There is priceless information that touches on a far more serious matter than any other subject matter you can imagine. We will endeavor to visit it here. And so, we would desire a ready and open mind and total earnestness presently. It has to do with your ownership now, and in all of eternity. When we say ‘you’, we mean your soul, for that is the real you.
Indeed, whosoever owns you now, and that between God and Satan, may well own you eternally unless you make speed to settle now on the side of God. This is because tomorrow is guaranteed nowhere since man can die anytime. That is even why the Scriptures said: “… now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” – 2 Corinthians 6: 2. The subject of man’s soul and ownership is understandably a wide one. The purpose here is to highlight such aspects that seem to tie it all together and to answer the very crucial and inevitable question before us today which is: Son of man, whose are you?
SATAN, SIN AND HUMANITY
Sin may well have predated man (Adam). Sin was what made Lucifer Satan. Sin being invented by Satan, is the only thing traceable to him that he ‘manufactured’. We read in God’s Word: “Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou were created, till iniquity was found in thee” – Ezekiel 28: 15. That is Satan represented as King of Tyrus (see all of Ezekiel 28: 12-19 for better understanding). And what that means is, Lucifer became sin, so that we could say there became no difference between him and sin.
We may want to remind ourselves for instance that God is Love, and Love is God. God does not have Love, He is Love. Satan does not just have sin, not even as his mere essence; rather, he is sin. Sin is not just his characteristic but his being, whole being. That which “was found in” him (that is, in the very centre of his being) simply overwhelmed and transformed him to the chief of devils and demons that he instantly became.
But sin like a body has parts, members, branches, expressions, features, departments or characteristics such as pride (Satan’s first recorded expression of his corrupt being, and that towards God which thing also became his downfall and ruin, and of the same ‘pride’ God resists among men); deception (which was the second recorded revelation of his corrupt being, and this towards man, that is Adam and Eve); lie or falsehood, deception’s close associate (of which the Lord expressly says Satan is the father); idolatry, occultism, cultism, mysticism, witchcraft, sorcery and several other direct mode of Satan and demon worship (which he designed after his fall to get worship from men as their pseudo god with the fall, now, of Adam); fornication, adultery, filthiness and stuffs like that (which is his department that he employs to cause men to sin against their own body); and the departments are as many as can be imagined and these are all targeted at the soul of man.
Sin, again, is the image of Satan. That is, ‘whenever he (Satan) sees his reflection’ he sees sin. Remember that man was created originally in God’s image. Man had the breath of life and became a living soul. But when Satan came or polluted man with his image (sin), man became a dead soul. Indeed, the Scriptures say man, the sinner, is dead while living. That is to say, when by deception Satan beguiled the first family, Adam instantly fell short of the glory (nature-image) of God and all humanity with him, and in its place came the pollution (represented by sin, that is, nature-image) of Satan. Man’s soul was the target and victim of Satan’s deception and extension of his nature-image.
SADDEST FACT OF LIFE
And so “… all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” – Romans 3: 23. Indeed, apart from inheriting this new nature-image of Adam in their souls, men are, minute by minute, living out this nature. Really, they cannot now do otherwise. And yet, which is even more pathetic, sin cannot go unpunished and that in the Hand of the Creator Whose law has been spurned by man and Whose purpose of creating the soul has not been met by man; God’s judgment being, actually, the soul’s own invitation.
And “… the soul that sins it shall die” – Ezekiel 18: 4; and this refers to the soul’s eternal separation from God, its Creator and Owner. That is separation from God’s ETERNAL PRESENCE (with its indescribably consuming glory, glow, beauty, excellence, majesty, wonders, marvels etc); separation from God’s ETERNAL NATURE AND QUALITIES (love, peace, joy, godliness, goodness, compassion, kindness, benevolence etc); and separation from His ETERNAL WORSHIP AND ADORATION (actually the purpose for creating the soul in the first place).
Yes, condemnation means eternal separation from all that and more. And yet, that is only one side of an extremely sad story! Condemnation also entails the soul’s eternal union with Satan, sin and all the wrath, torment, anguish et cetera that were originally only Satan’s portion forever, but now to be shared with as many as will follow him to his destination: The Lake of Fire and Brimstone.
Actually, whilst Adam remained the image of God he was the son of God and the moment he lost that image for Satan’s image; he became the son of Satan, for ‘nature begets’. This is another way of saying (and the Holy Scripture said precisely that when it states) that we all became children of Satan and so, children of wrath. You can be very assured that all the spiritual genetic information to that effect could be gleaned from or found in your ‘spiritual chromosomes/DNA’, for as Morris Cerrulo once said: “All truth is parallel”. There is ‘spiritual DNA’ that tells who owns you or who is your father. Satan knows those still having his nature, that is, his sons and daughters of whom he is their god. The Scriptures also said that the Lord God knows those that are His. In fact, to some people Jesus said: “You are of your father, the devil”!
So, who own you? And the question is directed at your soul and spirit: the real you, your real man! WHOSE ARE YOU? Your eternal destination depends only on this! It will interest you to know however, that whilst all of us were children of Satan and therefore children of wrath, some are no more. You surely can be among these.
Ordinarily, there is no man that can free himself of this evil grip of Satan, empty himself of this cursed nature or escape the sentence of damnation that this gross affront to God has attracted. God’s decree is: “The soul that sins it shall die”. This is the decree. It is divine and immutable. We are supposed to be lost forever and that, to say it again, in the burning of eternal fire and brimstone with a forever torment, anguish and gnashing of teeth. Who can really describe hell enough! Yet, that is the sad, sorry and final destination of the soul that sins.
However, we now have escape in The Savior. Yes, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God and The Lamb of God came down to this cursed place to rescue cursed souls, and He did that when He Paid the Supreme Price. He atoned for our sins when He bore them on the Cross of Calvary and also shed His Blood on the Cross, died and was buried but on the third day resurrected after defeating sin, death, hell and Satan with his entire host. Jesus is the Great Sacrifice. Indeed, ‘Jesus Paid it All’, to borrow from Elvina Mabel Hall (1820-1889) author of the classic hymn that goes by that title. Jesus came down with grace to and for sons of men.
GRACE, GOD’S GRACE
We shall tell it (God’s grace) in this inspired hymn by Julia Harriette Johnston (1849-1919):
1. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder o
n Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the Blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.
2. Sin and despair like the sea waves’ cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Point to the Refuge, the Mighty Cross.
3. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide,
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide;
Whiter than snow you may be today.
4. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe;
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?
Go to Him today. Do it even right now and you will be surprisingly glad what becomes of your soul (washed, redeemed and righteousness- imputed); you will be surprisingly glad Who becomes its Owner (the Creator and Eternal God); and you will be surprisingly glad what becomes your eternal destiny (the New Heaven and New Earth of God and of The Lamb, and home of the pure, blessed and free). AND HOW BEAUTIFUL HEAVEN MUST BE!
