In answering our question, "If Satan was defeated at the cross, then why does he continue?", we ultimately see God's punishment. We are so used to thinking that a "loving God" will not punish. Well, if you are a loving parent, you punish your children for the same reasons God does.
Jeremiah 4:23-28 “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it".
This passage from Jeremiah is the clearest outline of what happened after God judged Lucifer. If you take the time to read the whole chapter, you can see this chapter is a warning to Israel. There is so much here, but as before we only need a few words to see what is taking place. The biggest part of this passage is "without form and void”. These are the same words, both in English and Hebrew, used in Genesis 1:2. This is significant. Jeremiah is getting a look at the earth from God’s perspective as shown in Genesis. It is the same scene, only from God’s perspective. In contrast, the Genesis 1:2 scene is from Earth’s perspective; same scene. Equally as interesting, the word for earth is the same as in Genesis 1:1. If you remember, it is erets which in Hebrew means earth, dirt, dry land. While it will be shown in later sections that the earth became without form and void, we will simply try and define it here.
The word for without form is tohuw in Hebrew and the word for void is bohuw. These are the same words in Genesis 1:2. Why is this important? Because many good scholars will tell you that God created it this way, and then He fixed it. They will tell you that this was all in the process of creation. While this sounds easier to swallow, look at the meanings of these words in their original language and see if God would create anything in this condition.
The Hebrew word tohuw means to lie waste, a desolation; figuratively a worthless thing. The Hebrew word bohuw means an undistinguishable ruin; a vacuity. Now ask yourself a question. Does God create anything less than perfect? Remember our original context for this passage of verses to start with was a warning against judgment and this example was used. Why use this as an example to Israel if it was not a judgment?
Moving further along in the passage, it reads “the heavens they had no light”. At what point in the last 6,000 years did the heavens have no light? To use this to explain the desolation in Noah’s flood makes no sense at all. The same words in Hebrew for wilderness, cities, etc. are used as in the verses about Lucifer and his downfall that we have been reviewing.
In verse 25, we see definitive proof that this was not related to Noah’s flood but something much bigger. We see “there was no man”. The word for man is the same word we get Adam from. The Holy Spirit wants us to know that whatever beings were originally here were now gone. This passage cannot be talking about Noah and his flood because there were four men on the ark; not to mention the women.
The word for land in Hebrew is erets. Interesting that the Holy Spirit would want us to stay with that word with anything concerning Lucifer. Very interesting that in the comparison the Holy Spirit is giving to Jeremiah, He makes it clear that as this judgment is carried out, it will not end the same way as the one described to Jeremiah for verses 23-28. The term “a full end” is simply a way to express the end of something. The world we live in has not had an end in the last 6,000 years. However, when given this comparison, the scenario of Lucifer’s pre-Adamite earth did have a full end. We know this because as the Holy Spirit compared what the punishment would be, He stopped short of what was completed in Jeremiah chapter 4.
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