that God has scheduled for planet earth.

Once Satan succeeded in persuading other angels and human beings to join him in his revolt against God and thereby become his subjects, his kingdom was established and began to function in the universe. In the expressions "the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53; Colossians 1:13), "the power of Satan" (Acts 26:18) and "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2) the word translated "power" refers to "a sphere of dominion," a "kingdom" (Werner Foerster, "exousia," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. II, pp. 565, 567). More specifically it refers to "an organized kingdom under the single ruler Satan" (Werner Foerster, "aer," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. I, p. 165).

Thus, as a result of Satan’s revolt against God, there were now two powerful spiritual kingdoms operating in the universe—the universal Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. As noted in the previous article, Satan’s goal in his revolt was to become just like God—the ultimate sovereign of the universe. But there can be only one ultimate sovereign, and God was already that sovereign. Since that was true, the only way that Satan could become the ultimate sovereign would be to overthrow God and then take His place. Therefore, as God’s great enemy, Satan began to wage war against God and His universal kingdom.

This spiritual warfare between the universal Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan that began near the beginning of this present earth’s history has continued throughout its history to the present time. It is being waged today and will continue for a while into the future.

This continuing warfare is the key to understanding the ultimate purpose of history. Satan’s purpose for history is to overthrow God and make himself the ultimate sovereign of the universe. God’s purpose for history (the ultimate purpose) is to glorify Himself by demonstrating the fact that He alone is the ultimate sovereign of the universe, and that none of His creatures, no matter how intelligent or powerful, no matter how much time given to try every possible means, can ever overthrow Him.

In order to fulfill this ultimate purpose for history, there are three things that God must do before the history of this present earth comes to an end. These three things are directly related to the three tragic consequences of man joining Satan’s revolt that were noted in the previous article.

First, God must crush His enemy Satan and remove his kingdom rule from this earth before it comes to an end. This earth began with God’s theocratic kingdom rule administered over it, but then Satan usurped the rule of the world system from God and has exercised his evil kingdom rule over it ever since. In light of this, if God does not crush His enemy Satan and rid this present earth of his evil kingdom rule before the history of this earth ends, then God will be defeated by His enemy Satan within the scope of this present earth’s history.

In light of this first thing that God must do to fulfill His purpose for history, it is important to note a significant prophecy concerning Satan’s future doom that God declared to Satan immediately after he succeeded in getting God’s earthly representative, Adam, to defect from God. He told Satan that the woman’s "seed" would "bruise" his "head" (Genesis 3:15). The word translated "bruise" means "crush" (Victor P. Hamilton, "shup," Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. II, p. 912). God used language that fit the serpent form that Satan took when he tempted man to defect from God. If a human being brings his heel down hard upon the head of a serpent, the serpent’s head will be crushed. Through this language God indicated that in the future a human offspring of woman would do God’s work of crushing Satan and his kingdom. Later God revealed that this Redeemer would be God’s Son, the Messiah ("his anointed") (Psalm 2:2, 7-9; Revelation 19:11-20:3), who would be born of a woman (Galatians 4:4). In line with this, the Apostle John wrote, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

In Genesis 3:15 God also stated that Satan would "bruise" the "heel" of the woman’s seed. Once again God used language that fit Satan’s serpent form when he tempted man to defect from God. If a poisonous serpent sinks its fangs into the bare heel of a human, that human will die if he does not obtain help quickly. God thereby foretold that, as a result of Satan’s work in the world, the human Redeemer would die. Why would He die? In order to fulfill His purpose for history by reversing the tragic consequences of man joining Satan’s revolt against God, sometime during the course of history God would have to get rid of the cause of those consequences. Since the cause of those consequences was sin (man’s rebellion against God), it would be necessary to get rid of human sin. Later God revealed that the only thing that could remove mankind’s sin would be the sacrificial death of the Messiah Redeemer as a substitute for fallen mankind. Thus, by revelation of God the Prophet Isaiah wrote the following concerning the Messiah: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: . . . the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all," and the Lord "shall make his soul an offering for sin" (Isaiah 53:5, 6, 10); John said of him. "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and the writer of Hebrews stated, "He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26).

In light of God’s Genesis 3:15 prophecy, it is interesting to note that, on the night before He died, the Messiah Redeemer, Jesus Christ, indicated that His death would involve the activity of Satan and his kingdom of darkness against Him (Luke 22:53; John 14:30), but that it also would bring judgment upon Satan and his world system—judgment that would cause the forceful casting out of Satan from the earth in the future (John 12:31; 16:11). Thus, as a result of Satan’s work in the world, the Messiah Redeemer died, but His death sealed the doom of Satan and his kingdom. It guaranteed that in the future Satan and his kingdom would be crushed and removed from this present earth. Thus, several decades after that death, the writer of Hebrews signified that the Messiah came to the world and became a human so "that through death he might destroy . . . the devil" (Hebrews 2:14), and the Apostle Paul could declare that Satan would be crushed in the future (Romans 16:20; see Revelation 20:1-3).

In Genesis 3:15 God indicated that the key to His crushing Satan and ending his evil kingdom rule would be the coming and work of His Son, the Messiah Redeemer.

The next article will examine further how the tragic consequences of man joining Satan’s revolt against God relate to future events.

For an in-depth treatment of this subject, order my book: What On Earth Is God Doing? Loizeaux Brothers, P.O. Box 277, Neptune, NJ 07754-0277 USA Tel. 1-800-526-2796