KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

studies in end-time revelation

THE HEAVENS DECLARE

Part 15

SCORPIO--THE SCORPION

The third scene in the great prophetic drama of GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY (the Zodiac) is simply fascinating as we view its related constellations as drawn on the ancient star charts. It is called SCORPIO (the scorpion) by the Romans of antiquity and is the most brilliant of the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. Unfortunately for observers in the northern-hemisphere, it cannot be properly appreciated because part of it is below the horizon. A scorpion is a most malignant insect. It is a noisome and deadly enemy that is most frightening. Its bite is not always fatal, though it can be; still it is always extraordinarily painful, and the scorpion is a dangerous pest. The star picture brings before us a gigantic Scorpion, larger than a man, with its tail uplifted in anger, endeavoring to sting in the heel a mighty man, but is crushed by the man, who has his foot placed right on the Scorpion's heart. If a little insect puts fear in the heart of a large man, how much more would a Scorpion much larger than a man! 

The Hebrew name for the constellation of Scorpio is AKRAB, which means "the conflict" or "war". The word is used of the scorpion, but is also the word for war as in Ps. 144:1 where the sweet singer of Israel intones, "Blessed be the Lord, my strength, who teaches my hands to WAR (AKRAB) and my fingers to fight." The whole scene of this constellation is one of conflict. The first Decan, or minor constellation surrounding Scorpio, is that of SERPENS -- the struggling Serpent. We see this serpent theme repeated over and over in the Zodiac. In fact, one of the great astronomers who .did not understand this, said: "Why, the whole heavens are scribbled over with serpents and snakes," echoing most astronomers' disdain for astrology. The Devil is portrayed as the great antagonist is this battle. He is portrayed as a serpent; as a dragon; as a scorpion; as Cetus, the water -- snake; as Leviathan, the serpent in the sea; as Hydra, the many-headed monstrous snake. He is presented in many guises but always as a malignant, venomous and hostile creature.

The second Decan is the picture of a great and powerful man whose name is ORPHIUCHUS, meaning "the serpent-holder." It portrays a mighty man who is struggling with a giant Serpent, trying to keep barn from accomplishing what he is attempting to do. The Serpent is putting forth a might-}, effort to reach up and grasp THE CROWN (CORONA, see Studies #13 & #14), which is situated immediately over the Serpent's head. You will discover in the sketch which we have reproduced for you here that the strong man, Orphiuchus, is restraining the Serpent while crushing the Scorpion! The man is grasping the Serpent with both hands, disabling the monster by his superior power and effectually holding him fast so that he cannot get the Crown. With one foot lifted from the Scorpion's tail as though stung and hurt, he is in the act of crushing the Scorpion's head with the other. He thus appears as the One who has power over the Serpent and over death, holding, conquering, and destroying them, though himself wounded in His conflict with them. The scene is drawn from the very heart of the Gospel -- the ages-long battle between the "seed of the woman" and the "seed of the serpent." The very heart of the message of the Bible talks about a great warfare between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil in this world; between faith and unbelief; between truth and error; between life and death; between the carnal mind and the mind of Christ; between the followers of Christ and the followers of anti-Christ; ultimately it is the battle between'.. Christ and Satan. The contest is for Dominion ORPHIUCHUS is, first and foremost, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who at the cross was wounded in the heel, but in His resurrection, ascension and glorification has crushed the head of the Serpent, conquering sin, sickness, limitation and death! "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it become Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might DESTROY HIM that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:9-10, 14-15). In that long ago Eden the sublime message of the constellation of Scorpio was expressed prophetically in the pronouncement of the Almighty to the Serpent: "And I will put enmity between thee and woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15). We are told in chapter one of Genesis that God put the stars in the heavens for Signs, and these Signs convey a message. God has revealed that message to Adam and to his sons and grandsons. That message has gone into all the civilizations of the world as the Signs of the Zodiac and is passed down through the centuries. At the time of the building of the tower of Babel, this was corrupted into astrology, whereby, instead of these being Signs of God and His salvation by which we should worship the God of heaven and earth, they were changed into deifies themselves and people began to worship the host of heaven: the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars. Some fail to see what the Signs of the Zodiac have to do with the Gospel or with the call to sonship. But with the Signs we have considered thus far it should be clear to every thinking mind that all the major themes of God's great plan and glorious purpose in creation and redemption are distinctly, expressly, precisely, accurately, methodically, graphically and comprehensively portrayed in the Signs of the heavens! Coincidence? Hardly! 

The third Decan in the house of Scorpio is HERCULES, and describes more fully the out-working of Christ's triumph. Because the pagan nations had lost sight of this original revelation, they began to assign different people to the various figures and the men that are portrayed in these constellations. What they really depict, in fact, is Christ in and through His body, the sons of God, accomplishing the totality of the victory which He came into this world to effect. Dr. Joseph Seiss has pointed out that "According to the mythic accounts, Hercules was the god-begotten man, to whose tasks there was scarce an end. From his cradle to his death he was employed accomplishing the most difficult and wonderful of feats laid upon him to perform, and all in the line of vanquishing great evil powers, such as the lion begotten from Typhon, the many-headed Hydra sprung from the same parentage, the brazen-looted and golden-horned stag, the Erymanthean boar, the vast filth of the Augean stables, the swarms of life-destroying Stymphalian birds, the mad bull of Crete which no mortal dared look upon, the flesh-eating mares of Diomedes, the queen of the devastating Amazons, the triple-bodied Geryones and his dog, the Dragon which guarded the apples of the Hesperides, and the three-headed snaky monster which kept the gates of hell. Some have argued that the story of Hercules is a purely Greek invention, but it certainly dates back in all its essential features, in Egypt, Phoenicia, and India, to a time long anterior to the Greeks. By their own confession the Greeks did not even understand who or what Hercules was, or what was meant by all his great labors. They took him for the sublimest of the hero-gods, as the accounts came to them, and here and there, as in so many other things, appropriated all to their own country and people. They could not make out their greatest hero, or any meaning to his works! Not with them, therefore, did the mythic story of the powerful laborer originate. its true original is in the ancient constellations of the primeval astronomy, which, like the Scriptures, pointed to the coming Seed of the woman, to bruise, vanquish, and destroy the Serpent, and everything of the Serpent born or belonging to the Serpent's kingdom" ---end quote. 

The old Hebrew name (shown on ancient star charts) for Hercules was GIBBOR, the word used of the "strong man" in Ps. 19:5, and translated as "mighty" and "mighty man" throughout the Old Testament. GIBBOR means "warrior, powerful, champion, valiant man." Hercules (Gibbor) is shown on the star charts down on one knee; in his right hand he wields a heavy club and in his left he grasps CERBERUS, the three-headed monster. He has the skin of a lion, which he has slain, thrown around him and his left foot is set directly on the head of the great Dragon. Ah, my beloved, beyond all the pagan distortions and confusions, there is the glorious revelation of the great work of our God and Saviour. How good it would be if God's elect people could comprehend the magnificent glory God has in store for us! Jesus Christ is the forerunner, the pioneer, the apostle, the first Son, the beginning, and the first born from the dead. He is the first Son to be exalted through the terrible sufferings of the realm of death and, seeing Him, we know that the promise to all others is certain, for it was not of Adam alone of whom God spoke, saying, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion," but the promise was to ALL the sons of men, of whom the first Son, Jesus Christ, is now exalted and has taken His seat at the right hand of power. We see Jesus and by seeing Him we know the glory that is available for those who follow in His steps just as the first golden leaves of fall are the herald of millions of flaming colors and hues to follow. It is a glorious thing to see that in the unchanging stars of the heavens and the shining Signs placed there by God in the night sky, we have a gallery of Truth, a picture of the conquering Christ whose members we are. We see that the hand that made those Signs is divine. It is the same hand which had penned the revelation which we have before us in our scriptures. It is the same hand which formed and sent into this world the first born Son, the Christ of God, and led Him through His mighty works on to Calvary and the open tomb, unto the position of all power in heaven and in earth. It is the same story of creation's hope of deliverance as God declared through Paul the apostle, "All who are led by God's Spirit are God's sons. You did not receive the spirit of slavery again, inspiring terror; but you did receive the spirit of adopted sons--in which spirit we cry ABBA! FATHER! The Spirit Himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs too---heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; if indeed we share Christ's sufferings in order to share also His glory. Why, the sufferings of the present I deem not worth considering compared with the glory soon to be disclosed to us. All creation is yearning, longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to futility, not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it; yet with the hope that at last the creation itself would be set free from the thraldon of decay to enjoy the liberty that comes with the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation is moaning in the pangs of childbirth until this hour. And more than that, we ourselves, though we possess the Spirit as a foretaste of bliss, yet we ourselves inwardly moan as we wait for fill sonship IN THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODIES" (Rom. 8:14-23, Weymouth). 

These inspired statements become crystal clear once we apprehend God's purpose in His many-membered son. These members of he Christ-body are members of His flesh and of His bones. These people have drunk deeply of His Spirit, for it is in one spirit that all the members are united with the body. These are members in particular of GOD'S CHRIST, God's anointed, God's Messiah, GOD'S HERCULES, God's GOD-MAN, by whom He shall wield His victorious club, subdue all His enemies, and plant His foot on the Dragon's head--obliterating the ancient Serpent of error, sin, sickness, pain, sorrow, limitation and death. To these younger sons of God Jesus has proclaimed, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Lk. 10:19). "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly". (Rom. 16:20). Of these the Psalmist David also prophesied, "Thou shall tread upon the lion and adder the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet' (Ps. 91:13). 

"Come, Lord, and burst the captives' chains,

And set the prisoners free;

Come, cleanse this earth from all its stains,

And make it meet for Thee!

Oh, come and end Creation's groans--

Its sighs, its tears, its blood,

And make this blighted world again

The dwelling-place of God!"

THE SERPENT 

The subject on which I now write is one of both peculiar difficulty and solemnity. Of difficulty on more accounts than one, but more particularly in view of the false, and, indeed, heathenish ideas that have been bequeathed to us from times of spiritual darkness and superstition, and the acceptance of which can only be due to a lack on the part of the Lord's people of the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God. To sweep away the dust, and cob-webs of mere tradition, or popular folly that have buried this truth, and given us a merely ridiculous parody on this subject will incur the misunderstanding and wrath of not a few sincere people. 

Hardly had the human race been called into existence, than we find a strange enemy making his attack upon it under the guise of a serpent. Although the writer of this account gives no name to this creature, except "the serpent," other scriptures leave us no doubt as to who it was. Mere serpent, mere animal, it could not possibly be; for speech is the distinctive characteristic of intelligent mind, and that this Serpent obsessed the faculty of both speech and reason was and is enough to prove that someone of a higher kingdom and order than that of beasts and reptiles was acting. The preachers are always telling us that the Serpent in the garden was one of these long, slender reptiles that have backbones and ribs and scales on the outside of their bodies. Numerous pictures have been sketched of the snake dangling from a tree limb, conversing with Eve. But the inspired Word of the omniscient Creator contradicts the uninspired word of the tradition-ridden theologians! John the Revelator stood transfixed in the visions of God on Patmos and beheld in spirit the splendor of the scene which unfolded before his wondering eyes as "the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which IS THE DEVIL, AND SATAN, and bound him a thousand years" (Rev. 12:9; 20:1-2). 

Here Satan is called "(hat old Serpent." The word "old" is from the Greek ARCHAlOS which means "original" or "primeval". "Primeval" means FROM THE FIRST AGE OR AGES. Phillip's translation reads, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key of the pit and a huge chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, · the SERPENT OF ANCIENT DAYS, who IS both the Devil and Satan.. ." Another version states, "And he seized the

dragon, the ORIGINAL SERPENT, WHO IS the Devil and Satan." The Amplified Bible renders, "And he gripped and overpowered the dragon, that OLD SERPENT OF PRIMEVAL TIMES, WHO IS the Devil and Satan." Man says that a fallen angel, Lucifer, somehow got into the serpent and spoke through its mouth; but the almighty Father declares that that original Serpent I-S T-H-E D-E-V-I-L A-N-D S-A-T-A-N! 

Is there a Devil, a real being with personality? If so, who created him, and why does an all-powerful God of righteousness and love permit such a being to exist? Many answers have been given. On the one hand, there is the view that the Devil is a hideous looking creature in a funny red suit, with cloven hoofs and a forked tail, whose chief business is to tempt and endeavor by all devious means to destroy christians--and to preside over the alleged tortures of the departed damned. On the other hand, some say the Devil never existed; that he is a fiction of the imagination; a crude myth or superstition. Others tell us that the Devil is dead. 

"And so they've voted the Devil out,

And of course, the Devil's gone;

But simple folk would like to know

Who carries his business on!" 

There is a story told of an aged Minster of the Gospel in a certain town who one morning was taking his usual walk by the side of a river. A young man who had been away in a distant city attending college where he had become an atheist, who used to attend this good man's ministry, and knew his habits, thought he would have some fun with the "Preacher," as he called him. Meeting the "Preacher" he said, "Good morning, Preacher." "Good morning, my son," replied the Minster. "Preacher, I have just had bad news," said the young man. "Well, what is it?' asked the Preacher. "One of your great friends is dead," replied the youth. "Oh? and who is he?" asked the old man. "It is the Devil," and he laughed long and loudly. But there was no laugh on the face of the "Preacher." Putting his hands on the young man's shoulders and looking straight into his face, he said, "Poor fatherless child, what will become of you now that your father is dead?' Well--if the Devil were dead we should not be sorry; and we shall one day join in singing a song of victory when all the works of tbe Devil shall be destroyed completely and forever in every man everywhere and upon the face of the whole earth. But meanwhile the Devil is not dead. He is very much alive and very, very real. He lies, he talks, he thinks, he acts, he deceives, he quotes scriptures, he promulgates religion, he tempts, and inspires every evil in society and the world. I have with me the crushing facts of a world reeking in crime and lust and war and misery; a world which in spite of science and education and culture and modernity, is causing men's hearts to fail them for fear of the things which are coming to pass; a world which according to the beloved apostle, "lieth in the Evil One." 

tie is called "that old serpent the devil." He is called Leviathan, the crooked serpent. He is called the Dragon. tie is called a Lion. He is called a Scorpion. He is called the Wicked One. He is called the Accuser. He is called the Adversary. But let no one imagine that in writing about the old Serpent the Devil, I am writing about the traditional Devil preached so loudly by the church systems. If there are any who have the idea that I am speaking of the "orthodox" Devil of popular religion, they will soon be undeceived. 

Oriental imagery is never more graphically displayed in all its eloquence than in the use of the biblical word SERPENT as a figure of Satan, the Devil. This symbol, along with a number of other word pictures, is very expressive of his nature and activity. Let us remember that there is much language in the scripture that is figurative and much that is allegorical. When our Lord Jesus said, "Ye are the salt of the earth," He was speaking quite evidently in figurative language. He did not mean that christians were to be put into a gigantic salt shaker and shaken over the globe. Nobody would be so ridiculous as to believe that. And when Christ said, "I am the light of the world," He did not mean He had to be lit like a candle and put up somewhere where He would shine! There are figures of speech in the Bible. In our everyday conversations we make numerous referrals to the nature, character or personality of creatures or things, such as: "That guy is a real turkey," "He is a snake in the grass," "She can swim like a fish," "He is sharp as a tack," "She is neat as a pin." These are all figures of speech designed to express an image we are seeking to convey. All of us are accustomed to using symbolic language to communicate an analogous idea on a different plane of understanding. When Satan is spoken of as a serpent it no more means a literal snake than when Dan is so called in Genesis 49:17. "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." When Satan is called a serpent it no more means that he is a snake, or appeared in the form of a snake, or incarnated himself in the body of a snake, than that the Emperor Nero was a LION (II Tim. 4:17), or king Herod a FOX (Lk. 13:32), or Judah a LION'S WHELP (Gen. 49:9). It is the same figurative use of words when "doctrine" is called "leaven" (Mat. 16:6). When a figure of speech is thus employed it is for the purpose of expressing truth on a higher plane, and is intended to be a figure of something BEYOND THE LETFER OF THE WORD. 

Let all who read these lines thoroughly understand that when we discuss the Garden of Eden, the Serpent in the Garden, and the fall of man, it is not with any idea of drawing an historical sketch. The past is meaningless unless it relates to the present. It is because we see repeated all around us, day after day, generation after generation, the same carnal, fleshly attitudes and activities that brought about the original fall, and in the repetition

of these attitudes and activities there is the tragic and dreadful departure from REALITY and the LIFE of the Spirit of God, even among the Lord's own people who dwell in the Garden of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. So obvious and incontrovertible is this fact that I do not hesitate to say the Garden of Eden is not so much a past event as a present and continuing event. It is a crisis leading to a process---a continuing unfoldment. This is the tragic effect of man's first departure from God. It happened back there in the past.. . but it continues to happen because the spirit of Adam is within us all! It is, then, for our own instruction and learning that we draw on the lessons brought to us by that past event, which though it occurred long millenniums ago, still finds a place of relevancy not only in our modern society but among all who name the name of Christ and, sadder to say, within those who have received the call to sonship and have gone "without the Camp," as well. 

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion.. ." (Gen. 1:26). That man would bear the image of God and have dominion over all things is the first announcement of God's intention regarding man and the first announcement of His purpose; and locked up in that wonderful declaration is a universe of meaning that does not reach the eye and that the mind has never understood. Furthermore, after God announced that man should have dominion over all realms, He then commanded the man, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply (reproduce the image of God), and replenish the earth and SUBDUE it" (Gen. 1:28). 

The word "subdue" here is the Hebrew word KABASH meaning "to tread down; conquer; subjugate; bring into bondage." Allow me to stir up your pure minds to think for a moment--what was there in the earth that needed to be TREADED DOWN, CONQUERED, SUBJUGATED, and BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE to Adam? When the Lord gave Adam this command to TREAD DOWN and CONQUER, sin had not yet entered into man's experience, nor any of sin's results. There was no sin, sickness, trouble, sorrow nor limitation. There was no death. What, then, was there for Adam to conquer? Now, notice further the responsibility laid upon Adam in Gen. 2:15: "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." The word "keep" here is the Hebrew word SHAMAR which means "to guard," as you can see in chapter 3:24 where this same word is used of the Cherubim which God placed at the east of the Garden to guard it from man's presumptuous entrance after he sinned. "So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim's, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to KEEP (or guard) the way of the tree of life." 

It seems to me that if Adam was to guard the Garden against something, there surely must have been things that were not in harmony with man in God's image! Would not divine sense, or human sense, or common sense indicate that if Adam was to tread down and conquer and subjugate things upon earth, them were things that were overtly hostile to him. It should be crystal clear that we have had a false notion if we have been among those who assume that in the beginning EVERYTHING WAS HARMONIOUS in God's creation. How could they have been when we read of one, that ancient Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, who was already in the earth in the beginning, of whom it is written, "The devil sinneth from the beginning.. . he was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the math, because there is no math in him. When be speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him; for he is a liar and the father of lies 0 Jn. 3:8; Jn. 8:44, Amplified Bible). 

I must confess that I used to believe, as many folks do, that in the beginning Adam walked upon earth surrounded by the beasts of the field---the lions, tigers, dinosaurs, cattle, dogs, snakes, scorpions, and creeping things---and that these were so naturally peaceful and docile that Adam was able to romp and tussel playfully with them all, without hostility or fear. Not so! These are but typical representations, figures of spiritual things, but the principles in the earthly things must correspond in nature to the spiritual things, Adam was told to subdue the animal kingdom, to conquer and subjugate the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and everything that moves upon the earth! If the tigers just naturally ambled up to Adam, wagging their friendly tails, affectionately licking his face, what need would there have been to subdue them? If the serpents were not poisonous nor the scorpions dangerous, why would it have been necessary for Adam to guard against them or tread them down? If the lions were not wild or ravenous, how could Adam conquer and tame them? If the dogs were not ferocious, why the command to subjugate them? 

And beyond all this, it 'is evident that in nature all creatures are not savage by nature. But even the domestic animals must be trained and guided. Proofs abound on every hand that God's creation needs rule, like "the horse, or the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee" (Ps. 32:9). Good as the ox is to labor, he needs a lord; man, therefore, is given to subdue and guide him. Dogs, tame and friendly as they may be, need a leash and the restraining hand and command of man. Have weak children never been knocked down and injured by friendly dogs? Can it not be seen by this that Cod committed to Adam the wisdom, power, and responsibility to RULE over the kingdoms around him? Before him lay the whole earth, the seas, the heavens, all Idled and swarming with creatures, myriad life forms, each declaring by type and shadow that man was to exercise dominion over every realm BENEATH AND ABOVE that God had created, and as creation bowed in obedience to his godly mind, and the dominion in his spirit, that glorious reign of wonder and peace under the direction of a Son in the image of God was but a prefiguring of the day when a whole FIRST-FRUIT COMPANY OF SONS IN GOD'S IMAGE would reign over THE REGIONS BENEATH, and over ALL THE EARTH, and over THE HEAVENS ABOVE until everything everywhere, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, would be in submission to their godly minds and omnipotent wills. 

Ah! let us meditate deeply upon the power and authority that God has given to the body of Christ. I make no apology for declaring to you the truth that each and every creature of earth typifies a reality in the realm of SPIRIT--good or bad, positive or negative. This can be seen dearly in the words of Jesus when He says in Lk. 10:17-19, 'And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power to TREAD ON SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS, and over all the power of the enemy.' 

Spake He of the serpents and scorpions of the fields? Nay, my brother, He spake rather of SPIRITS possessing the nature typified by serpents and scorpions, hidden and cunning, slithering about in the lowest realms of man's earthiness, in the thoughts and desires and ambitions of the carnal mind, full of deadly venom. There is a revelation in all nature, in light and darkness, summer and winter, rain and drought, in fruits and harvest, in storms and sunshine. There is a revelation in the lives of men, yea, even in beasts and birds and creeping things, each saying something to us, and of us. Every law and wonder of nature speaks to our souls of other higher things, and as the growth of seeds was to the spiritual eye of Paul a witness of the development of the CHRIST LIFE WITHIN US, so the serpents and scorpions and beasts and birds of earth and heaven above witnessed of higher things to Jesus, all figuring some of the countless forms of NATURES. 

The dove is the well known figure of meekness, purity, perception, love and constancy, and so was a fit symbol for the HOLY SPIRIT who at Christ's baptism came 'like a dove' and abode upon Him. The other fowls of heaven, as the law of Moses shows us, clean and unclean, each bespeak a kind or quality of nature, expressing those characteristics that originate in the spirit realm. Hence, in scripture unclean birds are a type of evil natures, as John the Revelator shows in Rev. 18:2, 'And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of DEVILS, and the hold of every FOUL SPIRIT, and a cage of every UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD.' I know the Lamb, the meek and sacrificial nature of the Son of God, which is oppressed and afflicted, and yet openeth not its mouth; but I have known also the nature of the beast, wild and ravenous, that spirit, so obvious in the world, which stomps and rends and breaks in pieces and devours, of whom Peter warns us, saying, 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" 0 Pet. 5:8).

 Man was created for the Holy Spirit to indwell, to bear the image of God, but not all spirit is holy spirit, and all these unclean spirits--the spirit of the Devil, and the myriad spirits which characterize the kingdom of darkness find expression in man as he FAILS TO EXERCISE DOMINION OVER THEM. There is one more thought that should be mentioned here. The birds of heaven represent those spirits which have to do with the UNDERSTANDING, the mind of man. 'If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not . . . ' (II Cor. 4:3-4). The beasts of the earth are those spirits affecting the WILL of man. Serpents, scorpions, and the creeptng things of earth represent those spirits connected with the EMOTIONS of man. 'And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name they shall cast out devils.. . they shall take up serpents (Mk. 16:21-23). Then follows the lowest realm of all--the dragons, fish, and sea creatures, those spirits finding lodging and expression in the BODIES of men. 

All these, hostile to the image of God in man, Adam was commanded to SUBDUE, TREAD DOWN, CONQUER AND SUBJUGATE! The Spirit today is teaching us that when the Bible speaks of something being 'under our feet,' this is a symbolic phrase meaning that the thing had been put in subjection to us, we rule over it, it does not rule over us. We find that there have been so many attitudes and dispositions which have ruled within us---and as His Kingdom takes its rightful place in our lives, these are subdued and brought to nought In the soul-realm we have the dominant spirit of self-will, impulses of evil which rise up out of the heart, emotions of fear, anger, hostility, bitterness, hurt, pride, etc. which usurp unlawful sway over our lives. In the body realm we have . the fleshly appetites and desires, carnal passions. And then there are those religious spirits of ironclad dogmas and creeds, traditions, sectarianism, and commandments of men. 

'Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Lk. 10:19). The promise belongs to YOU and to ME, for it is the Kingdom of God that the Lord has given authority and power over the power of Satan's kingdom. It is a wonderful day for the believer when he becomes conscious that God NOW GIVES HIM DOMINION in Jesus Christ, that he may become an overcomer over ALL! 

SATAN--A SPIRIT 

What scientists have discovered makes it relatively easy to believe in the existence of worlds, or spheres of life, beyond the comprehension of human senses. In the realm of sound, for example, we know that the human ear is quite limited, that sounds which are very real are inaudible to us if they are below or above a certain range of frequency. And the same is true of sight. The existence of radio waves, gamma rays, ultra-violet light rays, etc., also helps us to realize the power of invisible forces which are beyond our comprehension. In Eph. 2:2 Satan is described as "the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT that now worketh IN the children (sons) of disobedience." The Amplified Bible says, "At one time . . .you were following the course and fashion of the world · . . following the prince of the power of the air. You were obedient to him and were under his control, the demon spirit that still constantly works (Gr.:energeo, energizes) in the sons of disobedience . . . for we are not wrestling with flesh and blood---contending only with physical opponents---but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (spiritual) sphere" (Eph. 2:2; 6:12). 

The message is clear--we have had the FALSE GOD in us! It came as a revelation to me when I saw that the Holy Spirit lives in those who have been "begotten of God" and "born of the Spirit." The spirit that is born of God is renewed in the image of God. But then I read that if the Holy Spirit is in the children of God, there is also a spirit in the children of the Devil. "The spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience." Who can dispute the poignant words of the apostle John: "Ye are of God, little children.. . because greater is HE that is IN YOU, than HE that is in the world" 0 Jn. 4:4). Then two verse later John clearly identifies these TWO SPIRITS which are in the people of God and the people of the world: "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the S-P-I-R-I-T OF TRUTH and the S-P-I-R-I-T OF ERROR." Paul adds to this his testimony: "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" (I Cor. 2:12). 

This gives us a most wonderful understanding of the workings of SPIRIT. SPIRIT, like everything else in nature, has its opposites--positive and negative, good and evil, light and darkness. the negative power, Satan, is an invisible spiritual influence--energy--which exerts itself upon the mind, desires, emotions, and will of men. "IN WHOM the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them" (II Cor. 4:4). The Spirit of God is the spirit of Truth; the spirit of the Devil is the spirit of error. "To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness (wrong understanding, perverted knowledge) to light (truth), and from the POWER OF SATAN unto GOD" (Acts 26:18). Some teach that in all the universe there is only ONE SPIRIT. And truly, in the sphere of the Kingdom of God, there is but the one Spirit, for "he that is joined unto the Lord IS ONE SPIRIT" (I COR.6:17). The question follows-What about he that is NOT "joined unto the Lord"? 

The fact that a thing is "spirit" does not necessarily make it equal to or of the same character as God. God is not God, in fact, because He is spirit--neither is that which is spirit necessarily of the same mind and expression of God just because it is spirit. There must be something more than that to make it qualify for godhood. Using the physical body as an example, let us note that although it is flesh from the very moment of its conception, it could not be said that everything that is "flesh" is HUMAN! Thus it is that man's SUBSTANCE is flesh, but his BEING is much more! Obviously, there are more than one kind of flesh. What makes a man human is not the fact that he is flesh--he is human because he takes on a particular shape and is endowed with an intellect and a certain set of emotions and capacities. Paul stated it this way, "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds" (I Cor. 15:39). Learn this, O man, and you will know a great principle: ALL FLESH IS NOT THE SAME FLESH! All flesh came from the same creative hand of God, but the characteristics differ. What depth of meaning this adds to the statement of the apostle wherein he says, "Know ye not that he which is joined unto an harlot is.. . ONE FLESH?." (I COR. 6:16). Obviously, all flesh is not one flesh. The flesh of a fish and the. flesh of a dog can never be one flesh. But any flesh which is of the same nature and may be joined in a union of life with its own kind IS ONE FLESH. And may I add, though there be gods many, and lords many, to us there is but one God, the Father; and though there be spirits many, to us there is but ONE SPIRIT, and one body, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. 

I am sure that it would be correct to conclude that in the physical world a man's SUBSTANCE is flesh, but his BEING is much more! So it is with God. His substance is SPIRIT--but His being is MUCH MORE THAN THA~ In connection with this truth I am deeply impressed to share the following thoughts from a letter received from a -

FULL-GROWN MAN. The first birth produces an ABORTED CHILD--the second birth produces a FULL-GROWN SON. The first birth gives life 'on loan'; the second birth gives a permanent inheritance. That is why it is written, 'Ye MUST be born again!' 

"This second birth involves a RENEWAL of the spirit. Paul said, 'Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit' (II Cor. 7: 1). If the spirit were always a holy thing, it would not be at all in keeping with the truth for Paul to tell us to be cleansed in our spirits. That there is filthiness in the spirit of man is testified by Job who said, 'My breath is corrupt.' The word 'breath' is misleading, for it is the Hebrew word RUWACH: spirit. 'My spirit is corrupt,' the original says. That is why David also said, 'Create in me a dean heart, O God; and renew a RIGHT SPIRIT within me' (Ps. 51:10). The very fact of the need for renewal speaks of a WRONG SPIRIT that needs to be set right. 

"Now, we may also see this in terms of resurrection. The spirit needs to be revived or resurrected This, of course, presupposes that the spirit within man is dead, which it certainly is--but not dead in that it is non-existent. Dead, rather, in that it is UNRESPONSIVE to that sphere from which it fell, which is the sphere of Godhood and the realm of LOVE. Its deadness (unresponsiveness) is the result of INDIVIDUALITY in the form of EGOTISM it having the sense of its own god likeness apart from the recognition of the CORPORATE GOD. EGO is not in the soul, it is a matter of the spirit, and is nothing in the world but a remembrance somewhere in the depths of man of his former nature of godhood and of that lofty state from whence he fell. Ego states, 'I am God'--if not in words, at least in attitude---and in action, for it always seeks to bring the spirits of other men into subjection to itself. That is why demons are called in the Greek DEIFIED SPIRITS-- it is that godlike thing in man that wants to be god all by itself, saying, 'I am God and will therefore exalt my throne above the stars (spirits) of God and will be a god apart from fitting into my place in a corporate life.' The truth that Ego fails to see is that there is One that is greater--greater because it is plural and corporate and unified--the GREAT ELOHIM. Thus, the very state of individuality, which is divisive, has robbed us all of the nature of God and plunged us into that duplicity which separates man from himself, man from man, and man from God. So the human spirit is dead--unresponsive to that cohesiveness which is in the Godhead, unresponsive to the love principle that binds God together, unresponsive to that law which is written eternally in the heavens in the VERY BEING OF GOD HIMSELF. 

"The spirit, then, is dead--UNRESPONSIVE--but not non-existent! It is a lamp that is not lit, lacking the essence life of God. Lacking love, which is that which makes the Word alive, the human spirit is the FORM OF GOD without being the ESSENCE of God. When the light of the wicked (double-minded) was put out, Adam's spirit became a dead letter--a FORM of the Word--a knowledge of good and evil--and because his spirit is dead, it became a DEAD WORD. A dead Word is a l/e because it does not contain the essence-life of the Truth. That is why the Lord said to me those many years ago now what I have only come to understand completely in the last year: SATAN IS A WORD. Jesus Christ, as the living expression of the nature of God, is THE WORD, the IDGOS, the LIVING ONE--the SPIRIT-ESSENCE-WORD. Satan, on the other hand, is A word, a fragmented, shattered, divided, scattered part of the whole--the DEAD ONE the FORM as opposed to the essence! LEGALITY instead of life! DUPLICITY instead of unity! SELF instead of love!" --end quote. 

This is merely a feeble introduction to a subject of vast depth and eternal significance. Next month, Lord willing, we shall endeavor to continue this theme in the hope that the Spirit of Truth shall enable us in some measure to plumb the depths of this great mystery of Scorpicy-4he Scorpion.

To Be Continued...

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