Page 101 - Foundations

a life-giver. He can only destroy that which God has animated and imbued with life.

Satan’s power to enslave men is closely related to his authority to take life away from humanity. This
power is broken in Christ, for Yahshua demonstrated that death is not an end. What Satan kills, God
is able to animate again. The Son of God though slain, rose again to newness of life, a life that Satan
can nevermore touch.

Acts 2:24
“And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him
to be held in its power.”

The grave could not hold the Son of God. Neither can it hold those who are born again of Christ’s
seed. Though it is appointed to all men “once to die,” the Christian has the great hope of being raised
again to an immortal life.

I Corinthians 15:52-57
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead
will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the
imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is
written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your
sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us
the victory through our Lord Yahshua Christ.

If Adam had not sinned in the garden, presenting himself to obedience to Satan, he would not have
known death and Satan would not hold the power of death over mankind. Yahweh warned Adam not
to eat of the forbidden fruit:

Genesis 2:17
“For in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”

There is a popular song by the singer Billy Joel that states, “Only the good die young.” This is not true
in an absolute sense, but it does seem this way at times. In this age we see that wicked men are given
the rule, wealth, fame, and glory of this world. Satan rewards those who are his servants by giving
them those material things that pertain to this terrestrial realm. King Solomon lamented about the
unfairness of life, for it seemed that the wicked prospered, while the righteous suffered.

Ecclesiastes 7:15
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his
righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

Asaph, a Levite and singer in the time of King David, also pondered this phenomena. It seemed an
evil thing to him that the wicked should prosper in this world while the righteous should be afflicted.