Man's age old interest in the supernatural is very much alive. In days gone by it was in fairies, elves, hobgoblins and little men. Today it's visitors from outer space, extra-terrestrial (ET) creatures who visit earth in craft of awesome sophistication. Most UFO sightings have an understandable explanation: but small percentage do not: and even if there were one genuine cases in a hundred, that would be enough to take the matter seriously. Who are these space travellers? From which corner of the sprawling universe do they come? Why do they visit earth? And for how long have they been visiting earth?
Looking through the pages of the Bible we find many stories of superhuman visitors to earth whose dealings with mankind go back to the dawn of human history. We ought to know something about these beings in order to properly understand the universe in which we live. Millions of people want to know. Hence the current upsurge in unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Are they ancient and modern manifestations of:
People want to know. Some government authorities, who were once sceptical about the supernatural, are now investigating the matter. What does the Bible say about visitors from outer space?
The Bible quite plainly teaches that there are other beings in the universe besides man. They are called 'angels.' Angels are spirit beings made a little higher in dignity and power than man. (Heb.2:7) There are literally millions upon millions of angels - some good and others evil.
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Revelation 5:11 |
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels on every side of the throne, and of the living creatures and the elders (of the heavenly Sanhedrin), and they numbered ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands." |
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Daniel 7:10 |
"A stream of fire came forth from before Him; a thousand thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand rose up and stood before Him; the Judge was seated - the Court was in session - and the books were opened." |
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Matthew 26:53 |
"Do you suppose that I cannot appeal to my Father and He will immediately provide me with more than 12 legions of angels." |
Yes, there are many supernatural beings in the universe besides Yahweh and Satan. One may quite correctly say that they are numberless; and they have been visiting mankind for many thousands of years!
Man, though made in the image of the Most High (Gen.1:27), is a weak creature. By comparison angels are extremely powerful. Consider the might of angels in these instances:
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Isaiah 37:36 |
185,000 Syrian soldiers were slain by one of God's angels. |
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2 Samuel 24:15 |
Some 70,000 Judeans were killed because of David's sin. |
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Revelation 7:1 |
Hold back the four (symbolic) winds from destroying earth. |
Sad to say not all the heavenly host are holy. About a third are evil.
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Revelation 12:4 |
"And his (the dragon's) tail drew a third part of the stars. |
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v7 |
"Then war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels going forth to battle with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no room found for them in heaven any longer. And the huge dragon was cast down and out, that ages-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the whole world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him." |
Here we are told that Satan, the symbolic 'dragon' led a third of the mighty angelic host in a revolution against the government of God. In other words multiplied millions of evil angels sided with Satan.
Satan the Devil was once a high ranking angel in the presence of Yahweh. But he corrupted himself and was cast out of heaven. His position, beauty, pride, ambition and ultimate destiny are described in Ezekiel chapter 28.
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verse 2 |
"You are proud of heart thinking that you are a God ..." |
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v12-13 |
"You were the father of wisdom, the perfection of beauty ... You lived in Eden the garden of God. You were adorned with every jewel, the jasper, the crysolite, the sardonyx, the topaz, the beryl, the onyx, the sapphire, the garnet, and rock-crystal, their setting wrought in gold... |
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v15 |
"From the day you were created, you lived a perfect life, till you were discovered doing wrong; rich traffic made you rife with violence and you sinned ... |
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v16 |
"Through the abundance of your commerce you were filled with lawlessness and violence and you sinned; therefore I cast you out as a profane thing from the mountain of God ... |
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v18-19 |
"You have profaned your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquity of your guilt, by the unrighteousness of your trade. Therefore I have brought forth a fire from your midst; it has consumed you, and I have reduced you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who looked at you. " |
Though Satan's end is certain, at the moment he is very much alive: and still heads the rebellion against Yahweh. We humans are involved.
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Ephesians 6:12 |
"For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood - contending only with physical opponents - but against the despotism, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in heavenly (supernatural) places: Therefore - because of this fact - put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day (of danger) ..." |
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James 4:7 |
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you." |
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Revelation 12:11 |
"And they overcame (conquered) him (the Dragon) by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death - holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing." |
In Matthew 4:1-10 we notice that the Saviour overcame Satan with pure truth taken from the Scriptures - the Sword of the Spirit! In the final analysis the Holy Bible is the most reliable evidence in identifying evil. Those who ignore scripture leave themselves wide open to satanic deception.
Another powerful weapon against evil is prayer. Second to Bible study it is the most neglected - even amongst professed believers. It has been said that 'Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his/her knees.' The Bible says: 'Pray without ceasing.' In other words never give up the habit of prayer. Make it a constant attitude of mind.
July 1999
Matanyah Learning Centre, Duiwelskloof, South Africa
matanyah.cjb.net/snotes/note0204.html