This is the epoch battle. Satan wanted no one to have authority over him but himself. However, God had authority over Satan. Satan knew that he didn't have enough power to overthrow God, but he thought if he could get enough angels to join him, that he might have enough power to overthrow God. The allure for those angels (and later man) was that if they assisted him in overthrowing God, then he would allow them to be their own authority. Satan was wrong, and so were his followers.
Then he thought, maybe if I could get man to join in my battle then I'll have enough power - and once God is overpowered - I will be the ultimate authority.
The trick at the Garden of Eden - was - "Hey! The only thing that God didn't give you authority over was the fruit of this tree. All you have to do is take authority over it and eat it, and you'll be just like God! The same authority level. You have the power to take authority!"
To Adam and Eve it made sense, since it appeared that the tree was the only restriction God had given them. Adam and Eve didn't realize that this was the only thing that God had withheld from them. What they did when they took and ate the fruit however, was abuse the power that God had given them and at the same time authorize Satan to have power over them. They could not give Satan authority over them, because they cannot give Satan more power (over them) than they have in and of themselves.
Satan collected power from men since the fall, with the Lie, that since he has power he subsequently has lawful authority (from God) over them.
Then God comes to earth as a man. Satan thinks, "Hey, if I can overpower God in His weakened state as a man, I will be more powerful than God - and ultimately the only authority." He rallied the power of the government (of man) to get involved, and it appeared they had defeated God. The problem is, God didn't authorize anyone to kill Jesus. That would imply his complicity. He simply withheld his power (in his mercy) to allow Satan and man the illusion of power. That illusion was broken once and for all when Jesus rose from the dead proving that he never relinquished his ultimate power and authority!
The illusion has been exposed, and the battle has already been won. Men have authorized Satan to build a prison for them, but all they have to do is call on someone with more power to open the prison door, and they can go free! The prison is real, but it is also a lie - it's power is an illusion of power - because the prison is not all-powerful. God has power over the prison.
Satan must return to the drawing board. He thinks, "I still need more power." Eventually he will get the consent of every man and woman on earth. And I mean every one! If you don't consent to give the king (Anti-Christ) power over you, he will prove he has power over you by killing you. All dissenters to the state will be executed, and the earth will be as one.
Satan will stage one last battle to overthrow God. "Surely, if he has the combined power of all the demons, and every man on earth - surely the combination of that power will be greater than the power of God." But you see, Satan has believed the Lie. And it all started because of his disrespect for the authority over him. His desire to be free from anyone being able to tell him what to do. This battle will end in Satan's defeat, because he could never get more power than God - even in combined power - because God is all powerful! The battle was over before it even started.
Certainly the plight of man gets a lot deeper than this. The implications are far reaching, and uncovers this illusion down to its very core. This, I believe is the crux of everything man has been struggling against from the beginning of time. The desire to be their own authority (or gods) over themselves.
Strangely the truth is that freedom is found in submission to the one true authority. But the statement in itself seems oxymoronic. How can you be free, when you must submit? The answer is simple: when you acknowledge God's proper place in your life, you gain the freedom to be all that He created you to be. You are loosed from the prison of hate, insecurity, fear and performance. You simply can be. Be all that He created you to be, and His creation is good. Life in the Kingdom is life more abundantly.
"God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him."
-John Piper
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