Bible Study Made Simple. Wesley PhD Pierce
25)Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
26)to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it,
27)to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
28)Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?
29)From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30)when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31)“Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?
32)Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33)Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?
34)“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35)Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36)Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?
37)Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38)when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?
39)“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40)when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?
41)Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
(it is abundantly clear... “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” --Prov 1:7)
*Note: Italics added to relate to topic title; researcher comments in parentheses to clarify
Satan - darkness and death
Ezek 28:12-17
12)“Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “’You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13)You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
14)You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
15)You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
16)Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17)Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
(most Bible students regard these verses in Ezekiel and the next entry in Isaiah to be symbolic descriptions of God expelling the former morning star, Satan, from heaven down to earth as his new place of habitation... see Job 1: 6-7 below. He could no longer remain in God’s presence due to his ego and pride to be “The Boss”, #1 in the universe above God.)
Isa 14:12-14
12)How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
13)You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
14)I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
(see comment above about Satan’s ego and pride, remembering Mankind will also be expelled from God’s presence unless we accept his offer to live again through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our substitute in receiving punishment for sins—necessary in God’s eyes because of our own ego and pride to be “The Boss” of our lives.
How do we do that? By ignoring or disobeying the Scriptures, which are the Creator’s guidelines for Mankind in our daily lifestyles, habits, and inner attitudes. Hundreds of millions of people everywhere rarely or never open the Bible to understand the message of salvation, or what our “owner’s manual” states about human desires and behavior)
Luke 10:18
18)He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Job 1:6-7
6)One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.
7)The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”
(although we cannot see spiritual beings, the Scriptures clearly state they do exist)
Eph 6:12
12)For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
2Cor 4:4
4) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
(“blinded minds” because we yield to Satan’s temptations, which come through the ungodly customs and habits of society around us; a “follow-the-herd” mentality. The end result is stated in the entry below, but the solution is shown in the second entry below)
Rom 5:12
12)Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
2Cor 6:17-18
17)“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
18)“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Luke 4:5-8
5)The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6)And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
7)So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8)Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
(we can all learn a lesson from Christ by noting he answered the temptation with the Scriptures...”It is written”, our guiding light in a world full of human opinions)
Act 26:16-18
16)“Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.
17)I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
18)to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
(through