The Bible speaks of the ‘deep things’ of God and Satan. What does that mean?
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10
“But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.” Revelation 2:24 (ESV)
‘Deep’ Things
The Greek word translated ‘deep things’ used in both of the verses above is βάθος (bathos). It was used by ancient Greeks to describe ‘deep water, depth, deep-laid plans.’
The context of 1 Corinthians 2:10 is spiritual wisdom –
“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Notice that the ‘wisdom’ of God is not of this age, nor of the ‘rulers’ of this age who are coming to nothing. The Apostle Paul went so far as to claim that if the rulers of this age had known God’s ‘hidden wisdom,’ they would ‘not have crucified the Lord of glory,’ Jesus Christ.
The context of Revelation 2:24 is Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, addressing the ‘church’ in Thyatira at the end of the 1st century AD –
“I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. ‘Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come.” Revelation 2:19-25
Church leaders in Thyatira were allowing a woman who called herself a prophetess (named Jezebel) to teach and seduce God’s people to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Jesus gave her time to repent, but she didn’t. The Lord said He searches the minds and hearts of all people and would give to each person according to their ‘works.’ Jesus said He would would punish the prophetess and her followers severely. He also called her ‘doctrine’ (teaching) the ‘depths of Satan’ – the ‘deep things’ of the devil.
Plans for Good – Plans for Evil
So, what are these ‘deep things’ of God and Satan? To better understand these deep things, let’s go back to the ‘beginning.’ God is the Sovereign Creator. He created all things – visible and invisible –
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
In writing about Jesus Christ, the Apostle John wrote –
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1-3
In writing about Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul wrote –
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16
God created all of the ‘hosts of Heaven.’ That includes an angel by the name of Satan. God created him for a purpose and that purpose is seen early in the Book of Genesis.
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:8-9
God planted the garden that included ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ It wasn’t a tree of ‘good and evil’ – it was the tree of the ‘knowledge’ of good and evil. The Hebrew word for ‘knowledge’ is דַּעַת (daath) and comes from the word יָדַע (yada), which means ‘to know.’ The word ‘good’ is טוֹב (towb) and has the idea of something that is ‘pleasant, agreeable.’ The word ‘evil’ is רַע (ra) and means ‘bad, unpleasant, disagreeable, causing pain and misery.’
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17
God warned Adam that this particular tree was ‘hands off’ because it would lead to his death. However, God knew the ‘evil’ that Satan was planning –
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:1-8
Adam did not obey God. He did put his hands on the fruit from the tree of the ‘knowledge of good and evil’ and ate with his wife. That act led to spiritual and physical death for the entire human race –
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12
Remember the definition of the words ‘deep things?’ – ‘deep-laid plans’. God had ‘deep-laid plans’ from Eternity. Satan is a created being, so he is not eternal. His ‘deep-laid plans’ came as part of his rebellion against God. While we can speculate why Satan and the angels that God had placed under his direction rebelled against Him, one thing we know for sure is that God is Sovereign. Nothing happens that God does not fully understand and is aware of before they happen. Everything accomplishes His Divine Will. Even if we don’t understand why certain things happen to us or others, God understands and we can rely on Him during difficult times –
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Another aspect of the ‘deep things’ of God is to know that His ‘plans’ have an Eternal purpose being carried out by His Son, Jesus Christ. That purpose is the ‘destruction of the works of the devil’ –
“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8
Thousands of years before the Apostle John wrote those words in his first letter, God said this to Satan –
“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15
This verse explains HOW God’s Son would ‘destroy the works of the devil.’ He would do it by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead to live forever so we could live forever with Him. As John wrote in his Gospel account, the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) would be ‘lifted up’ even as Moses had ‘lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.’ God loved the world so much that He gave “His only begotten Son, what whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:14-16).
Nothing that Satan has done or will do has ever been a surprise to the Sovereign God. God knew from ‘before time began,’ ‘before the foundation of the world,’ that Satan would plunge the world into an evil darkness that only Jesus Christ could shine the light of ‘goodness’ – “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5) –
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1:8-10
“Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior.” Titus 1:1-3
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:3-5
“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” 1 Peter 1:17-21
The only way God could have known about the death of His Son and the redeeming outcome of His death ‘before time began,’ ‘before the foundation of the world,’ is if He had planned for it from Eternity. That is one of the primary ‘deep things’ of God. We’ll learn more about this AMAZING PLAN as we move through our study.
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Next Time
In the next part of our series, we’ll look at the ‘depths’ of good and evil and the impact they’ve had and are having on humanity.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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