SKIN FOR SKIN

1. "SKIN FOR SKIN” are fighting words from a formidable foe and we do well to be vigilant, “Be SOBER and VIGILANT; because YOUR ADVERSARY the DEVIL, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” [1 Peter 5:8] The battle was joined and lost through DISOBEDIENCE, “But of the TREE of the knowledge of GOOD and EVIL, thou SHALT NOT EAT OF IT: for IN THE DAY that THOU EATEST THEREOF THOU SHALT SURELY DIE” [Genesis 2:17] Adam and Eve “ATE OF IT” and in the same day “DIED”! When God said, “THOU SHALT SURELY DIE”, physical death was the least of the problem; man lost God’s GLORY by which he exercised dominion over the earth, “For ALL HAVE SNNED, and come SHORT OF THE GLORY” [Romans 3:23] “THOU SHALT SURELY DIE” also meant cruel BONDAGE to the one who “OVERCAME” with SIN with promises of “LIBERTY of gods” in Genesis 3:4-5, “... for of whom a MAN IS OVERCOME, of the same is he BROUGHT IN BONDAGE” [2 Peter 2:19] SKIN FOR SKIN is the mantra of the oppressor, a challenge, stating in clear terms the conditions of our deliverance, “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, SKIN FOR SKIN, yea, ALL THAT A MAN HATH HE WILL GIVE FOR HIS LIFE” [Job 2:4]

2. SKIN FOR SKIN is crystal clear; the ransom must be paid in like and it is ALL or nothing. Satan demanded a man that had no prior experience of SIN and willing to GIVE ALL including his life in full payment for SIN. Sadly, no man through the ages met his demands and those he felt came close; he afflicted viciously to prove their candidature. Satan took of Noah, “... Noah was a JUST MAN and PERFECT in his generations, and Noah WALKED WITH GOD” [Genesis 6:8-9] And moved quickly to expose his ineligibility and got him DRUNK, “And he drank of the wine, and was DRUNKEN; and he was uncovered within his tent” [Genesis 9:20-21] When God made mention of Job’s uprightness, he went after him, Job 1:13-19, and not satisfied, “... Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and SMOTE JOB WITH SORE BOILS from the sole of his foot unto his crown” [Job 2:7] In all his suffering, Job did not sin against God, Job 2:10, but he was not the candidate because of FEAR of losing ALL, “For the THING WHICH I GREATLY FEARED IS COME upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” [Job 3:25] Abraham was so “GOOD”, God called him His friend; he was prepared to give ALL his possessions including his precious son Isaac, Genesis 22:2-16, yet he was not qualified because he was afraid to DIE, “... when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and THEY WILL KILL ME, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me ...” [Genesis 12:12-13]

3. SKIN FOR SKIN was the battle cry, God was more than prepared and said from onset, “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” [Genesis 3:15] Again, the challenge was for a Man-Champion, in the place of Adam, who would duel with the adversary. The First Adam was the Son of God, necessitating a New Adam, who likewise must be the Son of God, “Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of ADAM, which was the SON OF GOD” [Luke 3:38] The New Adam was born of woman, “HER SEED”, making Him a man yet flawless and in every manner the SON of God in IMAGE and LIKENESS, “For IN HIM DWELLETH all the FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD bodily” [Colossians 2:9] Satan was blindsided by the WISDOM of God and of the MYSTERY which He had hidden even from His angels; how God became like us in Jesus Christ and through His DEATH on the Cross paid in full for our SIN and destroyed the power of DEATH , “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of FLESH and BLOOD, he also HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOOK PART of the same; that THROUGH DEATH he might DESTROY him that had the POWER OF DEATH, that is, the DEVIL; And DELIVER THEM who through FEAR OF DEATH were all their lifetime subject to bondage” [Hebrews 2:14-15] SKIN was given FOR SKIN on the Cross, Satan was defeated and we are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ, who loved and gave His LIFE for us [Romans 8:37]

4. SKIN FOR SKIN is the piper’s song of the defeated foe, to which many dance along to damnation, BLINDED to the GOOD NEWS of SALVATION in Jesus Christ, “But if our GOSPEL be hid, it is HID TO THEM THAT ARE LOST: In whom the god of this world hath BLINDED THE MINDS of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious GOSPEL OF CHRIST, who is the IMAGE OF GOD, should shine unto them” [2 Corinthians 4:3-4] Listen carefully, the enemy is defeated, only not yet VANQUISHED; present global distress and unprecedented instabilities are tantrums of a depraved adversary who knows he has a short time before he is put away for good, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. WOE TO THE INHABITERS OF THE EARTH and of the sea! for the DEVIL IS COME down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that HE HATH BUT A SHORT TIME” [Revelation 12:12] His “SHORT TIME” is fast running out; when you least expect, the Lord Jesus Christ shall appear in clouds of glory to receive His own, GREAT TRIBULATION follows and the MILLENIUM, afterwards the JUDGMENT, “Then shall he say also unto them on the LEFT HAND, DEPART FROM ME, ye CURSED, INTO EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL and HIS ANGELS” [Matthew 25:41] Accept Jesus Christ today as your Lord and Saviour and join the army of SAINTS that shall be caught up to glory at His appearance, amen