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What False Doctrine Makes God a Loser to Satan?
The Devil defeats God. God succumbs to Satan. Both of those absurdities are true if one doctrine is true. In many places, this one doctrine is taught to be false, and in many ways. One such place is the end of a parable where the application is given, meaning the application is not parabolic, but plain spoken: “and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14). If there is no physical, bodily, resurrection, no blessings of the righteous, then God loses and Satan wins.
Why, might you ask, is the bodily resurrection so important? Besides the many prophecies, and the actual resurrection of Jesus as “first-fruits” (1 Corinthians 15:23), the reason the bodily resurrection is so essential is found in the beginning. As is true of so much, we need to go back to Genesis 1-3.
You know the story of Adam and Eve. Part of God’s creation involved the tree of life which granted upon eating eternal physical life. After they had sinned and died spiritually, there was still a chance to steal from the tree and live physically forever (Genesis 3:22-24). Eternal spiritual life is found on another tree – the cross (1 Peter 2:24). If Jesus only defeats Satan in granting eternal spiritual life, then Jesus fails to defeat Satan’s two victories back in the garden.
Therefore, physical death must be the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). Jesus already defeated spiritual death and reigns until the last enemy is defeated (1 Corinthian 15:27-28). If Jesus is still king right now, then there is another death to defeat.
What is this false doctrine that not only dethrones Jesus from currently reigning, but is false because according to it God never helps man recover from Satan’s double victory in Eden? It is called the 70 A.D. Theory, Realized Eschatology, Full Preterism, and other names. If this false doctrine is true, then physical death is never defeated. If physical death is never defeated, then starting from the garden, when Satan brought both spiritual and physical death to Adam and Eve, God loses and Satan wins for all of eternity.
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