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5. In the Land of Captivity

Even in the land of captivity, Satan did not let go of the children of Israel; he continued to corrupt them.

a. Causing the Babylonians to Carry Away
the Vessels in God’s Temple
and to Put Them in the Babylonian Temple,
to Drink Wine and Make Merry with These Vessels before the Idols, and to Force the People in Captivity
to Bow Down to the Idols,
Forbidding Them from Praying and Worshipping God

In the land of captivity, Satan destroyed the worship of God among the children of Israel, turning them to idolatry; he even caused the Babylonians to take the vessels in the holy temple that were for the worship of God and put them in the temple of idols in Babylon from which they drank wine and made merry. Satan did these things to destroy the relationship between the people of Israel and God and to have them establish a definite relationship with the idols. This is shown in Daniel 1:2, 5:2-4, 22-23, 3:8-15, and 6:4-18.

b. Frustrating the Answer to Their Prayers
through the Princes under Him

Daniel prayed before God concerning God’s people, and his prayer was answered; yet Satan withstood the answer through the princes under him and would not allow it to come to the children of Israel. This is shown in Daniel 10:12-13 and 20-21.

c. Plotting to Annihilate Them
through a Gentile Official

Throughout the book of Esther, Haman plotted to annihilate all of the Israelites in the Gentile lands.

6. After the Return from Captivity

After they returned from their captivity, Satan continued to corrupt them.

a. Standing before God as an Adversary
to the Serving Ones among Them

After returning from their captivity, the children of Israel restored the worship of God, but Satan stood before God as an adversary to those who served God among them. This is revealed in Zechariah 3:1.

b. Frustrating Their Work of Building the Temple through a Party of Adversaries

When they rose up to rebuild the temple, Satan came to frustrate them through a party of adversaries. Chapter 4 of Ezra covers this point.

c. Causing Them to Take Foreign Women as Wives
and to Worship the Abominable Idols and
to Do All Kinds of Evil Things
according to the Gentiles

This point is covered in Ezra 9:1-2 and Nehemiah 13:23.

d. Frustrating Their Work
of Building the Holy City through Men

Satan not only frustrated the building of the temple, he also frustrated the building of the holy city as seen in Nehemiah 4:1-11 and 6:1-13.

e. Profaning the Temple They Had Returned to Rebuild,
Removing the Sacrifices,
and Setting up Idols in the Temple
through Antiochus Epiphanes the King of Syria

Daniel 11:28-32 says that a king of the north would come to profane the temple Ezra had returned to rebuild and that he would remove the sacrifices and set up idols in the temple. History shows that the king of the north was Antiochus Epiphanes the king of Syria.

f. Causing Demon-possessed People
to Be Everywhere among Them

After they came back from their captivity, Satan’s work of corruption continued to increase, to the point that demon-possessed people were everywhere among the nation of Israel. This was close to the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus first came among the Israelites, He encountered demon-possessed people everywhere; in every place there were demons needing to be cast out. This is revealed in Matthew 8:28, 9:32, 12:22, 27, 45, and 17:18 and 21.

g. Causing Them to Proselytize
and to Make People Sons of Gehenna

According to Matthew 23:15, the Jews made people proselytes of Judaism, but in the end they were really sons of Gehenna. Satan’s corruption was so great among them that he used God-worshipping religion to make people the sons of Gehenna.

h. Causing Them to Have Religious Hierarchy
and to Be against God

This religious hierarchy was composed of the Great Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrins, and the synagogues under the Sanhedrins. This religious hierarchy was altogether against God. This is revealed in Matthew 21:23, 26:59, John 9:22, 11:47, and Acts 5:27, 33 and 40.

i. Causing Them to Reject and Kill
the Lord Jesus, the Son of God

This point is revealed in Matthew 10:25, 12:24, 34, 13:55-58, 21:38-39, 46, 23:37, 26:3-5, 14-16, 47-50, Luke 4:28-29, 6:11, 11:53-54, 19:47, 22:53, John 19:6, 15-18, and Acts 2:23 and 3:13-15.

j. Causing Them to Persecute and Kill
the Lord’s Apostles and to Reject Their Preaching

This matter is covered in Matthew 22:6, 23:34, Acts 4:1-3, 5:17-18, 33, 40-41, 6:9-14, 7:57-60, 13:45-46, 50, 14:19, 21:27-31, 23:12-15, 25:2-3, and 28:23-29.

k. Causing Them to Persecute and Kill the Believers

According to John 16:2, Acts 8:1-3, 9:1, 22:4, and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, Satan not only killed the Lord Jesus and the apostles, he also persecuted and killed the believers.

l. Ultimately Causing Them
to Become the Synagogue of Satan

Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 say that Satan’s corruption of Israel, God’s chosen people, reached the point that their entire hierarchy was a synagogue of Satan. After the Israelites returned from the land of captivity, Satan brought corruption into their midst, ultimately causing every synagogue among them to become a synagogue of Satan.


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Ten Lines in the Bible   pg 49