by Gary L. Evans
(revised 7/27/2023)
The Children of The Devil — Part 1
Joh 8:42-45 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
The word “father” is from the Greek “pat-ayr’” and means “father as in parent (literally or figuratively, near or more remote).”
So our Lord said that those people were descendants of The Devil. Jesus was speaking to some Pharisees, who were among the religious elite of those days, along with some scribes and some Roman government appointed priests at the temple.
The big question is, did Jesus speak a literal truth or a figurative truth? We know that everyone who willfully commits transgression of God’s Law is figuratively of the devil, because the devil sinned from The Beginning.
Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
John the Baptist called those religious people “offspring of vipers.”
The word “generation” is from “ghen’-nay-mah” and means “offspring; by analogy produce (literally or figuratively).” The root word is “ghen-nah’-o” which means “to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate.”
The big question is, did John speak a literal truth or a figurative truth?
Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Jesus also called those hypocrites the “offspring of vipers.” And we know that vipers are among the most deadly of poisonous snakes.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Jesus called them “serpents,” which is from “of’-is” and means “a snake, figuratively (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan.”
And again He calls them the “offspring of vipers,” and note with the implication of Satan.
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Jesus is addressing those snakes, those who were descendants of vipers, and declaring that their ancestors murdered the prophets, the wise men, and the true scribes.
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Upon their heads is all of the innocent blood shed upon the earth, starting with the blood of Abel all the way to Zacharias. It now is clear that Jesus is not speaking in any figurative sense, because He is accusing their forefather of murdering Abel. Now who murdered Abel? Cain! Therefore those people before Him were descendants of Cain by bloodline.
Cain was their forefather, so they were not descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thus not of Israel. They were impostors pretending to be of Israel but were of That Wicked One.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
The Children of The Devil — Part 2
1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
The Only Begotten Son of God came into this world to destroy the works of The Devil. That was our Lord’s purpose in being born in the flesh.
1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Everyone who enters into The New Covenant is incapable of committing willful sin, therefore our Lord’s Work was perfect.
How is this possible since our flesh nature cannot of its own self cease from sin at least in some way? With God, all things are possible, and in this case, our Lord made a Covenant with us to give us a new heart and mind, replacing our fleshy heart and mind with His own, and writing His Law in our hearts and minds so obedience would become second nature to us.
As long as we remain in submission to Him (note the condition), His Spirit or Mind dwells in us, and it is impossible for Christ to commit sin, my friends. The Holy Spirit comes into us with POWER OVER SIN.
1Jn 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
This is what distinguishes The Children of God from The Children of The Devil in this world. Now these designations are figurative, since all of us are literally God’s children by creation. What distinguishes God’s Born Again Children from Satan’s Children now is that they do righteousness, that is, they do The Law, whereas Satan’s Children WILLFULLY COMMIT SIN.
1Jn 3:11-12 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
God’s Law is The Law of Love. People can talk all day about love, but if they lie or steal or bear false witness or commit adultery or murder, or lead people into apostasy, then their words are meaningless. But a Christian does not have to speak with flowery sounding words, for being a doer of God’s Law, his or her deeds are acts of love.
Love was certainly not demonstrated by Cain, who murdered his brother. Note that Cain was of “that Wicked One.” Do you know who that one is? Now this is a literal saying. So again the Scripture moves from speaking in the figurative sense to the literal sense.
Satan is The Wicked One who sinned from The Beginning.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
The Children of The Devil — Part 3
2Co 11:1-3 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Paul uses the similitude of a betrothed virgin and her future husband to describe the relationship of those who have entered into The New Covenant with Christ. Paul says, “I have betrothed you to Christ Jesus.” Then he expresses concern that they might be deceived by false doctrine to turn away from the Gospel, the truth of God’s Word.
Now according to The Law, betrothal was equivalent to marriage regarding adultery, so for a betrothed woman to lie with another man, she would be guilty of adultery. And Paul makes reference to how That Old Serpent, Satan, The Devil, “beguiled” Eve.
The word “beguiled” is from “ex-ap-at-ah’-o” and means “to seduce wholly.”
To seduce wholly means to cause a woman to willingly lie with a man. For a man to do that to another man’s wife, then that is very bad. Paul uses this historical fact to illustrate his concern about the danger of these Christians being deceived by false preachers, because that would be very similar to the sin of adultery.
Gen 3:1-3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Euphemism is “the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.” We use this figure of speech a lot when speaking in front of children especially, or in front of folks who might feel embarrassed or insulted if we were to use explicit language. The Scriptures often use euphemism when it is appropriate for a general audience and thus always use it to describe sexual intercourse.
The word “touch” is from the Hebrew “naw-gah’” which means “properly to touch, that is, lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication to reach (figuratively to arrive, acquire); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.)”
Now The Lord did not forbid Adam and Eve to physically touch that tree, but said not to “eat of its fruit.” So Eve was speaking euphemistically that she was forbidden in the sense of “to lie with a woman.”
We know that The Tree of Life was also in The Garden, and so was this Tree of Good and Evil. What or who exactly was this “tree?” We know that Christ Jesus represents The Tree of Life, to Whom we are betrothed.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
The Serpent lied outright by contradicting The Lord’s warning, saying, “You won’t really die.” Remember this conversation, because here we learn that The Devil “was a liar from the beginning.”
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Then The Serpent bear false witness against The Lord, telling Eve that The Lord had evil intentions by forbidding her in order to hold back something very good which properly belonged to Eve, that she would become as a god. But Satan’s kind of “enlightenment” is the way to Death.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
She was deceived, hook line and sinker. The “fruit” of that “tree” looked very good indeed and since it would make her wise with enlightenment she agreed to partake of it. And she invited her husband Adam to partake also.
Who was this Serpent? How could he deceive Adam and Eve so easily? We know that snakes don’t talk and that this description is figurative. So this is a man or angel. And we learn his real identity in The Book of Disclosure, The Book of Revelation.
Rev 12:7-9 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
So That Old Serpent is actually Satan, The Devil, and strangely also The Great Red Dragon of Revelation. Satan deceives the whole world, so we can see how easily it was for him to deceive Adam and Eve since they were so ignorant and naive that they didn’t even know they were walking around the Garden naked.
Now there are no “dragons” in this Second World, therefore this is a reference to someone in The First Earth Age, namely Lucifer who deceived One Third of the angels back in That World to rebel against God Most High.
Eze 28:11-12 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
The King of Tyrus is a type of The Antichrist and represents Lucifer in The First Earth Age. Note that he “sealest up the sum” which is an Hebrew figure of speech meaning “in the full pattern”. So “Lucifer,” which means, “Morning Star,” was created in the Full Pattern of God Most High, and he was “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” In fact, he was a Cherub, which is higher than angel. So That Old Serpent was originally made in The Full Pattern of The Lord and perfect in Wisdom and Beauty. Now it is clear why Adam and Eve were helpless to avoid being deceived by him.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
They were enlightened alright, and realized that they were walking around bare butt naked in The Garden. Before now, they were so innocent they just didn’t even notice, like little children. And in order to hide what made them feel guilty, they made aprons out of fig leaves.
Now did they cover their mouths with aprons where they had eaten that fruit? No, they covered their private parts, because that was the very part of their bodies with which they had committed their transgression of God’s Commandment.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
The Children of The Devil — Part 4
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
Along with guilt from transgression against God, comes fear also.
Gen 3:9-11 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
The Lord knew that they had partaken of that “forbidden fruit.”
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Typical of many husbands, Adam blames his wife.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And Eve blames That Old Serpent who had seduced her.
Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
The Lord declared that Satan would be lower than a snake’s belly in this world, and hated by everybody.
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The Lord also declared that there would always be an open conflict between Satan and the woman (and Adam her husband) and between Satan’s offspring and the woman’s offspring. What does Satan’s offspring have to do with this situation?
Note this prophesy: “He (the woman’s offspring by Adam) will break your head, and you (your offspring by Eve) will break His heel.”
Satan’s children used deceit and false witness to cause our Lord to be crucified, and in that process nails were driven through His feet, fulfilling the second part of this prophecy. What remains is for our Lord to “break The Serpent’s head,” which will be fulfilled when he is cast into The Lake of Fire.
Gen 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
The Lord declared that Eve’s “sorrow” or “birth pangs” would be multiplied, and that she would conceive more than once and bear children plural. She was obviously already pregnant by The Serpent, but was to be impregnated again. She would bear twins.
Gen 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The Lord declared that Adam was going to have to work at hard labor in order to eat. No more would he be fed from The Garden of Paradise. And he would have to work all his life until the day he died.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.