“I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion.”

This quote from the Queen’s 1957 Christmas broadcast sums it all up for me. A life lived so well, before God, with a beautiful mix of duty and devotion. Royal, yet servant-hearted.
Regal, yet hard-working. Crowned, yet kind.

In an age where character no longer seems to be king, I’m so grateful that this steadfast, faithful and dedicated follower of Christ was our Queen. I join my voice today to the millions of others mourning the loss of Queen Elizabeth II and celebrating her inspiring legacy. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

Serpent

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the writer describes the creation of the world and humankind by God. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, are placed by God in the beautiful Garden of Eden, sometimes also called Paradise. There is only one restriction placed by God on Adam and Eve: they are not to eat the fruit of one particular tree – the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (See Big ideas: Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, ‘Second Adam’; Creation, creativity, Image of God.) They are, however, tempted by the serpent to disobey God, and their following actions result in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden to live in toil and sorrow.

Devil, Satan

Following a tradition developed by early Christian commentators, the serpent came to be identified with the Devil, or Satan, the enemy of mankind, whose name in Hebrew means ‘adversary, enemy, accuser’. The serpent also came to be identified with Lucifer (meaning ‘Light Bearer’) who rebelled and fell from heaven (see Big ideas: Devils; Angels).

In the book of Job, Satan is allowed to test Job‘s faith in God. The most commonly held view of Satan is that of an evil spirit who seeks the damnation of humankind – and therefore appears in the New Testament as the direct antagonist of Christ, who wishes to bring redemption. He is the evil force who tempts Jesus in the wilderness, urging him to take earthly rather than spiritual power (see Big ideas: Temptation).

Another name sometimes used of the Devil is ‘Beelzebub‘, which translates as ‘Lord of the Flies’.

Beast

In the book of Revelation, chapter 13, two fearsome ‘beasts’ are described which are the enemies of God and those who serve him.

Serpent, Devil, Satan, Beast in literature

Milton’s Paradise Lost

In his epic poem Paradise Lost, Milton uses traditional ideas to identify both the serpent as well as the fallen angel as manifestations of Satan. He also identifies the serpent with the dragon who is described in Revelation, the last book of the Bible, as fighting against God.

‘And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back’ (Revelation 12:7).

Miller’s The Crucible

The idea of ‘satanism’, or devil worship, was closely associated with a belief in ‘witchcraft’ in the Middle Ages and later centuries. A witch-hunt in the New England town of Salem in the seventeenth century is the topic of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, which shows how personal greed and spite can unleash horrific forces within an apparently Christian community.

Golding’s Lord of the Flies

William Golding, in his novel Lord of the Flies, uses the term ‘The Beast’ to suggest the innate evil in humans.

The temptation of Adam and Eve

The idea, that human beings always want what they cannot or should not have, is seen as so fundamental a part of human nature that the writer of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, sets out to explain it at the start. Immediately after the description of God‘s creation of the world and the first human beings, Adam and Eve, the Bible gives an account of the temptation of Eve by the serpent. First Eve, and then Adam, succumb to the temptation of eating the fruit of the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ – the one fruit that God had forbidden them to eat, as the consequence of eating it would be death (Genesis 3:1-28). This account is frequently termed ‘the fall of humankind‘ in Christian theology.

Temptation in the Bible involves turning away from obedience to God and doing wrong in order to achieve a perceived benefit. In this particular instance, the serpent suggests that Eve will become ‘like God, knowing good and evil’ (Genesis 3:5). Giving in to the temptation actually brought Adam and Eve a loss of innocence and an experience of guilt and shame which damaged their relationship with God and with one another.

The temptation of Jesus

In Christian thought, Jesus is sometimes referred to as ‘the Second Adam‘, because he too changed the course of human history through a reaction to temptation – in Jesus’ case, by rejecting the temptation to take earthly power, and choosing instead to follow the road of which would eventually lead to his crucifixion. Accounts of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, who both describe how Jesus rebukes the temptations of the devil, saying, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ which was translated in earlier versions as ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God’ (Luke 4:1-13).

These accounts also tell how Jesus stayed in the desert for forty days, being tempted by the devil. ‘He ate nothing during those days’ (Luke 4:2) as he prepared for his ministry on earth. Consequently, some Christians practice resisting temptation by fasting (restricting what they eat) or by some other act of self-control during the forty days of the season of Lent which comes before Easter.

Temptation, sin and forgiveness

The Bible portrays all human beings as vulnerable to temptation and sin. Christians believe that the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made it possible to receive forgiveness for human sin, thus offering the hope of redemption.

The Seven Deadly Sins

In the early centuries of the Christian Church, the kinds of self-indulgence to which humans are often tempted were later categorised as the seven Deadly Sins and were commonly referred to in medieval literature and art. All of these sins – pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth (laziness) – reflect human desires which put physical indulgence before spiritual well-being.

Dr Faustus

A famous and graphic illustration of temptation occurs in Christopher Marlowe’s play Dr Faustus, where Faustus is tempted by the devil Mephistopheles to sell his eternal soul to Satan in return for twenty-four years of earthly power.

In Prayer That Brings Revival, best-selling author David Yonggi Cho shares key principles to having the kind of prayer life that will move your mountains and stir revival in home, church, and community.

This book will:

• Show you how prayer produces power.
• Teach you the key to prayer and fasting.
• Prepare you to wait on the Lord.
• Help you to pray longer, with more persistence.
• Instruct you on how to listen to God’s voice.

Download ebook on the link below