The ‘ULTIMATE’ DEFEAT of SATAN is IMMINENT!
July 24 Bible Reading: Isaiah Chapters 25-27
The ‘ULTIMATE’ DEFEAT of SATAN is IMMINENT!
"In that day the Lord with His severe
sword, great and strong will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan
that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea." (Isaiah
27:1)
This final
chapter of “Isaiah’s Apocalypse” (see
24:1-27:13) contains two eschatological happenings: God’s final overthrow of evil (v. 1) and His future dealings with Israel (vv. 2-13). The above verse in
particular declares the sovereignty of
God. Some commentators understand all three monsters (the fleeing serpent, the twisted serpent and the reptile) as
picturing Satan, who energizes world
powers. Satan appears early in Genesis 3:1 as a serpent and later in the Bible as a dragon (see Rev. 12:3; 13:2; 16:13).
In Canaanite
mythology, Leviathan was the “monster of
the sea” associated with chaos.
In borrowing this imagery, Isaiah was painting a graphic picture of God’s
destruction of His enemies and alludes to Satan, the ultimate “serpent”. Leviathan is described as
unconquerable in Job 41 (see also Job 3:8 and Psalms 74:14). In view of the
millennial context of this passage and the fact that Leviathan is also referred
to as that crooked serpent (the dragon), the text indicates that Isaiah has the
victory of the Lord over Satan in view (Rev 20:2). The context indicates that Isaiah has in view the final victory of God
over Satan!
Furthermore,
the Bible employs this image to denote evil, autocratic powers (Isaiah 30:7;
51:9; Ezek. 28:2; 32:2) and to assure the godly that the Lord will punish all
such human expressions of power and resistance to His kingdom.
Let us be
rest assured that the ultimate defeat of
Satan is imminent and foretold clearly in the Holy Scriptures. We are on
the winning side, and our Lord Jesus Christ will give us the final victory. He
has already defeated the schemes of Satan on the cross as foretold in Genesis
3:15; and He will finally defeat Satan completely one day in the future (Rom.
16:20; Rev. 12:1–6). In the meantime, let us start living victoriously by
trusting in Christ who will strengthen and lead us in this effort every day.
